Snow Patrol

Kiewit

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Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol started life when Gary Lightbody (guitar, vocals) and Mark McClelland (bass, backing vocals) met at Dundee University, and discovered that they had lived a few streets from each other in their native Belfast - and of course a shared desire to make some delicately crafted guitar noise. With the help of Belle & Sebastian's Richard Colburn on drums until Jonny Quinn could travel from Belfast to join the band full-time, the band (then called Polarbear until legal issues later forced the change) were snapped up by Jeepster on the strength of the ultra-rare single 'Starfighter Pilot', released through Electric Honey records, the label which also has the super-ultra-rare 'Tigermilk' by B&S to its name.

After releasing the critically ignored debut album Songs For Polar Bears at the turn of the century, Snow Patrol went on to release what should have been their breakthrough album When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up in 2001, and even though the radio exposure clicked into place this time around, Jeepster's advertising budget was poor.

Relations between Jeepster and the Patrol soon soured before they parted company, Jeepster folding soon after. Snow Patrol retreated back to Belfast to write and record third album Final Straw off their own backs, before securing a major deal with Fiction/Polydor. Having worked with Iain Archer as something of a fourth member on the second album, they instead recruited Belfast boy Nathan Connolly from local act Fuel for what was to follow.

They still needed some luck though, and it came one morning when their friend Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray chased Jo "The World's Most Mainstream Hippy" Whiley down the road one day in the summer of 2003 clutching a copy of 'Run'. Even though 'Spitting Games' was the forthcoming single, the radio play it received was negligible, and before long 'Run' hit both the airwaves and the charts.. and then everywhere else.

Sensing the indie-kids wanted Coldplay instead of Rock Music, the record label set about releasing all the slow tracks from the zillion-selling Final Straw, earning them some kind of reputation as indie bedwetters. As the gruelling tour schedule wound down, Mark was unceremoniously kicked out of the band one night without discussion (he alledges) for reasons which have remained top secret, and Paul from Terra Diablo joined as his replacement immediately. They also welcomed on board long-standing but, until then, unofficial fifth member Tom for keyboards and electronic wizardy.

Fourth album Eyes Open was released May 2006.

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Placebo

Placebo are...

• Brian Molko - vocals, guitar
• Stefan Olsdal - bass
• Steve Hewitt - drums
• Robert Schultzberg - drums (left 1997)

Observe. In 1996, with the UK stuffed to the gills with stodgy leftovers from britpop, Placebo were a psychosexual freakshow of ambiguous sexuality (and, to the casual observer, gender). They were such only two years on from their debut and 12 months after their first single (‘Bruise Pristine’ on Fierce Panda, late 1995!) they squelched into the charts at Number Four with ‘Nancy Boy’ and went gold with their superbly atmospheric eponymous debut album.

In 1998, when the nod from Weller or Noel was the golden ticket to stodge-rock superstardom, Placebo were a lone beacon of narcotic glamour - hanging out with Marilyn Manson and Bowie and making cameos in the glam rock movie Velvet Goldmine. Placebo’s darkly seductive second album Without You I’m Nothing sold over a million copies and a Top 5 single with ‘Pure Morning’.

By 2000 and the triumphant, Blondie-flecked electro-punk-pop of Black Market Music’, the devout Placebo faithful were legion on all continents. Come the end of the tour in October 2001, having spent six years challenging everything from homophobia to medical thinking about drugs being dangerous and winning, Placebo had nothing else to challenge but themselves. Within a month of getting home the threesome had bought identical mini-studios and begun toying with ideas for the fourth album, circulating musical sketches on CD. Six months later they had 25 songs demo’d, and hit a string of UK studios starting with Townhouse in July 2002, recording for a total of four months with - bizarrely - UNKLE and DJ Shadow producer Jim Abbiss. One imagines the Blur/Fatboy Slim collaboration but with the ability to rock skyscrapers to the ground. From that, Sleeping With Ghosts, their fourth album, was born.

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Arctic Monkeys

Alex Turner: guitar/vocals
Jamie Cook: guitar
Andy Nicholson: bass (left 2006)
Matt Helders: drums
Nick O'Malley: bass

Formed back in 2002 and hailing from the High Green area of Sheffield, Arctic Monkeys were the success story of 2006. Their first two singles, 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' and 'When The Sun Goes Down' reached number one, and their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not also climbed to the top of the albums chart in its first week. It's the fastest-selling debut album in British history (as of February 2007). NME has named it the fifth-greatest UK album of all time.

The name? Says Helders: "Jamie just always wanted to be in a band called Arctic Monkeys. Which is a cool name." (Prefix Magazine).

The fame? They don't like it, still. Before they were signed, the band banned talent scouts from their shows. Like peers Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys have never seemed wholly at home in front of camera lenses and when a journalist comes a-snooping.

The band's MySpace site - "[When we went number one in England] we were on the news and radio about how MySpace has helped us. But that's just the perfect example of someone who doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about. We actually had no idea what it was" (Prefix Magazine)- is here. Tellingly (?), its headline reads 'Don't believe the hype'.

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The Offspring

The Offspring are...

