The Best Of 2014 / Ones To Watch 2015

Posted on December 29, 2014

Parent’s house? Check. Parked in front of the telly? You betcha. Firey familial debate ensuing whilst we engage in antisocial activity pertaining to writing up this mammoth end-of-year-list thingy that pretty much every single one of our ostensible peers feels the need to embark on because, well, everyone’s got an opinion these days and we’re no exception to this at all? Not quite. It’s just us and our mother parked in the living room this year; both tapping away on our respective computers whilst The Secret Garden on Channel 5 rages on in the ploddingest way possible. We’re now firmly at the beginning of our 30’s, and perhaps the greatest lesson that we have learned in a year that has seen us mimick a sine wave pattern in terms of our personal wellbeing is that change is both necessary and inevitable in terms of one’s development as a human being. We suppose this time last year we’ve were craving a constant of sorts, or indeed several constants, as perhaps at the intial stages of this realisation we instinctively, like most people, wanted everything to stay exactly how it was. Y’know, because a lot of people fear change, usually because in one context or another it requires venturing into some previously unknown environment. However, not wishing to acknowledge this altering environment really doesn’t mean it is going to stop entirely, and so the thing to do is react rather than remain in situ like a slowly boiled frog. Next year sees Killing Moon becoming a fully independent company and gain a real-life foothold in North America (wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!), and whilst this is one of the most exciting prospect we’ve had on our horizons for, well, our whole lives it is also the most daunting one. The reality of the situation is that we’re about to get on with the things that we’ve wanted to for some time now, which has indeed involved some compromises both in our personal and professional lives. But we’re glad we made them – eventually – and on that note we’re very grateful to our own personal “board of directors” who we have come to realise are indispensible as far as we’re concerned. There are other achievements that we’re pretty smug about – we released a lot of records, put on a lot (more) shows, and a whole bunch of other shit that you can read about if you wanna – but having just about set aside this rather endemic music industry de facto political mentality that we need everyone to fear, love and respect us all at the same time, supplanted by the life-affirming combination of realising what the most important things are in our life and then knowing that we have them and have done all along, probably tops the lot.

Draper gets the song-to-sum-up-our-year prize. We can’t wait to share what he’s about to get up to in 2015.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebw-_peGnZ4]

And, of course, one of these constants that we hold so dear is the blog through which we’ve managed to document more or less everything that’s happened this year in its general cryptic glory. There have been some pretty amazing new musical offerings injected into the world which have soundtracked our day-to-day, so as is customary around about now, we’re gathering them all up like little prized balls of sonic gold. As is also customary, we’re also going to disclaim on any and all objectivity (no real change there then) when it comes to an assertion that we’re predicting any of the following will go on to definitvely destroy any commercial in the new year. We really hope that they do, if that is indeed what they want; right now, we’re merely saying that they’ve already succeeded in winning us over as fan, and we’re guessing via the act of having the nuggs to put together their music and send it out to the world at large that they quite like winning people over in this sense. Anyway, you should keep an eye on em, ‘cos they’re good and that. Here goes, in order of appearance. Which means we’re starting with artists we featured back in January 2014, and funnily enough ending up with those that bubbled up on our radar in December 2014. Logic, etc.

___________________________________________________________

1. Rare Monk

What We Were Doing That Day:

What does a heart attack actually feel like? Shooting pains? Isn’t that stroke or something? This is likely the end result of the culmination of factors that have arisen as of late, given that (a) we have about 5 active release campaigns we’re working around the clock on at the moment, and that’s just the tip of the fucking iceberg; (b) the bastard insomnia is back and doesn’t seem to be letting up, most likely due to (a) frigging with our dreams; and (c) we had a few jars on an empty stomach last night, which combined with (b) is fucking spicy indeed.

What We Said About Them:

To be honest, we’re inclined to give these guys “the best new shit of the year thus far” award and kind of wish that we had a “shitload of tracks of the day” instead of just the singular, seeing as we’ve allowed their Soundcloud page to bleed into their other tracks and they are, quite frankly, incredible. We’re gonna whack em all down. We don’t care what the background info is on these guys. You shouldn’t either. The music is everything and this is one of those occasions that we are genuinely struggling to list any comparisons.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O66H08eIF_I]

___________________________________________________________

2. Gallery Circus

What We Were Doing That Day:

We were in a perpetual state of gorm for most of the weekend (checking out The Wolf Of Wall Street really didn’t seem to help proceedings in this respect. Sure, it’s awesome, but it is LONG. And you KNOW IT), meaning inherently we could have quite easily slept for a full 48 hours. There we were – Sunday night. All tucked in and ready for slumberville. Then it was fucking 4am and we found ourselves wide awake and trying to figure out what we had forgotten to do by way of prep for this week. We still haven’t figured it out.

What We Said About Them:

Two-piece bluesy rock bands. So hot right now, right? We’ve been over this a couple of times, and indeed it would feel wrong in many respects to not throw some props to Royal Blood at this stage for spearheading proceedings in this respect over the last 12 months, given that in our mind our protagonists here seem ready, willing and indeed able to rock out just as hard. However, also in our rather-fatigued-and-frequently-over-imaginative mind, we like to think this is what Royal Blood might have turned out like if they were unashamedly into their Anvil or Spinal Tap kinda metal. With Josh Homme somehow getting roped into it; indeed there is a dash of Queens Of The Stone Age littered somewhere in this composition. Also, the video makes us dizzy.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTdQ99G1n8A]

___________________________________________________________

3. Girl Band

What We Were Doing That Day:

How’s it going? Yeah, we’re good ta. Slept like a mofucker last night.

