exploremusic

“We Take The Train” by Girl and The Machine

This is going to get confusing. We already have Florence + The Machine. Now there’s Girl and The Machine. But they’re very different from what Florence Welch is doing.

First, they’re from suburban Toronto—except for the singer. She’s from an island off the coast of Malaysia. Next, they don’t look like they’ve just stepped out of a renaissance painting. They look like they’ve spent all their lives in a dark basement listening to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Bjork and Pink Floyd and Massive Attack—and No Doubt.

Lots of costumes, analogue instruments and songs with bits of different languages. No they did well when they played in Brazil and Vietnam. Check out a song called “We Take The Train”.

“Hanuman” by Rodrigo y Gabriela

The second song on the list is from Rodrigo y Gabriela. They’re the flamenco guitarists from Mexico City—but it’s not the kind of cheesy flamenco you see on TV. This rocks—well, as far as flamenco can rock. New album called “11:11”. And you gotta hear what they do on a song called “Hanuman”.

“Under The Sheets” by Ellie Goulding

Next we have Ellie Goulding. According to the BBC, she has the most promise of any new artist in Britain 2010 that they could identify. She’s very much in the mould of Passion Pitt and MGMT. Listen to a single called “Under The Sheets” and decide whether the hype is justified.

“Wonderful Life” by Hurts

Hurts in an interesting band that really divided everyone here in the office. Alan really likes what they’re doing—but he seems to be in the minority.

Two guys. Very stylish, well-dressed, conservative haircuts. They only seem to want to be filmed and photographed in black and white. And they channel the sound of British technopop circa 1983: Tears For Fears, Lotus Eaters, the more melancholy side of Simple Minds. Alan thinks they’re cool, especially with a song called “Wonderful Life”. Then again, he was shouted down by the staff—but he put it on the list anyway.

“Wonderful Life” by Black

And speaking of “Wonderful Life,” another song by that name. This is from a band which went by the name “Black”. The singer’s name was Colin Vearncombe. 1987. One-hit-wonder, really. Actually, two-hit. The song was released as a single twice in Europe and each time it made it into the top ten of half a dozen countries. Here’s the video.