For a long while I've been meaning to round up on some very exciting bands that have appeared for New York in the last half year or so. Great stuff ahead:
First up is Yeasayer (pic). An absolutely mind-blowing quartet from Brooklyn. Their debut album 'All hour cymbals' has quickly become a firm favorite of mine. It's bubbling with what they themselves describe as "Middle-Eastern-psych-snap-gospel". In any case, a lot of very different references comes to mind when listening. A few exs: Talking Heads, Black Sabbath, Crosby, Stills & Nash - but most importantly, Yeasayer sounds very original and unique - a quality that is very rare nowadays.
Yeasayer - '2080' (1st single)
Yeasayer - 'Final Path' (non-album track yet brilliant)
Now we turn to also Brooklyn based MGMT who already has a bit of a radio hit with their first single 'Time to Pretend' of the album 'Oracular Spectacular'. This is poppy disco-flavoured indie with just enough creativity and experimentation to make it interesting. They don't knock me off my feet quite like Yeasayer but is certanly an enjoyable experience.
Finally, I present Vampire Weekend who - like Yeasayer - takes inspiration from the world music scene, at least in a way similar to Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon. I also detect a slice of the softer side of The Clash in there somehow. Mainly it's just top notch indie and their self-titled album is packed with catchy tunes and clever arrangements. I've seen them being criticized for being "too clever" - I guess I'm not clever enough to know how that could be a problem.
Vampire Weekend - 'A-Punk':
1 comment:
Yeasayer for me is one those bands that work more when I've seen some of their videos. First connection with them was this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sObIAcv0KtE
And next two weeks when I was constantly listening their album on my mp3 player... It wasn't the same. It just didn't work.
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