Artist: Liars

Hails From: Brooklyn, Los Angeles

Musical Style: Art Rock, Punk, Experimental

For Fans of: Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, Radiohead

Scissor

Why you should check them out:

If the apocalypse were slated to begin tomorrow, Liars would very well be the band to sing us out, offering a challenging omen of darkness to come.  Their at-times-blistering yet always atmospheric sound captures all the grit and decay that surrounds us.  However, while the joy may at first seem difficult to discern, the seizure they induce may well be mistaken for a raucous, celebratory dance, straight into the afterlife.

Background Check:

In 2000, Los Angeles art students Aaron Hemphill and Angus Andrew relocated to Brooklyn, NY where they joined Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson to form Liars.  Less than a year later, the incredibly named debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top was released, instantly tagging them with the experimental post punk rock label that would follow them for years.

Liars went on to release three more albums as a trio (Julian Gross replacing Albertson and Noecker), each one expertly crafting thumping bass and roiling guitar around pre-recorded programmed drum beats and vicious pockets of noise.  Their most recent effort Sisterworld landed this past March.

Sisterworld finds them back in a Los Angeles that has been permanently stripped of its Hollywood sheen. “No Barrier Fun” is a carnivalesque death march blending chimes and strings with an eeriness that leaves you sinking, while “Proud Evolution” buries within it a warning to be careful.  Liars throw a lot at us with Sisterworld and while they may lack the immediacy of many bands today, their unique blend of spit-personality punktronica burrows slowly underneath and will get you in the end.

– Eric Quist

Where you can find them in cyberspace:

Myspace

Official Website

On Tour:

Jambase



Artist: Tame Impala

Hails From: Perth, Australia

Musical Style: Psychedelic, rock

For Fans of: Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Black Keys

Solitude Is Bliss

Why you should check them out :

Sometimes it’s nice to find a band that’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. There are a lot of bands pioneering news sounds, let them do their thing; it’s nice to go back to a familiar sound every once in a while. Tame Impala offer listeners a new take on a genre that’s is reliably awesome: psychedelic rock. They’re not concerned with updating psychedelia with electronic bells and whistles (I’m looking at you Animal Collective), they are a true throwback to the origins of the psychedelic sound. Their sound evokes ripped jeans, psychotropic mushrooms and ironed hair. In case you missed the late 60’s/early 70’s, Tame Impala is giving you a chance to (re)live it.

Background Check:

The two founders of Tame Impala are Kevin Parker (vocals/guitar) and Dominic Simper (bass). They toyed with bedroom recordings of their psych alternative sound from 1999 to 2007. Then they discovered Myspace. They posted their songs, it struck a nerve with a young audience and soon enough Tame Impala became a highly sought after band. In 2008 they were the prize in a label bidding war, and eventually signed to Modular.

They released an EP in September 2008 and then their full-length debut in June 2010 . The blogosphere has shown plenty of love to these Aussie’s rockers, Pitchfork gave them their stamp of approval with a Best New Music, and several smaller blogs have jumped on board as well. They opened up for The Black Keys and MGMT this year, and their popularity only seems to rising. It’s amazing what a recycled sound can do these days.

–Dawson Ludwig

Where you can find them in cyberspace:

myspace

official website

On Tour:

jambase

Artist: Caribou

Hails From: Dundas, Ontario, Canada; London, England

Musical Style: Electronic, Indie Rock

For Fans of: Animal Collective, Stereolab, DJ Shadow, Dntel

Odessa

Why you should check them out:

Canadian-born electronic musician Dan Snaith is a one-man show: if you hear a sound on one of his tunes, chances are excellent that he played it, sang it, sampled it, or stole it. As both Manitoba and now Caribou, he’s managed to artfully genre hop his way through several critically acclaimed albums, culminating with 2010’s Swim.

Background Check:

Dan Snaith’s work as Manitoba gained instant attention in the electronic world. After moving to London and releasing his second album, 2003’s Up in Flames, Snaith introduced his music to the wider public.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Dictator’s frontman Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba sued him for trademark infringement. Undeterred, Snaith reemerged as Caribou to release The Milk of Human Kindness [2005, Domino], a spirited but uneven affair that combines elements of indie rock, trip-hop, and Krautrock—and a shout-out to electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick.

Next up were his two strongest efforts, both released for Merge: 2008’s Andorra and this year’s Swim. The former is a little more shoegaze-y psych, the latter a bit dancier, but both exhibit Snaith’s tasteful ear and talent for alchemy: an innate ability to combine disparate layers of sound into something fresh, melodic, and interminably hummable.

Caribou shows include a full live band. The current lineup features Snaith on vocals and percussion, backed up by Ryan Smith, Brad Weber, and John Schmersal.

–Matthew Dube

Where you can find them in cyberspace:

official website

myspace

On Tour:

jambase