Operator Please - Catapult

Operator Please are an Australian pop band, originating on the Gold Coast of Queensland, in 2005. Their current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Amandah Wilkinson, drummer Tim Commandeur, keyboardist Chris Holland, Ashley McConnell on bass guitar, and violinist Taylor Henderson.

The original members met and formed Operator Please as students of Elanora State High School in order to compete in the school's "Battle of the Bands" competition. After winning the contest, the five members, aged 17 to 19, started working on getting their name out through an independently produced EP, On the Prowl.

Second EP, Cement Cement, generated interest both locally and internationally, from a combination of word of mouth and exposure on the Australian youth radio network Triple J. Within months they had agreed a deal with Virgin/EMI Records for Australia, and for the UK with indie label Brille Records.

Debut album Yes Yes Vindictive was released in March 2008 followed by album GLOVES in April 2010. New single Catapult is the fifth single from their latest album.



Operator Please @ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

Source: Wikipedia

Chapel Club - Surfacing

Chapel Club is a British indie/alternative rock band from London.

Founder member and guitarist Michael Hibbert formed the first iteration of Chapel Club in late 2007. Hibbert had moved to London following the split of his former band and began writing new songs without a definite idea of when or if they would be heard.

When Michael met Liam Arklie (bass) and Liam introduced Alex Parry (guitar), his best friend since junior school, the core parts were in place. What the band needed now was a drummer and a frontman. Leeds-born Rich Mitchell (drums) and Londoner Lewis Bowman (vocals) provided the missing pieces.

The five-piece began to rehearse together and played a few early shows under the names Palace and, later, Golden Age. Soon, however, they decided to stop gigging and focus on writing and rehearsing instead. They also decided to change the band's name once again, as other groups were already using the 'Palace' and 'Golden Age' monikers. After much debate, Chapel Club were ultimately named as a reference to St. Luke’s Church, where the band practiced.

Since signing to Loog Records in early 2010 Chapel Club have had a productive twelve months. They have continued to wrestle plaudits from critics and the public, recorded their debut album with Paul Epworth and are recently hitting the road on the NME Radar tour.

New single Surfacing was originally to be the band’s debut single, but with question marks over copyright issues the track never hit the shops. The single is taken from debut album Palace , due to be released on January 31st.



Chapel Club @ Myspace, Facebook, Twitter

Source: Wikipedia, LastFM, Spotify

Tu Fawning - The Felt Sense

Tu Fawning is a project of Joe Haege and Corrina Repp. Both Haege and Repp have been playing in Portland and abroad for many years now. However, a mutual desire to achieve something outside the bounds of their other projects, 31Knots (Haege) and Corrina Repp (Repp), lead both of them to begin collaboration on each other's albums. This is when the ideas for what would become Tu Fawning began to take shape.

To the surprise of both of them, they found themselves crawling out of their respective shells to create a new and exciting process that was nowhere near its end. Once the decision had been made to start a full blown project together they recruited Toussaint Perrault and Liza Reitz, adding horns/guitar and piano/violin, respectively.

First single, The Felt Sense, taken from debut album Hearts on hold, is a haunting piece where heart-pulsing drums contrast with Repp's soulful vocal performance, glossing over lyrics about lost love.



Tu Fawning @ Facebook, Myspace

Source:Polyvinyl Records, LastFM

Teitur - You Never Leave L.A.

Teitur Lassen (pronounced [ˈtaitʊɹ]) is a singer-songwriter from the Faroe Islands. The word Teitur is Old Norse and means happy.

He started out in the Faroese pop/rock band Mark No Limits as its lead singer and songwriter. After quickly gaining a reputation at home, Teitur left the Faroe Islands for Copenhagen at the age of 17, finding both his voice and a succession of helping hands all over Europe and North America.

Universal released his first album, Poetry & Aeroplanes, in 2003, while Teitur found himself opening for Suzanne Vega, Glen Phillips, Aimee Mann, and John Mayer as well as playing over 300 shows through the following year.

