No 1: The Little Ones

 

It used to be that a new band came along once in a while. Now it's more like once an hour. Bewildered and baffled? Let Paul Lester be your guide

 

Monday December 4, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Angst-overridden ... The LIttle Ones

 

Hometown: Los Angeles, California.

The line-up: Ed Reyes (guitar/vocals), Ian Moreno (guitar), Lee LaDouceur (keyboards), Brian Reyes (bass), Greg Meyer (drums).

 

The background: Named after Ed's two pug dogs and looking like characters from Scooby Doo, these cartoonishly jolly sunshine pop merchants formed in 2005 out of the ashes of West Coast band Sunday Best. They have a motto - "We're done with angst" - and a cutesy commitment to making audiences dance (aka "The Rule Of Feet"). Abba and Fleetwood Mac fans Ed and Ian met while DJing at Loyola Marymount University's KXLU radio station, recruiting the rest via friends and family (Brian is Ed's brother). Their mentor-producer is LA neighbour David Newton, formerly of C86 almost-weres The Mighty Lemon Drops. Their career highlight so far could well be a recent concert at the Peterson Auto Museum, as the band played live in front of Huggy Bear-of-Starsky and Hutch's Cadillac.

 

The buzz: According to their press release, The Little Ones are "a joyous amalgam of wire-thin guitars, handclaps, Motown rhythms, the exuberance of The Go! Team and the cosmic wonder of The Flaming Lips".

The truth: On their best songs, such as Face The Facts, The Little Ones are capable of freakishly infectious guitar pop. Elsewhere, they sound like twee US indie kids doing karaoke versions of Magic Numbers tunes.

 

Most likely to: Dish out sherbet dib-dabs at the entrance to their gigs whilst encouraging fans to hold hands during choruses.

 

Least likely to: Sell out Wembley Arena.

 

File next to: The Magic Numbers, Hal, Belle & Sebastian, The Postal Service.

 

What to buy: A limited-edition 7-inch, "Lovers Who Uncover", is out now on Heavenly.

 

 

No 2: The View

 

 

There's one born every minute. They said that of idiots but now it's true of bands. Which is why Paul Lester is here to help

 

Tuesday December 5, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Aspiring reprobates... The View.

 

Hometown: The Dryburgh area of Dundee, Scotland.

The line-up: Kyle Falconer (vocals), Peter Reilly (guitar), Kieren Webster (bass) and Steve Morrison (drums).

 

The background: Formed in 2005, when aged 18, the band take their name from their local, The Bayview Hotel. Banned for riding a scooter across the bar, they moved operations to the nearby Doghouse where, Monkees style, they lived and rehearsed. Their first gig was in March '05 and within a year they were supporting Babyshambles (Morrison was arrested with Pete Doherty for driving the wrong way down a one-way street).

 

 

This spring they were brought to 1965 Records by James Endeacott, the man who signed The Libertines. They spent the summer recording their debut album on a farm outside Scarborough with producer Owen (Oasis, Verve) Morris, to the delight of local cows. Their first single, Wasted Little DJs, reached number 15 in August while follow-up Superstar Tradesman did the same. Aspiring reprobates, they recently supported Primal Scream and Morrison jumped out of a hotel window, suffering a hairline fracture of his foot. They're good-looking, too - Webster was voted number six in the NME Cool List.

 

The buzz: According to reports, they are "The Libertines reborn", their songs variously described as "joyful eruptions of teenage frustration" and "yearning sunbursts of guitar pop, as optimistic and energetic as anything this year".

 

The truth: Fans of everything from The Sex Pistols to Squeeze, The View play high-energy ska-inflected punk'n'roll, and their demented fanbase, known to sing along to songs the band have yet to record, are lapping it up. It remains to be seen, though, whether they can progress beyond tales of council estate drudgery.

 

Most likely to: See their debut album, Hats Off To The Buskers, compared favourably to Oasis' Definitely Maybe.

 

Least likely to: Record a second album full of songs about the perils of fame a la What's The Story (Morning Glory).

 

File next to: The Fratellis, The Libertines, Buzzcocks, Oasis.

 

What to buy: The Superstar Tradesman single is out now on 1965. The View's debut album, Hats Off To The Buskers, is released on January 22, 2007.

