(and it's pastoral as in pasture, not as in religious)
Yellow Ostrich
I read a review for their music which coined the phrase "pastoral hipster" which is in itself a pretty cool term and can describe the music of this trio, who have a multi-instrument member and their singer does some neat stuff with vocal looping so it sounds like a larger group. I heard them first on KEXP's Music That Matters Podcast, in "John's Awesome Mix Tape." The song Marathon Runner has not left my head since. While the guitar drives the tune, a deeper listen reveals some amazing lyrics that are so applicable to where most mid-20s folks and just people in general might be in their lives right now.
Marathon Runner off of the recently released Strange Land
(If this gets so wonderfully stuck in your head and heart as it is in mine, they offer a free download of the song from their website mylegsaresore.com)
Speaking of heads and hearts, that's a direct and not at all contrived segue into the next musical group: The Head and the Heart.
The Head and the Heart
This band has been highlighted by many different sources, so Imma add myself to that list. It's just a matter of time before they hit it big, they have a sound you expect to hear in the background of some rom-com or smaller indie film. and the shifts in the song Sounds Like Hallelujah are creative and done well to really tell a story.
Sounds Like Hallelujah, from the 2010 self-titled album
The Lumineers
Hailing from Colorado (I know a couple of awesome things that have come out of Colorado), this band is poised again to have some great mainstream appeal. And they also have enough fun making their music that they should thrive under the opportunities that come with recognition.
Ho Hey, from their self-titles debut out on April 3, 2012. I want someone to sing this song to! I want to just be cool enough to be in this band, are they holding auditions?
Matt Corby
A FANTASTICALLY AMAZING solo artist out of Australia. Apparently a couple years ago as a teenager he was the runner up in Australian Idol, and "losing" was probably one of the best things that could've happened for him, his music, and us listeners. He had time to cultivate his own music/personality/unique point of view and has emerged with some wonderful songs of folksy introspection (not to mention his skill on an acoustic guitar!) If only I could've seen him live in in LA or NY last week (not complaining cause I did have another mind-blowing concert experience, read about it here)!
My False, off of his Into the Flame EP
Brother, this was the #3 song off of Triple J's Hottest 100 (it recently displaced Gotye's Save Me as my ringtone)
Imagine Dragons
I discovered this band off of the wonderful website (youmeandcharlie.com) run by Dianna Agron of Glee fame. She is so incredibly artistic and open minded it is kind of crazy how different she is from Quinn, the character she plays on the show. Anyways, there is a section of the site called Yo!DJ that is a must to at least check out some great artists.
It's Time, performed live. And while it doesn't necessarily match the genre, their song Tokyo is FANTASTIC! I want to go back in time and be in the music video for it. Search it and you'll see why!
AND NOW PRESENTING "CLOUD RAP"
(Kudos to those who've made it this far)
"Cloud Rap" refers to an emerging trend to compose and rap over "ambient or glo-fi washes" or a type of a mash-up of rap and indierock, the blog Space Age Hustle coined the term.
LushLife
Yet another KEXP Podcast find, you can find it on the Music That Matters Podcast as well as the Song of the Day Podcast (I think it was mid-February it came out). My goodness! How dope is this, right?!? And how much did you cringe to hear me use the word "dope"?
Teenage Dream off of No More Golden Days
Emancipator
The artist I know the least about but he is apparently a big name in the semi-newly dubbed genre of cloud rap. I'm a sucker for anything Sigor Ros (YouTube videos of their songs accompanying Planet Earth clips are a finals-break favorite of mine), so this mash up drew me in instantly
Shook (Sigur Ros X Mobb Deep), Emancipator made this song available for a free download on his bandcamp)
LAST SONG: Not Cloud Rap but a pretty cool collaboration
I dig the hip-hop meets mod vibe of 360's Boys like you feat. Gossling, he provides the beat, she provides the hook in a sing-song wispy lost-innocence sort of way.
Next up: Dance Party Hits for the Non-Top-40-Crowd! I had to blog about Tokyo somehow =)
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