What We Said About Them:

Not only did this track work with us in this rare blast of energy we seem to be carrying today, it inadvertently carried on a sort-of theme of the week whereby we appear to be featuring artists and/or tracks that have the law as some kinda nomenclature theme. Make of that what you will. Think Death From Above 1979 meets LCD Soundsystem meets Queens Of The Stone Age. Cos that’s what we’re thinking. Think our thoughts.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqxe3NZKYL0]

___________________________________________________________

4. Lowell

What We Were Doing That Day:

It’s Sunday “work” club y’all. We haven’t done this in an age, or what feels like one anyway. We got our mood lighting on. We’ve nailed some sushi. 6Music is plodding along in the background. Such are the conditions that we typically require in order to optimise our weird inclination to ultimately do what makes us the happiest – music shite.

What We Said About Them:

With righteous comparisons to the cream of the clever-pop crop being cited left right and centre – think Santigold, MIA and MNDR spliced with the raw-power production edge of Sleigh Bells, and an unashamedly-thick American vocal, bratty and beautful like Be Your Own Pet, we’re all too happy to fall behind and get behind this one. Especially with a strong look such as the one above.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjhmKvCuC84]

___________________________________________________________

5. Neon Waltz

What We Were Doing That Day:

Little bit deflated today, chaps and ladies. Probably inappropriate to go into any great detail – not that we feel we’re particularly regarded for divulging any useful insights into pretty much anything above and beyond the level of cryptic in this day and age – but suffice to say one of our peoples is not very well, and the whole outlook on things is not looking very good at all. Given that it is more or less a daily occurrence as far as we’re concerned to feel pulled apart in several directions both mentally and physically on a daily basis anyway, we’re surprised and somewhat disappointed in ourselves that we are seemingly unable to conjure up an extra, oh dunno, 4 hours out of our waking dailies to focus on such personal issues. Of course, it is quite typical for us to make someone else’s real-shit about us.

What We Said About Them:

The first section of this song feels like our first few waking moments of today, and almost seasonal in terms of composition, specifically in regards to the band’s generous usage of organs and crash cymbal washing. On one hand, we’re thinking of Mumford & Sons buddying up with The Lightning Seeds to formulate the next cry-your-heart-out BBC Sport montage documenting England crashing out of the next World Cup (we’re not saying it will happen, just that it probably will); on the other, perhaps with more relevance to modern contemporaries, we’re getting something in between Band Of Horses, Glasvegas and The Vaccines.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRa3ZdGEhB0]

___________________________________________________________

6. Huntar

What We Were Doing That Day:

We’ve recently discovered (or possibly re-discovered, given that we can hardly remember what happened five minutes ago let alone last year) that we can have a good time without getting lit. We can vibe off the atmosphere. We can get high off the company. It’s fucking great, we tell thee. Our recent sort-off abstinence from the proverbial sauce in the last week or so was likely instigated due to our sheer terror experienced by our person in anticipation of the copious amount of cool shit we’re working on right now.

What We Said About Them:

It appears to only be one guy; however this one guy is impressing the shit out of our peers in bloggy-bloggy world, and we could do worse than to fall in line behind this one. It helps that we are digging the music in a big way – think about James Blake. Or Laurel if Laurel was in fact a bloke from South London. Or, indeed, think about Years & Years‘ more recent R’n’B mode of release output, but way more serious and on a similar sexiness-plane

___________________________________________________________

7. The Hearts

What Were Were Doing That Day:

We’re at the family his-ouse on this not-as-grim-as-it-could-be overcast Sunday afternoon. Dad is pacing about anxious for us to get all of our shit out of the way so we can go and look at the weird-ass orchid exhibition at Kew Gardens; he having just reminded us that we need to re-do our car insurance, thereby shattering our recent dream-scenario of having dispensed with all of our automobile-related woes of late such as MOT tests and thuddingly-expensive car tax discs, has resulted in our Kew Gardens trip being delayed by that little bit longer. Mum is sitting opposite us tapping away on her laptop in a near mirror-imaged fashion to ourselves, and has indeed coined the term “work club” as soon as we walked through the familial front door which put a smile on our face seeing as we’ve only shared that term with one other person, which was most definitely not her.

What We Said About Them:

Reminding us more than a bit of Sons & Lovers are new Welsh dudes The Hearts and this indie-rocking anthemic sonic boom called Lips, which we’re more than happy to premiere this afternoon. They’re pretty new, and therefore there really isn’t that much to go on at this point other than the sweet, sweet music and a chorus that should have XFM daytime playlists and British summer festivals beckoning for this lot to get the hell involved.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sWx32zPtA]

___________________________________________________________

8. Esse

What We Were Doing That Day:

Bit of a weird day. We have some inevitable family-related shite to attend to in the early morning-ish hours of tomorrow which we’re not especially looking forward to, but on the flip-flap it does mean we get to wear our suit which only gets to make an appearance maybe once a year. Drawing on from this means that whatever stockpiled serotonin we’ve had access to in the last couple of weeks has apparently run out, and we can feel the bastard that is lethargy trying to rear its chudsey mug into our own. Anyway, as a result we’re actively trying to distract ourselves, which isn’t really that hard given that South By Motherfucking South West is just around the corner.

What We Said About Them:

Much debate has ensued in the KM office as to what this sounds like. We’re personally getting something along the lines of John Newman getting mashed in with some James Blake-style minimalist production. We’re also reminded of a guy back in the day (well, like four years ago) called Samuel & The Dragon. We do wonder often what happened to him and/or his dragon. One of our kin (who has asked to remain nameless for now, for fear of being openly ridiculed for such an assertion) has also chimed in saying that he really thinks John Legend could sing this.

___________________________________________________________

9. FMLYBND

What We Were Doing That Day:

We get to come home today. Or at least catch a flight directly back to London this evening, rather. Bizarrely we have recently learned that the return flight from the US back to old Blighty takes an hour less than the other way around. During this discussion that took place yesterday – which was considered a freebie day off, and given the extent that we feel (and we do mean we, collectively of Sam Pimpin’ Faulkner who quite frankly has crushed the A&R scouting game out here once more) that this is likely the most productive SXSW we’ve had, or rather the most productive trip abroad we’ve ever had, we felt like we deserved it.