• Dexter Holland - vocals, guitar
• Noodles Wasserman - guitar
• Greg Kriesel - bass
• Ron Welty - drums

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Zero 7

Zero 7 are...

• Henry Binns - keyboards
• Sam Hardaker - keyboards

The bare facts are these; two nice lads, growing up together in North London. Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker are both 30, both still live within a couple of miles of each other and have always lived in each other's pockets. The UK equivilant of french act Air.

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Deftones

Sacramento-spawned experimental metallers.

Deftones are...

• Camillo 'Chino' Moreno - vocals
• Stephen Carpenter - guitar
• Chi Cheng - bass
• Frank Delgado - turntables
• Abe Cunningham - drums

Formed back in 1988 (albeit not in their current five-person line-up), Deftones have been challenging preconceptions about the metal genre ever since their 1995 debut, Adrenaline. Their breakthrough album, Around The Fur (1997), saw them step up to the international stage; the album spawned the hit singles 'Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)' and 'My Own Summer (Shove It)'. The band's next LP, 2000's White Pony, was a more ambient affair than any preceding material - it was met by confusion in certain critical circles, but is generally regarded as one of the finest left-of-centre metal releases of the last decade. A single, 'Back To School', received a lot of MTV play, and is included on certain editions of White Pony.

The band's self-titled 2003 album saw them continue to push away from typical metal structures - although riffs were still heavy, and vocals coarse, many more atmospheric facets became obvious. In 2006 the band release Saturday Night Wrist, their fifth long-player. It's preceded by a single, 'Hole In The Earth'

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50 Cent

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The Ting Tings

"The Ting Tings sound like Beth Ditto slipping into an elasticated polka-dot number and bumping one of the Pipettes off stage mid-handclap."

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Wilco

Wilco are...

• Jeff Tweedy - vocals, guitar
• John Stirratt - bass
• Glenn Kotche - drums, percussion
• Mikael Jorgensen - keyboards, piano
• Nels Cline - guitars, lap steel
• Pat Sansone - keyboards, guitars, vocals

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Metric

Metric have always been a band who can adapt to any surroundings, make them their own and produce something brilliant. You might not imagine a bank to be an environment particularly conducive to creativity, but if a couple of months back you had ventured upstairs into the space above a certain financial establishment in Toronto, Canada, you would have come across a group of musicians birthing an incredible record, relishing the freedom they found their newest base to have given them rather than feeling any of the constraints you might expect. That group was Metric, and the record is their second album 'Live it Out'.

"We made the first album (2003's 'Old World Underground, Where are You') in Los Angeles, in the daytime, with a producer, which was kind of weird for us," says singer/synth player/mouthpiece Emily Haines. "But this time, with the space above the bank we had unlimited time and worked by ourselves at night. We did everything exactly the way we wanted and so this record feels much more representative of who we are."

Indeed, that Metric's second album was made in their hometown (with moral support from equally creative locals and childhood friends Broken Social Scene and Stars) certainly shows - 'Live It Out' exudes the unmistakable, natural, confident feel of a band who now know exactly what they're all about, having spent 2004 and 2005 growing together, living in ever-changing environments. One month they’d be sharing a flat in NYC with like-minded souls Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars, the next playing sold out residencies in Toronto; Emily would be playing solo piano shows in churches, while the band supported the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden. Make no mistake, Emily, guitarist (and now sole producer) Jimmy Shaw, bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott Key have been together for long enough in enough different environments (including both London and New York) to know when something feels right. And this time it does.

If the LA-birthed 'Old World Underground, Where Are You' was the sound of Metric experimenting and trying to find their feet, 'Live It Out' is their vision fully realised, untainted by outside interference. ("The record company didn't interfere for even one minute," Emily laughs, "we just delivered it to them and that was it!"). So from the ever-evolving, six minute opener 'Empty', through 'Poster Of A Girl''s blend of paranoid, sung-in-French couplets and pulsating electro, the feedback-drenched 'Monster Hospital' (featuring the refrain "I fought the war but the war won") and the new wave fuzz of the climatic title track, 'Live It Out' is an album that takes many disparate influences and fuses them into a brilliantly coherent statement. Recalling at times the anything-goes attitude of Sonic Youth ("We played with them in Paris and they really inspired us as people," notes Emily), its ten tracks are at once thrilling, disturbing and unique. Without question, Metric have made a record with which they can now introduce themselves to the wider world.

"We've been allowed to be ourselves and that really shows," enthuses Emily. "All the bands that have ever inspired us never sounded like anyone else - that's what we were aiming to do this time around. With 'Live It Out' we've definitely achieved that."

ilovemetric.com
myspace.com/metricband

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Klaxons

Let's not say "new rave" or any of that bullcrap. Klaxons will make you covort spasmodically with impeccable dance basslines and rock credentials. Vital.»

Faith No More

Formed in the early 80's Faith No More raced through a multitude of lineups - including an embroyonic Courtney Love - before recording their first album in 1985. In 1990 Mike Patton joined the group and they released the breakthrough album "The Real Thing". They split in 1997 and Patton still records with Tomahawk, Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, Lovage and a multitude of other bands. »

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is a classically trained violinist who cut his teeth playing for swing revivalists The Squirrel Nut Zippers, before releasing three wildly varied albums with Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire.

