John's New Music Blog

Today's featured band is Sheffield's Standard Fare, a three piece indie pop band comprised of Emma Kupa on bass/vocals, Danny How on guitar/vocals and Andy Beswick on drums that's been hiding from me for the past year. I stumbled across them while wandering through the various Indie Top whatever lists and they kept showing up near the top. It's a shame that I've only just discovered them and I've been deprived of their indie pop goodness for the past 9 months.


The track I'm featuring is "Philadelphia" from their Sheffield Phonographic Corporation/Bar None Records debut, The Noyelle Beat. The song is about a girl who has to wait a year to see her boyfriend in Philadelphia, but she'd like to see him sooner and she'd like for him to come to her but knows he won't. It's a charming song that's coupled with a charmingly creative video.



The Noyelle Beat is out now  for download on Sheffield Phonographic Corporation/Bar None Records at iTunes, Amazon and from the band.

I'm looking forward to seeing Standard Fare when they come to Philadelphia. Hopefully I won't have to wait all year.

I'm starting a new featured called "Fresh New Music" for bands so new they are still in bubble wrap. Today's band is an indie garage/punk band from Finland named Big Wave Riders.There's a lot of good music coming from Finland these days like a previous featured band, French Films and this band is no exception. Big Wave Riders found their way onto my site by simply sending an email with a link to their Soundcloud and You Tube pages and asking me to check them out. I did and they made the cut and in the process created a new feature.

The first track is a live version of "It's Funny Things Aren't Going to Change," an excellent indie pop track that sounds great live. This performance is from December 11 in Helsinki at Semifinal.


The second track is "Big Sound," a great track that is alternative radio ready.

Big Wave Riders - Big Sound by Big Wave Riders

I'm expecting an EP to follow sometime next year and I'm looking forward to seeing them live in the US soon.

As I noted on Wednesday, Swedish dreamscape band jj was scheduled to release a free mixtape for download on Christmas Eve. The mixtape, entitled Kills, is now available and according to Pitchfork, this may or may not be the cover.


The tracklist for this ten track Christmas present is:

01 Still
02 Die Tonight
03 Kill Them
04 Kill You
05 New Work
06 Believe
07 Pressure Is a Privilege
08 Angels
09 Boom
10 High End

Click here to be taken to Sincerely Yours Records to download. Don't wait, download your copy today.

Merry Christmas!

Previously featured Swedish dreamscape band jj has released the video for "Let Them," their take on T.I. and Akon. It's exactly what you'd expect, crisp imagery to accompany the crisp melody.



You can also watch the video in High Res over at Sincerely Yours. jj is also releasing a mixtape on Christmas Eve so check back for the link.

(H/T to Gorilla vs. Bear)

Greetings from Wyoming! Yes, I'm in Wyoming and while it might be Christmas week, the music doesn't stop so I've picked a few traditional Christmas songs that have been given the Indie Rock treatment and a few original songs that are unlike the usual Christmas songs.

The first track is Oxnard, California-based Catwalk's version of The Chipmunk's 1959 classic, "Christmas Don't Be Late." Fresno's contribution to pop culture is successfully given the Indie treatment.

After a brief hiatus to see a few shows of bands that I've featured in the blog, I'm back with a new discovery, jj, a Swedish indie pop band that with a lead singer who's voice cuts through the listener like a cold winter wind off the North Sea. They released their first full-length album in 2009, No. 2, to critical acclaim and followed it up with No. 3. jj isn't your typical Swedish pop band, if all you know about the Swedish music scene is ABBA, The Cardigans and Ace of Base, jj is something quite different. They are very atmospheric and their songs are crisp and very unique. How unique you ask, well listen to the three selections and see for yourself.

The first track from No. 3 is "Let Go".

"Let Go" by jj from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

The second and third tracks are where jj comes at you from a completely different angle, covers of popular hip-hop tracks. The first is "I'm the One/Money on My Mind," a mash-up of The xx's "Intro" and Lil Wayne's "Money on My Mind." I admit, I have no idea who Lil Wayne is, but if you're a fan of indie dreamscape pop, you won't know that this is a hip-hop track turned into dreamscape.

Here are some pictures from the Peter Hook show on December 2. Enjoy.

Pictures and a mini-review of tonight's Badly Drawn Boy will be up later this week.
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The description "once in a lifetime" gets bandied about almost to the point where it's lost all meaning. But tonight I'm at a truly "once in a lifetime" event, Peter Hook, the bassist for the legendary band Joy Division has put together a backing band and is touring the US. He's performing Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures and also doing some other Joy Division and New Order songs. He's doing this, not for the money, but in memory his dear friend and band mate Ian Curtis. This is the first time these songs have been performed in the US by a member of Joy Division.

I'll have pictures up after the show. If you don't catch Peter Hook at any of his other dates in the US, you're missing a true "once in a lifetime" event because I don't think this will ever happen again.
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