There has been a dearth of new bands coming through but recently one or two promising bands have pitched up.

1. Thomas Tantrum. Band from Southampton. Their self-titled debut album came out at the start of the month.

hxxp://rapidshare.com/files/140825283/Thomas_Tantrum-Thomas_Tantrum-2008-DV8.rar

www.myspace.com/thomastantrum

currently on tour with Glasvegas (but not the Sheffield date ) I'm really loving the album.

video for Work it! here www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaqXbQzSq4



2. Slow Club. Sheffield band who have an album out at the end of the year. The lead singer now sings with Noah and The Whale on their live dates as well (replacing Laura Marling). Kind of whimsical pop. Their EP Lets call Back in Love is just coming out now

hxxp://rapidshare.com/files/135318095/Slow_Club-Lets_Fall_Back_In_Love-_EP_-2008-SPEEDYGONZALES.rar

Because We're Dead www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkH9hfkCbDc Myspace www.myspace.com/slowclub




3. General Fiasco. NI band tipped to be the "next thing" Their first single Rebel Get By is out shortly www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSykzCjH4jM

www.myspace.com/generalfiasco

Cool stuff but Becky Slow Club hasn't been doing the female vocals for Noah & The Whale for a few months, Lilly Flynn from Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit is. Emmy The Great was the original female vocalist. </nerd>

EP was out 1st Septmber, I got mine signed

really? I thought she was doing all the last tour. Not seen either of them for ages and assumed that was the reason.

Doesn't Emmy the Great have an album out soonish? Missed her last time she was up in Sheffield (bloody buses )

I really like the new Automatic album. Well, I really like the songs that their new guitarist (ex YCNI:M) is involved in. The rest are duffers tbh. Still, very promising stuff.

Laura played her last gig with N&TW at Great Escape, Brighton. Around that time Becky SC was doing it off and on but when I saw N&TW in Glastonbury and Field Day it was definitely Lily Flynn. That said Johnny Flynn is in the US now and Noah & The Whale are doing a tour there presently so I don't know what the exact deal is at the moment.

cool. I know they're working on their album at the moment so maybe they're in the big city doing that...

4. Stricken City. Laandan band. Got their first single out at the beginning of next month. Very promising stuff so far. www.myspace.com/strickencity

Tak o Tak www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATMwzAseujM





5. Jose Vanders. I only became aware that females called themselves Jose of late. So, she's not Spanish! 18yr old from London again. Singer songwriter with a pronounced voice. Beautiful stuff although the lyrics could use some work sometimes. I picked up both EPs from her site recently. Think of an accoustic Kate Nash but not shit! www.myspace.com/vandersmusic

6. Bromheads Jacket. Another local band. Their second album is out in a on the 22nd and their music has taken a slightly different track.

www.myspace.com/bromheadsjacket

some may know some of their earlier stuff (even had a song used on such classic TV as the...*cough** OC)

embarking on a UK tour and the second single from the album "turn me on" will be out presently (possibly)





1 Clear To Some
2 Speaker Box
3 Turn Me On
4 You'll Lose It
5 Recover
6 Interlude
7 Where?
8 Promises Promises
9 JFK vs USA
10 Black Lions
11 A Fuzzy Feeling
12 Yesterday's Antics

preview of the new album up on Pure Groove

http://www.puregroove.co.uk/itemview.aspx?item=355

Dits from the Commuter Belt (first album) is here w*w.megaupload.com/?d=UDK9IFB4

new Bromheads Jacket Album has leaked.

On the Brain-h**p://rs578.rapidshare.com/files/146897875/Bromheads_Jacket-On_The_Brain-2008-DV8.rar

7. Pete and the Pirates

Their album Little Death is a little slice of pop lovelyness.

***.megaupload.com/?d=1ADM640E



Mr Understanding is one hell of a tune

www.myspace.com/peteandthepirates

8. Friendly Fires

These guys are going places. Their debut album came out at the end of summer (h**p://rapidshare.com/files/133827533/Friendly_Fires-Friendly_Fires-_Advance_-2008-DV8.rar)

its electro dance at its catchiest best.

www.myspace.com/friendlyfires

went to my first gig of the year on Thursday and saw some of the best talent in Sheffield on show.

First up was Nat Johnson (formerly of Monkey Swallows the Universe). She was under the weather and only managed a short set.

www.myspace.com/judybeat



also if you've never heard MSTU check out their myspace

www.myspace.com/mstu

Next up was Little Lost David. (www.myspace.com/littlelostdavid) He has an incredible voice and range and just had occasional percussion support. Last couple of times I've seen him was in a larger venue but he's in his element in a small room.



Headlining (and they could easily have played the gig in any order) was Neil NcSweeney. www.myspace.com/neilmcsweeney

He was playing solo (without his normal band the Gents) and was the perfect way to round off the night.



they've all been on the scene for a while now and hopefully will start to get some national recognition.

Cool stuff, Robbie... thanks, I'm checking out Slow Club based solely on the N&tW connection.

Emmy The Great's album is due in February I believe.

