Saint Etienne is a real surprise to me, mostly because I had never heard of them before. It makes me mad that these artists from outside the US are always denied any airplay here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr9q5h8ftuY Tell me you don’t like this, or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4kKNz6RMWo Too cute, I love the retro stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXeC8nMdr_E
The Servant is a real good young UK band, with a lot of promise and talent. I haven’t heard them in the US yet at all, but I don’t listen to music radio at all anymore, ask me why? http://www.theservant.co.uk/ Their web site is really creative and if you click on “Sounds and Visions” you can choose to listen to most of their music and videos. They have been popping out albums for 7 years now, I hope they can catch on in the US without selling out (yeah right). The US music scene would allow no such thing, thus this blog exists…
The Shins have enjoyed moderate success with their inclusion in the soundtrack to the movie Train Spotting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11Kr1-q-pA New Slang was the big “hit”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the song. This is good too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqYMRcnLU0o I like their earlier CDs fine, but the new one, Wincing the Night Away is just an attempt to reprise what they did before. There’s nothing original in it, sadly. It was quite a while between albums too. I hate to sound like I am bashing them, because I really like them. I think their album Oh Inverted World should be mandatory in every house, everywhere.
Snow Patrol had some airplay, but a lot of their music has gone unnoticed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InzRp3Vbik0
Chasing Cars was one song that had success http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxXwIIBlSgw, but the CD Eyes Open is full of should-be hits. Their site has more and a good bio.. http://www.snowpatrol.com/
Stardust Five released their self named debut album in 2006. I like the style of their music, a bit 60’s retro and that is very crisp. They have a nice bio on their website http://www.stardustfive.com/stardustfive.html
Check out the Video link there, it’s a great tune.
Styrofoam did a neat collaboration with Ben Gibbard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6H0tRlRb0M on the album Nothing’s Lost. They have info on the band’s history and audio/video on their web site http://www.styro.be/.
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/STYROFOAM
Supergrass is a hard band to describe, but I will compare them to Meatloaf, because their music is like a stage musical sometimes. It’s more fun though; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuarGVJzi38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_e4PxtQ-Fw
Talking Heads are a very famous band, but I wish they had stayed intact longer than they did. They released a DVD called Stop Making Sense . You should check it out, it’s one of the best live performances I have ever seen.
This is just one song http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3329797410962283073&q=%22stop+making+sense%22&total=67&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4 but you can find almost all of them on the net. The DVD has cool extras though, and is obviously much better quality.
Theatre of Tragedy is not really my cup of tea, but they are technically a very solid band. They jump from dance to metal if you blink. If they toned down the attitude a bit, they might draw in a larger audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmvt0oNPV8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmqmBPCA6oI
I love Tegan and Sara http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujjb5ii4tiU Look around the net, they have been around the block. I am not giving you everything on a platter here. Ok, have this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z2XTkAoKlg and note the unusual harmony in the song (typical for them) and the fact that their eyes are closed through most of this acoustic guitar set.
This Busy Monster came and went already. Their experimental sounds are some of the most unique I have ever heard. You can download a free MP3 here http://www.barsuk.com/snd/tbm_underground.mp3 They sound a little like XTC, yes? On their CD Fireworks, released in 2001, included a singing saw on the song What She Said. Who does that?? It’s great though. You can preview songs here http://www.mp3.com/albums/473277/summary.html?tag=albums;title;recent&om_act=convert&om_clk=artalb
Treble Charger just rock out. http://www.vikrecordings.com/treblecharger/multimedia.html
They had a hit with American Psycho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZqCwEgOv1k but you should check out the whole CD if you like the tune.
Turin Brakes have a bit if a whining sound to them, but the songs are very well written and powerful. I wish they had more success in the US, but when you are on a label based outside the country, it’s rare. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHq423pH10Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpW9MrskUVk
There are no U’s.
Something I stumbled on today was the Puppini Sisters out of Italy. http://www.thepuppinisisters.com/ Hilarious! They do a good job, very cute.
This isn’t music, but I found it interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5JO8GaG7c
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