
The Travelling Band – Super 8 Surrender
Similar artists: Vampire Weekend, The Walkmen, Counting Crows, I Am Kloot, Elbow
Genre: Indie Folk, Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock
The Travelling Band are making soulful indie-folk music while in search of a great reveal, a tremendous moment that will confirm their beliefs.
Back in the civilized Western world, the best job you could get is that of a guru. Everybody is looking for one. And, if you play your cards right, you’ll never be demoted and will even get to outsource a good deal of your activities once you become famous enough.
Artists are particularly enamoured with spiritual leaders. If you know your cults, you’ll remember that almost every major one contained a few world-class musicians. Their talents didn’t go to waste. They were almost always tasked with creating propaganda music for the group. It’s only a small price that they had to pay.
The Travelling Band’s “Super 8 Surrender” sounds like the music of a band that has engaged in a collective marathon of yoga and meditation in a bid to find something greater than themselves. The group sounds like they hope that the great reveal will either confirm their darkest fears or brightest hopes. For now, they are looking for a spiritual surrender and marrying their hopes to pretty indie-folk arrangements.
After Ours – Ebbs and Flows
Similar artists: Hether, Dehd, illuminati hotties
Genre: Indie Rock, Garage Rock
After Ours is chasing honest indie-rock as if it were a life goal to let people know the precise truth about their lives.
The world of pop and rock music is full to the brim with performers trying to develop a personality. It’s for them that the kind of self-help books about confidence are written. These are the people who, after all, look at a great artist and think to themselves: “Whatever they’re wearing, I think I can pull it off too.”
Not a lot of people complain about this. It’s all make-believe, and, for the most part, all of us are aware of it and choose to play on accordingly. But with little left to tell their own stories, what we are left with is tales that get recycled endlessly and that never have new details added to them.
After Ours’ “Ebbs and Flows” is a trendy-sounding indie-rock number, but it shines through its honesty. Both the lyrics and the video presentation show someone who hasn’t yet learned to lie in order to gain more attention. There’s something natural and haphazard about the music, too, which adds to the charm of After Ours.