With the release of 2004's Weather Systems however, Bird began his solo career. With a voice like a matinee idol and a looping pedal, he creates vast and incomparable music, aglow and haunting. He met with huge critical acclaim with Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs in 2005 and when not guesting on a variety of releases (including My Morning Jacket's Z and Dosh's The Lost Take) is currently working on Armchair Apocrypha, due Spring 2007.»

Maximo Park

Northeastern indie-rockers with a dash of artiness, poetry and synth in their wired, poppy sound.

Paul Smith (vocals)
Duncan Lloyd (guitar)
Archis Tiku (bass guitar)
Lukas Wooller (keyboards)
Tom English (drums)

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N*E*R*D

N*E*R*D (Nobody Ever Really Dies) is the alter ego of highly successful production team, The Neptunes(Kelis, Ol' Dirty Bastard, P.Diddy, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Busta Rhymes...) Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo, who've formed a band with their childhood friend Shay. Stylistically they mix modern rock/metal and R&B with classic 70's funk and soul, but come out sounding very much of-the-moment and very original.»

New Found Glory

• Jordan Pundik - vocals
• Ian Grushka - bass
• Chad Gilbert - guitar
• Steve Klein - guitar
• Cyrus Bolooki - drums

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Phoenix

Phoenix are...

• Thomas Mars Jr - vocals
• Christian Mazzalai - guitar
• Deck D'Arcy - bass
• Laurent Brancowitz - guitar, keyboards

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Vampire Weekend

MySpace

Vampire Weekend is:
Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Christopher Tomson, Chris Baio

In their words:
We are specialists in the following styles: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", "Upper West Side Soweto", "Campus", and "Oxford Comma Riddim".

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Kraftwerk

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My Bloody Valentine

Kevin Shields-led outfit of the '80s/'90s, who released two albums via Creation - Isn't Anything and Loveless - and as good as invented shoegaze in the process, influencing thousands more bands.

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Beirut

So what would you do if you were an 18-year-old A-student in Albuquerque, New Mexico? That's the question that faced Beirut's Zach Condon a few years back and, luckily for the human race, he chose to bugger off across Europe and fill his head with Eastern European harmonies which on his return he melded with his pop upbringing to form Gulag Orkestar, possibly 2006's standout album.

A sojourn in France inspired follow-up album The Flying Club Cup, while EP March of the Zapotec took influence from Mexican music. Condon is now considering which culture to rip off next.

Beirut Official Site
Beirut on Myspace

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Paolo Nutini

Singer songwriter in the major label stylee.»

Opeth

• Mikael Åkerfeldt
• Peter Lindgren
• Martin Mendez
• Martin "Axe" Axenrot
• Per Wiberg

In a metal scene glutted with traditionalists and bandwagon jumpers, Opeth continue to create epic, iconoclastic music, inventing the rules as they go along. From the jazz-inflected rhythms and acoustic embellishments of their 1994 debut, Orchid, to the Middle Eastern flavors and stoner metal riffs of 2001's Blackwater Park, these Swedes continue to venture where others couldn't fathom and have returned with a treasure trove of songs for their new effort, Ghost Reveries, that makes most so-called sonic adventurists seem positively one-dimensional.

Opeth's home page.

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Peaches

Peaches is the best. As a master Entertainer, she rides her Roland 505 as brutal as possible. Her main issue is SEX ! Her colour is PINK ! her beats are kickin !»

Patrick Wolf

Having been born in County Cork, grown up in London and travelled across Europe in an orchestra, eleven-year-old Patrick Wolf was something of an eccentric, escaping from school troubles on a stolen four-track with viola in hand.

After running from home as a young'un to reside in a run-down lodging on the Richmond riverside, he soon garnered the attentions of Fat Cat Records, who provided Wolf with given an Atari and mixing desk to start recording songs 'properly'.

He found the writings of Angela Carter and the music of Joni Mitchell to be a great inspiration - the way that Mitchell brought the folk narrative and intimacy into pop electricity and the way Carter took fairytales and brought out all the symbols of wolves and ghosts to express her own emotions.

These influences can take Wolf's music in bizarre musical directions, as he fuses dark and haunting tracks alongside childlike rhythmic verse.

Following the critical acclaim that came with Wind In The Wires and debut release Lycanthropy, The Magic Position follows a similarly twisted pop sensibility.»

Anti-Flag

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Simian Mobile Disco

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Squarepusher

Aka Tom Jenkinson.»

Eric Prydz

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Dinosaur Jr.

Indie-Rock from the 80’s and Early 90’s led by renowned curmudgeon J Mascis.

The origins of Dinosaur Jr. begin with the break-up of hardcore band “Deep Wound” in 1983, whereupon drummer J Mascis and Bassist Lou Barlow formed the embryonic Dinosaur. Shortly afterwards with the arrival of drummer Murph, Mascis switched to Guitar/Vocals. After a period of time developing a local fan base (and releasing an album, 1985’s “Dinosaur”), the Dinosaur Jr. ‘sound’ began to take shape, with the dissonant Neil Young inspired playing of Mascis being brought to the fore at the expense of any lingering hardcore influence.