 

 

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No 3: Marissa Nadler

 

 

All good things come in threes they say. Well that's rubbish actually because No3 in our new bands guide is merely the start. Let Paul Lester take you by the hand.

 

Wednesday December 6, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Hometown: New York.

The line-up: On her forthcoming album there's Nadler herself on guitar and spectral vocals, aided by musicians from fashionable Philadelphian neo-psychedelic folk outfit Espers: Jesse Sparhawk on mandolin and harp and Otto Hauser on percussion, plus assorted cello and synth players.

 

The background: A sometime fine artist, Marissa Nadler is a seductive alt.folk quirkysomething and singer of self-penned ghost ballads. Born in 1981, she grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. Her mother is an abstract painter and clairvoyant while Marissa herself studied illustration and painting at Rhode Island School of Design (previous alumni include David Byrne). She released her hard-to-get first album, Ballads of Living and Dying, in 2004, followed a year later by the equally obscure The Saga of Mayflower May. She has now signed to Peacefrog (home of Jose Gonzales), which will release her first widely available album in February.

 

The buzz: Labelled everything from "spacey downer-folk" to "the chansons of maidens", she elicits ecstatic epithets from the hardest of hacks. "Nadler's tone of faraway melancholy," sighed one, "is utterly convincing and, accompanied by her own perfumed strums, could be being broadcast from a candlelit nook in Topanga Canyon circa 1971."

 

The truth: Nadler's tone is so sorrowful, her version of Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat" makes Laughing Len's original sound like Scissor Sisters in comparison.

 

Most likely to: Invite awestruck devotion from lonely male music journalists who may harbour fantasies of control and possession with regard to the frankly delicious Ms Nadler.

 

Least likely to: Incite eruptions of moshpit mayhem from said male music journalists during her shows. They'll be too busy gazing into her gorgeous deep dark brown eyes. Sorry, where was I?

 

File next to: Judee Sill, Hope Sandoval. Joanna Newsom, Sol Seppy.

 

What to buy: Her first two albums are hard to find, so wait for the single, Diamond Heart, released by Peacefrog on January 15, with the album Songs III: Bird On The Water to follow on February 12.

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No 4: Pop Levi

 

 

Let Paul Lester take you on a trip to the strange but strangely likeable planet of 'astral' funk-folk inhabited by the much-fancied space cadet

 

Thursday December 7, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

Going up... Pop Levi

 

 

Hometown: Los Angeles.

The line-up: Multi-instrumentalist Levi (piano, guitar, vocals) is joined by three musicians onstage (Dominic Lewington on rhythm guitar, Luke Muscatelli on bass and Marius Simonsen on drums).

 

The background: The son of a Jewish doctor, Pop (actually his middle name - his real name is Jonathan) was born in London. A prodigy and baby space cadet, he studied piano at three, joined a gospel choir at seven and aged nine wrote his first song, a 12-bar blues called Through The Windows Of My Life that apparently came to him "out of the ether". In the 90s he moved to Liverpool, where he formed a band called Super Numeri whose two albums "contemporised the cyclical groove mechanics of Can with the amorphous fluidity of jazz." Gushed the terminally out-to-lunch Levi: "We were trying to make something truly astral." In 2004, he played bass with neo-electro-poppers Ladytron, including a gig in a Nazi fallout bunker in Bulgaria, before relocating to LA where he developed his current persona: an unholy amalgam of Prince and Bolan with a penchant for "magick and androgyny". The first Pop Levi EP, Blue Honey, came out in September 2006, and his '07 debut album, The Return To Form Black Magick Party, produced by Thom (Devendra Banhart) Monahan, is a mix of cosmic folk, glam, blues, garage rock and pop.

 

 

The buzz: The hype merchants have been out in force: He's "Prince making out with Dylan in Syd Barrett's bedroom" one minute, "wickedly produced psychedelic glam-rock brilliance" the next. Oh, and according to one credible source, his single, Sugar Assault Me Now, is "one of the most infectious yet mind-blowing things you'll have ever heard."

 

The truth: Prone to pronouncements like "my music is future pop", Mr Levi is going to have to achieve success quickly or face widespread derision. But when he gets it right, as he does on Pick-Me-Up Uppercut - all handclaps, hooks and harmonies - his freaky funk-folk really does sound fresh and new.

