New Orleans native Benjamin Booker sounds like a punk who plays blues music, or maybe he’s a blues musician who listens to punk. Either way, this guy’s hot boogie guitar and smokey voice is compelling for nearly all music fans. He’s currently on tour with Jack White and will be playing at this year’s Austin City Limits.
Booker’s self-titled debut will be released on August 19th. Below is the single “Violent Shiver”. Check out his website here.
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“Ten Things”, the second song off Paul Baribeau’s 2007 album Grand Ledge, was the first song I ever heard by the South Central Michigan folk punker, and it was one of those songs I’ve been waiting to hear my entire life. The track is just Baribeau aggressively thumbing his acoustic guitar as he shouts about how all we have in life is time and how we must use that time to do everything we want to do like right now. It’s the kind of song that can sum up life in under two minutes and it only needs an acoustic guitar and a passionate voice.
“Ten Things”
Baribeau sings and plays guitar like a punk musician, yet his songs don’t sound like punk songs played on acoustic guitar. Instead, Baribeau sounds like a folk musician who is so emotionally invested in what he’s singing about that he sounds like he’s about to explode from all that emotion. With a punk attitude and a Bon Iver approved beard, Baribeau’s unique brand of folk-punk is extremely appealing to anyone who likes either punk or folk, because Baribeau writes clear and meaningful songs that we can all relate to.
In addition to Grand Ledge, check out his self-titled 2004 debut and 2010’s Unbearable. Listen to “Ten Things” and his song “Strawberry” below and check out his website here.
“Strawberry”
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It’s easy to hate on mainstream country music, a genre littered with overproduced songs about trucks full of beer and horny Jesus-loving southern guys (and gals). But of course, there are always exceptions to the stereotypes of any music genre. 24-year-old Kacey Musgraves is that exception to country music.
Her debut album Same Trailer Different Park was released earlier this year, and it’s so well crafted that any country hater could like this record. Musgraves sounds a lot like Taylor Swift, but instead of singing about boys she sings about cheating, smoking pot and small town boredom, and that’s all just in one song. This is a songwriter’s album, and the strong lyrics married with simple production will remind many people of Ryan Adams and other great country artists that appeal to non-country fans.
So is Kacey Musgraves the female Ryan Adams, or is she the Taylor Swift that you secretly wish that Taylor Swift was? Either way, give Same Trailer Different Park a spin.
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From: London, England
For Those Who Like: At The Drive-In, Arctic Monkeys, British guitar indie-rock.
Where Can You Find Them: Bandcamp (with free downloads), Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Spotify
In America it seems that we’re always scraping to find the next great guitar-rock band, but overseas it seems that there are plenty of them forming each week. The Savage Nomads is one of the young British bands that you’ll wanna know sooner than later. The band grabs your attention with an unconventional singing delivery that feels strangely familiar i.e. XTC or Arctic Monkeys, but the band keeps your attention with some solid songwriting.
Check out their new single “Jaded Edges” below, which you can also download for free via their bandcamp site.
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Monuments & Statues is a folk pop group from Kingston, Ontario that make quirky (and lovely) pop music inspired by classical folk. The mixture of romantic-era songwriting and pop sensibilities are comparable to Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom and Simon & Garfunkel.
Check out their single “Red Dress” below, and expect a formal debut to be released late 2013/early 2014.
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Headphone Nation 