What We Said About Them:

They kinda owned us as soon as we walked through the door. Guitar-driven electro-pop seems to be the name of their particular game, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. After tucking into Come Alive a couple of times just now, we’re left thinking of Dom fronting M83 and somehow Empire Of The Sun getting involved. Which, trust us, is probably the least-weird thought we’ve had since the festival officially closed the other day given the level of exhaustion we’re currently battling.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDUw3OQCTpg]

___________________________________________________________

10. Cold Ocean Lies

What We Were Doing That Day:

Since feeling light in our head and dead on our feet ever since we got back from Austin and for the best part of a fortnight – we hadn’t planned on being that run down, but we have since developed an appreciation of late how life generally doesn’t seem to give a fuck about your plans or indeed your best intentions – we were positively sprinting around like we know how to crush this game once more. Given that you lot clearly don’t mind us systematically using other band’s lyricism in terms of accommodating an expression of what goes on in our day to day life, we’re just going to go ahead and quote the bearded musical behemoth that is Manchester Orchestra in terms of our latest life-revelation – we’ve got friends in all the right places; we know what they want, and we know that they want us to stay.

What We Said About Them:

They are from Birmingham. Yes, Birmingham. Home of such fast-rising stalwarts of that early 90′s guitar-music genre revivalism we’ve been hearing so much about lately, like ya Peace and like ya Jaws and that. This has almost certainly got a Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins taste to it though. And maybe a l’il bit of Royal Blood-style balls-out rock and/or roll, particularly with Wasted Time. And Symposium. We like all that kinda shit.

___________________________________________________________

11. Bedowin

What We Were Doing That Day:

We MADE a fish.

What We Said About Them:

From what we can tell, Ms B likes to wonder about on her larry as well, or at least in persuit of the observation of others undertaking a similar activity. She looks sad, somewhat nostalgically so, and with a facial expression perfectly projecting the internal turmoil suffered by those walking around with a broken heart. Or something like that. We are admittedly having a hard time identifying who we think this sounds like. Lykke Li. Daughter. Joanna Newsom. Father John Misty. Mark E Everett. Cat Power. All these names come close to putting this into context yet in our head none of them seem to fit. Or maybe we just don’t know that much about anything at all. Which in a way makes this even more great.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVP8DmLm1XE]

___________________________________________________________

12. JUDE

What We Were Doing That Day:

We just met possibly our most-looked-up-to producer of all time (and tried not to look as if we were losing our shit in the process to a degree of success we might add) and it has made us realise that we’ve spent a significant amount of time this year and the last being distracted by shit that really doesn’t matter. It made us remember not only what inspiration means, but what it actually feels like. Something that propagates what you are doing, often when you need it the most, and in our case on those periodic occassions whereby we question whether what we are doing, or rather why we are doing it, is worth the effort anymore. It really is easy to lose one’s head in the grind of something we truly loved once upon a time; and it is nice to know that all we need is a monthly miracle to happen in order to spurn us on. Sweet times.

What We Said About Them:

Given that we’ve gotta go in, like, a minute, we’ll leave this with you lot along with the daydreams that this conjures up in our heads of Bjork melding with Duologue, or Lykke Li fronting Malpas. Also props to JUDE for whacking the phrase “you’ll see what you want to see” on their Facebook blurb thingy, which happens to be one of our favourite repetitive/screamy lyrics from Poison The Well‘s You Come Before You.

___________________________________________________________

13. COMPNY

What We Were Doing That Day:

So. Livva-pewl. Shound Shitty. This is nice. Currently we are sitting in a coffee shop adjacent to Sam Faulkner doing our A&R Demolition routine. This is where we just sit about and wait for cool things to happen.

What We Said About Them:

The chosen track title has personal relevance to us, but under the strong advice of Sam Faulkner we have decided to keep such shit to ourselves, for now. Anyway, we dig this, and we know fuck-all about it other than it sounds like a delightful mix of the sensi-core stalwarts of American indie, such as Death Cab For Cutie and Telekinesis. Also this reminds us a lot of Rare Monk which makes us happy.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsh3W0uguzA]

___________________________________________________________

14. City Calm Down

What We Were Doing That Day:

We’re seriously considering just being a massive C-word, so that on the rare occasion that we’re actually nice to people then we’ll be spiritually enriched by the whole bloody thing. We really think everyone needs to chill. Seriously. If you guys chill then we will have a license to do the same. Our mentality is intrinsically linked with yours. We are Borg, basically.

What We Said About Them:

So upon first play, this is one of those spicy twists that gets the whole office standing, somewhat erect, and very much to attention. This is what we’d usually describe as Clark-music. He used to play this sort of thing on the reg, intermittently littered in between his own band demos that he was quite rightly very pleased about and presumably attempting to get us to work with, rather than doing any sort of work himself. Kid likes his 80’s synth music. Nothing wrong with that. We can imagine on tucking into this superb clip below that there is plenty of affinity to be had. JG reckons this sounds like Ian Curtis fronting Cut Copy, or something. Very on-on point. We-sa gonna go ahead and chuck The Bravery, Echo & The Bunnymen and The National into this crunchy groove. Observe.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWUv6d-hmQ]

___________________________________________________________

15. JOHN

What We Were Doing That Day:

May we raise a practical question at this point? Yeah? Cool. Given that the sun’s out, the people are happy (sort of – you lot drive like you reeeeeeaaaally got somewhere to be these days, perhaps in part spurned on the summery sun’s warmingly glowingly warming glow and a desire to, y’know, not be in a fucking car for too long), and clothing attitudes are becoming just that bit more liberal – is it cool for us to wear shorts to work?

