Mark Baumgarten, redactor de la prestigiosa revista City Arts, afirma que ésta lista está lejos de ser perfecta y sin embargo, se antoja imprescindible para no perderse ninguna de las grandes novedades que surgieron en el pasado 2010 y que a buen seguro, serán las best-new-bands de éste 2011.
Cuarenta y dos bloggers y un buen conjunto de publicistas, redactores, directores y propietarios de sellos, han sido los encargados de llevar a cabo las votaciones sobre los que ellos consideran, las irrupciones musicales más significativas en la escena del Northwest estadounidense. Se les dejó votar a quien ellos quisieran, sin que se presentara, como en muchas otras ocasiones, una lista previa de bandas ya escogidas.
La pregunta era sencilla: “What were the greatest local bands you discovered in 2010?”. Veamos cómo quedó el listado final con las mejores new-bands para City Arts…
6 Fences «The first time I listened to Fences’ self-titled debut album, I knew the music wasn’t going to leave my headphones for a while. Christopher Mansfield is able to capture his experiences in songs so vividly that the listener feels as if he or she were standing in the same room with him, a witness to the stories unfolding. That is an unqualified blanket statement, but at the rate that the album is gaining a local and national audience, I’ll stand by it». —Kayte Olsufka, Live-Music Coordinator, Hard Rock Cafe Seattle
5 Beat Connection «Beat Connection offers more than the standard synth-owner-with-a-Tumblr-account. They’re not just offering lo-fi, dorm-room-weirdo production values but also legit songwriting, deep grooves and a real understanding of dynamics, space and all sorts of other things that only nerds care about. And just when you think that it’s all MacBook smoke and mirrors, they drop a killer live show. They are also twelve years old or something. It’s mind blowing to think how far ahead of the curve they already are. —Eli Anderson, senior talent buyer, Crocodile
3 My Goodness «My Goodness offers the robustness you expect yet rarely get from a town with a legacy of loud. New rock from the Northwest just doesn’t seem to qualify as “muscular” anymore. My introduction to My Goodness was a free Saturday-afternoon summer set at the Pike Street Fish Fry, where every song was an opportunity for the band to flex its considerable muscle and rattle the windows in their frames. As loud as if they’d been playing the Comet or the Cha Cha, guitarist Joel and drummer Ethan absolutely tore through a half-hour of dirty rip-roaring blues concentrated through a Detroit rock lens that was then piped out a couple of stacks of amps. After four sets they became the standard against which I’m measuring everyone else doing rock in Seattle«. —Josh Lovseth, co-founder, Sound on the Sound
3 Ravenna Woods «Ravenna Woods captured my attention through the intricate compositions of their debut, Demons and Lakes. The band’s bold guitar work, matched with intelligent lyrics, made clear to me that its appeal went deeper than the surface. Seeing the band live added the human element and turned my interest into an addiction. These guys have so much heart, energy and love, I have lost track of how many times I’ve seen the band«. —Nikki Benson, founder, SSG Music
2 Campfire OK «I have Shenandoah Davis to thank for turning me on to Campfire OK. At her recommendation I enlisted Campfire’s Mychal Cohen and Garett van der Spek to sing in the Seattle Rock Orchestra’s Pet Sounds tribute last fall. Their performance of “Sloop John B” was a crowd favorite, and in the process of working together we became fast friends. When Mychal played me the then-unreleased Strange like We Are, I was blown away by his songwriting and the poignancy of his lyrics and vocal performance. When I heard they were looking for a new bassist I jumped at the chance to join up. Having played in the band for a few months, I can confirm what listeners suspect: not only is the band overflowing with talent, they’re all really genuine, warm people«. —Scott Teske, founder, Seattle Rock Orchestra
Cuarenta y dos bloggers y un buen conjunto de publicistas, redactores, directores y propietarios de sellos, han sido los encargados de llevar a cabo las votaciones sobre los que ellos consideran, las irrupciones musicales más significativas en la escena del Northwest estadounidense. Se les dejó votar a quien ellos quisieran, sin que se presentara, como en muchas otras ocasiones, una lista previa de bandas ya escogidas.