In 1986, shortly after being forced to add the Jr. to their name by an aged country group, the band signed to the SST label owned by Greg Ginn of Black Flag and issued “You’re Living All Over Me”(1987). The record and the bands frenetic shows began to capture the attention of many underground cognoscenti including Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth. This burgeoning reputation was secured by the seminal 1988 single “Freak Scene” and the accompanying album “Bug” (1988) both of which secured rave reviews and significant amounts of play on college radio.

Despite this success all was not well within the band, tension was building between Barlow and the uncommunicative Mascis, in 1989 Mascis split Dinosaur Jr. only to announce the reformation of the band minus Barlow, who formed Sebadoh with a good deal of success.

Mascis and Murph finished their touring obligations with a number of guest bassists (scoring a further minor hit with their cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”) and took a break for a couple of years. When they returned new bassist in tow (Mike Johnson) the band was fundamentally changed, Mascis now took on many of the recording duties alone. Sire debut “Green Mind” (1991) was a case in hand.

The music business was also changing, with the previously cult underground scene now being brought to prominence, a tour with Nirvana as they themselves were in the process of becoming stars opened many doors for Dinosaur Jr. The groups next album “Where You Been” (1993) emerged as a strong commercial hit, with some reviews declaring Mascis as the ‘Godfather of Indie’ although others felt the group had lost their edge. A similar attitude prevailed on the follow-up “Without a Sound” (the first album without Murph, who had departed to the Lemonheads) although again sales held up well.

Becoming bored of the band Mascis now took a second hiatus to record and tour as a solo act. This would have an effect on the next Dinosaur Jr. album (“Hand It Over”) as when it finally arrived in 1997, Mascis played all the instruments upon it.

This seemed to be the end of Dinosaur Jr. with Mascis dropping the name for his subsequent albums. However as this is being written, Mascis has announced the reformation of the original line-up to play a number of dates a la The Pixies, with new material appearing likely also.»

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear are four handsome New York gents making world-weary and wailing folk rock with healthy dashes of psychedelia, rock and motown. »

The Get Up Kids

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MSTRKRFT

Jesse F Keeler, aka JFK, alongside one AL-P.

MySpace page.»

The Maccabees

Orlando Weeks - Vocals
Hugo White - Guitar
Felix White - Guitar/Vocals
Rupert Jarvis - Bass
Robert Dylan Thomas - Drums

MySpace page

Official biography:

In every British band, there is a little bit of Britain. From the revolutionary sounds of The Clash, to the observations of The Streets, and the character sketches of The Kinks, the musical legacy of this country is rich in bands that somehow couldn’t help be as much about where they’re from, as about where they’re at.

The Maccabees are a young band making big strides towards becoming part of this grand tradition. A decidedly English guitar pop band, whose worldview has been formed by influences as disparate as the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, television cricket coverage and growing up in south London, this is a group with a unique slant on things, and who are eager to share it.

“I think there’s a fine line between ‘British’ and ‘laddish’,” says 22-year-old singer Orlando Weeks. “I don’t think we’re about that – all beer, and the cross of St George, but I do think there’s something quintessentially English about our music.”

That much has already become evident from the group’s releases so far. Their first independently-released single 'X-Ray' was a characterful relationship tale. Their second, the live favourite 'Latchmere', was a reminiscence of going swimming at the titular Battersea leisure centre. Essentially, the band’s strongest material is grounded in experiences particular to its members – just as several band members first met at school, or while playing football, their songs are themselves written about subjects close to home.

“I like to write about things I know about – you’re much less likely to come a cropper if you do that,” says Orlando. “It’s good to face the facts of your life. So maybe you don’t have prostitutes living down the road, or crack houses. I don’t know about that – but I know about 'Latchmere'.”

It’s this kind of self-deprecating, but quietly-confident attitude that one might see as being central to the way that The Maccabees do things. Formed in 2003, when Orlando began rehearsing in his bedroom with drummer Robert Thomas, bass player Rupert Jarvis and guitar-playing brothers Hugo and Felix White, the band have always worked pragmatically with the resources at their disposal.

Having started to play live almost straight away (“When we first started we were like a folk band,” remembers Hugo, “we just played really basically and slowly.”), in the two and a half years since, The Maccabees have got better and better the more they’ve done. From the off, their live show has attempted to develop the kind of rapport with an audience they had once seen The Libertines achieve. Their music, meanwhile, has developed into a nervy and tuneful noise of its own.

Perhaps you’ve already heard it. A band who excel in making succinct pop statements, The Maccabees’ sound is built on the fast but fascinatingly intricate guitar of the White brothers, but it’s their ability with a pop hook that truly marks them out. The Maccabees can do their own version of balladry, but it’s in the call-and-response interaction between Orlando and backing vocalist Felix that you’ll find on songs like 'Lego' and 'X-Ray' that you’ll hear the original essence of this band. If at times the sheer speed of their material threatens to break them down, it’s this pop sensibility that sees them through.

