Top three favourite bands that you discovered in the last three years

Chazz Michael Michaels

Meaning, if you only found out about The Beatles last week, you can count them in. Also, write a little about why you like them. Hopefully we will all be introduced to something new.

Mine would be:

Grizzly Bear - Veckatamist is amazing good mix of jazz and rock, their new stuff is sounding good too. Probably my favourite band right now.

Midlake - Van Occupanther was great nice mellow acoustic 70s feel to it, I also loved The Courage of Others, it's quite dark and mysterious, although lots of people seem to dislike it. Don't like their earlier stuff, though.

Fleet Foxes - I think their newer album is even better than the first. The harmonies are the obvious draw, but his lyrics were great on the new album also, as well as the diverse instruments used. Awesome band live also.

Seans_Username

Mojo Gogo: They're a new enough indie rock band from Donegal. I know a lad in college in my course who was really involved with them and kept hearing about them, then I listened to a few of their songs. HOLY MOLY I fell in love with them. Missed out on a few of their gigs (which are supposed to be one of the best around) sadly. Someone said that they 'Will have much larger testi's than Two Door Cinema Club will ever have' :pac: So if you like TDCC then they're worth a listen. They've made me realise that there is some serious talent out there, particularly in Ireland.

Don't have a go at me cos these next 2 bands are very popular and they would have been easy to 'discover', I could have liked a few songs and left it at that but I listened to nearly everything they had to offer. Which is why I included them

Queens of the Stone Age: I knew about the songs they released (Go With the Flow, No One Knows, etc.) but last summer I had a listen to some of the older stuff and they are my favourite band going. So much energy and just brilliant lyrics (particularly You Can't Quit Me Baby). Then I looked at live performances and they looked unreal. This was about 2 months after they were in Ireland :mad: I'm a huge fan of Josh Homme mainly. The man is just one of the coolest guys in music. I watched this video where he has food poisoning but still manages to play brilliantly despite almost getting sick beforehand. Such committment makes me respect him even more.

I don't know wheather I can count Arctic Monkeys for my last one. I bought Whatever People Say... back in 06 or 07 but I never payed much attention after that. I did my leaving cert last year and I used that album cover to talk about smoking for my French oral. I was listening back to it and realised how great it was (The View From the Afternoon is just brilliant. What a way to start an album). The songs about going out to night clubs and getting hammered didn't mean anything to me a few years ago, but I could identify with it last year. After that I listened to everything I could. All 4 albums, some stuff before Whatever People Say... and a lot of b-sides. Well worth it. They have some great stuff and they really have changed since they became big. In a good way too.
I don't like the attitudes people have towards them. Some seem to have a 'hipster' opinion about them, that the newer stuff is better because it's not radio friendly. Others think they should go back to the first album. Me, I'm happy with whatever direction they go in, it seems to create decent songs

smokedeels

Silkworm

Silkworm

Silkworm

What was wrong with me? I only heard them for the first time last year. That bass sound..... it's so good and they wrote a song about Ice Station Zebra.

Temaz

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem

SilverScreen

^ You should really put more thought into it

Great idea for a thread by the way. My three favourite bands that I discovered in the last three years are...

Yo La Tengo. I was aware of them for a few years beforehand but when I finally got around to actually listening to them I was blown away. To me they are almost like the perfect band, and perfection in music is practically impossible. They have had a career lasting 28 years and counting, they have never released a bad album, they always do whatever the fuck they want to do and they have never sold out. Their music is very wide-reaching from straight-forward indie-rock, to folk, to experimental noise, to instrumental ambient music and still retaining that unique Yo La Tengo touch.

The Field Mice. Man, very few bands can do melancholy like The Field Mice. They're probably one of the main bands responsible for taking indie-pop from the jangly, C86 sound and injecting it with electronic influences and also giving it a nice widescreen feel. They only lasted a few years from 1987 to 1991 but their influence is very noticeable on bands like Belle & Sebastian, The Radio Dept., The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, basically any indie band that is trying to sound poppy and dreamy at the same time.

