JIM CARROLL's guide to future sounds
She Keeps Bees: Duo with vintage blues that tastes like honey
The blues may be about to get a new queenpin. New York singer and guitarist Jessica Larrabee is the she in She Keeps Bees.
Having been in a couple of bands in her time, Larrabee finally copped that following her own star was the way to go.
The dude in She Keeps Bees is New Orleans native Andy LaPlant, who was taught to play the drums by Larrabee. There’s no bass player because, well, sometimes you don’t need a bass player.
Like the Black Keys, White Stripes and The Kills before them, two is the magic number.
While She Keeps Bees already have two albums under their belt, they’re a relatively unknown quantity on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
That's a situation which may be about to change now that the excellent Nestsalbum has received a release over here (via the Names label) and that the duo are spending the summer on tour in Europe.
What people are getting most worked up about is just how exciting, raw and emotive She Keeps Bees sound. Sure, we’ve had plenty of acts doing the streamlined bluesy rock fandango, but few have displayed the same sort of retro-fit panache when it comes to reeling and riffing through the years.
While Larrabee’s raspy voice and gnarly songwriting style bring some truly stellar vintages to mind (Nina Simone, Cat Power, Patti Smith, Janis Joplin), the key point to note is that She Keeps Bees are not simply aping what’s gone before.
Instead, their bad-ass sounds, woozy blues, gritty explosions and sexy, yearning hooks makes for the loudest, scariest noises for miles around. It really is just like honey.
www.shekeepsbees.com
New Villagers: Texan riches
There will always be a place in New Music’s heart for bands making dance music for kids who also like to rock’n’roll.
After all, we’re fans of dance music and rock’n’roll, so why not combine the two in some sort of juice-making gizmo?
Make way then for NewVillager, a duo with ties to California and Brooklyn who’ve found a very sweet way of squaring the dance-rock circle.
Jess Bromley and Ross Simoni have some far-fetched yarns to tell about how they met – they claim it was in a vegan restaurant in Austin, Texas, with Moby sitting at another table – but don’t let the spin put you off.
Unlike their peers, they already have one hell of a tune to their credit, which is far more attractive than any sort of back story involving past-it, shaven-headed New York electro-pop miserabilists.
Rich Doorsis one of the year's finest tunes to feature nonchalant handclaps, stomptastic bass, a keyboard line which may have snuck out the back-door of the KlingKlang studio and a great statement of intent in "you've got to write a song rich enough to take them down". We're already looking forward to what comes next.
** www.myspace.com/newvillager
The Dispatches
The Drums
Singing’, stringin’, twangin’ and bangin’ Brooklyn combo with a trunkload of catchy tunes aiming to bridge the gap between 1950s surf-pop and Factory Records. myspace.com/thedrumsforever
Aloha From Hell
Radio-friendly pop/rock from five German teens whose No More Days To Wastealbum is full to the brim with spikey tunes. myspace.com/bandalohafromhell
Jesse Booth
The Dublin producer's Moving In Undercoveralbum showcases a winning approach to classic electronic pop. myspace.com/jesseboothmusic
Golden Bloom
Sunny muscular indie-rock with Wilco-like flourishes from Shawn Fogel, whose Fan the Flamesalbum is available free online. myspace.com/thegoldenbloom