What We Said About Them:

we fucking love this music. It’s raw. It’s brutal. It’s making us air-drum in a mode so mental that it reminds us of the composition of certain individuals at Brighton’s Queen’s Hotel at 4am. For references what rock hard in a similar fashion ain’t really aren’t afraid to, try to imagine these guys standing toe-to-toe with the likes of Slaves, Test Icicles, Youth Man Greys, Pulled Apart By Horses and Untitled Musical Project.

___________________________________________________________

16. Adna

What We Were Doing That Day:

Mmmmmmm. Fried egg. We need food. Lots of it.

What We Said About Them:

We can tell you now that this is pretty perfect for a hangover. Think Daughter, Laura Marling, Khushi and Bat For Lashes all coming together in a culmination of Teutonic songwritery glory, and that’s generally what we reckon to this. We’re also delighted to know that there’s plenty more where this came from, so we’ve gone ahead and whacked a bunch of tracks below. Dig it.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IN8RZWOQMY]

___________________________________________________________

17. Locke

What We Were Doing That Day:

Gigs and gigs and gigs. And festivals. We sure do feel sorry for you agent and promoter types these days. With ya big-ass events both outdoors and in, your massive rosters that all need a look in because you love them each dearly. We know how you feel. Now you feel the delightful pain. You’re sandwiched in a space labelled “really really cool” in-between a rock that screams of how you must be seemingly omnipresent from now until Ragnarok at every festival great and small in what has become known as the domestic market; and a hard-place populated by not only your ostensible colleagues, but their children, their children’s-children, and indeed their children’s-children’s-children’s former room-mates, who basically want your guestlist. Not just a bit of all. All of the fucking guestlist.

What We Said About Them:

Out of the two tracks we’ve had the pleasure of coming across, specifically current Track Of The Days O Boy and We Are The Prey, given the obvious degree of consistency that exists between the two, we find it remarkable that the production and thus resultant tracks are greatly distinct. The same, but different, as it were. We’re getting massive whiffies of Bjork and Lykke Li with regards to both. With the former, it’s more leaning to Massive Attack (good shout, Intern Michael); the latter smacks of Bonobo. Either way, you’re in for a sweet ride.

___________________________________________________________

18. Shiny Darkly

What We Were Doing That Day:

HEY YA HEARD ABOUT THE FOOTBALL, IS REALLY REAL GOOD MANG. Or something. Hey, we like football.

What We Said About Them:

There’s elements of the scuzzed-out lo-fi that seem to dominate our ostensible residential area back in the aforementioned day of football re-indoctrination. Shoreditch, basically. It’s like a nice supplement to the whole nostalgia thing we’re dealing with right now. Other than that, to coin some horrible management-speak, this has some rather lengthy proverbial “legs”.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQKFdbEY0Y]

___________________________________________________________

19. Sykes

What We Were Doing That Day:

There is absolutely no feasible explanation for why we feel tired right now. No reason at all. It cannot possibly be these financial forecasts and seemingly endless amount of excel spreadsheets. Surely it is not down to the infinite amount of festival sites and single launch parties that we so easily find ourselves stumbling through (props to Jay Brown for packing out The Islington last night). Definitely nothing to do with cramming in the workload equivalent to that of any given major label – hey guys, we like doing your jobs for you on the reg anyway, so its cool – between three guys (actually, we’re a man down because Ross has rather selfishly decided to fuck off on actual holiday in attempt to, like, have fun and stuff. Well-played sir). It must just be the weather.

What We Said About Them:

Gold Dust is getting some kinda release on the 14th July, at which point we are quite likely to be on the other side of the planet playing silly buggers in the so-called EDM world. But you should keep an eye on these guys. They’re what you might deem as “relevant”, and from what we understand they are on the up; in regards to the music, get Pawws, Prides, Chvrches and Lights stuck into the ear of your mind and this’ll go down real easy.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVHOAZ6UIAA]

___________________________________________________________

20. Highs

What We Were Doing That Day:

We’ve found the time to check out some mad-ripe shit that we’ve been meaning to get around to checking out for a while, yet life keeps getting in the way. Like food shopping and playing drums for a few hours on a poorly-weathered Sunday afternoon, and watching our flatmate Tim practice his weighted lunges in front of our very eyes when we were quite clearly trying to watch the one bit of tennis that seemed to matter.

What We Said About Them:

This is suited to the tropicindie bits and bobs we seem to be consuming heavily these days in reference to the two or three previous Track Of The Day’s whilst also in nomenclaturistic sense being a bit ironic given it is sporadically pissing it down outside right now. Imbibe Summer Dress into your ears below whilst also thinking thoughts along the lines of Bombay Bicycle Club, Dan Croll and the Phoenix guy fronting Two Door Cinema Club all bundling together for some kinda make-shift Volta assembly.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCoQro4PBIQ]

___________________________________________________________

21. This Be The Verse

What We Were Doing That Day:

Okay. So we had a few drinks last night. We’re sorry, we thought this was ‘Mericuh. The utilitarian dream. Do what the fuck you want, so long as it doesn’t fuck with other people’s shit. In the initial stages, we thought we were just having a casual catch up with our boy Draper given that we haven’t gone for a post-work spicy twist with him in ages, which sucks because we used to hit that all the time. We’ve been busy. Then Ben and Intern Chris got involved; so there you have four men who have the largest propensity towards outspoken emo feels, drinking large, and ultimately talking about feelings owing to this long overdue congregation. We were accused of being an island; not talking up what has happened of late to those who we deem closest to us. Wrong, we said. We have the blog. We talk about shit all the time.

What We Said About Them:

These guys clearly don’t hold back at all. We’ve got make-shift history with these guys. Frontman Ed Melech is an old friend. We have worked at not one, but two shitty-ass labels with him on one capacity or another. He’s cool. We always though that he possessed not only the perfect big-man build but also the cheekbone-coupled-with-neck structure that would pretty much be the perfect hardcore band frontperson. Well, kid like his metal so it was only a matter of time, we suppose, and the timing couldn’t be better given the groggy mindset that we’re in, and also in the full knowledge that we probably won’t be able to blag into seeing The Bronx at Oslo tonight this is likely the next best thing to get stuck into.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlllGBMZb3c]

___________________________________________________________

22. JOY

What We Were Doing That Day:

Y’all ever seen a flying ant give birth to another flying ant right in front of you? Didn’t think so. It’s really quite disgraceful.