Loop. I haven't taken any psychedelic drugs in the last few years, but I'm just dying to drop a few tabs and trip balls to these guys. It was a toss up between these guys and Spacemen 3, but Loop just seem more consistent and take your mind to some unique places when you listen to their albums. They use minimalism and repetition to brilliant effect and show what can be achieved with them. A mind-blowing band.

Stompbox

Grizzly Bear for me also. Was introduced to them through Veckatimest despite it being their third album but it's utterly enchanting. Delicate, lush harmonies; intricate and ornate instrumentation; and a thorough understanding of tension and release made that the finest album of the last three years or so. The two recent cuts from their upcoming LP sound very promising indeed.

Invested some effort into checking out Wild Beasts' first two albums after being blown away by the intro track to 'Two Dancers'. A very special band indeed; some people find the lead singers' quasi-operatic warblings polarising, I think it's paralysingly pretty.

A band that I was always familiar with during my childhood but only explored in my late teens would be Blur. I was in the library in Drogheda getting materials for my Leaving Cert History coursework and I stumbled upon the Blur Best Of and Dare by the Human League. Suffice to say, Dare never even left its case after I gave the Blur CD. I devoured their back catalogue after that intro and the sheer scope of styles and sounds that their music encompassed stunned me. Damon Albarn is one of music's truly great omnivores and if your image of Blur involves Country Houses and Parklifes then the latter half of their discography will challenge that view indeed.

smokedeels

Zero1986 wrote: »

^ You should really put more thought into it

Great idea for a thread by the way. My three favourite bands that I discovered in the last three years are...

Yo La Tengo. I was aware of them for a few years beforehand but when I finally got around to actually listening to them I was blown away. To me they are almost like the perfect band, and perfection in music is practically impossible. They have had a career lasting 28 years and counting, they have never released a bad album, they always do whatever the fuck they want to do and they have never sold out. Their music is very wide-reaching from straight-forward indie-rock, to folk, to experimental noise, to instrumental ambient music and still retaining that unique Yo La Tengo touch.

They never clicked with me until I seen them play live. It was an amazing experience, they opened with "pass the hatchet i think i'm goodkind".

That song is one of the best opening tracks I can imagine, the repetitive bass line plodding along capturing the audience in its groovy spell while Ira Kaplan delivers a jaw-dropping 10 minutes+ of guitar f**king that projects this wonderful symbiotic relationship between man and his guitar. The girl I went to the gig with admitted to being slightly aroused by the sight of him playing his guitar during the song, I didn't blame her.

They probably followed that track with a more conventional indie-pop tune like Stockholm Syndrome and it still fit, even though, on paper, it just should not. Sometimes the only common ground with their songs is that infections sense of belief and enjoyment about what they do.

kunst nugget

I'll try and keep it a bit varied and list different acts from some of the different types of music I listen to.

Justin Townes Earle:
Son of Steve Earle and a fantastic talent in his own right. A purveyor of rootsy Americana that is just quality. Playing this September in Whelans. The ticket is bought and I can't wait.

Death Cab for Cutie:
I always dismissed them because of the name but I got the Postal Service album a couple of years ago and through that I got into Death Cab for Cutie. Narrow Stairs is a fantastic album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq-yP7mb8UE

George Fitzgerald:
An absolutely fantastic producer who has really come into his own over the last couple of years. He blends a lot of different genres together to make something uniquely his own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5PBJmmMD58

old hippy

BLK JKS - South African rock band, bit proggy in parts but that's no bad thing in my book

The Slits - British punk band who may not have been as outrageous as the Pistols or as respected as the Clash but I finally bought one of their albums and am really impressed by the attitude

Hanggai - Chinese/Mongolian band who play a mixture of folk/punk and (yes!) throat singing. Absolutely stunning live!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Airborne Toxic Event

I heard two of their songs on a TV show I was watching and they were kind of catchy so I looked them up to find out more and I found this video on youtube from their live DVD and I was hooked. ( I know it's a cover of someone else's song, but their own songs are all great too.) I'm a sucker for a band that uses strings in their music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CKat0z07kw

