The 5 Minute Guide to the Best New Bands of 04

[Gresh]

Reading the new Esquire Magazine yesterday and this little insert booklet falls out - "Things a Man Should Know About Music" - has an article highlighting the best new bands, so far of '04. Of note, which based on their comparisons may be up some folks alley:

Secret Machines: The blurb compares them to Pink Floyd and the Flaming Lips on creatine. Writer claims they are more original than any new band around - they are "the word of mouth phenomenon of the year. You will wind up buying a copy because someone whose taste you trust will insist on it"

Wow! Pretty strong praise. I guess they're from Dallas but based in NYC - anyone have any feedback on them?

Keane: A Sussex band that apparently has the British Press wetting their pants (or knickers as the case may be). British tastemakers compared them to a "scuffed up" ColdPlay and a Kid -A era Radiohead covering A-Ha (remember them?).

I've heard a couple of songs and it reminds me of watered down Coldplay and I'm not a fan of that band -- a bit too whiny and fey for me and hey, I love Belle and Sebastian. My question, in particular to any English folk - is Keane the real deal or are they considered in the UK to be another example of record labels looking to cash in on another bands success - such as Coldplay? It seems record labels trip over each other trying to sign/release crap by derivitive bands to follow on the heels of the original.

I'm not sure who British tastemakers are - but what, in your opinion is going on in the current British music scene - especially Britpop?

[Troy]

I read that same piece the other day. That "Secret Machines" blurb caught my eye too. I went to the band's website and they have all the albums songs on mp3 right on the front page. I lstened to them all and found it kinda interesting, but not nearly up to that "Floyd/Lips" hype. How about "Mars Volta-lite"?

YMMV.

[Dusty Chalk]

Is that the one with Rachel Weisz on the cover?

[Gresh]

Yup, that's the one.
Seems she has some decent taste in Music mentioning she likes Billy Bragg, Sleater Kinney, Smiths...
Interview didn't shed much light on her though -- she came of kind of, uninteresting -- in my view. Troy, you read Mag, any thoughts?

[Jim Clark]

I spent a little time listening to the Secret Machines tracks on the website and would have ordered the CD if it were available. I liked it quite a bit-thanks.

jc

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[Troy]

Troy, you read Mag, any thoughts?

Haven't got that far with it yet.

They got a new music critic last year. Generally, I don't agree with him very much, far too indie biased for my taste. It's a good rag, but there's WAY too much fashion in it. Excellent movie writing, fiction and interviews though.

[BillB]

Picked up the Keane album over the weekend after reading an article on them in the current Q magazine. It's not a bad album, but not a great one either. I'd give it a 7/10. IMO they compare as much to Travis as they do to Coldplay and of course those two are quite similar themselves.

The British music press has always been infamous for touting new bands as the "next big thing". Sometimes they nail it, other times they're 90% right and then other times they're completely wrong. I'm still trying to "get" the whole Franz Ferdinan and Von Bondies deal...

Bill

[Mike]

Keane: A Sussex band that apparently has the British Press wetting their pants (or knickers as the case may be). British tastemakers compared them to a "scuffed up" ColdPlay and a Kid -A era Radiohead covering A-Ha (remember them?).

I've heard a couple of songs and it reminds me of watered down Coldplay and I'm not a fan of that band -- a bit too whiny and fey for me and hey, I love Belle and Sebastian. My question, in particular to any English folk - is Keane the real deal or are they considered in the UK to be another example of record labels looking to cash in on another bands success - such as Coldplay? It seems record labels trip over each other trying to sign/release crap by derivitive bands to follow on the heels of the original.

Everybody seems to rate them as Coldplay soundalikes but to me they are like chalk and cheese, as somebody said earlier in the thread they sound more like Travis especially the singer. They don't even sound like a band with their use of drum machines. All in all it's pretty wimpy pop smumpf, catchy melodies and listenable - but forgettable.

Now I like Coldplay, I like the fact that the second album is much stronger than the first not an easy feat for a new band, but if I'm honest I'm puzzled why they are so popular I mean they are huge. What I do like about the British music scene at the moment though is we seem to be finally getting away from manufactured pop crap and getting back to real bands. I don't think we'll see another Britpop era but even bands like Franz Ferdinand (I'm not a big FF fan) give us a bit of hope.

Cheers
Mike