The World Cafe Next 20
Hear From 20 New Artists Featured On 'World Cafe: Next'
fromWXPN
This month, World Cafe celebrates its 20th anniversary as a showcase for music discovery, intimate interviews and live performances. While the 20 artists showcased in The Best of World Cafe are legendary, we want to get a head start on the 40th-anniversary celebration by looking ahead at who could step into the spotlight next.
World Cafe Next was designed to highlight up-and-coming artists; those who are on the precipice of buzz-band status or the cusp of becoming a household name. To bring you in on the fun, you're invited to check out this sampler of 20 bands to watch in the coming years. All the songs have been handpicked by the minds behind World Cafe, who seem to have a knack for predicting who will make it big. World Cafe Next alumni include Fleet Foxes, St. Vincent, Dawes and Peter Bjorn & John, who have put out some of the best and most exciting albums of 2011.
For the month of October, click above to download the entire sampler and read about the individual tracks below. And, in the comments section, tell us who you think has staying power from this list. You can say you were there when it all started.
This sampler is no longer available for download, but explore music from the artists below.
The World Cafe Next 20
1. Carter Tanton "Horrorscope"
Album: Freeclouds
From: Boston, Mass.
Rolling out a voice thick with wanderlust, Carter Tanton (also a member of Lower Dens and Tulsa) sounds like he's struggling to achieve some kind of clarity in his revelatory, often chaotic music. Amid fuzzed-out, ragged guitar rips and the bass drum's skull-shaking thump, "Horrorscope" is a dizzying journey into the region somewhere between jangly alt-country and basement indie rock.
Carter Tanton On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 4, 20112. Pink Skull, "Hot Bubblegum"
Album: Psychic Welfare
From: Philadelphia, Penn.
Continuing in the tradition of alternative dance-pop exemplified by The Dandy Warhols in the late '90s and early '00s, Pink Skull stakes its claim in effervescent electronic noiseplay. DJ/producer duo Julian Grefe and Justin Geller, known for their adventures in mixing and remixing, have expanded into a live band for which "programming" is still a necessary role.
Pink Skull On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 5, 20113. Canon Blue, "Indian Summer (Des Moines)"
Album: Rumspringa
From: Nashville, Tenn.
Scandinavia has had a positive influence on Daniel James, whose Nashville upbringing is eschewed in favor of stirring chamber-pop swells and airy gracefulness. He recorded in Copenhagen with his tourmates in Efterklang and Iceland's Amiina on strings (the latter group also provides the extraordinary string orchestration for Sigur Rós). A jauntily melodic conversation gives way to shimmering harmonies that cut straight to the heart.
Canon Blue On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 6, 20114. Superhuman Happiness, "Needles And Pins"
Album: The Physical EP
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Superhuman Happiness' "Needles and Pins" takes the whimsy of Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" and plops it on top of Phish-like laid-back vocal attitude and the joyful funk of James Brown. It's peppered with restrained brass flourishes, which sound as if any member of the horn section could easily spin into a complex improvisation if given the chance. Bandleader Stuart Bogie, saxophonist for the Afrobeat band Antibalas, evokes something truly uplifting, giving credence to a well-deserved band name.
Superhuman Happiness On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 7, 20115. Jonathan Wilson, "Rolling Universe"
Courtesy of the artistAlbum: Gentle Spirit
From: Forest City, N.C.
Jonathan Wilson recognizes himself as someone for whom place, both physical and spiritual, plays a large role in his music. A childhood among the Blue Ridge Mountains gave way to this album's recording in L.A.'s historic Laurel Canyon. It's an appropriate location for someone who sounds both at peace with the world and unsettled by it, as if coming to terms with the temporal reality of nature. His lullaby voice evokes images of Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith.
Jonathan Wilson On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 3, 2011Jonathan Wilson: Making Like Thoreau, In Song Oct. 10, 20116. Nikki Lane, "Gone, Gone, Gone"
Album: Walk of Shame
From: Greenville, S.C.
It's always refreshing to find a woman playing the part of the wayward rambler, and Nikki Lane happily assumes the role in her new record's ode to the South. She updates the great Wanda Jackson's slick rockabilly to reflect a more, well, modern take on relationships. In "Gone Gone Gone," hear the slide guitar whine at the just the right points, then bloom with a sound that's both sorrowful and freewheeling.
Nikki Lane On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 10, 20117. I Break Horses, "Hearts"
Album: Hearts
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck's synth-steeped post-rock is as entrancing as it is danceable, depending on which layer you're paying attention to. With pulsing beats and a constant forward drive, "Hearts" pounds along, always on the verge of spinning out of control.
I Break Horses On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 11, 20118. Still Corners, "Cuckoo"
Courtesy of the artistStill Corners.
Album: Creatures of an Hour
From: London, U.K.
Moody and mysterious, Still Corners evokes the suspense and ethereal romance of a classic film noir. The femme fatale in this case is vocalist Tessa Murray, her voice a pristine whisper which, when paired with the organ's drone, builds upon itself to achieve a spacey omnipresence. Even the guitar sounds otherworldly. Murray sings of obsession and losing her mind in the most beautiful possible way.
Still Corners On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 12, 20119. The Stepkids, "Santos & Ken"
Album: The Stepkids
From: Bridgeport, Conn.
It's possible to describe The Stepkids' explosive style by adding the word "psychedelic" any of the following genres: jazz, punk, soul, funk, even classical. With a shout-out to the best shape-shifting qualities of Beck's Midnite Vultures, The Stepkids' members take similar inspirations from Parliament, The Beatles, Rufus & Chaka Khan and Cake — and visit them all in a single song. Particularly delightful is the exuberant sax jam that comes in during the track's second verse.