 

Most likely to: Declare himself simultaneously the son of God and the unholy spawn of Iggy Pop and Levi Stubbs in his first major music press interview.

 

Least likely to: Say to journalists, "I make music for me and if anyone else likes it it's a bonus."

 

File next to: Marc Bolan, Prince, Todd Rundgren, Last Few Days.

 

What to buy: The single, Sugar Assault Me Now, is released by Counter on January 15, with the album, The Return To Form Black Magick Party, to follow on February 12.

 

Links: www.myspace.com/poplevi

 

www.myvillage.com

 

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No 5: New Young Pony Club

 

 

Paul Lester keeps his ears out for all the new bands, so you don't have to

 

Friday December 8, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

Chicks and chaps on speed... New Young Pony Club

 

Hometown: London.

The line-up: Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Lou (keyboard), Igor (bass) and Sarah Jones (drums).

 

The background: Death disco, avant-funk, neo-electroclash, robo pop, synth-indie, nu rave... New Young Pony Club are a band of many meaningless umbrella movements. Their name was apparently inspired by Irish rockers Pony Club, but it seems unlikely the band are positioning themselves as a tribute act. Mainly, says the part-Egyptian, militant vegetarian Tahita, the moniker is meant to be "quirky, kinky and fun". Favourite acts include the Stooges, LCD Soundsystem/DFA, Grace Jones, Talking Heads and Gang of Four. Oh, and the Stranglers, the notorious punk misogynists with the chunky basslines. Visually, NYPC take their own cues from Studio 54-era disco. Lyrically, watch out for these disco divas with dockers' mouths: Jerk Me is not about marinated beef, and don't for a minute think Ice Cream, with its reference to Sid and Nancy, is about Mister Whippy.

 

The buzz: They've been name-checked by Cut Copy and Franz Ferdinand and described as "a seductive slab of New Order-meets-ESG disco punk" as well as "the Slits produced by Byrne/Eno." Meanwhile, one music paper made this outrageous claim for the divine Ms Bulmer's imminent iconic status: "By 2008 expect her image etched into the moon."

 

The truth: These chicks (and chaps) on speed sound like something from a 2003 Dr Lektroluv compilation, or from the Ze label circa 1981 - all European female drone-vox and pristine beats. Ice Cream is brilliant, but whether they can sustain it over an LP remains to be seen.

 

Most likely to: Appeal to Hoxton fashionistas who wear their sunglasses at night.

 

Least likely to: Appeal to suburbanites who wear their stilettos at night, by day, during sleep...

 

File next to: Tiga, Le Tigre, Tom Tom Club, Miss Kittin.

 

What to buy: The Get Go, Get Lucky and Ice Cream, all three out now on Modular. The band's eponymous debut album is scheduled for a January 23 release.

 

Links: Their official site Their MySpace page

 

No 6: Just Jack

 

 

Paul Lester keeps his ears out for all the new bands, so you don't have to

 

Monday December 11, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

'The new troubadour of daily life' ... Just Jack (and his shortwave radio)

 

Hometown: North London

The line-up: It's just Just Jack in the studio, with extra musicians when he plays live.

 

The background: The 27-year-old Jack Allsopp, aka Just Jack, was a precocious child with two ambitions: to be a marine biologist or a break-dancer. Algae's loss was pop's gain, however, as after completing a Furniture Design degree, he enrolled on a music production course and discovered sampling. He recorded music by night, paying bills with stints as washer-upper, flower arranger, runner for a TV post-production company and shelf-stacker at Gap. Just Jack's debut album, 2003's The Outer Marker - including the Cure-sampling Snowflakes - featured songs about urban ennui and messy relationships. "The new troubadour of daily life," The Big Issue hailed him before Elton John got him signed to Mercury. Not too surprisingly, new single Starz In Their Eyes is about the downside of celebrity culture.

 

The buzz: He's the male Lily Allen, innit. As much a pop songwriter as he is rapper or groove merchant, Kylie wants him to pen songs for her new album.

The truth: More witty than gritty, more Jamie T than Jay Z, Jack makes constant deadpan references to Ikea and Marie Claire. Will he prove to be more than just Streets-smart?

