Peace practically emerged to critical acclaim back in early 2012, with the likes of The Guardian, The Fly and the NME immediately signalling them as a tour de force of new indie rock. This momentum has continued with the release of their debut EP EP Delicious in September 2012, and now the release of their debut full length In Love, for which this tour is...
Echopark is the exciting new project from Italian musician Antonio Elia Forte. Originally from Lecce in southern Italy, Forte now finds himself based in Whitechapel, East London. As such, Echopark’s music is an interesting fusion of blissfully rich, summery vibes and cooler lo-fi synths; curiously and definitively a creature of both sonic...
Once again, it has been a cracking year for new music, and the Next Best Thing has bought you dozens of tasty new bands over the past twelve months, especially for your ear-holes. Here’s a brief selection of some of the exciting new artists we have previewed in 2012 who have gone on great things this year. Friends We introduced Friends to you back in...
No, not that one. The White Album are instead a fab new alt folk trio from Denmark. These heavily bearded young men offer a sumptuous, unassuming and serene sound full of a cool Scandinavian melancholy. Think along the lines of Troll Hunter or The Killing to sort of capture the vibe, minus the gruesomeness, of course. The White Album recently released their...
End of Daze is the first release we have seen from the Dum Dum Girls this year, following a prolific number of releases from the girls in 2010 and 2011 (the Dum Dum Girls offered two LPs and three EPS over a two-year period). This tight and well-composed EP offers more of the Dum Dum Girl’s trademark lo-fi garage rock, but with this release the girls have...
Shell is the debut EP from London duo Ursa Minor and follows on from the group’s debut single Droplet Affection, which received praise from the likes of BBC 6Music and Clash magazine. Offering listeners a selection of four completely new tracks and one remix in the group’s noteworthy style, where dream-pop meets house beats. Ursa Minor describe...
After an arduous cross-country journey guided by a questionable sat-nav, we arrive at 2012’s In The Woods festival. Now in its seventh year, a major draw of In The Woods is the taciturn nature of the event, housed as it is in a secret location known only to festival goers, completely hidden away from the outside world. Its discrete, remote location, along...
Into the Diamond Sun is the first full-length release from all-girl Liverpudlian three-piece Stealing Sheep. This debut effort features lashing of lo-fi psyche folk, with an intriguing tinge of drone-ridden, olde worlde counterpoint, rhythm and harmonies. The album follows on from their debut EP I am the Rain, released in 2011, along with a growing degree...
When The Hundred in the Hands emerged in 2010 with the release of their debut EP (This Desert) and eponymous first album, the group were at the front of the emerging dream-pop scene in Brooklyn, NY. They created clever, exciting, innovative music that was rousingly fresh and different. The group’s style of soft synth-pop was delicate, diverse, and subtly...
In The Woods is an independent, one day music festival now in its seventh year. Organised and curated by alternative indie band The Laurel Collective, the major focus for this festival is to triumph up and coming music talent, along with creating a more relaxed, chilled, boutique vibe than traditional festivals. The organisers claim In the Woods is furthest...
Lets cut to the chase here – Yellow Fever are perhaps the best new band I have encountered this year. As new music editor, I receive floods of emails daily on new bands supposedly worthy of attention, but these guys are the real deal. This band is talent, musical ability, commitment and creativity, in one very young, Oxford-based package. I came across...
The weather this summer might be utterly atrocious, but fear not – for there is a hansom new band from the shores of sunny California sending some summery musical vibes our way. Saint Motel are an new all-male outfit with real charisma, creating indie rock with lashings of bosa nova, Latin, funk and tropical. Their sound has a mellow, smooth,...