Michael Kiwanuka

The BBC's "Sound of..." series has always been a great place to find new music, and this year is no exception. Since 2003, BBC has been putting out a shortlist of artists to watch over the next year in their "Sound of..." series. They usually list like 15 artists and then will later crown their top 5 artists to watch. Not every artist they put on there ends up really making it, but they've gotten it right quite a few times (50 Cent and Adele both won, and Florence and the Machine and Lady Gaga were both shortlisted).

I actually tend to like a lot of the shortlisted acts more than the winners. This year is an exception however, with winner Michael Kiwanuka probably being my favorite artist on the list. This British singer just released his first album, Home Again, which is pretty great. People just don't make music like this anymore, and they should. The opening track on the album, Tell Me A Tale, is brilliant.

Other artists worth listening to from Sound of 2012 are Lianne La Havas, Ren Harvieu, Niki & The Dove and Frank Ocean. I haven't heard much from all of them, and not all of them have albums out yet, but what I've heard has been great.

Regina Spektor - Us

This is one of my favorite songs. Definitely one of the most played on my iPod. I'm actually not the biggest fan of Regina Spektor, I think she's generally just ok. But when she's good, she's really fucking good.

Case in point:

Band of Skulls

So this year has been a great one for me musically up until now. A lot of my favorite bands (MIIKE SNOW!!!!) finally released sophomore albums, which is always super exciting. Except when they're not good. It's tricky with sophomore albums, cause they're usually not so good. I find it goes: great first album, mediocre second album, awesome third album. Luckily, not this year, because they've all been quite good.

British band Band of Skulls is another one of my favorites who released a new album this year. Sweet Sour is a great follow-up to their 2009 debut. It keeps the same sound, although they have toned down on a few more songs than previously. There's definitely some stand out tracks, including this one, which I have to share just because I love the name (and whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment).

Of course, the best will always be their first single, I Know What I Am. Nothing beats this song. The male/female vocals also stand out much more clearly on this track, which is something else I love about the band, and bands in general. Actually, I think my last 3 posts were all male/female vocal duo bands. I'm going to need to change that on the next post.

Givers

I haven't found a band that makes me want to dance as much as Givers since Bag Raiders. It's a party in my car every time they're on, which is a lot. And I love bands that have male/female vocalists. These guys tick all the boxes.

They remind me of both Passion Pit and Local Natives. They don't actually sound like either one, but for some reason I think of both of those bands when I listen to Givers. I think the electronic parts remind me of Passion Pit and some of the drums remind me of Local Natives.

Ripe is probably my favorite track off their album, In Light.

Atlantic is great, too.

Of Monsters and Men

I first heard Of Monsters and Men on a live living room recording sometime last year and immediately fell in love. Unfortunately they had nothing else out at the time, so all I could do was watch the video for Little Talks on repeat. Fortunately they entered the national battle of the bands tournament in Iceland, where they're from, and won. So then they released an album (My Head Is An Animal). And it's really good. Plus any band that has an accordianist as a regular member is ok in my book.

Little Talks is still one of my favorite tracks on the album. Not surprised it went straight to number 1 in Iceland when it was released, as it should in the States. Hopefully their album being released in the US tomorrow will help.



You should go look for that live version of Little Talks I mentioned, too. It's also awesome. Lakehouse is another great track off the album.