Listen Before You Buy

French Wives hail from Glasgow, Scotland and wish they had an interesting back-story as to how the band formed. Instead, they’ve got some great tunes to serve as their introduction.

With a fresh, exhuberant sound, Niteflights are guaranteed to get your 2012 kicking right into gear.

We Have Band is the type of band name that is going to be entirely hit-or-miss for most people. While some may mock it for being completely ridiculous, others may praise it for its simplistic message.

There’s something about waking up to a winter wonderland outside, making coffee, and listening to some great cold weather-inspired albums. Needless to say that around this time, I start looking for music that fills this role. Enter: The Poison Oaks.

Francis’ “This Must Be Blood” still has about a month before it sees the light of day but demonstrates the versatility of a band that have years of experience behind them and a promising future ahead.

Alabama Shakes from Athens, Alabama are poised to knock you for a loop like a Mint Julep going straight to your head on a sweltering summer’s day.

Willis Earl Beal has more passion and soul in his fingers than most of us could ever wish to have in our entire bodies.

Drawing parallels from artists such as The Kills and Metric, The Duke Spirit are poised for success. If anyone has a good shot at breaking into the American market, it’s these guys.

While it’s easy to compare Kishi Bashi’s violin and loop-pedal stylings to those of the much more known Andrew Bird or Owen Pallet, to do so would be a disservice, as it simply detracts from what makes Kishi Bashi truly unique.

Though bringing to mind Built To Spill and Death Cab For Cutie, Family Lumber are not only good, but a refreshing juggernaut that more than stands on its own two feet. The “Look To The Sidelines” EP already sounds like a classic and its not even a year old.

SBTRKT releases and oldie from the vaults and onto his Soundcloud. Mighty chilled stuff, definitely worth a listen.

We Are Standard really aren’t that revolutionary as far as their style or sound, but they don’t need to be. Instead, they’re content with making perfect summer tunes for the dreary winter months.

We have London-based Bobby Tank to add to the roster of artisan producers out there taking dubstep in a more innovative direction. There are moments in amongst the vocal slices and slap bass samples when you could almost be listening to Justice or Daft Punk.

We Are Pirates couple a dreamy, retro synth sound with an up-to-the-minute youthful attitude that’s totally infectious.

Icky Doome makes dark, heavy IDM and intends to get darker and heavier. Sure, it’ll blow your subwoofer, but it’s totally worth it.

Despite what the introduction headline may suggest, The Besnard Lakes are not a new band. They are Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, a married couple that started a band in 2003, so not old either I guess. But what’s more relevant is that they are obscenely, colossally good.