In April 2006, Teitur parted ways with Universal due to months of legal problems and creative differences. His second album, Stay Under the Stars, was released in May 2006 in Scandinavia and produced by Martin Terefe (a-ha, Ron Sexsmith), with The Singer following two years later.

In the last few years Teitur's music has grown in a vaster, more mature and experimental direction. His long awaited follow up album, is called Let The Dog Drive Home and released in January 2011. Preceding the album, is single You Never Leave L.A.



Teitur @ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

Source: Worldnews, Wikipedia

Nightlands - All The Way

David Hartley is a guy who lives in Philadelphia and records music under the name Nightlands. Hartley is one of the busiest musicians in Philly’s indie-land, playing bass and guitar in BC Camplight, The War On Drugs and Buried Beds. But those projects already have songwriters in place, and Hartley was looking for an outlet for his own compositions.

His solo project Nightlands is quite literally a bedroom recording experiment. For years now, Hartley has gone to sleep with a Radio Shack standard cassette deck ready on his nightstand. The second he wakes, he records his first thoughts into a journal and transcribes them into songs that try to recapture their feeling, if not their meaning.

The music he creates is dreamy in the literal sense, using chiming strings and bubbling synths together with large choral vocal arrangements. New single All The Way is an ode to pain and reinvention. Written, recorded and mixed in one day and taken from the debut album Forget The Mantra.



Nightlands @ Facebook, Bandcamp, Twitter

Source: Pitchfork, Metro (US)

Work Drugs - Third Wave

Work Drugs is a Philadelphia based sedative-wave/smooth-fi project by Benjamin Louisiana (more instrumental/less vocal) and Thomas Crystal (more vocal/less instrumental).

Thomas met Ben in kindergarten class, but it wasn’t until they attended sailing school together that they fortified their musical friendship. Thomas and Ben bonded over traditional sailing shanties by the likes of Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald etc. When they overheard their schoolmate Joan humming along to Boz Scaggs, they had to invite her to work on some music with them and thus Work Drugs was formed.

Work Drugs claims to make music specifically for dancing, boating, yachting, sexting, and living. Or as they describe themselves on their Internet weblog: “Philadelphia’s premier Bat Mitzvah and Quinceanera party band.”

The band seems to be taking a pretty simple approach to getting their music out, by releasing a track with a video randomly, feeling out the response before planning their next move. No plans for touring, or even putting out a record, just setting loose their music.



Work Drugs @ Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Myspace

Source: Oystermag, Sonic Itch Music

Evan Voytas - Tomorrow Night We'll Go Anywhere

Evan Voytas is an LA-based singer/multi-instrumentalist. Throughout his high school years he traveled to Philadelphia to study with Acid Jazz luminaries Steve Giordano and Pat Martino. He continued his studies when he moved to New York at age 18, becoming interested in classical theory and atonalism.

His interest in jazz diminished as he became more reclusive, immersing himself in various religious texts and 70’s new age paperbacks. Disappearing in New Mexico for a time, he reemerged in New York and was recruited to play lead guitar for big name pop acts, touring the world playing arenas and the television circuit.

Three years later, Voytas returned to his roots and moved to a farmhouse on a dirt road in Pennsylvania where the solitude inspired him to start recording his debut EP. With influences ranging from T. Rex to Daft Punk, Evan’s music evolved into a new sound. He sings with a dreamy, incandescent falsetto that wraps around gauzy atmospherics and electronic beats, while synth-lines flutter across the compositions.

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Evan Voytas @ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

Source: Casine, LastFM

Curry & Coco - Top of the Pop

French duo Curry & Coco (Thomas Pliem and Sylvain Przybylski) make some real raw, analog, ElectroPop. They began playing together in 2006 in their hometown of Lille in Northern France. Close friends from early childhood, they acquired their moniker, Curry and Coco, from a Thai au pair who looked after them both.

