January 2012 – Modern Mystery

British indie rock sensations, THE BRUTE CHORUS, are finally making their way to the United States!

On the verge of announcing several official SXSW showcases, THE BRUTE CHORUS are ready to take to the stage for their first American shows. THE BRUTE CHORUS are James Steel, Nick Foots, Mark Austin and Dave Ferrett. The band cut their teeth with a residency at Camden’s infamous Hawley Arms, a watering hole popular at the time with the likes of Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss. Championed at a very early stage by The BBC and NME Magazine THE BRUTE CHORUS’ wild blend of garage rock, blues, and folk music with lyrics populated with characters from Greek mythology and Grimm’s fairytales quickly broke the indie guitar band mould. Their accessible sound has so far managed to escape any generalized genre pigeon-holing as they have gone on to carve out their own genuine, word-of-mouth buzz from their frenzied live shows.

And what shows! The band have taken it to the people gig by gig across Britain and Europe and have surely proved they can keep up with the big boys through their many support shows for acts as diverse as ART BRUT, IDA MARIA, THE WOODENTOPS, MARTHA WAINWRIGHT, and THE RUMBLESTRIPS. Their live rep has seen them stand out among the crowd at almost every British music festival of the last three years and they even recorded their debut album LIVE, in one take at London’s prestigious Roundhouse venue.

At the end of 2010 the band had released their sophomore album, How the Caged Bird Sings, to further critical acclaim from the likes of NME, Drowned in Sound, Clash Magazine, Artrocker, The Fly, Zane Lowe, Marc Riley and Steve Lamacq among others. The band’s popularity on radio was boosted when they became Artists in Residence on John Kennedy’s XFM show for a whole week at the start of 2011 where the famed DJ played live session tracks alongside album cuts, highlighting the standard of the band’s live performance and raw rock n’ roll spirit. They’ve also performed live sessions for Radio1 and Radio 6 whilst on TV Channel 4 screened a mini-doc on the band featuring clips of them playing live in Glasgow. Videos for the likes of ‘Birdman’ (Single of the Week on Kerrang! Radio and Q Radio) received heavy rotations on blogs around the globe as well as being aired on MTV Iggy here in the US. Everyone certainly wants a piece of THE BRUTE CHORUS, and now it’s time to get yours.

With such a reputation for their stellar live shows, you can check out what THE BRUTE CHORUS has to offer by getting a glimpse of their live footage from The Roundhouse in Camden, featuring the unbelievably catchy song “All the Pilgrims.” Make room on your SXSW schedule to check out THE BRUTE CHORUS live. You will NOT want to miss these shows.

Yes, we’re a little late on this, but here is our Year End List(s) in all of their glory.

TOP ALBUMS of 2011

1. Real Estate – Days
Literally the most beautiful album we heard all year. Everything about Days is near perfect. Haunting guitars and echoing vocals provide a stunning LP that will hold the test of time. Real Estate put out the essential record of 2011 and will hold a place forever in indie music history. Congratulations to these guys for pouring their heart and soul into a record, and letting the listener hear every beat, every emotion, and every ounce of perfection.

2. Beirut – The Rip Tide
A close runner up, Beirut proves that they have staying power on their highly anticipated second album. They certainly lived up to the hype and brought the indie rock game to a whole new level.

3. The Drums – Portamento
Catchy, and a little deeper, The Drums plunge into the ocean, not to go surfing this time but to get a little heavier. The outcome? Amazing.

4. Sloan – The Double Cross
Always a MM favorite, the best foursome since The Beatles provide another album of blissful harmonies and catchy riffs. Sloan manages to do it again.

5. The Strokes – Angles
It may have taken 5 years for this little gem, but it was certainly worth the wait. We hope the next album is a little more cohesive, a little more “Strokesy,” but hell, it’s still one of the best records our ears came across this year, not to mention the most anticipated.

6. Neon Indian – Era Extraña
An incredible sophomore effort, that had us dancing around the apartment, the office, the car, etc. Alan Palomo knows what makes our hearts tick, and it’s his infectious brand of chillwave.

7. Ryan Adams – Ashes and Fire
The second anticipated musical act out of retirement this year, Adams put out a tear jerking album of all acoustic material, this time without his infamous Cardinals. Gorgeous as always, that man cannot write a bad song.

8. Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
What may be the last album under the name Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and company pull out all the stops on this intriguing and somewhat eerie album. Oberst is better than ever, just when you thought that was impossible.

9. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
Stephen Malkmus albums always equals a win. Pretend to be surprised. The Beck produced record caught our ears this year. Nice one Malkmus, as always.

10. Sam Roberts Band – Collider
Another great album from SRB, the band is on a hot streak of great releases. Always a little under the radar, this cult favorite is winning over hearts and ears quickly. Jump on in.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Atlas Sound – Parallax
Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Destroyer – Kaputt
Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation
Cults – Cults
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
Panda Bear – Tom Boy
James Blake – James Blake

Top Songs of 2011

1 The Strokes – “Undercover of Darkness”
2 Neon Indian – “Hexx Girlfriend”
3 Real Estate – “Green Aisles”
4 Bright Eyes – “Shell Games”
5 Chairlift – “Amanaemonesia”
6 Sloan – “The Answer Was You”
7 The Drums – “Money”
8 Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – “Senator”
9 Beirut – “Santa Fe”
10 Washed Out – Amor Fati
11 Joy Formidable – Whirring
12 Girls – “Honey Bunny”
13 Unknown Mortal Orchestra -“Ffunny Ffriends”
14 Real Estate – “It’s Real”
15 Cass McCombs – “Country Line”