The Gaslight Anthem

I saw these guys first on BBC's coverage of Glastonbury the year Bruce Springsteen came on stage to perform with them. If he hadn't I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered showing any of their set and I'd still have no idea who they were, so thanks for that Bruce

My fave from their latest album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2RSKSYIXKY

Josh Ritter

I know, I know! He's been huge in Ireland for years, how could I only be getting into him now? Well, here's how. Way back, 2003 maybe, there was a TV show on RTE called Love Is The Drug and each episode had a different song playing over the end credits. One night there was this great song, but I had no idea who it was singing it. I kind of forgot about it for ages and then when I joined boards.ie I saw there was a "what's that song" thread and I thought what the hell? So I described it as best I could and luckily enough someone knew exactly what I was talking about and it was "Kathleen" by Josh Ritter
So I listened to that, and then I clicked on the next video, and the next one, and the next one and so on and so forth until I was appalled at myself for not knowing who he was sooner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbCPDHZG2W4

Technocentral

1. Metronomy
2. Grizzly Bear
3. Steely Dan

Brinimartini

You should check out Pierce Turners new cd.
He's a New York based Wexford man who is a
musical genius.

http://www.pierceturner.com

neil_18_

Electric Light Orchestra - Hadn't heard of them (had heard Mr. Blue Sky but didn't know it was them) until Aslan covered Telephone Line in 2009. Became one of my favourite bands since! Love the melody in their music, and the singer is excellent. Love it.

City and Colour - Previewed the song Little Hell because I saw the album on itunes home page. Absolutely love Dallas Green's voice.

The Smiths - Always knew who they were, but had never listened to them. Took a chance and downloaded their greatest hits after hearing This Charming Man. Great lyrics, and even in songs with sad meanings , you can stilll tap your feet to them!

JamJamJamJam

I'm bad at favourites... Eh.. Okay these area all from within the past year:

Frightened Rabbit - Where do I begin? The lyrics are perfect and really nicely, am.. unadorned. LOVE the references within songs to other songs. The music fits the, eh, simple honesty of the lyrics perfectly... And Scottish accents!! On top of that, Scott is a legend! Seeing them twice next month

Pearl Jam - I think the first thing that drew me to them was Eddie's voice, which is the business. Ten is an astounding album! Their live concerts (old and new) look fantastic.. From Youtube...!

James Vincent McMorrow (this one was nearly Villagers!) - Fantastic voice. Just get the album Early in the Morning, it's wonderful! Really hope to see him some time, maybe within the next year or so!





Okay I just realised I forgot 'Battles' and I have to include them too! Their music is so.. fun, interesting, exciting, entertaining, rhythmic (John Stanier being a beast on drums), and weird! I gambled on buying Mirrored in HMV one day without knowing anything about them, just because I liked the cover. Paid off big big big time! I'd love to see them some time, too!

Mister Jingles

I've always know about these bands bar the third but have only started to listen to their music properly the past couple of years.

Aha - Only starting to get into them lately even though I've always know of their song Take On Me. I downloaded one of their greatest hits album recently and with any album I only ever end up liking a few songs. As I said in another thread last week I would consider them to be one of the top 10 bands from the 80's

The Beatles - Like Aha I've always knew they existed (how could anyone not tbh) but was never fond of them when I was younger, in fact I always used to get them and the Bee Gees mixed up, I laugh back on that now. Anyway looking at my iTunes library I only have 13 songs of theirs, most of them from the late 60's (Abbey Road in particular). From getting into them I also got into George Harrison and would listen to him almost as much.

The Doors - This is one I only literally discovered no more then two years ago. How I got into them ? The movie which was on RTE one night, since then I've listened to them ever since. I've always know there songs from watching the likes of Forrest Gump but never knew who sang them. Following that I also discovered that ''Light My Fire'' was one of their songs and not Will Young's. Looking at it now he really did ruin that song. :rolleyes: Riders on The Storm imo has to be there finest piece of music.