There have, of course, been musical signposts along their way. One inspiration remains Martin Scorcese’s film about the final performance by The Band, The Last Waltz. Another musical direction was pointed out, rather more explicitly, by a DVD of vintage performances from the BBC TV programme The Old Grey Whistle Test.

“We saw bands like XTC, Dr Feelgood and Talking Heads for the first time,” says Felix. “That was quite a big deal for us – seeing bands with a real genuine quirkiness and edge. Now it seems that some of that has been filtered down, to just having ‘spiky guitars’ or whatever – but then, you could hear them physically playing everything, every motion is aggressive. We wanted to sound like that.”

This, essentially, is a band for whom quirkiness is not a problem. Rather than hung up with being cooler-than-thou, instead, in The Maccabees we find a band that is happy with the way it does things, and extremely comfortable in its own skin. “We never tried to be a rock ‘n’ roll band,” says Orlando. “Pop isn’t even a conscious decision for us. We’re just learning about it all, and learning in front of everybody.”

So far, things are looking good for their mission. Now signed to Fiction records, the band are working on a debut album, and are all confident that they’re now doing their dream jobs.

“We want to be able to listen to our debut album and be proud of it,” says Orlando. “Getting a record deal is quite a rare thing, like being a footballer. But if you’re a footballer, your legacy is a statistic.

“We want to leave something that’s really fucking sweet,” he continues. “That’s a good record of us and our noises. Not just ‘12 goals, 16 sendings-off’.

“If you’re happy with it, it’s a pretty nice thing to leave behind…”

It’s an ambitious thing to try and do, but if anyone can, The Maccabees will. This is a band with great songs and great presence. But also – and maybe just as importantly – one with great charm.

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Eagles Of Death Metal

Josh Homme et al play swampy stoner rock.

WEBSITE!»

Whitest Boy Alive

the whitest boy alive is the new project from Erlend Øye ( King of convenience ) with Marcin Oz ( bass ); Sebastian Maschat ( drums ) and Daniel Nentwig.

the whitest boy alive started as an electronic dance music project in 2003. It has slowly developed into a band without any programmed elements.

In 2006, they've released their debut album Dreams on their own Bubbles label.

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Vitalic

Do you know Vitalic? Already many do. To those who love his music, his unique sound, he’s the pleasure provider: the ultimate rush, the greatest high, the invincible metal disco warrior. With his debut four-song ‘Poney EP’, first released in late 2001, Vitalic tore through dancefloors across the world like the Wagner of rave. An original and fearless new talent, it was clear from the start that Pascal Arbez, the Frenchman behind Vitalic, was not just another dance producer, but a visionary artist whose extraordinary music never fails to move people.

Vitalic is a Russian first name, and Russian is Pascal’s second language. He studied it at school and university, and his first musical alias, Dima, is also Russian. There was a time when he liked fans and media to think he was Ukrainian and he fabricated a suitably misleading biography, which only intrigued people further. He’s 28, but knows he looks older, and, when he thinks about it, is quite content with his life at the moment. He is not showy or flash and can’t fake enthusiasm or tolerate sycophancy.

His initial sporadic releases as Dima in 1996 and ’97 on the Choice label were brutal nose-bleed techno affairs which no-one outside the French techno scene really knew about. Within that scene he became good friends with Michel Amato, aka The Hacker, and befriended Amato’s Goodlife label crew in Grenoble. The Hacker suggested he send his new tracks to DJ Hell in Munich, which he did. Then Hell’s International Deejay Gigolos label released Pascal’s ‘Poney EP’ just as Fischerspooner fever and electroclash madness broke and it became their biggest-selling 12-inch, played as a searing peak-time anthem by everyone from Aphex Twin to Richie Hawtin to Erol Alkan to 2 Many DJs to Laurent Garnier to Tiga… honestly, the list is impressive and endless. ‘La Rock 01’ swiftly become a quick-fix club cliché. But it’s still dynamite. Which is why Pascal included it on ‘OK Cowboy’ along with the two ‘Poney’s, as “a reference to the past”.

A selection of musicians Pascal admires: Daft Punk, Sparks, Crash Course In Science, Valerie Dore, Giorgio Moroder, The White Stripes, Belgian composer Wim Mertens, Fad Gadget. He’s not a big record buyer and doesn’t know the names of lots of his favourite tracks. He mainly listens to MP3s. His first love, when he started making music as a teenager, was Belgian new beat.

Pascal works a lot with Brigitte as well. She’s a versatile speech synthesis program and will do anything he tells her to. That’s her voice all over ‘OK Cowboy’. Then there’s Dario, the subject of ‘My Friend Dario’, Pascal’s naughty alter ego who drinks when he drives and parties way too much. All the instruments Pascal uses are fake, in the sense that he meticulously generates everything from a synthesiser. So if it sounds like a guitar on ‘La Rock 01’ or ‘New Man’ or ‘My Friend Dario’, it isn’t. Nor is it a Moog organ on ‘Wooo’ or an accordion on ‘Polkamatic’. Incredibly, the drum rolls on ‘Valetta Fanfares’ are faked too. It took Pascal three weeks to create those drums. Even his sound man was convinced the drums were sampled. The only thing Pascal can’t fake is the emotion that galvanizes his remarkable music. He is a master of melody. And with ‘OK Cowboy’ he has truly surpassed himself.»

