back to new music

Some good new music I've found recently while foraging on the internet:


The Duke & The King "Nothing Gold Can Stay" - this is a band centered around Simone Felice (drummer in The Felice Brothers).  The music is nothing like The Felice Brothers' rambling shanty-Americana, this is much more of a singer-songwriter effort circa late 60's/ early 70's.  Very mellow, he's got a good voice and the instrumentation is low-key.  Nice harmonies too.  Best tune is "If You Ever Get Famous".  Reminded me a little of The Tyde too, although not quite as poppy.  


Smoove & Turrell "Antique Soul" - in keeping with the "&" in band names, this is a band from the UK that incorporates soul and electronica.  The disc is great, and John Turrell has a great blue-eyed soul voice.  It's very "English-soul", which is to say it's inspired by American soul and r&b, but this isn't similar to Amy Winehouse or Duffy....it's very original in it's way and highly recommended.  Although they do a version of the Yaz song "Don't Go" which I could do without.  Best track is "Beggarman", video below.


Minus The Bear "Omni" - have heard of these guys for a while, an indie band from Seattle.   They have a few albums out, and their new one (Omni) just came out.  It's good pop music, lots of synthesizers and the lead vocalist has a strong voice.  But after a few listens the simplistic lyrics start to wear a bit, and it's a little too synthesizer-heavy for me to listen to all the way through at once.  But the music has energy, and I can see this becoming a big disc for them. I didn't realize these guys were so pop oriented, sort of like a bit more indie/electronic Maroon 5 .  Pretty slick too, don't know if I mean that in a good way.  Below is a video of them performing "My Time" at South by Southwest...sounds very different from the album version.