What We Said About Them:

Facts: we have very little. She is a she. She is from Brisbane. She is 17, which should have you A&Rs/agents/promoters/lawyers/blahdeblahs interested by now. She is repping the solo-producery take on singery-songery-writery-ness that has everyone’s balls wrapped around the likes of Billie Black and Nao these days (that show next week sounds like a real hoot). Further to that, we reckon this would stand comfortably toe-to-toe with those we consider holding to their own in the aforementioned “scene”. Talkin’ bout Lapsley (can’t be arsed to cut and paste the “O” thingy above the “A”), St South and Laurel. It’s good. Listen to it.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtcz1gD47PQ]

___________________________________________________________

23. Swim Mountain

What We Were Doing That Day:

We’ve been hanging with some cool dudes today. Seriously cool dudes. The UKF guys. They’re cool. Way cooler than us. They have more money than us, but then again so do a great deal of other people. Who else? Intern Chris. He’s cool.

What We Said About Them:

these chaps have already got some big ups, boo yahs, fuckyeah’s etc from Line Of Best Fit, which basically means everything in online music marketing world, and we imagine given this is a discernable step up in both songwriting and production output from what appears to be this ~~three-piece~~ quarteted, snappily dressed ensemble, they can expect a lot more where that came from. Go on, Line Of Best Fit. Give em another post. Gowaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

___________________________________________________________

24. Troves

What We Were Doing That Day:

We managed to completely botty out of hitting up V Festival this weekend. Gutted. We became a prisoner of our own (then) miserable body which only just about got us outdoors on Sunday to watch something called “The Football”. This meant that we managed to miss Sons & Lovers slay/lay waste to/party up/etc the rapturous and somewhat sizable crowd on Sunday. Sorry, everyone.

What We Said About Them:

Well, these lot are off to a flying start. Many other bloggingtons far more relevant to the world than our own have already thrown them their due and prop-er (see what we did there?) in recent weeks, and indeed the chappies have been picked up by the newly-resurrected Nude label (y’all like Suede? They be Suede‘s peoples) for a single release (nice one Saul). For when, we’re not sure. We’re also uncertain as to whether this is a cover or not; we’ve seen someone chatting that kinda breeze somewhere this morning. Don’t care. It’s real good and has that kinda credible commercial appeal that will see this getting plastered onto playlists hither and thither. We’re talking something in-between Haim and Chvrches.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o657K0TP-1M]

___________________________________________________________

25. Milk & Bone

What We Were Doing That Day:

We believe our subconscious is both excited and anxious about Reading Festival on many counts; spliced with the most-frank chat about women in general that we’ve had with someone that we really didn’t expect to have such a chat with yesterday evening (it wasn’t mum or dad, so shut up), this resulted in vivid imagery of us performing on a stage of consequence at Reading to a crowd largely populated by people we used to go out with. As in there were clones of em. Fields and fields of ex-girlfriend clones. Have you ever imagined something so terrifying in all ya days?

What We Said About Them:

Having made a wee splashy in the online world circa one month ago with then-effort New York, main protagonists Laurence and Camille trade in the kind of laid-back dream-pop that we can see ourselves becoming fully invested in. Now returning with this smooth number around a week or so ago, further online props and/or plaudits continue to rain in, we’re guessing by virtue of the very same Tegan & Sara via St. South via The Casket Girls song-craftsmanship that has similarly reigned us in. Delightful.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPb3j7Dkn5o]

___________________________________________________________

26. Grace

What We Were Doing That Day:

After 29 years on this place called Earth we have realised certain things aren’t good for us. Like not sleeping. Three McDonald’s in four days. DJing with a Spotify playlist on a touch-sensitive handheld device. Trying to convince people that there are merits to liking both Star Trek and Star Wars at the same time. Women in general. Prodding our flatmate Tim when he is hungry and/or asleep. All of these things. We’re still learning.

What We Said About Them:

We’ve heard allegations of this lady being a backing vocalist for Deaf Havana, but personally we don’t think that’s terribly important in comparison to the solo songwriting calibre here. If you’re into your Fickle Friends spliced with a bitta Lapsley style vocalling – or, if we lend ourselves to the more wilder regions of our imagination (which we do on the reg, otherwise we’d be boring), perchance your Gloria Estefan‘s boshing with Haim (and, as consequence, Fleetwood Mac) – then you might want to get your botties down to see Grace do her live thing at Paper Dress Vintage in some place called Shoreditch on 5th September. Activate.

___________________________________________________________

27. Oh Wonder

What We Were Doing That Day:

Did you succumb to certain rumours about certain bad things happening on certain tubes today? We sure as shit did. But it just happened to coincide with yet another marathon along the length but not so much breadth of Kensington High Street. We have spent more time in other people’s office perfecting our head-nodding and foot-tapping technique today than we have in our own, although to be fair we’d likely be doing much the same round ours instead of round theirs anyway.

What We Said About Them:

What we can pin-point somewhat more accurately by way of useful information is that these peeps will be unveiling a steady musical output of at least one new song per calendar month (we’ve been drafting contracts for a number of weeks now, so we’re still stuck in that kinda lingo unfortunately for everyone else). If each new offering is as consistently brilliant as this, and or in the musical vein of James Blake crushing London Grammar smooshing Mausi, then we’re all in for a fuckin’ great time.

___________________________________________________________

28. Fictonian

What We Were Doing That Day:

We picked a hell of a fucking day to start packing up, well, everything. For it is flat-moving day.