The Stepkids On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 13, 201110. Dreamers Of The Ghetto, "State Of A Dream"
Album: Enemy/Lover
From: Bloomington, Ind.
Dreamers of the Ghetto would fit easily alongside Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp on the soundtrack to a big-budget '80s movie — in the part where the hero celebrates his victory, of course. Composed of brothers Jonathan and Luke Jones, and Luke's wife Lauren, the band's familial friendship shines through in the ease with which its members play off one another.
Dreamers Of The Ghetto On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 14, 201111. TV Girl, "Lizzy Come Back To Life"
Album: Benny and The Jetts EP
From: San Diego, Calif.
Where TV Girl's banger "If You Want It" pulls off a funkification that would put Toro Y Moi to shame, flipping a Todd Rundgren sample into the second coming of "Since I Left You," "Lizzy Come Back to Life" is where the band really goes someplace that hasn't been explored before. Its boomy breakbeat and Ghostface-ready soul sample almost obscures the dejected narrator's post-breakup lamentation: "Everyone dies, it ain't nothing new on a gloomy afternoon."
TV Girl On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 18, 201112. The Devil Makes Three, "Tow"
Album: Stomp and Smash
From: Santa Cruz, Calif.
While The Devil Makes Three's resonator guitars and herky-jerky gait invite ragtime, country and folk classifications, the enveloping darkness in "Tow" elicits a deeper ethos of early-20th-century backwater. This is true American roots music. Frontman Pete Bernhard sings like a crusty Reconstruction-era Civil War vet, tortured by memories from long ago.
The Devil Makes Three On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 17, 201113. Family Of The Year, "St. Croix"
Album: St. Croix EP
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Family of the Year's ebullient "St. Croix" is full of stylistic left turns: There's the "Kokomo" drum intro, swaths of atmospheric synths, Thin Lizzy-style doubled guitar lead, and finally the fadeout's passing reference to the "Taxman" bassline. And yet somehow it all fits seamlessly, a gem for driving to the beach with the windows down and the volume cranked; it makes July feel so close and yet so far away. This is a vacation in a song.
Family Of The Year On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 19, 201114. Sonya Cotton, "Frozen Hands"
Album: It Is So
From: San Francisco, Calif.
In "Frozen Hands," a heart-wrenching elegy from Sonya Cotton's tribute record to her late mother, the slide guitar is mournful, like a theremin or a stranger crying in the next room. The pain of losing a loved one becomes inescapable when the gorgeous chord progression lifts a harmonized Cotton up with the words, "White bone is buried and breaks / while blood flows in ways, like waves / and you're in mine always."
Sonya Cotton On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 20, 201115. Warm Ghost, "I Will Return"
Album: Narrows
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
The late John Hughes' influence on popular music is incalculable. The music featured in his movies — including General Public's "Tenderness," The Dream Academy's "The Edge of Forever" and, of course, Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" — made new wave the iconic vehicle of emotional sincerity. When chillwave auteur Warm Ghost's "I Will Return" materializes into fuzzy Microkorg synths and overdriven drum sounds, a slow-dancing, prom dress-clad Molly Ringwald materializes under colored lights.
Warm Ghost On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 21, 201116. Letting Up Despite Great Faults, "Teenage Tide"
Album: Paper Crush EP
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
The melancholy dissonance of teenage inferiority and uncontainable optimism course through this wistful piece, finding lead singer Mike Lee sounding both nostalgic and caught in a moment that feels never-ending. "Teenage Tide" revels in the highly saturated emotions of adolescence before abruptly self-destructing. The audio distorts as if the listener's headphones have become dislodged while running home from school.
Letting Up Despite Great Faults On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 25, 201117. Peggy Sue, "Changed And Waiting"
Album: Acrobats
From: London, U.K.
Mountainous and brooding, "Changed and Waiting" builds slowly, just waiting to explode, but it never does. Peggy Sue singers Rosa Slade and Katy Young capture the feeling when a relationship's inadequacy becomes undeniable, and sing through clenched teeth, "You will find me changed and waiting / wanting more than you could hope for."
Peggy Sue On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 26, 201118. Zola Jesus, "Vessel"
Album: Conatus
From: Madison, Wisc.
The cathedral-goth ruminations of "Vessel" phase in and out of clarity, at times succumbing to digital abstraction or perching, crystal clear, over industrial syncopation. Nika Roza Danilova is often recognized for her powerful voice, and rightly so; it is an instrument with the emotional heft of an artist beyond her years.
Zola Jesus On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 27, 201119. Mariah McManus, "Say It Again"
Album: Nice to Meet You
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Mariah McManus has the kind of voice that glossy L.A. producers pull all-nighters to replicate. Twinkling xylophone and resonant piano intersperse with 808 in "Say It Again," a love song which nuzzles somewhere between Taylor Swift's earnest puppy love and The Fray's "Over My Head," but without all the mess. Good luck getting this out of your head.
Mariah McManus On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 28, 201120. Alabama Shakes, "I Found You"
Album: Alabama Shakes EP
From: Athens, Ala.
Artists have been beating around the soul-revival bush for close to a decade now, and some — Amy Winehouse, Raphael Saadiq, Sharon Jones — have gotten closer than others. Alabama Shakes wins a spot on that list from lead singer Brittany Howard's first purr in "I Found You," an ineffable plea made from a mold long thought to be broken. Howard is jubilantly forthright, unhinging her voice such that any chinks in her armor let her soul shine through.
Alabama Shakes On 'World Cafe: Next' Oct. 24, 2011
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