I recently found a couple of good ones I wanted to mention, so I thought I’d start this thread and if anyone else has some they want to share they can, as well. Joe Bonamassa- apparently he’s been around for a few years, but I haven’t ever seen him mentioned here. Hes a blues guitarist and is pretty good, in my opinion. His style is a bit lighter (a little more upbeat?) than the stereotypical blues that most people think of, but its got some good feeling. Out of the two albums of his I’ve heard (names escape me, sorry), I thought his 2001 album was good, but his 2006 album is really good. I hope he keeps improving.
His myspace has some sample songs:
Gill Landry- some of his songs have been coming up on my streaming radio, and I’m having a hard time finding out anything much about him since they’re from his first album which isn’t out yet. I think its due out in February. His myspace says that he has been busking on the streets New Orleans for years and this album “The Ballad of Lawless Soirez” is his first recording. I would describe his music, what I’ve heard of it, as moody, dark, and twangy.
Go to my blog and find the entry for January 2nd (part two). Most of those bands are both new and good…others like Greg Dulli, Poster Children, Black Lab and Placebo are merely good
The IslandsReturn to the Sea is a really good album. Its very light & upbeat indie pop, uses a lot of different instruments effectively not gratuitously. The album doesnt take off until the second half so stick with it, it’s one of my favorite albums of recent days.
PortastaticBright Ideas came out in '05 so I dunno if that’s new enough for you, but its also really good. They have one that came out last year that didn’t wow me as much but was solid.
CalifoneRoots & Crowns is fantastic. Their sound is a little odd for some people, kind of minimal droney twangy indie, but I’ve always liked it. I just didn’t think they had reached their potential on previous albums. This album finally did it, and the results are fantastic. Easily my favorite album of the last 12 months.
The Paper Chase wrote my favorite song of the last 12 months with We Know Where You Sleep. They have a creepy math rock sound, like an evil version of modest mouse. The album Now You Are One of Us is fairly solid as well.
Theres a lot of miscellaneous songs I’ve enjoyed (I think these are new, apologies if not), here they are in no particular order:
Asobi Seksu - Thursday
Benjy Ferree - In the Countryside
Breaks Coop - Last Night
Calexico - Panic Open String
Down Home Southernaires - I Love You Both
Falcon - The La-Z-Boy 500
Freeform Five - Electromagnetic
Heartless Bastards - Into the Open
MC Chris - PW/OM
The Panda Band - Eyelashes
Great record, and really the first post-Red Red Meat thing that he’s done that I’ve really dug. He was namehecking stuff like Pyschic TV as an inspiration for this record, and it shows.
I’m currently really digging the debut record by The Brothers Martin - two of the most underrated yet consistently great songwriters around, Jason Martin (of Starflyer 59) and Ronnie Martin (of Joy Electric), team up to combine their talents and make a hot record.