What We Said About Them:

There’s not a lot to go on, which makes us happy given that we don’t have a lot of time on our hands today and allows us a much-relished opportunity to focus on the music and very little else. And by gum, it is strong; and by gosh does it ever suit our hungover efforts to put shit into boxes. Tickling the more progressively-proggy end of the indie music spectrum – whatever the fuck that means – sound-wise this is resting firmly in the easy-going areas that exist between the likes of Alt J, Tunng, Gomez and The Proper Ornaments. All very good reasons to check this the fuck out. Peace. And boxes.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6GHs3VOK-0]

___________________________________________________________

29. Crystal Sister

What We Were Doing That Day:

Fucking tourist visas.

What We Said About Them:

This is likely the track that is missing from the Drive soundtrack; hell, based on the strength of this effort and with what ease it straddles the line that exists between the world of credible electro-pop and the ostensible credibility-diminished realm of commercial applicability, they might as well start shooting the sequel to the bugger and base it around this crunchy groove. Were this to be sent or otherwise serviced to indie clubs up and down the land, we’d bet a fiver (and we’ve definitely got a fiver now, because our deposits have just been paid back, WUT) that revelers would feel more than comfortable slow-dancing to this and a more complete playlist composite of Chvrches, Grimes, and Pawws.

___________________________________________________________

30. Hana

What We Were Doing That Day:

Birthdays and/or parties seemed to be at the forefront of social governance by the time the evening decended upon us. We made it to the one that we really should have (happy birthday, Danish. You were pissed out of your beautiful mind), but much to the dismay of other such party-throwers whose own affair we had insinuated but never promised that we would show up for.

What We Said About Them:

nd it is unashamedly pop, but likely some of the best-written we’ve heard since Ellie Goulding came stomping onto the scene a few years back – on that, this doesn’t sound a million miles removed from the works or indeed the voice of Ellie Goulding. Nooooooo sir. We’ll also chuck peeps like Foxes, Laurel and Sia into the referencing mix to allude to the credible end of the pop spectrum where this firmly sits. Birdy, if you want to talk about the scope of shifting them units, however much it truly pains us to even commit that to writing. Indeed, we would not be hugely surprised if A&R monkeys up and down the land were jumping on this like a pile of spicy bananas in the near future, if not already.

___________________________________________________________

31. Jones

What We Were Doing That Day:

We could have really done with being in the office a bit earlier today. Double release day. Had to do promo and interviews and shit. Ironically these seem to be more aimed at us than the actual bands involved in our much-loved New Moons: Volume II. But, hey, we didn’t. We had a snooze.

What We Said About Them:

Almost instantly we find ourselves reminiscing over Solange pre-lift-fight-club, when Losing You turned more than a few heads and shut more than a few mouths moaning and groaning over the status of her rather-famous sibling and/or in-laws. On that note we’re going to have to chuck in Madonna and The Knife as a supporting reference, and there’s a slight whiffy of Jessie Ware here in the production stylings. One of them ones to watch, we reckon, and an A&R scrum just waiting to happen. See you at the back of the room, you ruddy scouts.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rOVqy54–o]

___________________________________________________________

32. Traces

What We Were Doing That Day:

At this precise moment, we are the single most annoying entity on social networks.

What We Said About Them:

Traces are from London. Or Guildford. One or the other. Don’t care that much. They got much blog lovin’ and hypin’ in recent months due to previous/initial offering A Place To Call Home, and that’s a rad track as well. We’ve also read somewhere that Traces are a duo. Beyond that, as per bloody usual, we know diddly-squat. Music-wise, we’re dealing with something that could sit quite comfortably amongst the more high-brow and/or intelligent of the indie-dancey-producery spectrum. We’re talking, Man Without Country, Klaxons, One Bit, Beach House. That kind of thing.

___________________________________________________________

33. Albertine

What We Were Doing That Day:

This is categorically the longest amount of time we have spent with our immediate family since our life went all Fresh Prince Of Bel Air in lae 2012, certainly the largest period out of our own choosing. Following one particular public and steadily-built-up-over-the-course-of-four-days outburst yesterday – if you’re the youngest, the older peeps love telling you what to do, and if you know us personally at all we don’t typically respond too well to that sort of thing – some suprisingly calmly-revealing discussions shortly followed. We received apologies for feeling patronised. We were told we were loved and respected. We were told all the things that we wanted to hear for so very long from the very people we wanted to hear them from. After 29 years, we think we finally know who we are now.

What We Said About Them:

Whilst we’re whittling on about cliches, in new music blog world perhaps the seemingly continuous divulgence of young, pretty, sultry-voiced singing-songwriting-producering girls may constitute one – but quite frankly, who gives a shit so long as it is this good? Given that it’s now 2am local time we should probably wrap this up as we’re travelling to Calcutta ~~tomorrow~~ today at some stupid o’clock hour, so we’ll try to be brief in musical comparisons. In regards to the creamier of the aforementioned musical crop, we’re feeling hints of St. South and Lapsley; whilst addressing the degree of adventurousness in terms of production and general compositional construct, we’re thinking more Fever Ray, Alt J and Tunng.

___________________________________________________________

34. Ánders

What We Were Doing That Day:

Since larging it up in the motherland, we have discovered our lot are particularly adept at sitting down lots and devouring what appears to be an endless supply of carbohydrate and protein (and sporadic cups of tea, where applicable). To us, that’s meat and bread. And fuckyeah do we ever love meat and bread.

What We Said About Them:

As previously mentioned, we’re a slave to the particular vocal groove that this strapping lad from Switzerland via Australia (but seemingly resident in London at this particular moment in time), and find it very difficult to not succumb to the awesome chill-power of the musical composition given that we’re in a pizza coma right now. Fans of the Sivu‘s, the Parla‘s and the Alt J‘s might well wanna get involved with this.

___________________________________________________________

35. Bleach Blood

What We Were Doing That Day:

As may have been mentioned several hundy-thou-billy times over the last, dunno, a lot of recent blog posts (of which we have just realised we have written 1,000. We have written about over 1,000 new bands/artists/thingies/stuffs. Time to pack it in? Never. Fuck you.