RikkFlair

M83, Broken Social Scene, Beach House

Cruel Sun

Pixies, Sparklehorse, Silversun Pickups.

Cherry Blossom Girl

The Civil Wars - Discovered them last year when someone know put up a cover of one of their songs on YouTube. I looked up a few of their songs then and was instantly hooked. They're one of my very favourite bands now, definitely my favourite duo. Going to see them live in October which I am very excited about.

Mazzy Star - Mazzy Star were a band I was vaguely aware of but had largely forgotten about until about two months ago, when I was linked to one of Hope Sandoval's (Mazzy Star's singer) solo albums. Since then, I've been listening to Mazzy Star almost every day. I love the dreamy vibe of their music and I find I can relate to a lot of their songs too, which always makes me like a band more. Plus, Hope Sandoval's voice is just amazing and it holds some special memories for me, so that plays into it as well. I always end up forming silly emotional attachments to certain bands based on past experiences.

The Black Keys - I discovered The Black Keys last year and have been a fan of theirs since. I'm still working my way through their past albums, they are a little different to what I usually listen to, but I think that's why I like them. That and listening to them always cheers me up if I'm in a funk. I like that they don't seem to take themselves too seriously.

Rothko

The Flaming Lips, Funkadelic and The Monks

Cosmicfox

Florence and the machine:Definitely the best vocalist I've ever heard and one of the few I actually think is better live. I Love how 'big' the music sounds with all the layered choirs and huge array of instruments the machine uses. I like big booming voice instead of whispery ones so Florence is perfect for me. Her and the band's song writing skills are very, very good with odd,violent lyrics like in bird-song' to more upbeat songs like Spectrum. Even their early stuff is worth a look, though it's a million miles away from what they are today, more raw. You either love them or hate them I find. Would appreciate any recommendations of similar bands.


Emilie autumn: Only artist in the victoriandustrial genre that she made up so far. She is a violin protege who has mixed classical music with industrial sounds using her electric violin and has songs filled with literary references to writers like Shakespeare and Tennyson. Most of her songs are about the suffering women faced in Victorian era asylums, abuse and revenge and can be heavy going. Havn't found anyone else quite like her.

Niki and the dove:Perfect pop from Sweden, kind of like a less serious, happier version of Fever ray vocal-wise. Takes a bit of getting used to though.

magma69

Minotaur Shock - Signature album: Maratime

Tv On The Radio - Signature album: Dear Science

Eluvium- Signature album: Copia

Potential-Monke

Eluveitie
The brother and I like to have a few tins and listen to good old fashioned metal every now and again, and with his extensive knowledge of the bands from back in the day, we were never short of music to listen to. And one night, he amazingly came across Inis Mona by Eluveitie (he was very intoxicated and listening to some Irish Music). A bit of a Google, and one listen to Setlon and Sepitermal Embers, we were hooked. A savage blend of metal and Irish sounding music (they're Swiss).

Alestorm
Again, while listening to Anthrax - Time, one of the suggestions was Alestorm - Shipwrecked. Listened to it, and bang, hooked. Such fantastic drinking music, catchy cheesy lyrics, excellent mix of styles, and it's Pirate based!!! What's not to love? Yeah, they're not the best singers, but for drinking tins and having a laugh, great stuff.

Korpiklaani
Soon thereafter, after having a good few listens to Fintroll - Trollhammeren (again, thanks to YouTube suggestions), the brother stumbled across Korpiklaani - Happy Little Boozer. More googling and nearly every song they have is the best drinking music, fact. Finnish folk metal, by a band who started as a trad band and were spurred on to do metal thanks to the inspiration by Finntroll. Honestly, can listen to them for 6 hours solid and not get sick of them. We took over a pub in Dublin one night as they had 13 Korpiklaani songs on the jukeybox, and i put them all on twice. Great stuff!