 

Most likely to: Have a Number 1 hit with a geezer ballad about getting chucked by the checkout girl at McDonald's in Oxford Circus.

 

Least likely to: Actually go out with a checkout girl from McDonald's in Oxford Circus, especially when he gets a sniff of fame and starts hanging round the Met bar.

 

File next to: Jamie T, Mike Skinner, Audio Bullys, Stereo MCs.

 

What to buy: Writer's Block is out now on Mercury. Starz In Their Eyes is released on January 15, with Overtones to follow on January 29.

 

No 7: Pull Tiger Tail

 

 

Paul Lester keeps his ears out for all the new bands, so you don't have to

 

Tuesday December 12, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Hometown: London.

The line-up: Marcus Ratcliff (vocals, guitar), Davo McConville (bass, keyboards), Jack Hansom (drums).

The background: Former flatmates of Klaxons, PTT grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, went to Goldsmiths College but have postponed their final year to become new rave idols. To summarise the members quickly: Jack is the rentagob, Davo's the babe magnet and Marcus is away with the fairies. They are keen on journalist-baiting pseudonyms - meet "Marcus Firefly", "Dorian Greyvo" and "Jack Navarone".

 

Friends since they were 10, the band only formed last year. They got together while driving from New York to San Francisco for a bet; their name, which could so easily have been Tug Bear Paw, came to them in a dream; and their first gig was at Tatty Bogle in February '06. Now their shows commonly feature the crowd in tiger masks while PTT put on angel wings and swap instruments.

Beyond the band's trademark hi-jinks and herky-jerky rhythms there are some big rock anthems (early '90s grunge is a definite influence). They're signed to B-Unique, home of Kaiser Chiefs and The Automatic, so commercial success is not inconceivable.

 

The buzz: Equal parts arty-party punk-funk and soulful singing, they've been described as Devo fronted by Morrissey or Weezer meets The Strokes. Oh, and they invented new rave.

 

The truth: Maybe they did dream up new rave during their flat-sharing days with Klaxons, but you're more likely to mosh than frug to PTT's rocky racket - imagine Pearl Jam remixed by Test Icicles.

 

Most likely to: Become dancefloor favourites at indie discos in 2007.

 

Least likely to: Start a high-street fashion trend involving angel wings. Or tiger masks.

 

File next to: Klaxons, Bloc Party, We Are Scientists, Futureheads.

 

What to buy: Animator is out now on Young And Lost Club. Mr 100 Percent is available as a download from the band's website. PTT's debut album will be released next summer.

 

No 8: Jibbs

 

 

Paul Lester continues his whistlestop tour of everything fresh in music. Soon he will start dreaming of wrinkles

 

Wednesday December 13, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Hometown: St Louis.

The line-up: Jibbs, helped by production squad Da Beatstaz, including his brother DJ Beats.

 

The background: Jibbs is a 16-year-old former boxer from the notorious South Side of St Louis who is currently "taking America by storm" with his homicidally annoying hip hop novelty smash, Chain Hang Low.

 

Born in November 1990 as Jovan Campbell, and got his nickname Jibbs from his parents' slang word for "mouth" - he didn't stop yapping as a kid. Now he's getting paid for it.

 

Inspired by locals Nelly and Jkwon, he earned a rep as a rapper in the St Louis underground. "I was murdering 25-year-olds when I was 11 and 12," Jovan aka Jibbs aka Big Big Kid says, although presumably not literally. "That's how people knew me in the hood." Chain Hang Low, its melody taken from an old minstrel show song called the The Turkey in the Straw, via kiddy ditty Do Your Ears Hang Low (shades of Jay Z's Annie-jacking Hard Knock Life), has racked up more than 500,000 downloads in the US.

Jibbs is also, it seems (at least to himself) a mogul in waiting. "I plan to have a long-term career with movies, clothing lines, endorsements, commercials, the whole nine yards," says the young man, who doesn't swear in his songs, even though he shares a label with Snoop Dogg.

 

The buzz: "Jibbs proves once again that nursery rhymes make for bangin' hip hop," said US bible of bling Rolling Stone.

