Ones to Watch
Every weekday, discover the best in new, breakout and unsigned artists
In this Series
September 4, 2008 - Variations of Static, the new EP from Iceland's Olafur Arnalds, is one of the saddest collections of songs you'll hear this year. Arnalds' mostly instrumental songs, which fall somewhere between contemporary classical and experimental electronica, are gorgeously textured sketches with as much restrained hope as melancholia.
It's hard to listen to The Silver City, the new CD from Minnesota chamber-pop artist Jeremy Messersmith, without thinking of Sufjan Stevens. Both artists have similar voices and a love of richly orchestrated story songs. They also find inspiration in geography.
A nine piece chamber folk group out of Portland, Ore., Loch Lomond is a gifted ensemble that manages to sound intimate despite the band's sprawling size. Drawing their name from a lake in the Southern Highlands of Scotland, the group makes brilliantly crafted chamber folk that's lush and richly textured, but cozy.
Imaad Wasif has a brooding voice that compliments the hazy psychedelic rock of his backing band, Two Part Beast. His latest album, Strange Hexes, explores folk and Americana with drones and modern experimental effects.
Quinn Walker is a brazen experimental baroque-folk artist. His first studio solo record is a double disc, one titled Laughter's An A**hole, the other Lion Land. Beneath the amusing impression of the album is a deeper context revealing Walker's social consciousness. The title refers to the humility of humor and that people oftentimes "laugh at the expense of other people".
On his debut solo release, Neighbor Singing, Brad Laner mixes lush harmonies with gentle melodies and a subtle but densely layered pastiche of electronics. Based in Granada Hills, Calif., Laner's music could be called electro-psychedelic-folk. But he likes to keep listeners guessing as each track morphs seamlessly into new forms, taking unexpected sonic directions that don't fit neatly into any standard category. Laner's is a blissful world rooted as much in '60s psychedelia as in 21st century pop.
Screeching feedback has never sounded more beautiful than it does on Ral Partha Vogelbacher's latest CD, Shrill Falcons. Frontman Chadwick Bidwell says he was listening to a lot of doom metal and noise rock when he set out to compose the album, so it's no surprise he came up with a richly textured collection of songs. Fuzzy guitars rumble over crackling synths and multi-colored, ambient drones.
The Chicago-based math-rock group Maps and Atlases can pack a lot into a three-minute song. The group's latest EP, You and Me and the Mountain, is a supercharged mix of odd meters, intertwining guitar runs and hurried, half-spoken vocals that pass so quickly, it's nearly impossible to follow with just one listen.
If his sprawling online writings are any indication, Brian Coates, frontman for the slowcore group The Great Northwest, has a head full of so many ideas, it's impossible to silence them. It's not a frenetic burst of creative energy, but more of a steady, babbling stream, which is exactly what The Great Northwest's debut album, The Widespread Reign Of sounds like.
Singer-songwriter Sydney Wayser wears her heart on her sleeve. It's a risky move for any musician who wants to be taken seriously, particularly for one like Wayser, whose song stylings are a bit theatrical to begin with. But on her debut collection of piano-driven siren songs, Wayser manages to tread the line between mawkish melodrama and heartfelt elegance with few stumbles.
It'd be easy to dismiss the Athens, Ga., band Nana Grizol as yet another twee college rock group from a town that churns out cutesy artists with yawn-inducing regularity. But from the opening bars of the first track, "Circles 'Round the Moon," with its frolicking guitars and sing-along melody, it's clear that Nana Grizol exudes earnest and irresistible charm.
Sheffield is home to Arctic Monkeys and, as such, any other band that emerges from the city in central England is likely to draw comparisons. That's certainly true for the pop group Harrisons. The Sheffield quartet formed four years ago and hasn't been able to shake the Arctic Monkeys connection since. But to be fair, Harrisons have a sound that unquestionably channels some of the most popular Brit-pop and punk bands that came before them.
The Wrights are husband and wife team Adam and Shannon Wright of Nashville. The duo plays a brand of classic country that sticks to the genre's bluesy Americana roots, with minimal production, traditional instrumentation, and soulful vocals. The couple's latest release, In the Summertime, is a collection of folky country covers of songs by roots artists both classic (Lead Belly) and contemporary (Tim Carroll).
Julian Koster may not be a familiar name to you. But if you've heard the music of Neutral Milk Hotel, you've heard Koster at work. He appeared on stage and in the studio with Neutral Milk Hotel back in the '90s, playing the musical saw, banjo and other instruments. In 1999 Koster released a solo album under the name "The Music Tapes." Now, 9 years later, he's back with a follow up.
Singer-songwriter Jeff Hanson has one of the most incredible and unique voices you will ever hear. That is, from a guy. Upon hearing Hanson's third full-length record, Madam Owl, the first thing anyone will notice is the singer's impossibly high voice that sounds more like that of a highly skilled female vocalist (or maybe a eunuch) than a 30 year old man. But if you listen closer, there is far more to Hanson's music than his beautiful singing. The warm strings and acoustic guitars that back his sparkling falsetto are equally as dramatic, and the sound he has created is huge and anthemic in spite of his modest solo artist ouevre.