What We Said About Them:

It’s good. Real good. Since signing and releasing bits and bobs through the Transmission label, Jamie and his band of merry people have strived to refine a sound that they pride themselves on calling their own. And whatever they’re calling it – we’re hearing elements of the pop-punk greats of the early noughties that we dearly love, alongside some of our alumni like The Vestals and Eye Emma Jedi‘s inherently upbeat moments, which quite frankly renders the listener able to dance articulately to guitar-driven music – we’re digging it pretty hard.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STJYfQaT2xE&feature=youtu.be]

___________________________________________________________

36. Human Human

What We Were Doing That Day:

We’ve done fuck-all work today.

What We Said About Them:

These guys dropped us an email with little-to-no information about, well, anything other than saying they have a new song called Lips; and actually, that’s just perfect for us. Interestingly, Ben Soep has become a fountain of musical knowledge by way of comparative references for this lot, and has come up with the following in regards to our current Track Of The Day: The Killers. Interpol. The Bravery. Right on, Benjamin.

___________________________________________________________

37. Weaves

What We Were Doing That Day:

CMJ. Seeeeeeeee emmmmmmmmm juuuuuuuuuuuuy. Are we pissed off that we’re not going? People have indeed tried to wind us up about it this week, whether directly or indirectly. Jon Mac and buddy-boy Andy Savours were giving it all “oooooooooh you’re going to miss out big time, you twat” on Friday night whilst we were positively crushing them at some kinda weird miniature and/or crazy golf course on Friday night as some equally-weird pop-up bar in Shoreditch (yes. We were in Shoreditch. On a Friday night. All kinds of mental going on up in here), and on the basis that such a wind-up was not enough to salt us at our apparently-not-as-shit-as-one-might-have-thunk game, we’re of the opinion that we really don’t mind all that much. Plenty of things to keep us busy here; namely contract hell. At least this is not accounting hell.

What We Said About Them:

Equally sloppy as they are articulate, current Track Of The Day Shithole is probably the signature anthem that stoners worldwide have been waiting for since Afroman decided to list all the things in song format that he could have done were it not for his, um, situation all those years ago. We imagine this is going to be adopted by your Pitchforks and your Primaveras very shortly (fucking good, says us) on account of just how ridiculously cool this not only sound but also how the Canadian foursome look. Music-wise, we’re thinking The Pixies doing The Thermals doing Pavement doing Lemonheads doing Yuck doing Wet Paint. That’s a lotta doing.

___________________________________________________________

38. Monogram

What We Were Doing That Day:

Following a botched-up rendezvous with one of several billion management clients that we apparently look after – turns out there is a massive difference between Picadilly Circus and the Picadilly Line – we went and linked up with a lawyer chum in regards to the aforementioned member of said-clientelle. That guy told us about these.

What We Said About Them:

After a quick blast on the KM office stereo, in the red corner we have cries of “Fleet Foxes, ya fucker” and “come on, it’s clearly a bit Eliza & The Bear“; and in the blue corner, assertions of “it’s a bit Prides innit” and “is this the new Bastille?”. We’ll leave you to decide which colour is Ross, and which is Ben.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6kFyWHkt6k]

___________________________________________________________

39. Blossom

What We Were Doing That Day:

The atmosphere in the KM office is one of extreme organisation. We are focused. Locked in. Poised to fight crime and kick ass. We love this fucking shit. Admittedly this follows Tuesday morning’s staff meeting, whereby yours truly steps down from our iron throne of power and comes down to mingle with, well, Ben and Ross. No holds barred. In this allocation of time, they can say whatever they want to our Jafar-like figure; and likewise, we reserve to bitch about them right to their chudsey faces. The vital ingredient of any relationship – whether working, personal, or otherwise – is honesty. Brother Tim taught us that valuable, and we have felt more in control and confident ever since we took that sage advice. This basically resulted in a lot of eyeballing and finger-pointing; and as soon at the meeting was over, each of us manned our respective battlestations with the full proviso that everyone has each other’s back. That, ladies and gentleman, is the lethal combination of both loyalty and trust. Now, if we only knew what we were doing, there’s no telling where this might go.

What We Said About Them:

Shoegazey, scuzzy, lo-fi, all of that shit that people our age won’t stop bleating on about and we’re glad there’s more quality to it these days in respect of emerging artists. In this instance, we feel like we’re dealing with Big Deal doing Little Death doing I Am In Love (RIP) doing Drive (then/now/not any more called Entertainment). Which cumulatively suggests motherfucking Pavement.

[That’s a shame. They’ve deleted the track. THEY’RE UP TO SOMETHING]

___________________________________________________________

40. GRLL PAL

What We Were Doing That Day:

It did cross our mind to pack it all in yesterday. Or this morning. Can’t remember. We think we may have even meant it too. The reason we uttered this now-paraphrased sentiment via our whiskey-laced mouth (that was some expensive-ass shit you were buying, Jon Mac. Reeeeeeeeeal expensive) to anyone who gave enough of a shit to listen was due to to having just witnessed two back-to-back shows from a band that meant so much to us whilst we were growing up (we’re still growing up, FYI, and hence they still mean as much if not more than they did to us circa 15 years ago) in a live platform we put together collectively that up until February this year did not exist. The band are called Idlewild, by the way. And they played in one of our crappy club nights yesterday; the King’s Sessions specifically. We don’t know how, or indeed why. Ask Ben. Ben did everything.

What We Said About Them:

This also coincides nicely with the first-ever occasion that we have received an email from someone legit-called Daniel Craig. Presumably the most recent James Bond isn’t repping this lot, but given how icy-cool this ensemble are both visually and sonically, we wouldn’t be super surprised if that indeed turned out to be the case. The email also states in all its informative glory that GRRL PAL “have to be” compared to Cults, Grimes, and Crystal Castles. Because we are in a particularly subborn-fuck mood right now, we are only going to give them Grimes, particularly in reference to Amazon. We are also going to give them Laurel, Dems, One Bit and MØ. Yeah, take that, that, that, and also fuckin’ that, you lot.