Bored by the processed perfection of most modern recordings, they found an echo of the authenticity they craved in the music that flourished briefly in 1978, years before they were born. They fell in love with Devo, The Human League, the first Joy Division album and the electro rhythms of Giorgio Moroder. C&C are not big fans of the recent efforts of fellow countrymen like Daft Punk and Justice. “We’re not keen on French stuff. Too many samples, too much fashionable posing.”

Their commitment to doing things differently is obvious to hear, and it is fiercely, ideologically old-school. C&C use no samples, sequencers or backing tapes. Pliem plays live drums, while Przybylski employs only vintage analogue synthesisers.

Top of the Pop is the second single taken from debut album We Are Beauty which will be released in April 2010.



Curry & Coco @ Facebook, Blogspot, Myspace

Source: Electronic Rumors, LastFM

Keep Shelly in Athens - Hauntin' Me

Athenian duo Keep Shelly in Athens wants to keep things mysterious by releasing hardly any information about themselves. They are said to comprise of Sarah P, a 21-year-old studying acting and singing in the Greek capital, and her male partner: a self-styled "bedroom musician, remixer and music freak" called RPR (or "RΠЯ").

Keep Shelly in Athens makes a unique blend of laid back Balearic Beat music by gracefully combining hip-hop samples, aerial lounge music and hints of balearic house and downtempo.

Their debut EP In Love with Dusk was released in December 2010, and new single Hauntin' Me/Song to Cheer You Up will be released on 21 February.



Keep Shelly in Athens @ Myspace, Blogspot, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter

Source: Guardian, KEXP, Newdust

The Radio Dept. - Never Follow Suit

The Radio Dept. is an indie pop band from Sweden. The band was conceived in 1995 by schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson, who named the group after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (Swedish for The Radio Department).

Almered and Duncanson disbanded almost as soon as they'd found a name, but Duncanson revived the group three years later, teaming up with Martin Larsson. Bassist Lisa Carlberg, drummer Per Blomgren and keyboardist Daniel Tjader rounded out the lineup in 2001, and things took off for the group at that point. They sent a demo to Sonic magazine, which went on to feature the band on a CD sampler. Labrador Records heard them on the disc and signed them to their label.

Per Blomgren left the group prior to the release of debut album Lesser Matters and Lisa Carlberg departed after the release of This Past Week EP. According to their website, the band decided to use digital drum tracks and stated that for their second album they were "taking a new direction ... which wouldn't require a member that played bass guitar."

The Radio Dept. have released three full length albums, and a series of singles and EPs. New single Never Follow Suit appears on the Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010 collection which they will be releasing January 25th.



The Radio Dept. @ Myspace, Facebook

Source: Allmusic, Wikipedia

Foster The People - Helena Beat

"Blessed with a knack for melody, boogie-time beats, and an ornate electronic detail, Foster The People craft a sound ideal for a fantasy backyard barbecue with The Strokes, Vampire weekend, MGMT and Daft Punk as guests." (NME)

Foster The People is a Los Angeles based band formed in October 2009 and made of up of Mark Foster (keyboards, guitar, lead vocals), Zach "Reazon" Heiligman (MPC), Mark Pontius (drums) and Cubbie Fink (bass, backing vocals).

The band had just been playing together for about six months when they released their first single Pumped Up Kicks in 2010. After the single erupted on the blogs, Foster the People ended up playing at the prestigious South by Southwest festival and was being called the "next big thing". The Guardian made them Band of the Day and they are listed 23rd on NME's Best New Bands of 2010.

Now, six-months later, the group released second single, Helena Beat, from the upcoming debut EP Pumped Up Kicks, out on January 25th.



Foster The People @ Twitter, Facebook, Myspace

Source: Fresnobee

Dearling Physique - Discipline Your Hands

Created in 2005, Dearling Physique was originally the solo vision of artist Domino. Performing a number of one man shows, in 2007 Domino released a now rare collection of songs entitled Young Laos Girl and the African Bees that he primarily arranged on a Yamaha Organ.

