Boston sounds.

Boston is fucking great.
In a city with 4 large colleges in such proximity, there is an endless supply of new musical talent being birthed there on a regular basis. Lurking in small, on campus venues or down in the basements of the permanently inebriated student population lies a collective of exciting new bands.
I went out to the streets of Boston to scope out the best of this fresh talent. Having spoken to the lovely people of local record store, Newbury Comics (to be honest "Newbury Records" would have been a less misleading name) and various shop owners I was kindly directed in the general direction of a few great unsigned gems and a few of the lucky bands that have somehow fondled their way onto a label.

The one band that half of Boston seemed to point me towards was Bad Rabbits. Intrigued by the buzz, I had a quick nosey at their myspace, and actually, they turned out to be pretty shit. Maybe if you're into funk and/or soul then they could be for you, but I just don't see the appeal in their clean cut, cheesy vocals and over the top choruses. If you do for some inexplicable reason feel the overwhelming urge to check them out then go for it, you might love what you hear, (if you've had your music taste surgically removed).

One of the more aurally pleasing recommendations I got was Faces on Film. Days away from releasing their second album "Some Weather" (Released November 2nd) it's a wonder how these guys haven't become big yet! I seriously recommend downloading their debut "The Troubles" for a lovely slice of good old fashioned, laid back, cool as fuck indie. Give em' a listen!

The strangely named Mr Sister are a 4 piece indie/folk setup who seem to be, as far as I can tell, quite popular in the Boston area. It's doesn't come as too much of a surprise really. Guitars, brass instruments and female vocals are nearly always a winning combination. I can't wait for an LP.

Finally, a pretty underground band in Boston, Lamps and Amps are pretty sweet, a mere 2039 profile views on Myspace at the time of writing, which i'm certain will pump your "indie cred" through the roof! Oh, and they also make pretty good music too. The only song I can find on the interwebs is "Pale blue eyes", which although lyrically is nothing special, you just can't argue with that voice! Get on it!

And so concludes my whistle stop tour of the Boston music scene, I'd love to tell you more, however i think i've rambled on enough for now, so I shall leave you with a short list of other nice bands the Boston scene has to offer.
The sun sets quick - rough around the edges garage-rock
Movers and Shakers - Actually I should have written more about these guys, they're pretty good. A nice fun band, sort of like reel big fish without all that horn nonsense.
Xiphoid Dementia - Industrial/ambient, this guy can make incredible soundscapes!

Two lovely Canadian bands.

So whilst on the internet i somehow stumbled upon American folk band The warped 45's. Turns out they're actually pretty rad! If you happen to be in the mood for some chilled out folk music with impressively soothing vocals then i guess you're in for a treat. Citing Wilco as one of their main influences, they have a knack for crafting simple yet effective songs with poignant lyrics.
So that's all rather lovely!

Whilst looking through Canadian bands I also discovered a great new band called Wildlife. These guys know how to make a great energetic atmosphere in their songs, it's real feel good music! Canada's more garage rock type take on our Los Campesinos! Supreme tunes!

That's all for now, but before you scamper off, have a look at www.beardrock.co.uk it's a new music reviews website, so take a look around and prepare yourself to be dazzled by the unique ratings system that involves beards.