Bon Iver

Bon Iver is the brainchild of Justin Vernon, a deliberate misspelling of 'bon hiver', the French for 'good winter'.

His debut, a collection of hushed, intricate folk titled For Emma, Forever Ago was released in May of 2008 through 4AD.

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Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal is the sound of inner London spat onto plastic. Freshly signed to XL after a frantic bidding war sparked by his huge underground following - the product of highly-sought white label records and a myriad of pirate radio stations.»

Ladyhawke

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Booka Shade

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Tortoise

Tortoise are...

• Jeff Parker - Guitar
• John McEntire - Mixing
• John Herndon - Programming
• Douglas McCombs - Bass
• Bundy K. Brown - Remixing
• Dan Bitney
• David Pajo

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Zebrahead

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Air Traffic

Air Traffic is Chris Wall (vocals, piano), David Ryan Jordan (drums), Jim Maddock (bass) and Tom Pritchard (guitar).

MySpace
Website

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Enter Shikari

• Rou - Vocals, Electronics
• Rory - Guitar
• Chris - Vocals, Bass
• Rob - Drums

Enter Shikari are four 18 year old lads from St Albans, who have known each other and played music together since Junior School. Their music is passionate and is mixed with hardcore rock to provide extreme energy and emotion. Their stage presence is equally as dynamic as their music.

Enter Shikari's homepage
MySpace

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dEUS

dEUS are...

• Tom Barman - vocals
• Craig Ward - guitar
• Stef Kamil Carlens - bass
• Klaus Janzoons - strings
• Julle de Borgher - drums
• Rudy Trouve - guitar (left 1995)

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Deerhunter

• Bradford Cox
• Moses Archuleta
• Josh Fauver
• Colin Mee (left briefly in 2007)
• Lockett Pundt

Deerhunter began in 2001 as the brainchild of Bradford Cox and Moses Archuleta, with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock. Due to shifting line up changes and uncertainty about what musical direction to undertake, Deerhunter shows during this time period were very interesting. One never knew quite what to expect with each show being completely different from the previous show. After definitively adding Josh Fauver and Colin Mee, Deerhunter recorded their self-titled first album, often known as Turn it up, Faggot (2005, Stickfigure) after what had been yelled at them at numerous gigs.

Cryptograms is their second full-length, and their first for Kranky. The album took almost two years to finish and was the product of emotional, physical, and financial strain on the group. The first half of the album was recorded first unsuccessfully and the band considered giving up. The idea arose to give it one last shot and they returned to the small studio where they recorded their first studio and plugged in. The session resulted in the first half of the record which was recorded in one day. The second half of the record was also recorded in one day, in November 2005.

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Blood Red Shoes

The following was adapted from the band's biography which can be found on their website...

Blood Red Shoes are a band from London and Brighton, UK. They are two people: Laura-Mary (wishes she was Spanish) and Steven (wishes he was French). They play guitars and drums and they sing.

MySpace

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Mad Caddies

Mad Caddies are a reggae and dixieland jazz influenced softcore punk-rock band from Santa Barbara, California. There are seven people in the band (making them a septet).»

Martin Solveig

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DeVotchKa

Eastern European folk influenced band with all kinds of crazy strings and brass going on.

http://www.devotchka.net»

The Rifles

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Alter Ego

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Vetiver

Something of a modern-day folk supergroup, with Andy Cabic at its core. Other musicians include Devendra Banhart (guitar), Alissa Anderson (cello, bass, Otto Hauser (drums) and Kevin Barker (guitar).»

Glasvegas

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Ellen Allien

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Bring Me The Horizon

Bratty, scream-riddled hardcore. Old-school, mind - none of this sing/scream post-fartcore bollocks.»

Passion Pit

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The Living End

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Zombie Nation

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Fever Ray

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Little Boots

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Fennesz

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La Roux

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Busy P

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Paul Kalkbrenner

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Face To Face

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Gang Gang Dance

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Florence and The Machine

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The Twang

Few bands have created such healthy debate amongst the music loving public than Birmingham-based The Twang. The start of 2007 saw many column inches in a whole diaspora of publications given over to the duo vocaled group.

Automatically inheriting a fan-base that veers towards the more hedonistic or weekend worshipping, many see in them a beautiful nod towards the days of baggy and such tuneless, unlamented bands like Flowered Up.

Many question the worth of a band like The Twang, but they clearly underestimate the pull of a good pint and a brawl, as characterised by a number of their songs. Other topics include drugs and wimmin.

The band seem largely unflustered by their new status as the great hope for British music. Possibly a sensible move; as the band themselves say it's more important that; “Everybody’s ‘Avin It”...

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Hanne Hukkelberg

A graduate of Olso's National Academy of Music, Hanne has tried her hand at metal, prog rock, jazz and many more varieties of music. 'Little Things' is her debut album, and features contributions from Jaga Jazzist and Kaada, among others. Her voice sits somewhere between Bjork and Beth Orton; her music recalls the wonderful electronica of the Warp stable and the sweetest pop-inflected folk. Truly lovely.»