La pregunta era sencilla: “What were the greatest local bands you discovered in 2010?”. Veamos cómo quedó el listado final con las mejores new-bands para City Arts…
6 Fences «The first time I listened to Fences’ self-titled debut album, I knew the music wasn’t going to leave my headphones for a while. Christopher Mansfield is able to capture his experiences in songs so vividly that the listener feels as if he or she were standing in the same room with him, a witness to the stories unfolding. That is an unqualified blanket statement, but at the rate that the album is gaining a local and national audience, I’ll stand by it». —Kayte Olsufka, Live-Music Coordinator, Hard Rock Cafe Seattle
5 Beat Connection «Beat Connection offers more than the standard synth-owner-with-a-Tumblr-account. They’re not just offering lo-fi, dorm-room-weirdo production values but also legit songwriting, deep grooves and a real understanding of dynamics, space and all sorts of other things that only nerds care about. And just when you think that it’s all MacBook smoke and mirrors, they drop a killer live show. They are also twelve years old or something. It’s mind blowing to think how far ahead of the curve they already are. —Eli Anderson, senior talent buyer, Crocodile
3 My Goodness «My Goodness offers the robustness you expect yet rarely get from a town with a legacy of loud. New rock from the Northwest just doesn’t seem to qualify as “muscular” anymore. My introduction to My Goodness was a free Saturday-afternoon summer set at the Pike Street Fish Fry, where every song was an opportunity for the band to flex its considerable muscle and rattle the windows in their frames. As loud as if they’d been playing the Comet or the Cha Cha, guitarist Joel and drummer Ethan absolutely tore through a half-hour of dirty rip-roaring blues concentrated through a Detroit rock lens that was then piped out a couple of stacks of amps. After four sets they became the standard against which I’m measuring everyone else doing rock in Seattle«. —Josh Lovseth, co-founder, Sound on the Sound
3 Ravenna Woods «Ravenna Woods captured my attention through the intricate compositions of their debut, Demons and Lakes. The band’s bold guitar work, matched with intelligent lyrics, made clear to me that its appeal went deeper than the surface. Seeing the band live added the human element and turned my interest into an addiction. These guys have so much heart, energy and love, I have lost track of how many times I’ve seen the band«. —Nikki Benson, founder, SSG Music
2 Campfire OK «I have Shenandoah Davis to thank for turning me on to Campfire OK. At her recommendation I enlisted Campfire’s Mychal Cohen and Garett van der Spek to sing in the Seattle Rock Orchestra’s Pet Sounds tribute last fall. Their performance of “Sloop John B” was a crowd favorite, and in the process of working together we became fast friends. When Mychal played me the then-unreleased Strange like We Are, I was blown away by his songwriting and the poignancy of his lyrics and vocal performance. When I heard they were looking for a new bassist I jumped at the chance to join up. Having played in the band for a few months, I can confirm what listeners suspect: not only is the band overflowing with talent, they’re all really genuine, warm people«. —Scott Teske, founder, Seattle Rock Orchestra
1 The Head and the Heart The Head and the Heart siguen siendo la banda mimada de Long Brit y parece que éste idilio amoroso va para largo. El problema es que parece que no somos los únicos completamente enamorados de la banda. Empezamos a estar algo celosos, más aún cuando vemos algunas de las bonitas palabras que muchos de los mejores periodistas musicales del Oeste Norteamericano le dedican a la banda recien fichada por SubPop records:
«The Head and the Heart recalls the millennial Americana of Whiskeytown, grounded as it is in simple four-four rhythms and brought to life with piano, violin and three-part harmony.
The Seattle sextet, though, is so much more self-aware and better for it. From their debut album’s opening exclamation on “Cats and Dogs” (“My roots have grown, but I don’t know where they are”) to “Down in the Valley,” which carries the heartache and resignation of Ryan Adams’ best work, to the gospel incantation that “all things must end” on the closer, “Heaven Go Easy on Me,” the band’s sound points to an romanticized past, a burdensome present and an unknown future.
It is the right album for right now.» —
Pues como véis, ya tenemos otro nuevo listado del que exprimir mucho jugo. Espero que le saquéis rendimiento.