The Pinecone Kids were born this year and with downs syndrome. As a result they go around asking people if they would like to buy pinecones. Straight outta east London gutters they play gritty grungey noisy madness, but also soft soothing sonnets of ambience. Essentially, the Pinecone Kids are a clan, a consortium, and they will infect you with their Pinecone insanity. The Pinecone Kids on Soundcloud
Stockholm-based Sand Circles started activity in late 2010, releasing fuzzy tapes filled with deep synth chords filtered through tape echo units. http://sandcircles.tumblr.com
Deathline is a duo from London, UK. Members Jennie (bass guitar, vocals) and Kaoru (guitar, vocals and programming) formed the group after quitting Artrocker post-punk band Electric Shocks in late 2005. Deathline spent summer 2006 developing their sound, which is a lo-fi blend of electronic backing and harsh, garage rock style overdriven instrumentation, that was labelled "rock noir" by their supporters due to its dark and atmospheric nature.
Influenced by their punk upbringing, avant-garde schooling, and no wave surroundings in early 80s NYC,- but not beholden to any genre - Ike Yard managed to create a new sound.
By tapping into equal parts the krautrock experimentation of Can, the Neue Deutsche Welle of DAF and the UK post-punk dub of PiL and Joy Division they created sounds and songs unique enough to catch the attention of Factory Records, who made them their first American signing.
Daniel Fell is a London based musician, most known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of The Argonauts. Fell has also recorded material with The Bon Vivants and Ligers. Currently working on his debut solo album, early offerings have included the caustic acoustic Rubber Ball, the Byrdsesque Chanson and Minefield, a Paisley Park flavoured cautionary tale of repossession in modern times. Loose limbed, just the right side of funk, it typifies what’s on offer at Fell’s table.
There are at least two bands named Moxie. One is from Houston, TX, and there is another in San Diego, CA. The Moxie from Houston formed like many other bands: through a facebook courtship, a midnight Taco Cabana outing, and an STD testing session. Their music could be considered “post-funk," if such a thing existed, and their live shows are worthy of their namesake. Having just completed a national tour this summer (2007) ranging from Texas to New York to Missouri in the Funkwagen, their airport shuttle bus...
There are two bands called Hissyfit 1) hissyfit is all girl band that formed in auckland in 2009. The trio slam through short songs about no doz, hair ties and meeting girls. they list there influences as riot grrrl, post punk, 60's girl bands. http://www.myspace.com/hissyfitband. They are Jaspin - guitar/vox, mon - drums/vox, ary - bass http://www.facebook.com/pages/hissyfit/120704837942763 2) An all-girl indiepop band from Melbourne, who released an EP "Stars without Make-up" in 2001.
Beat Ratio is a London based solo artist producing focused electro-pop tunes with an old school approach. Working exclusively on cassette, from the initial ideas to the final masters, he uses the limitations imposed by tape as an incentive for creativity and a way to escape the perfectionism of music software. Funky beats, synth-pop and traditional songwriting are all processed through a DIY blender in an attempt to produce music with which to recapture a time, not long ago, when "less was more".
The following is taken from "The Art of Noise" review of the gig at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, (26 Oct 2007), With Max Tundra. I guess the precedent of Rarely Seen Above Ground’s stage set-up is those arena shows where Elvis’ old band knock out the cobwebbed chops, while the spectral King phones it in from the big screen. Well, almost, if instead you had the band on screen, and Elvis on the stage, with Elvis singing from behind a drum set, and with a David Byrne kinda cadence. That’d be the precedent.