RadioNowhere

Seans_Username wrote: »

Mojo Gogo: They're a new enough indie rock band from Donegal. I know a lad in college in my course who was really involved with them and kept hearing about them, then I listened to a few of their songs. HOLY MOLY I fell in love with them. Missed out on a few of their gigs (which are supposed to be one of the best around) sadly. Someone said that they 'Will have much larger testi's than Two Door Cinema Club will ever have' :pac: So if you like TDCC then they're worth a listen. They've made me realise that there is some serious talent out there, particularly in Ireland.

Mojo Gogo are brilliant. I've seen them a few times.. Brilliant fun, love them guys

Temaz wrote: »

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem

Yay for TGA love.. Why won't they come to Ireland when there is clearly love for them here

old hippy

Gogol Bordello. Reminds me of The Pogues at their most raucous

VNP

very few of these recomendations interest me, im out of sync with boards members musical taste :P

Klaas

The Black Keys - I found The Black Keys two years ago and have been a fan of them since then. I have listened all their older albums and i have seen them live once. Great band. Great music

School Of Seven Bells - Found them two years ago. An electronic, dream pop band from NY. I listened accidentaly on the radio a song from their second album and i was hooked by their sound. They were formed at 2007 and since then, they have released 3 albums.

Grimes - Grimes is not a band. It's a single artist. She's very talented. Found her this year. I listened on the radio her hit single (called Nightmusic) from her latest album and i was mesmerised by the music and her voice. She's a dream pop, synthpop artist. Great sound, great music. She writes her music and lyrics at most of her songs. Amazing girl.

SilverScreen

Klaas wrote: »

School Of Seven Bells - Found them two years ago. An electronic, dream pop band from NY. I listened accidentaly on the radio a song from their second album and i was hooked by their sound. They were formed at 2007 and since then, they have released 3 albums.

Grimes - Grimes is not a band. It's a single artist. She's very talented. Found her this year. I listened on the radio her hit single (called Nightmusic) from her latest album and i was mesmerised by the music and her voice. She's a dream pop, synthpop artist. Great sound, great music. She writes her music and lyrics at most of her songs. Amazing girl.

School Of Seven Bells are great, although all their albums seem to have a lot of filler. But when they're good, they're really good, especially on songs like 'Half Asleep', 'ILU' and 'The Night'.

I don't get the whole deal with Grimes. I've listened to Visions but she comes across as the musical equivalent of candy-floss; she looks nice, the music sounds kind of sweet, but at the end of the day just seems like a puff of nothing.

mobil 222

The feelers
Crash Parallel
Touchstone

mobil 222

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOU_WbUIoy8

This has to be classed as one that got away...

mobil 222

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eVRCdONe6c

old hippy

Want to add Liquid Liquid to the list. Just got their awesome compilation of EPs and whatnots they put out early 80s.

Basically, NY band - sounds like a mix of PIL/Talking Heads/Can - percussive heavy new wave dance. Check out the track "Cavern" for a very familiar riff sampled by Grandmaster Flash...

Herb Powell

Pixies- no explanation needed, legends.

And So I Watch You From Afar- Irish post rock-y madness

I'll eat your face- from Cork, inventors of "SUPERGRIND", some hilariously great stuff

Ellian

The Cave Singers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnG7RcGBzA

Edward Sharpe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LF2HaXf58g

Melody Gardot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp4S2d4lRPE

stateofflux

Cosmicfox wrote: »

Emilie autumn: Only artist in the victoriandustrial genre that she made up so far. She is a violin protege who has mixed classical music with industrial sounds using her electric violin and has songs filled with literary references to writers like Shakespeare and Tennyson. Most of her songs are about the suffering women faced in Victorian era asylums, abuse and revenge and can be heavy going. Havn't found anyone else quite like her.

you would probably like Rasputina...they started that genre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVsF2whuzIM

==============================

my three..

Scars (forgotten scottish band that support joy division and got ripped off by duran duran)

Bat4lashes

Grimes

Cosmicfox

^I've been listening to them for ages as well, really good band. They don't seem to be as heavy though.