___________________________________________________________

41. WILLS

What We Were Doing That Day:

At one point we were discussing the ironic elitism that we usually find associated with rock music coupled with anecdotes of how the Stratford Rex was a “thing” once upon a time; at another, discussing why people starting out in this line of work are generally treated like a piece of shit, by those who are either perceived as higher up the proverbial food-chain, or ostensible peers who decide whether or not you get to join the cool kids club.

What We Said About Them:

We will go ahead and say we reckon this is a gnarly combination of the glitchy alt-electro-pop stylings of One Bit and Strong Asian Mothers, the vocals of TV On The Radio, and a production approach not too dissimilar from that of Jack Garratt.

___________________________________________________________

42. Cape Cab

What We Were Doing That Day:

All in all, thudding good week y’all. Thudding good indeed. Sure, we had some mishaps along the way – forgetting how to speak while viewing potential new office spaces at Tileyard, spilling soya milk on ourselves (it DEFINITELY was milk, and nothing else, you gits), and leaving our phone charger in other people’s place(s) of work definitely featured high up there in the whacky KM world of fuck ups. But on the balance of things we’re noticeably less strung out than we have been in previous weeks, save for getting wind of a few people we thought we were sort-of chums with having a good old bitch about yours truly.

What We Said About Them:

The music is deliciously downbeat and melancholic, which really suits this shitty-ass weather we’ve been enduring for the vast majority of today, and we’re as sure the current burst of blog action that Latern is riding at the moment is set to continue as we are that there is plenty more where this came from. Comparisons-wise, we’re thinking along the lines of Chet Faker, Parla and Khushi.

___________________________________________________________

43. The OBGMs

What We Were Doing That Day:

Bad news, everyone. Ben’s back. The office atmosphere is laced with Scottish accented expletives composite of vowels.

What We Said About Them:

his stands for The Oh Baby Gimme Mores. These are two very good reasons for us to be fully invested into possibly the second-coolest looking new crew that we’ve seen this year (we’re not telling you who is occupying the top spot just yet); but lets add onto this that having lived with the audio for Beat Up Kidz and the rather-insane looking performance video for ijustwannaluvallthetime that we’re very much sold on the music. The music indeed – it seems to be an awesome blend of gritty indie rock coupled with more punkier elements. At times we are reminded of Household Name Records alumni Capdown in several instances during the latter track. Generally-speaking, however, we’re thinking a spicy combination of The Ramones, Arctic Monkeys, Fidlar, Be Your Own Pet and The Horrors. It’s bloody delicious.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR5VHjasAlk]

___________________________________________________________

44. Pretty Sad

What We Were Doing That Day:

In all fairness we probably should have written this up on Friday; however, we quite literally had our hands full as we prepare to shift our officey-style affairs from West London to the much-more-conveniently-located-considering-where-we-live North London. So TfL may well be slightly gutted to read this. Yes boys, you have made a small fortune out of us these last two years, particularly when we forget to sort ourselves out with a weekly travelcard, or indeed purchase the wrong one entirely given our lack of tube zone-based knowledge. But now you are fucked.

What We Said About Them:

One of the biggest differences here contrasting to slightly back in the day is that the vocals are both pretty and comprehensible – as in not super-distorted to the point that it pretty much stops being a vocal and is just, basically, a noise – and there is more of a pop sensibility behind the song structure that helps us really get behind it all. We’re thinking The Drums, Mr Little Jeans, Cults, The Cure and Best Coast. Wonderful thoughts indeed.

___________________________________________________________

45. Sheikh

What We Were Doing That Day:

Wussuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup Camden? We’re totally in you. And not just us. Our stuff is in you. Boxes and boxes of stuff. Currently these boxes and boxes of stuff have formed a small fort surrounding our designated desk space in our new HQ (there’s a Brewdog on the corner of our new gaff and all. Makes sense, innit?) which we can tell is already annoying the utter crap our of our overly-friendly neighbours who are now finding it that much more difficult to get to the printer which we have taken up residence around; their annoyance is counter-balanced against the utter joy they are experiencing, not just because we’ve brought our loud-mouthed and overbearing sense of humour along with us, but also due to the communal beer fridge that we’ve introduced into the working environment.

What We Said About Them:

If you like imagining collective apparitions composed of the likes of Eye Emma Jedi, The Pixies re This Monkey’s Gone To Heaven-era, the indie-er moments of Klaxons and/or Jungle (shudder) particularly in reference to the double- or possibly tripled-up vocal, and big/massive/fuck-off sized chunks of Bombay Bicycle Club as much as we do, then you might want to consider going down to and/or getting into this.

___________________________________________________________

46. CROOX

What We Were Doing That Day:

Whilst this will almost certainly be the last Track Of The Day for what has been probably the most interesting year for us both personally and professionally, we will more likely than not do one of those end-of-year list thingies where we basically repeat everything we’ve said over the last twelve months. Look forward to that.

What We Said About Them:

The music itself is riddled with that soulful modernised r’n’b flavour mixed with that super-edgy minimalist production style that has everyone going bonkers for their James Blakes and Jack Garratts these days. Other than that, we’ve just had a flick through Beat Magazine’s write up for these guys who say they’ve got an EP coming out real soon, which is nice. We like their style. Not just their musical style – this smacks of The Weeknd and Hurts with the icy eerieness that we remember Worship repping back in the proverbial day; and not just their videographic style – we think spooky is real cool; but the idea of launching something this incisive just before everyone shuts up shop before the end of the year is nothing short of a statement of intent. Pretty bold. We’re into that.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kovpoYxwP4A]

___________________________________________________________

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Jenny Broke The Window