The Magistrates

Hailing from Essex, they kick out fresh, funky tunes.

www.myspace.com/magistratesband



been tipped in several quarters to be big this year

Emmy The Great will release her long-awaited debut album 'First Love' on February 2.

Inspired by Samuel Beckett's short story 'First Love' and Oscar Wilde's play 'Salome', 'First Love' was recorded at The Earlies' Lancashire studio. The record is produced by Emmy's guitarist Euan Hinshelwood and pianist Tom Rogerson.

'First Love's tracklisting is:

'Absentee'
'24'
'We Almost Had A Baby'
'The Easter Parade'
'Dylan'
'On The Museum Island'
'War'
'First Love'
'MIA'
'The Easter Parade 2'
'Bad Things Coming, We Are Safe'
'Everything Reminds Me Of You'
'City Song'
_________________

Completely dreadful live, lead singer thinks he is Bono and most of their songs are utter wank. Especially "Colour Co-ordination"

its probably aspirational in Essex!

Little Boots

formerly of Dead Disco, Victoria Hesketh now kicks out eletro pop driven songs. She produces and remixes and the great thing is that her songs can be enjoyed on two separate levels with the remixes. she's touring the UK and playing some US dates early this year and playing SXSW (get in)

She's also just won the BBC sound of 2009 comp.

BBC6 Music session http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/hub/art...tleboots2.shtml
Myspace www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

marvellous, got to love a bit of emmy & only have three of those songs

We Were Promised Jetpacks



http://www.wewerepromisedjetpacks.co.uk/

they signed to FatCat and i believe their record will be released this spring sometime...

really good band. hopefully things will happen for them

quite a bit up on hypem

http://hypem.com/search/emmy%20the%20great

going to be keeping an eye on delphic
guardian spiel
"A year ago to this very day we let you know that Twisted Wheel were being touted as the Best New Band In Manchester with their typically rough, gruff take on northern prole-rock. Twelve months on, it's Delphic's turn to get that sort of treatment. And it's heartening, in a way, especially for those of us who place a high premium on emotionally resonant rock music propelled by powerful machine rhythms."

cheers chap, have a dozen or so of her tracks, but some on there were new to me.
on tour next month & in my area, bit seen her since truck a few years ago, be interesting to see how she's come on

seeing her next month too. Missed her last time due to the uselessness of public transport.

wow, robbie, that's a lot of shit artists in a short space. impressive.

i do like delphic though.

Errors

www.myspace.com/weareerrors

band from Glasgow supporting Mogwai around Europe next month. Been around a bit but seem to be gaining more and more support.



Cutlery Drawer was one of my favourite songs of last year.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pqKX4zlxP0I


The Chapman Family www.myspace.com/thechapmanfamily

One of the NME's ones to watch for 2009. Odd for me as I've known them since their early days. Their live performances have got gradually more and more intense and the music darker.

Never mind the haters. I, for one, am enjoying your recommendations.

Some UK acts worth a mention are:

The Answering Machine: http://www.myspace.com/theansweringmachine

"Cliffer" is the single, due in March. Debut Another City, Another Sorry in May. Catchy Brit guitar pop.


Sky Larkin: http://www.myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin

Debut The Golden Spike out in a few weeks. Loved their early singles but the album sounds restrained from what little I've heard. Kind of a mid-90's throwback.


UltCult: http://www.myspace.com/ultcult

Bedroom electro-twee. May never make a splash but "Saphire Memories" and "Five Bedrooms and Two Lounges" are terrific.


Popular Workshop: http://www.myspace.com/popularworkshop

Albini-recorded debut We're Alive and We're Not Alone flew under the radar but hits a little harder in an oldschool US punk way than the typical Britrock band. Not perfect, but a promising debut.

some of these bands you're all listing are three-year-old NME rejects -- and deservedly so. what's next -- nine black alps?

fact is there isn't much terribly exciting happening in the UK right now.

something will present itself, but it's a waiting game for the time being...

Plenty of decent bands, plenty with some excellent singles or songs in their live repertoire or who are just plain great live. None that I can think of that are the finished article of a great band as yet.

it is however quite exciting at the moment. Lots of new stuff.

I like the Answering Machine. My friend liked the lead singer long time I noticed that they've started plying some trade in London. Meant to see Sky Larkin last year but they pulled out. Like the album

Dananananaykroyd www.myspace.com/dananananaykroyd

saw these guys before Christmas. Half the set (pre the wall of hugs) was excellent but they kind of ran out of stuff in the second half. seeing them again in April. very energetic live



Johnny Foreigner /www.myspace.com/johnnyforeigner

saw these early last year and they had a good year. Their album was surprisingly good. for some reason they're touring with hundred reasons soon

kind of a similar sound to los campesinos but less likely to irritate.

well, since we're on the subject of three-year-old NME rejects, might as well bring up The Boxer Rebellion.



Back in 2004, I thought these four dudes were going to singlehandedly rescue Poptones. Instead, they released Exits, which was good but by no means great. Heavy on Verve-ian squalls, light on transcendent songs.

They were actually dropped shortly after the album's release.

