8 Artists You Should Know

So. I want to keep this as un-hipster as possible. Really, it is the opposite, but someone telling you about obscure music has a hipster-esque feeling to it.

So yeah I reached out to my friends, and I had a few of my own.  I just figure music still can have that word of mouth feel to it. 

The days of trading mixtapes or reading about bands, or bands being at in store junkets is a bygone era.

Music is digital now, not only does everyone have a smartphone that can pull up videos of anything, anywhere; we’ve also got iPod or any other device.

Hell, you might even be reading this on a phone.

So anyways, it’s time to highlight some people you may not know about.

X Ambassadors

Saw these guys last year, and at the time, I had only heard their song Renegades. It was on a commercial for a Jeep Renegade.

Well needless to say they are an awesome band, and they put on a great show.  They have an energy that is all their own.  Is their sound original? Maybe not. But I can’t think of anything to compare it to. Maybe Lenny Kravitz, but a lot better, and not just a Hendrix ripoff.

So these dudes are from New York and have been together now for 8 years. They’ve released a few EPs, but didn’t release a full length album until June of 2015.  And quite frankly, it was worth the wait. 20 tracks of music. Full songs intertwined with well-placed interludes, it is definitely great.

The band is led by Sam Harris who is a multi-instrumental specialist. 

Rounding out the rest of the band is Casey Harris on keys, also the blind brother of Sam Harris, but god damn he gets down.  Noah Feldshuh plays lead guitar, and Adam Levin finalizes the group on drums. 

So they had a great 2015/2016 opening for Imagine Dragons, Weezer, and Panic! At the Disco.  But look for them to start headlining their own shows soon.

Here’s a look into their live experience:

Jungle

Renegades

Sturgill Simpson

If you tuned into Saturday Night Live this week, and found yourself saying, “who the fuck is Sturgill Simpson”  Don’t worry. I did too, and so many people have been asking that for a while.

In fact Simpson even sells a shirt reflecting that.

So after the SNL gig, I started looking into Simpson, who is now my latest musical obsession. 

Dude is awesome. 

Now I am not a huge fan of country music, but Simpson sort of blends some soul and rock into it.  His voice is versatile as is his repertoire of songs. 

His backing band members are no slouches either. And there are so many of them. His horn section swells to upwards of 6 members on certain songs.

And the guy on the keys.  Fucking righteous

So Sturgill Simpson, was in the navy, and then moved around a bit and started a bluegrass band in 2004. Then they broke up and he managed a railroad yard.

He went solo in 2013 and released  a few  albums, started appearing on tv.

In 2016 he released his third album “A Sailor’s Guide to the Earth” on Atlantic Records, and his success is starting to happen as the album is not only nominated for Best Country Album but also Album of the Year at the upcoming Grammys.

Ok, check it for yourself.

Call To Arms  This was the final number on SNL. If that doesn’t get you hooked, I don’t know.

You Can Have The Crown / Some Days  This is a smaller band live at some brewery

In Bloom   That’s right he covered Nirvana, and truthfully I like it. A lot.

The Bigger Empty

So it’s no secret that I love the Smoking Popes, well this takes their drummer and puts him center stage with a guitar and a mic.

How can I explain this to you.  It’s great shit.  Ok how about this, I am literally going to copy and paste the about section from their facebook page. Ok?   Well deal with it.

Punk rockers that got old and slowed down a little bit.

So yeah, that’s their about, hears their biography straight off their facebook page

The Bigger Empty is a rock band from Westmont,IL. Its members include: Mike Felumlee (drummer of The Smoking Popes and Alkaline Trio) on guitar/vocals, Amanda Sena on keys and vocals, and Jim Steinkraus, Reuben Baird, and Kevin Baschen from the Chicago band Sketch Middle. This group has been playing together for several years as Mike’s solo act. During rehearsals for their upcoming album, the guys discovered they were sounding more like a band than a solo project, and so The Bigger Empty was born.

