Have you witnessed the furor over L Magazine’s “8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear” list on Brooklyn Vegan? Spare yourself, I guess! With much love to all the bands who made it, especially The Beets, here’s my own the list. My exciting eight have been picked with much less consideration for obscurity, but all these bands are still in a position where they could gladly use more hype/love/praises.
Download “It’s Oh So Quiet!” and “Echinacea“ | I had no more than an hour to spare for CMJ last night, and I decided that songstress Olga Bell and her band Bell, playing at Pianos, would be well-deserving of the time—ridiculous, I know, since there were at least 12 good bands playing there, but I think most of us would agree that if you can’t afford to take a full week off, the next best option to fully enjoy CMJ is to practice serious moderation in order to avoid exhaustion and crankiness; as much as I love the idea of bands playing everywhere, all over the city, pretty much all day for one whole week, the scenario doesn’t come with a heavenly lift in temperament, so there. To get to the point, Ms. Bell was totally worth it. I know there are some people who believe liking an artist for her cover of a famous artist is no less than an evidence of moral corruption, but I’m a fan of the “It’s Oh So Quiet!” cover. Of course, the Bjork version isn’t lacking anything, but I think Bell still manages to add to the song, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all of her originals too, which is what she played last night.