 

The truth: The words "one", "hit" and "wonder" spring to mind.

 

Most likely to: Cause mass defenestration of radio sets once the record gets A-Listed, as it inevitably will in the New Year. Altogether now: "Do your chain hang low/Do it wobble to do flo?/Do it shine in the light/Iz it platinum/ iz it gold?" etc.

 

Least likely to: Lead to a long and fruitful career.

 

File next to: Bow Wow, Young Jeezy, Lil' Romeo, Kriss Kross.

 

What to buy: Chain Hang Low is released by Geffen on January 22, with the Jibbs feat Jibbs album to follow.

 

 

 

No 9: All Angels

 

In his latest missive from the coalface of new bands, let Paul Lester introduce you to the classical Spice Girls

 

Thursday December 14, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

Watch out, one of them can really kick butt... All Angels

 

Hometown: London.

The line-up: Melanie Nakhla, Laura Wright, Daisy Chute and Charlotte Ritchie.

 

The background: Just what we always wanted - the classical Spice Girls. Melanie is Indie Angel: she likes the Kooks and Dirty Pretty Things. Charlotte is Bigscreen Angel, playing a student in Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire. Daisy is Jazzy Angel: her album of standards impressed Humphrey Lyttelton so much she became the youngest singer to be played on his Radio 2 The Best Of Jazz show. But watch out for Laura - Sporty Angel - who represented her county in athletics and who, as a lance corporal in the Army Division of the Combined Cadet Corps, can, aged 16, kick your butt.

 

Last month All Angels were invited by the minister for culture to perform at the House of Commons. They've had the fastest-selling debut album by a classical act in the history of the UK charts: Charlotte Church, Russell Watson and Pavarotti are rumoured to be tearing their hair out, in a grandly theatrical, neo-operatic fashion, natch. Believed to be committed Christians, expect total ubiquity over the next few weeks when their choral rendition of Robbie Williams's Angels (backed with - whoopee! - a cover of Silent Night) is tipped by William Hill to be the Christmas No 1.

 

The buzz: "Four very different teenage girls. One shared passion for music. A unique vocal quartet for the 21st century."

 

The truth: Wills and Harry will be drooling, but does the world really need more versions of Schubert's Agnus Dei or Pachelbel's Canon?

 

Most likely to: Be invited to perform at next year's Diana-memorialising music-fest.

 

Least likely to: Appear on the NME stage at Glastonbury 2007.

 

File next to: Vanessa-Mae, Angelis, Mediaeval Baebes.

 

What to buy: Angels is released on Monday by Universal Classical and Jazz.

 

 

No 10: Foals

 

Let Paul Lester guide you through the minefield of new bands, to find a bunch of brainy punk-funksters who specialise in music to make girls dance

 

Friday December 15, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

Where's the herb garden?... Foals

 

 

Hometown: They're from Oxford, but they've just moved to Brighton where they share a three-storey house - with its own herb garden, in case you wondered.

The line-up: Jimmy (guitar, keyboards), Yannic (guitar, vocals), Edwin (keyboards), Walter (bass) and Jack (drums) - apparently, like Madonna and Jarvis, they don't need surnames.

 

The background: Foals are no fools - in fact, they're undergraduates who have just dropped out of Oxford Uni after one year to pursue a career as the brainiest punk-funksters in Britain. Another band for whom the Rapture's House of Jealous Lovers was Year Zero, Foals have just signed to Transgressive Records, home of Battle, the Young Knives and Polytechnic. With nothing available to buy as yet on CD, it's the live gig where Foals are in their element: they take Franz Ferdinand's "music to make girls dance" credo to the max, using guitars, drums, voice, bass and keyboards to make a sort of manic, organic, polyrhythmic electronica. But they're not indie kids: they're bang into techno and labels like B-Pitch and Kompact. To see the crowds going mental at their gigs to the intricate crossplay of chants and beats, you'd think you were at a rave. A new rave! Nah, it'll never catch on...

 

The buzz: Foals' techno-played-on-guitars shtick is wowing the cognoscenti: "They're like an Afrobeat Don Caballero," gasped a member of Franz Ferdinand, while a journalist who caught them onstage recently frothed at the mouth about their "quivering electro ferocity, interweaving Cif-clean guitars that sound like stars falling from space onto great lakes and clinically sharp stop/start drumming", before passing out.