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

Discovering a really special band is one of the most rewarding entities in life, for your troubles of trawling through magazines/record shops/the internet you are bestowed a gift that makes the hours of time spent more worthwhile than say, getting a girlfriend or maintaining some sort of socially acceptable standard of personal hygiene. Because when you find this amazing band/artist, it can change your life in a very special way, and the music becomes part of who you are.
Gold Panda, or Derwin (refuses to give a last name) is for me, a bit like a blanket. No matter what situation you are in, it complements it perfectly. Wrap up in the blanket that is Gold Panda and snuggle yourself up to the melee of hazy electronic soundscapes and the entrancing beats of his latest musical offering, "Lucky Shiner". An album recorded in essex that sounds more like the soundtrack to a summers day in the south of France.
The opening track "You" (my personal favorite track of the summer) epitomises the tone of the whole album with it's woozy fuzz reminiscent of the chillwave sound and that addictive sample manipulation, it's pretty much nail on the head in terms of an opening track. 1 track in and it's already apparent that this 28 year old east Londoner has an insane aptitude for crafting songs.
The production is second to none, thanks to James Shaw, of Simian Mobile Disco fame doing his job on the mixing desk.
The next set of tracks on Lucky Shiner keep the thing moving wonderfully and then you are hit by the jittery mash of synthesized marimbas on one of the albums standout tracks, "same dream china". The melodies bounce around of each other soulfully accompanied by crashing drums and more lo-fi synths. One thing that strikes me about this album is that there is no lull in the quality of the songs, and I find it problematic to pick out a favorite 3 tracks from an album that is just so great. So i'm not going to because this is one of those albums where you really ought to listen to the whole thing as if it were a single piece. An album as grotesquely good as Lucky Shiner is deserves true recognition, if it isn't in most "top 10" lists by the end of the year i'm going to be hugely disappointed. Six and a half minute long odyssey, India lately brings to the record a song with fantastic structure, demonstrating Derwin's aptitude when it comes to a more thoughtful approach to production. And after this daze inducing number we reach the tracks closer, "You" which is by all accounts a more refined and sophisticated sounding track than the opener. It brings to close an album that seems to gradually tire itself out as it goes along. Not to say by any means that the songs get worse or drag on, just that they emanate a more tired out feel, as if the sun of southern France was taking its toll on the album, making it sleepier and more drowsy as if finally nods off to sleep in a content state.
In an album that doesn't adhere to the rules of any genres as such, (perhaps it could best be described as post-chillwave) you can find yourself lost in the intricate shuffles of what is in my opinion, one of the top 5 albums this year.

Leeds is on fire!

Just handshakes (we're British) - cool as fuck.

The city of leeds has earned it's place in the "rad musical cities" hall of fame, with alumni such as the stupendously inspirational Gang of four and erm, the Kaiser Chiefs? Ok, so maybe it's not that great. But i mean it still had The Mekons, the wedding present, the sunshine underground, Sky larkin and Grum, which makes it better than Newcastle at least.
With there being talk of some sort of Resurrection of Manchester music (radchester?) it's about time that Leeds got its grubby wee meathooks on some of that juicy musical wonder. And it seems like the city could well be onto something. The city has a good selection of bands at the moment, and although they might not be pushing boundaries in quite the same way as some of the Mancunians, there's no denying that there is a LOT of talent kicking about.

Take for example Just Handshakes (we're British). They make a delicious blend of semi-twee indie pop, and it's just as good as anything America is batting our way at the moment.

Milk White White teeth are another up and coming indie band from the Leeds area. You heard about them here first! They really have a knack for making catchy upbeat tunes that i'm sure you're going to love! Check them out!

Like Baritone northern accents? If you answered yes then you're most certainly going to enjoy blood oranges! If you answered no, then go back to drinking your shandy and popping out to Sainsburys in the "Landy" or whatever you dirty southerners to in your spare time. Blood Oranges are where it's at.

Last one here, and I could have gone on a little longer, but I don't want to bore you too much, and it's like 1:30am right now so i'm about ready for bed. But i digress, Post war glamour girls are fucking brilliant, so much energy and so much potential, I have no idea why they aren't massively popular yet! PWGG have a really unique sound that I just can't get enough of! Can't wait to hear more from them.

So there you have it! Conclusive proof that Leeds is the bees knees.

links all up in this bitch.

So, it's about time i dumped you some links to fresh talent. So HERE WE GO!

Dems - Lioness (Scottish lo-fi indietronica with tasty falsetto vocals)

The ABC club - Thieving Magpie (Halifax indie pop made for enjoying)

Geographer - Kites (one of my personal favorite songs out this year, twee indietronica) I will post a link to their fantastic 2010 EP at a later date, or if you want it sooner, just pester me for it.

Django Django - Wor (Why on earth are these guys not more popular?! Kind of indie i guess, just a really great band who deserve more recognition)

Black sheep - Suckers (Sorry for the indie bombardment, but hey, it's just great stuff!)