John's New Music Blog

Today's featured band is London's Summer Camp, an indie synthpop band that's just dropped a preview of a track from their upcoming summer album. The track, I Want You, is a retro-80's track that lends itself to the inevitable DJ remix version, and will be the hit of the indie summer.

Today's Fresh New Music featured band is Manchester's Stella Marconi, a three piece band consisting of James Bagshaw on guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Smith on bass and backing vocals and Sophia Hardman on drums.


Stella Marconi have three tracks up on Soundcloud, the  first one I'm featuring is "One Off Free," a driving track that evokes the Manchester punk scene of the late 1970's and brings it forward to the 21st Century. There are elements of The Clash, Sex Pistols and The Ramones audible in "One Off Free" and I highly recommend it as an example of the pre-Joy Division punk sound that was taking shape in Manchester. If I didn't know any better, I would think these guys were at The Gig to End All Gigs.

Stella Marconi is unsigned and is currently posting their tracks on Soundcloud. They are performing in the Manchester area in February and March (Click here for gigs and dates).

Today's Fresh New Music is from Nashville's The Shakespeares, a collaboration of Merry Ellen Kirk (a Fresh New Music alumnae) and Aaron Krause that's produced some of the most charming indie folk-pop that I've heard in a long time. The Shakespeares released their first EP on February 1 and I've been enjoying it very much. Merry Ellen has a bit of Sarah McLaughlin in her voice and Aaron reminds me Glen Hansard from The Frames and The Swell Season (you know him better as "Guy" from the film Once).


I can't give you a single track that stands out from the others because they're all excellent. Each is a just a little bit different and all five complement each other. If I had to pick two that I would call favorites, I'd pick Tonight and The Catchers of Time (this one will be big at weddings and anniversary parties).

Here's a streaming version of the EP from their Bandcamp site.


The Shakespeares will be appearing on Vanderbilt University's WRVU-FM on February 9 at 8pm Central. If you're in the Nashville area, they will be playing The Listening Room on February 12 as the opening act for GreeneLight (Click here for details).

The EP is available for download from iTunes and directly from the band via Bandcamp (buy it from the band, they get a bigger cut and it's cheaper) and the CD will be shipping on March 1. These are two very talented individuals who've released a gem of an EP and I'm looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.

You know Portland, Oregon, the breeding ground for such bands as The Dandy Warhols and Mackintosh Braun. Well Portland has produced another excellent band that calls itself Anne, and they're the Fresh New Music featured band of the day. The band exemplifies the fuzzy sound of lo-fi shoegaze and is best listened to as loud as you (or your neighbors/roommates/passengers) can stand.


The five tracks from the Demo EP are all excellent and I highly recommend "Punk Bike" for its retro-modern  Joy Division influenced guitar and bass hooks. Take a listen, listen takers:




Both the Demo and Mixtape are available for download from the band's website. Click here to download the Demo and here for the Mixtape. If you like them, tell your friends and if you're up in the Pacific Northwest, be sure to catch them in a club near you. They will be releasing a split 7" with American Gods on Austin, Texas' Withdrawal Records. No release date yet, but check back for updates.

Today's Fresh New Music artist is the 20 year old Mongolian raised and current Nashville resident Merry Ellen Kirk. Merry Ellen is putting out some of the freshest indie pop I've heard recently and I think she's certainly worthy a listen. Her current project, The Firefly Garden, is filled with indie pop goodness that you should certainly give a listen to and support: Merry Ellen is raising money to release the album and for a small (or large) donation, you can help make her project a reality.



Here's a video of Merry Ellen performing her song Mosaic on a local Nashville music program:

I encourage you to check out Merry Ellen's music and if you like her songs, help support the release of the Firefly Garden and tell your friends. She'll be touring around Tennessee and the Southeast (and SXSW) in March, so if you get chance, check her out live and in the flesh (click here for tour dates). I'm looking forward to hearing more from her in the coming years.

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.