After a series of re-locations, Domino teamed up with guitarist Matt Vannelli. Under this newly formed duo, Domino continued writing and refining what became the Impressions of the Night EP, released on February 2009 as a free download through their website. That same year also introduced drummer Dave Sellner and keyboardist Sean O’Hea.

Dearling Physique is a hybrid of mysterious, sensual rhythms. Avant-garde but accessible, dark yet upliftin. The band manipulates genres, effortlessly gliding between ambient sounds and electronica, from alternative pop to soul, while defying preconceived notions of conventional music.

Discipline Your Hands is taken from the band’s first full length album Deadeye Dealer, released this month.



Dearling Physique @ Myspace, Facebook

Source: Dearling Physique

Destroyer - Kaputt

Daniel Bejar is an independent singer-songwriter from Vancouver. He has gained widespread popularity through his musical collaborations with indie-rock band The New Pornographers, but has released far more material as the frontman of his band Destroyer.

Over the ten-plus years that Bejar has been performing and recording as Destroyer, there have been numerous lineup changes and shifts within the artists he plays with. This ever-evolving shuffle of musicians has led some to consider Destroyer as a solo project, but Bejar has always insisted that he sees Destroyer as a band, with full contributions from his collaborators. He has said in interviews that he’s just never been good at the logistics of keeping a band together.

Bejar calls Destroyer's style "European Blues" and his lyric stylings are noteworthy for their cryptic poetry, which frequently vex and intrigue listeners. He openly borrows phrases from other artists and a variety of other sources.

Destroyer’s ninth studio album, Kaputt, will be released on January 25.



Destroyer @ Myspace, Facebook

Source: Wikipedia

Trophy Wife - Microlite

"The band grew from the three of us getting in late at night with some beers and a lot of weed, and trying to record the most satisfying melodies we could muster over an endless disco beat" (Ben Rimmer - Trophy Wife, source: 1FTP)

With sparse melodies, melancholic beats and lush, echoing vocals, Oxford trio, Trophy Wife - who describe their sound as "ambitionless office disco" - announce their arrival with a lingering whisper of great promise.

Trophy Wife released debut single Microlite on November 8th 2010 through Moshi Moshi. The song is about an everlasting journey: one by which you never arrive at a destination, but that somehow becomes perpetually fulfilling.



Trophy Wife @ Myspace, Blogspot

Source: I like music, 1FTP

Cinnamon Chasers - Two Hours Time

Cinnamon Chasers is a solo project of Russ Davies, nephew and son of Ray Davies and Dave Davies respectively, two founding members of The Kinks. Russ has strong musical roots and cites early pioneers like Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre and KLF as key influences.

Rather than create pretentious moody dance music Russ wants to create music that has an honest heart, good intentions and feels like a good friend. Cinnamon Chasers achieves this with a blend of crisp electronics, Pop based song structure and melodies, and an Indie feel.

After being offered three different record deals Cinnamon Chasers is being self-released on Modus Records. Single Two Hours Time has been released on November 15th.



Cinnamon Chasers @ Myspace, Facebook, Twitter

Source: Discogs, LastFM

Bernard Sumner, Hot Chip & Hot City - Didn't Know What Love Was

Sneaker company Converse has a fun little sideline going: Rounding up musical artists and getting them to record a song together to advertise Converse. They already recruited Best Coast, Kid Cudi, and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij to record the track All Summer.

Most recently, Converse has launched a new campaign celebrating music from the UK. They're kicking things off with the house-inflected track Didn't Know What Love Was, which features former New Order frontman Bernard Sumner, Hot Chip co-leaders Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, and dance duo Hot City.

2011 we'll get another of these UK-centric Converse tracks, this time from Blur's Graham Coxon, singer-songwriter Paloma Faith, and Bill Ryder-Jones, former guitarist for the Coral.