Skream

Dubstep-type DJ and producer bloke Olli Jones.»

The Juan Maclean

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Howling Bells

• Juanita Stein - vocals, guitar
• Joel Stein - guitar
• Brendan Picchio - bass
• Glenn Moule - drums

Howling Bells formed in 2005 under the leadership of honey throated Juanita Stein and her guitar wielding brother Joel. Debunking from their native Australia to the mean streets of London, the duo ganged up with Glenn Moule and Brendan Picchio before putting out debut single Wishing Stone in February 2006. Their self-titled album is out now on Bella Union.

Myspace

Bella Union Page »

Black Lips

Retro-blues lo-fi outfit made up of Cole, Jared, Ian and Joe... and King Khan(?). They call it 'flower punk' (or rather they've been called 'flower punk'). It's fairly swell whatever the hook you hang it on. For fans of The Germs, The Hunches, The Stooges, et cetera.

Black Lips formed when, as teenagers, after-school friends Cole Alexander (guitar / vocals) and Jared Swilley (bass / vocals) signed up their friends Joe Bradley (drums / vocals) and Ben Eberbaugh (guitar). They swiftly becoming one of the Atlanta underground's most talked about bands, they were banned from numerous venues for their wild live shows and released albums and seven-inches on different underground garage labels like Bomp and In The Red. Tragically, Eberbaugh was killed in a freak traffic accident but the band carried on with New Orleans-born Ian St Pe. These events would go on to influence the song 'How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died', a standout track on album four, Good Bad, Not Evil.

In The Red website
MySpace

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The Bloody Beetroots

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The Jesus Lizard

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Bombay Bicycle Club

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Jack Peñate

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Life of Agony

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Sub Focus

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Yuksek

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The Black Angels

The Black Angels are:

Christian Bland - Guitar
Alex Maas - Vocals
Stephanie Bailey - Drums, Percussion
Jennifer Raines - Organ
Nate Ryan - Bass, Guitar
Kyle Hunt - Keyboards, Percussion, Bass, Guitar
Richard Whymark - Projection

Already being championed by as disparate written opinion as Popmatters and the Guardian, the Black Angels are what the Rolling Stones would be like if they were young, pale, and, y'know, actually cared about stuff.»

Dave Clarke

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A Place To Bury Strangers

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Birdy Nam Nam

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Crookers

MySpace

Crookers are DJ Phra and Bot, two DJs/producers who met in 2003 and soon got to work together as they had the same tastes and a similar musical background.

Both have been producing and DJing on their own before creating the Crookers team: Bot was introduced to music learning to play instruments like piano and guitar and then moved to synths, turntables and sequencers while Phra started djing at the early age of 11 and then was introduced to the Italian hip-hop scene as an MC.

All these influences are mixed up in their sets with the special add of their sounds done with the legendary MPC sampler.

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Noisia

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Benga

Croydon dubstep producer.

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Asher Roth

MySpace

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Das Pop

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The Airborne Toxic Event

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The Bug

Kevin Martin (Techno Animal, Ice, God) in yet another guise as The Bug

This time he recreates a scramble of dub, industrial, electronica and noise. Joining him on this project is a collection of guest poets, toasters and singers from the world of reggae.»

Tocadisco

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Bill Callahan

The man behind Smog»

Cavalera Conspiracy

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HEALTH

HEALTH are Jake, John, Jupiter, and BJ. Experimental noise. Sound akin to a Tyrannosaurus Rex battling a Stegosaurus.

Albums to date:

Health (2007)

Photograph from the band's MySpace page, here.

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Telepathe

MySpace

Telepathe are fucking great.

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Rival Schools

Rival Schools are...

• Walter Schriefels - vocals, guitar
• Cache Tolman - bass
• Sam Siegler - drums
• Ian Love - guitar (left 2002)

Rival Schools, in case you don't know, is a fierce rocking unit consisting of four rockers that like to rock!! Walter Schreifels, who fronted the late great Quicksand, is singing as well as holding down one of the axes. The man swinging the other axe complete with numerous hot licks is Ian Love. Ian spent some time in the band Burn, as well as fronting his own groups through the years. Cache 'Utah Slim' Tolman is in charge of the low end. Inspired more by Robbie Shakespeare, and less by Gene Simmons, he played in Iceburn as well as CIV. Drummer Sammy Siegler played with 'Utah' in CIV as well as many other N.Y. hardcore ensembles in which he often teamed up with Schreifels.

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Jon Hopkins

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Brakes

Brighton's answer to Velvet Revolver, but without the cowboy boots and hairspray, Brakes are Tom and Alex White (Electric Soft Parade), Eamon (British Sea Power) and Marc Beatty (Tenderfoot). They are ace and so is their press release...

Brakes are like totally hot scenester hipster friendsters who like totally meet up to discuss punkin new hair moves, denim pocket designs and awesome postcodes. These guys are so totally bomb they'll make you shit out of your ass. They are so totally pimpin, so whatever dude, so go fuck yourself they could be zeitguests on the forum of rad. Buff? Uh! Touch yourself. This band is sick.»