The truth: If you were around circa 1980-1, the first time white punks got funk, you might not experience the quasi-religious ecstasy of yer average Foals nut. Nevertheless, this is pretty exciting stuff.

 

Most likely to: Cause a new dance sensation to sweep the nation called The Foal.

 

Least likely to: Make a second album of ambient chilltronica full of little fluffy beats and sheep bleats.

 

File next to: The Pop Group, Pigbag, Fire Engines, Klaxons.

 

What to buy: Foals' debut single, as yet untitled, will be released by Transgressive on February 12, 2007.

 

 

No 11: David Vandervelde

 

 

Monday December 18, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

 

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois.

The line-up: Vandervelde is joined by the Moonstation House Band at gigs.

 

The background: He's a member of that annoyingly talented breed of do-it-all American superbrats you used to get in the '70s like Emitt Rhodes and Todd Rundgren. Self-taught from a young age, he knows his way around guitar, drums, bass, piano and synth. Influenced by The Bee Gees, T Rex, Colin Blunstone and the aforementioned Runt, he began recording his debut album a few years back when he was just 19, using Jay Bennett of Wilco's studio as his "big toy instrument". On three of the songs, he worked with award-winning string arranger David Campbell - who is not only responsible for the strings on records by Elton John and Leonard Cohen and the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, but is also Beck's dad. Vandervelde's aim, he says, is to excite true pop fandom like rock stars used to in Ye Olden Times and inspire you to carve his name on your school desk - unless you've left school, in which case do it at work. He's a bit of a one-man Guilty Pleasure factory - pumping out tracks which sound more like ELO than ELO.

 

The buzz: Imagine a less folky, more poppy, Devendra Banhart, with a warbly voice and by turns rocky and dreamy tunes; Marc Bolan, basically.

The truth: With the 30th anniversary of the death of the corkscrew-haired glam pixie fast approaching, a living, breathing facsimile is not the worst conceivable thing.

 

Most likely to: Encourage magazine headline writers to come up with terrible "DVD" or "Catch David VD!" puns.

 

Least likely to: Reform T Rex on September 16, 2007, with himself on guitar/vocals and Rolan Bolan on bass.

 

File next to: Bolan, Bowie, ELO, Pop Levi.

 

What to buy: The Moonstation House Band album is released by Secretly Canadian on February 12.

 

 

No 12: Polytechnic

 

 

Paul Lester

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

The five degrees? Polytechnic.

 

Hometown: Manchester.

The line-up: Dylan Giles (vocals/guitar), Yuri Caul (bass/vocals), Denny Hilton (guitar), Tim 'The Lord Stuchbury' Warren (drums), Peet Earnshaw (keyboards/vocals).

 

The background: Purveyors of rousing modern Manc psychedelia, Polytechnic boast in their ranks an impressively diverse cast of characters. There's Dylan and Yuri, responsible for a shock-and-awful feedback-and-beats combo during their schooldays in Devon. Tim moonlights as percussionist for a Welsh hip-hop act. Denny has played alongside Damo Suzuki from legendary krautrockers Can. And Peet is the enigmatic keyboardist whose melodies give shape to the band's more formless meanderings.

 

 

After changing their name from The Conversation, last year Polytechnic recorded a demo, Pep, in Yuri's bedroom. It was fast yet poppy enough to attract the attention of Steve Lamacq who instantly proclaimed them his New Favourite Band. Then they went on the road, supporting everyone from The Breeders to The Strokes while earning plaudits in the press and a rabid local following for their intense live performances. The video for their second single, Man Overboard, features a man with a bird's head.

The buzz: Meet the British Arcade Fire: tune terrorists who make "hypnotic marching anthems for dreamers on woozy prescription pills."

 

The truth: If they're the British Arcade Fire, they may well find themselves overshadowed in 2007 by the return of the real thing.

 

Most likely to: Court Brian Eno as producer for their debut album.

 

Least likely to: Change their name to University when they gain a degree of success and graduate to the next level. Sorry.

 

File next to: Elbow, Doves, The Longcut, James.

 

What to buy: Man Overboard is out now on Transgressive.

