I could recommend a hundred... Well, four or five but i'll go with Puressence.

White boy, middle-of-the-road, indie rock in the Coldplay, Snow Partol, Radiohead, Elbow, Doves vein. Wholly unadventurous but so much better than their 'big name' counterparts and, nearly 15 years and four albums into their career, they deserve something more than the 'Big in Greece' epithet.

Their best of album has just been released.

It's got to be Efterklang.  I guarentee if you were to see this collective live you would be instantly converted, such is the sheer joy in their performance.  They win new friends left, right and centre

They've just recently signed to 4AD and I think they could end up hitting the heights of Arcade Fire and Sigur Ros.  Next year, with their forthcoming album, could and probably should be massive for them.

I think my major raison d'etre for [sic] is pushing bands that more people should know about. I like Efterklang too btw. Nice pick Mike.

Sera_6969 wrote:

Are we all enjoying Portugal. The Man?

Each to their own. Their grammatically correct, but practically superfluous punctuation put me off investigating further. That said, based on your recommendation, should I locate a promo copy nestling in one of my regular haunts on the cheap, I may well pick up a copy. Thanks

This one's going specifically to Brett, but is not limited to him! Two post-punkers to recommend.

1) Silent Age - check them on MySpace www.myspace.com/wearesilentage - yes it is very Joy Division but I think also rather tremendous in their fractured youth. I tried to get my pal at 17 Seconds Records (see [sic] article: http://www.sicmagazine.net/articles/396 … ds-records) to sign them for a 7" release, but due to other commitments they couldn't. I reckon one or two of their tracks might make it into my best of tracks list this year. 

2) R O M A N C E - not the band Romance that Brett has already reviewed for [sic]: http://www.sicmagazine.net/articles/374 … he-divide, a different one featuring one of the now defunct Ipso Facto members: http://www.myspace.com/isthisromance. Again, a fantasticly promising band, this one signed with a quality and devestatingly pummeling 7" to their name (Another Name / The Art Of Losing) and a Japanese mini-album with more gothic (think The Mission) overtones (Arikara - available from Rough Trade).

Certainly both worth checking out.

This week is all about Grave Babies in my book - picked 'em up from NME (eugh) though they've got this one nailed - a bit of J&MC going on in there but way underproduced and seemingly having microwaved their masters, aggresive, droning and feedback heavy. Just my bag. They're on the NME stage at SXSW - totally wish I was there. Brett, can we blag that one do you reckon?!

Jaher wrote:

it reminds me of Have A Nice Life.

- Didn't know them - just checked them out an their debut is available via their label for $5USD which is none too shabby at all. Thanks for the tip off.

Have A Nice Life popped up in my recommendations list a couple of weeks ago after I started listening to To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie and Natural Snow Buildings, though they sound like they have more in common with the latter than the former - I'll check them out in a couple of days (I'm dangerously close to my monthly data limit at the moment >_<).

A recent favourite of mine is Islaja, a Finnish singer who is often compared to Björk, Syd Barrett and Nico. Psychedelic freak folk, with experimental ambient drone-ish elements >?
Of the two albums I've sampled (Palaa Aurinkoon and Ulual Yyy) I find Ulual Yyy to be the most accessable. Reviews for Blaze Mountain Recordings make me want to chase that up too (live album; general consensus seems to be that it makes the music make sense, or something like that....)

I'm also watching out for Joseph Childress - I grabbed the split 7" with band The White White Quilt purely because of a couple of very favourable reviews and because they're label-mates of Pillars and Tongues. The White White Quilt have disbanded, much to my dismay and it's the only recording they've put out, but Joseph Childress is still out and about and the song on that 7" (Leaving The Barren Ground) is a pretty awesome folky field recording.

Gone Wishing wrote:

Just out of curiosity, did you get the Deathface EP from there? I clicked on the supposed link for it and it just gave me Organs, which was one of the three demos offered at the end.

Just thought I'd put this here, too... After checking back with the Enemies List website for info on the Have A Nice Life EP, I noticed a blog post talking about and linking to their Last.fm group which in turn has a link to a zip file containing a bunch of HANL demos and b-sides, compiled by the band and an associate, I think. Anyway, if anyone's interested in that, I'll follow suit with the label and post the link to the Last.fm thread: http://www.last.fm/group/Enemies+list/f … 6/_/563984

I just downloaded the three rather the EP so no help there sorry. And I'd say yes go ahead and post your link. Today's tip from me if you did tight post-punk and lo-fi (who doesn't?) check out Little Girls - I've a review for the album coming soon. It is spiffing.

Sometimes tracks just seem to have fairy dust sprinkled on them don't they? Here's two tracks that shouldn't work as they're so damn poppy, but - my goodness - aren't they great?!

The Magic Kids - Hey Boy
Cults - Go Outside

Think they're both up for download from Pitchfork (and if not, somewhere similar).

Gannon wrote:

I'm falling in love with Emily Reo at the moment. .

No falling in love with the clients, Rob. That's a [sic] rule. See your contract.

A shout out for both Repeater and Exit Calm. Special bands both. Will 2010 be kind to them? I don't know. But I know a special band when I hear one.