Source: Pitchfork

Lindbergh Palace - Days Don't Fade (Fear Of Tigers Mix)

Starting as a Brooklyn duo making remixes for the likes of Rihanna, Killers and Yoko Ono, Lindbergh Palace grew to become a four-piece band.

The band, Leah Hayes (also of Scary Mansion) , Jonathan Benedict (also of Jones Street Station), Josh Harris, and Alex Hamadey, is now creating their own dark electronic pop songs with ancient synthesizers, spacey guitars and house beats from old drum machines

Lindbergh Palace have released their self-titled debut EP in December and is available digitally on their site and on iTunes.



Lindbergh Palace @ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

Source: Indiemusicfilter, FTW!

CREEP - Days

World renowned DJ Lauren Flax has recently unveiled her new project with co-conspirator Lauren Dillard: the haunting new duo CREEP.

CREEP is very influenced by the house and UK bass scene, but at the same time their music is quite dreamy. They’re still working on tracks, but have attracted some notable guests.

Debut single Days (released on January 25th), will feature Romy Madley Croft from The xx. It's definitely more upbeat than The xx although there are certain similarities between the two groups in terms of their delivery and atmosphere.



CREEP @ Mysspace

Source: Hot cakes, LastFM

Selebrities - Audition

There has been a lot of 80s-fetishising pop of late, much of it excellent, but even in such grand company Selebrities stand out. (Source: Guardian)

Selebrities are Maria Usbeck, Jer Robert Paulin and Max Peterson, a three-piece from Florida via Buffalo and Brooklyn, and they sound like the xx playing faster disco-paced post-punk electronic pop music.

Jer was born in Buffalo and moved to Florida at age 11. He met Maria while attending art school in South Florida. They both had some similar and different tastes in music, but the 80′s era was something they could always agree on.

Around 2006 they started playing music together. It started as a side project for fun, recording music was very new for them. Those tracks sat on the computer for almost two years, until they decided to put them on Myspace to show friends, and got some pretty good responses from random people as well.

In 2009 they moved to New York, where Jer started working a retail job. Max was one of his co-workers, and was always playing amazing tracks through the speakers. When Jer found out it was Max his own music, he asked him to produce their stuff and sent him the myspace link. Max loved it and became the third member. Selebrities was born.

Debut EP Ladies Man Effect, released in November 2010, creates a world where dashingly voguish ‘summertime gothic’ electronic-pop mingles freely with the neon imagination of 1980’s New York. The EP is available as a free download from Cascine.



Selebrities @ Myspace, Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitter

Source: Addict Music, Cascine

Seeräuber Jenny - Push It Away

Seeräuber Jenny was founded by young Fran Barker in a leaky conservatory with a 4-track, a miscellany of instruments and a bag load of fuzzy influences like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine.

She began to trade songs with Neil Claxton, 250 miles away in Manchester, in an odd but fruitful creative email strategy. "Me or Neil will write something then send it to each other then we add something of our own and send it back," says Barker. "We just keep on like that until we’re both happy."

Push It Away is Seerauber Jenny's first ever release. Tracks for a 2011 full-length album are being wrapped now.

The video for their debut single, is an animated film which band member Neil said was "guided by lots of pictures Fran appropriated from her vast library of the weird and wonderful and slightly melancholy."



Seeräuber Jenny @ Myspace, Myspace

Source:Piccadilly Records, BBC, Direct Current

Promoe - Never Follow

Promoe (Mårten Edh, born Nils Mårten Ed) is a Swedish rapper, and member of Swedish hip hop group Looptroop Rockers, formed in Västerås, Sweden, 1992. He has a background of graffiti-writing and many of his songs deal with graffiti.

Promoe has released five albums, quite a few 12”s and also many singles with Astma&Rockwell.

He got regonition from the first of the albums but increasingly so with the second album, which made the charts properly, in Sweden and worldwide. The lyrics have always been political, though slightly shifting in nature.

His latest single Never follow is available as a free download at the Looptroop Rockers website.



Promoe @ Myspace, Twitter

Source: Wikipedia, LastFM