Absynthe Minded

Absynthe Minded are :

Bert Ostyn

Renaud Ghilbert

Jan Duthoy

Sergej Van Bouwel

Jakob Nachtergaele

Absynthe Minded originally was a one man band, musician-singer-composer Bert Ostyn. He started off in 1999 and recorded three demos then decided he had to get himself an Absynthe Minded band...

After a new demo as a quartet, Absynthe Minded toured a lot, found a drummer and finally released their first album Acquired Taste ( 2004 Keremos ).

It's with their second album New Day ( 2005 Keremos ) that came success in Belgium and Netherlands. They finally signed a record-deal with Universal which will release There Is Nothing in Spring 2007.

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The Blackout

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Port O'Brien

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Hayseed Dixie

Bluegrass takes on modern and retro rock songs... Kiss, AC/DC etc.»

Ghinzu

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Hank Williams III

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Magnus

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Andy C

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Buraka Som Sistema

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Steve Aoki

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Dananananaykroyd

Dischord-esque post-hardcore band, apparently "formed from spacks of Multiplies, Michael Dracula, Kill Yourself, Acrnym and Simplestorm. Fight-pop anthems that are as 'right-on' as they are 'smellin'"»

James Yuill

Bittersweet English folk-pop»

Don Rimini

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Soap&Skin

few musical discoveries in recent years have been as staggering as that of soap and skin aka anja plaschg. the sheer force this eighteen year old artist injects into her compositions almost beggars belief, her songs consuming every last drop of her with no regard for grace. then again, the 13 deeply melancholic compositions of piano are so drenched in beauty and gracefulness, one could crumble on hearing them. 'lovetune for vacuum' is an unwavering line of drama, inner conflict and melancholy, remarkably mature on the one hand, yet feeding on unbridled youthful exuberance on the other. the album's songs were recorded mostly just by plaschg herself, who rather resembles a tragically rebellious heroine flung into the present like a shivering ghost of the victorian bronte sisters, far too worldly-wise for such a young slip of a girl. description from www.roughtrade.com»

Rusko

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Fight Like Apes

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Moderat

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Fake Blood

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Yo Majesty

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Grooverider

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Crystal Antlers

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Kissy Sellout

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Future Of The Left

MySpace!

Future Of The Left feature a couple of ex-Mcluskys and a former Jarcrew. Perhaps more information will be here SOON.

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Puppetmastaz

Part of the worldwide Congress of Puppetry. Featuring the creme de la creme of the Berlin underground. Literally.»

The Subs

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Brookes Brothers

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Aeroplane

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Shadow Dancer

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Expatriate

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and so i watch you from afar

An heavy post-rock band from Belfast !»

Stijn

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The Ghost Of A Thousand

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Golden Silvers

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Kap Bambino

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Magnetic Man

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Daan

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Ed Rush

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Rolo Tomassi

A veritable smorgasbord of styles, these female-helmed discotech thrashers specialise in adrenaline-soaked, keyboard-laden art-punk that jerks, jolts and jigs with an ultra-camp temperamentality.

The band's debut self-titled EP was released in late 2006 via Holy Roar and subsequently sold out; a re-pressing featuring bonus tracks is available now.

Edward Dutton - drums
Joe Nicholson - guitar
Eva Spence - vocals
James Spence - keyboards
Joseph Thorpe - bass

MySpace

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The Big Pink

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Temper Trap

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Optical

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Delphic

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Brodinski

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The Count & Sinden

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Hudson Mohawke

MySpace

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The Gay Blades

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Tommy Sparks

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Congorock

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Dr. Lektroluv

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Freaky Age

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The Invisible

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Amanda Blank

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Tomàn

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Le Corps Mince De Francoise

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Boy Crisis

MySpace

Boy Crisis - Chromeo meets the Postal Service, filthy and bleepy - is:

TAL ROZEN: hot pants
ALEX KESTNER: future
VICTOR VAZQUEZ: yes
LEE PENDER: wiitar

Sounds like: a computer having sex with a beautiful bird, or something.

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Baddies

Baddies, based in Southend, play party-tuned punk-rock with overtones of Futureheads quirk twists and An Emergency twitches.

The band is:

MICHAEL WEBSTER - vocals/guitar
SIMON BELLAMY - guitar/vocals
JIM WEBSTER - drum kit/vocals
DANNY ROWTON - bass/vocals

Find the band on MySpace

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The Black Box Revelation

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Micachu and the Shapes

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LA Riots

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The Soft Pack

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Sukilove

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Sound of Stereo

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Ebony Bones

London oddity, likes bright colours and ESG.»

Creature With The Atom Brain

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The hickey underworld

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The Bony King of Nowhere

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Drive Like Maria

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Madensuyu

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The Sedan Vault

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This City

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The Chapman Family

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Krakow

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White Circle Crime Club

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WaxDolls

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Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

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Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar

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The Galacticos

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Team William

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Spoil Engine

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Customs

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Hank III & Assjack

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Nitebytes

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His Majesty André

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vegas!

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Ed & Kim

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Nid&Sancy

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Hairglow

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rave our souls

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merdan taplak

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Partyharders Squad

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