Their long-gestating second album, Union, is finally slated to be released on I-Tunes this week, and you can stream the whole thing on their myspace:

www.myspace.com/theboxerrebellion

This one dials back the feedback considerably, leaving what amounts to a collection of bare-bones ballads. The new tack actually does a much better job of showcasing Nicholson's vocals, which are this band's greatest asset.

Highlights: "Spitting Fire," "Misplaced," "Flashing Red Light Means Go"

Still far from a great album here (and boy do their lyrics sometimes suck), but unlike most bands in this thread, at least these guys have the raw ingredients...

if we're talking new artists, the ones i'm keeping tabs on most frequently are:

It Hugs Back - This band only has one great song to its credit ("Other Cars Go"), but it's an absolute stunner. The rest of their catalogue is twee indie pop garbage, but i'm still hoping someone over at 4AD knocks some sense into them before they record their debut proper.

www.myspace.com/ithugsback

Polly Scattergood - gorgeously unhinged. especially like the single "I Hate the Way." Mute is playing this one pretty close to the vest for now, but that should change in the coming months. Debut engineered by Gareth Jones (Wire, Liars).

www.myspace.com/pollyscattergood

Union stream up on myspace

h**p://sharebee.com/1b2c3180

not my link^

I concur. Great track.



..and thus, should be right in my wheelhouse.

actually grabbed this lp on itunes today for $5.99...nice price.....havent played yet..

If anyone's interested you can download a free EP from Noah and the Whale here. The A Sides.

www.myspace.com/theasidesuk

and Jamie T has a new song up on his website available for free downlaod

http://special.the-raft.com/jamie-t/firefi...deoPlayere.html

Cats in Paris

Cats in Paris are one of those bands who deserve a lot more exposure than they get. According to DiS they are" Power-prog-pop, filled with fuzzy shrieking violins, effects-heavy doom bass, boy-girl shouting and frantic drums." which doesn't really describe them but that is an impossible task. Courtroom 2000 (their debut album) came out in August to almost universal acclaim (note Pitchfork managed to rouse themselves to give it 6.1 but I'm shocked that they actually reviewed it!)

Foxes is a killer tune and they are immensely impressive live. Check them out!

listen



The Week That Was

I'm surprised these havent got some major love on here seeing how much there was for Field Music. Imo they aren't in the same league but still a good band and featured in a fair few EOY lists

www.myspace.com/theweekthatwas

There's a fairly large The Week That Was thread here

i'm a sucker for slacker rock -- just not used to hearing it from british bands.

behold the debut album from Wet Paint, It Rots. out in a couple of weeks, i think.

some catchy little tossed-off riffs on this one... you can stream from the player on the sidebar. i recommend "hug it out" and "save the whale" (dig the "remember me" nod, mitch).

http://trialanderrorrecordings.com/shop.htm

a few things:

-brian, you are listing bands in this thread that have already been discussed and posted elsewhere on the SOMB.

-Sickpup is funny.

-Mitch, this guy is giving you UK cats a bad name.

-also want to add that majority of the bands in this thread are really really bad.

And the English can't think up a good band name to save their life.

Credit where due: Wet Paint's good shit.

Anything remotely C86-esque is a bulls eye in my sweet spot, so I'm down with most indie-twee stuff.

i gave you fair warning.

To be fair to Simakos, he likes plenty of terrible NAIR so I don't know why he's put off by some of these. Many are in embryonic stage and a nice bit of nurture will see them do well.

Enjoying the Wet Paint Sickpup, was troubling me where I heard the name before, They are supporting Bloc Party later this month.

yeah, it's fun. as to be expected of any album recorded in two days, there are some off notes, but it kinda adds to the amateur-ish charm.

nothing revolutionary but a pleasant surprise.

no idea why they're opening for bloc party. they have about as much in common as a boeing jet and a rotten apple.

you know, falling and laughing's said something along these lines a few times too, and it really bothers me -- this notion that bands just need some "nurturing" to blossom or some shit like that.

no one benefits from coddling bad music. if you encourage a band that is producing crap, the only thing you're going to get is more of the same. and when that happens, as far as i'm concerned, you have no right to complain.

quite to the contrary, i think criticizing bad music performs an important function. either the band corrects or throws in the towel (perhaps forming a new, better band from the ashes). either way, the audience wins.

No it's not about coddling bad music. Not every band leaps out of the tracks and sticks their best four songs on MySpace. I'm not saying that a band with four crap demos on there could magically get good but out of a list of 20 new bands, one is bound to build what they've done, tour with someone who has a positive influence on them, get a good producer, sign to the right label for them etc.

I'm not suggesting that people should nurture a specific band from this list but inevitably the right sequence of events will mean it will come together.

Without the nurturing of Tony Wilson and Martin Hannett, would Warsaw / Stiff Little Kittens be a small footnote in the history of music, I think the answer is yes. The Beatles with George Martin, and other examples. The people who can see something in a band that they can bring out (ie; not us writing about them on the internet) is the right kind of nurturing.

sure it's just a typo but that's stiff kittens, not stiff little kittens - you confusing them with stiff little fingers there?

but yeah, totally agree with you - compare a band that does actually evolve's first album to it's last & see the difference