With a shared passion for straightforward, hard hitting pop-rock, The Bigger Empty are diving into the recording of their debut full-length album. The album is currently being tracked at Reuben’s studio Chicago Sound Lab with Reuben manning the console. The guys are very excited to share their musical vision with the world. Rock music just as it should be: pure, simple, and catchy

So, yeah, it’s just poppy music, a touch of punk/indie But honestly they are worth your time.

Thread

Better than Drowning

The XX

Believe it or not, my almost 12 year old son is the one who made me take a second look at The XX

I saw them earlier on SNL and that’s where he found them. Somehow he took a liking to them. I’m still a little perplexed by the bands lineup/grouping.

They were once a 4 piece, but have narrowed it down to 3

So, they’ve got Oliver Sim on Bass and Vocals, Romy Madley Croft on guitar and vocals, and then they’ve got a guy making beats and mixing things up named Jamie Smith.

That’s it, and maybe my age is showing, but a band without a drummer confuses me.  But it clearly works. And the electronic aspect of it, means that the percussion can be produced in a way not possible with an actual drummer.

So like I said they were a 4 piece in 2006 but by the end of 2009 the band made the decision to axe the second guitarist.

So these cats are British and are  big over there

 Well, here, they were just on Jimmy Fallon

Lips

Islands

Vince Staples

So, my main man Tate Nuggs told me to check this dude out. I did, and I liked it.

I don’t give Hip Hop enough credit on this blog, I think I need to change that. 

So Vince Staples is from Long Beach, where lots of great music has come from.

He started out being featured on some OddFuture tracks.  Then he started putting out mixtapes of his own and was signed by Def Jam records.

He made his major label album debut in 2015 entitled Summertime ‘06  with 3 singles off it received many 4 and 5 star reviews and ranked in the top ten of the year by various websites and publications.

2016 brought us Prima Donna a 7 song EP that was again, critically on fire.

Blue Suede

Norf Norf

War Ready

All Them Witches

This is another band that came from a recommendation  and I am glad that I got it. I don’t know much about them, and was unable to find a whole lot out, but I like what I have heard. 

They are a rock band from Nashville, and they sound like they were plucked from a killer acid trip and just started rocking.

They’ve put out 5 albums, 3 studio and 2 live, and they are planning their next album for February of this year.

So, check em out and pay attention for their next album.

The Marriage of Coyote Woman

When God Comes Back LIVE

Under Pressure – Yes that Under Pressure.  It’s worth your time. I promise

Tori Kelly

So, here’s the thing, she is not necessarily overlooked, some of her videos have been viewed over 30 million times, but she came as a recommendation from my lady friend Denee. Truthfully though, I had never heard of her before.  

So if you haven’t heard of her, here you go.

So I like what I did stop to listen to.

So here’s a quick brief history.

She tried out for American Idol in 2010 but did not make their top 24.

She then started releasing her own music, self produced and self released.  That got her noticed and she signed to Capitol Records. 

In June of 2015 she put out her first full length album that went to number 2 on the album  charts she was nominated for various best new artist awards, and even won a few.

So that’s where we are today.

Nobody Love

Should’ve Been Us

Hollow

Desaparecidos

So, you might have heard the name Conor Oberst before.  Maybe you like his other band Bright Eyes.

Maybe you like the supergroup Monsters of Folk.

So Desaparecidos is new to me too. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine named Pete. I may have heard them when they released their first album in 2002. But as I recalled to Pete, there was a lot of Emo/Post-core music saturating life in the early 2000s. 

So anyways, What you’ve got is an awesome band who took a 13 year break between albums and picked up right where they left off.

Kind of.  I mean they got more educated, but realistically the politics were there, I mean they sort of fall into that whole DC scene, without being from DC

Ok, well, let’s have a listen, and this will be a bit different.

Read Music/ Speak Spanish -   Yep, the whole album from 2002

And then of course.

Payola  - Yep a whole playlist of their 2015 album.

So that’s it 8 artists that deserve your time. They are making names for themselves, you can like them before they are cool

But really, what do you think, did you know them, all of them? Any of them? Did I miss anyone?

I will do this again, and I am also going to do a deeper classic version of this later too.

     -peace