 

 

Tomorrow's new band: Grace

 

No 13: Grace

 

 

Paul Lester

Wednesday December 20, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

 

Nice bunch of lads Grace. Very close.

 

 

Hometown: London.

The line-up: John-Paul Jones (vocals, guitar), Sam Swallow (keyboards), Ben Lumsden (bass), James Hayto (guitar), Chris Hutchings (drums).

 

The background: Ben and John-Paul Jones (no relation) met at public school, where they used to get into scrapes in the shower and drink lashings and lashings of ginger beer. The pair formed a band called Morocco, who played acoustic sets down the Portobello Road and were, according to JP, "downtempo and Coldplay-ish. We were $h!t."

 

Two years ago, when JP and Ben met James, the songs got "bigger and deeper" and they began again as Grace, taking their name either from Jeff Buckley's debut album, or one of JP's ex-girlfriends, though not the religious term, even though Sam plays organ in his local church.

 

They're a mixed bunch. JP is the son of a fairground-travelling mother and an RAF-mechanic father who went on to design fruit machines. He spent his childhood travelling around Wales with the fair, and at the age of 11 won the title of Bard of Eistedfodd for singing Welsh songs.

 

Ben's parents ran a music school on a farm in Gloucestershire, which nearly put him off music for life, but he eventually found himself playing cello and then bass and studied music in Cambridge.

 

Leeds boy Sam was on the same course, having earlier declined an invitation by Sean Conlan - a future member of Five - to form a group. Finally, Bucks lad Chris was drafted in on drums and James was their guitar-for-hire.

 

The buzz: "Stand Still is jaw-droppingly good, with a chorus so catchy it's scary. Grace are going to be huge" - The Sunday Times.

 

The truth: Grace are going to be huge.

 

Most likely to: Be popular with girls.

 

Least likely to: Be popular with boys, unless it's boyfriends of girls who like Grace, in which case they'll have no say in the matter.

 

File next to: Snow Patrol, The Feeling, Orson, Keane.

 

What to buy: Grace's debut single, Stand Still, is out now on Gracious Records. Their next single, Wonderful, is released in March, with the debut album to follow.

 

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No 14: Richard Swift

 

 

Let Paul Lester be your guide through the maze of new bands, to fall upon the timeless charm of Richard Swift

 

Thursday December 21, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

 

Oh for the good old days... Richard Swift. Photograph: Lance Alton Troxel

 

 

Hometown: Orange County, California.

The line-up: Swift plays most of the instruments on his records, with extra musicians on bass, drums and strings.

 

The background: Born in 1977, Swift spent his childhood on a remote Minnesota farm dreaming of the pre-rock golden age of timeless tunefulness: Broadway, ragtime and vaudeville. To that end, he uses budget equipment, mainly a four-track recorder, which is not entirely authentic but a nice gesture.

 

Before going solo, he provided keyboards for Starflyer 59 and performed with an ambient-electronic outfit, Instruments of Science and Technology. While touring with his live band, the Sons of National Freedom, he released two records, Walking Without Effort (2001) and The Novelist (2003).

 

When those long players ended up in the bargain bins, he started having panic attacks worrying that, with a wife and child to support, he was in the wrong game. But after touring with My Morning Jacket, Swift made a huge splash at the 2006 South by Southwest festival.

His forthcoming album is about getting his confidence back. "I don't want it to be just seen as a record of me bitching, and 'all the music industry is ****ed'," he says. "But it is about my relationship with the record industry and how I let circumstances get on top of me."

 

The buzz: "Beneath the crackling, second-hand veneer and unique, circa-1930s accompaniments from ragtime piano, raucous trumpets and brushed snare drums lie beautifully written modern pop songs."

 

The truth: If you like Rufus, you'll love Richard.

 

Most likely to: Get amazing album reviews.

 

Least likely to: Sell amazing quantities of said albums.

 

File next to: Rufus Wainwright, Elliot Smith, Van Dyke Parks, Kevin Tihista, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman.

 

What to buy: Dressed Up For The Letdown is released by Secretly Canadian on February 20.

 

Please add to this list if you know of any good bands

 

and if you are if a band yourself you can add it here if you think you are good enough!!!

 

 

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