Before reading and listening here’s a warning: this post is going to be all over the place, music-wise at least. The one thing in this list that is supposed to give order, the fact that it’s all bands, isn’t even completely true. Just think of this list as good (band-ish) music. Anyway, here’s some of our favorite songs by ‘bands’ this year:
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI5LD8qVXgQ[/youtube]
Boy and Bear – Milk & Sticks
These Australians know how to make a lover of folk-rock smile. Releasing their first full EP ‘Moonfire’ earlier this year, the guys from Sydney don’t make anything groundbreaking or never seen before. They just make really fun music. ‘Milk & Sticks’ was the first single of that debut album and sounds like equally fun band Mumford and Sons collaborated with Oasis and The Avett Brothers, or something.
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdQ32Bhv308[/youtube]
The Horrible Crowes – Behold the Hurricane
When Brian Fallon decided to do more stuff besides The Gaslight Anthem one could only be happy and upon hearing the great name, The Horrible Crowes, one could only think about an evil version of The Counting Crowes. It is actually quite a bit like that. The album ‘Elsie’ came out this year and ‘Behold the Hurricane’ was the first and only single so far. It seriously is like Fallon took the Counting Crowes and mashed them up with Tom Waits. Great.
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JCzjz6zkH4[/youtube]
Joe Bonamassa – Dust Bowl
Look, there is the catch in this ‘band’ post. Joe Bonamassa is only one name and usually that is not a complete band. However, in Bonamassa’s case he almost always plays with a band, so we stick him in here. Of course you already know Bonamassa, he is a household name. And of course he is one of the best guitarists of his generation (beware he is only 34, which is ridiculous considering his status). Dust Bowl is as grimey and rough as ever, on the other end it is as slick as only Bonamassa can make it.
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhtk0jdFGc[/youtube]
Fleet Foxes – The shrine / An Argument
From the rough, blueslike tunes of Bonamassa to the symphonic, campfire, jamboree vibes of the Fleet Foxes. The Shrine / An Argument kind of shows how good, but also how weird the Fleet Foxes can be. You see, Robin Pecknold’s voice almost, but not at all at the same time, cracks when he sings ‘sunlight over me no matter what I do’, which is one of the most beautifully sung lines of the year. (No discussion, this is a science fact!) And then the cacophony starts, which is completely weird, but somehow there is this feeling that it’s transcendent for folk music. If there is one band that can pull that of, it’s the Fleet Foxes.
Complimentary MP3:
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puu3IvKnSb4[/youtube]
Destroyer – Kaputt
“wasting your days
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night”
That is some lyric, isn’t it? It is this weird, yet strangely relevant, lyric that highlights Destroyer, fronted by lead singer Dan Bejar. The poetical feeling of Kaputt make even more sense when a jazzy sax comes in and makes the whole mood kind of ambient. You just wanna kick back, and go through the backrooms of the world.
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