Blog: THE RECOMMENDER

Having been nominated on this week's BBC Sound Of 2011 poll , the drum & bass and dubstep DJ's of the moment, Nero , have released a new video. It transports you back to the classic arcade beat-em-up gaming experience, familiar to anyone over 30 years of age. The video's idea hovers very closely to that of Tron where the boundaries between the arcade game's world and the real world become blurred, a theme which seems strange timing, considering the remake of Tron and it's Daft Punk soundtrack is mid-launch. Why go [...]

We want to talk about vocal harmonies a little bit today, as this new five piece from Oxford have mastered the skill as well as a thousand barber shops. Obvious comparisons to The Beach Boys will fly around, as they combine three or four voices, often at higher pitches, to increase the scale and volume of the harmonies, much in the same extraordinary way Brian Wilson and his boys did back in the 1960s. The real magic with singing like this is when you reach something that the Mamas & Papas called the 'third [...]

Yesterday the BBC's Sound Of 2011 Poll was announced, sending Twitter into overdrive and causing the blog world to bulge at it's seems with commentary. The Recommender is one of the selected ' tastemaker ' pundits to actually vote on the poll, so it seems perfectly suitable that we pass comment on it's lucky inclusions (and unlucky exclusions). As always there's some obvious selections and a few WTF's, so we are going to run our eye over the candidates and give you our thoughts. Firstly it's worth mentioning the list of 160+  'tastemakers' as we feel [...]

Keen readers of this blog will know that we are big fans of this Manchester band. Everything Everything produced one of the best albums of the year and sat in it's centre was the song Photoshop Handsome. It was a masterful piece of jerky, schizophrenic pop, with more ideas packed inside it than an Inklings drinking session. The single is launched on January 17th before they head out on their NME tour. We have been gifted the below Entrepreneurs remix to hand out as a taster and we're pleased to see it's a proper [...]

As some of you may already know, a couple of The Recommender's writers are involved in promoting new music, having gained worked at two of Brighton's best-known clubs, Audio and more recently Digital . These clubs vary in size, so at Audio, which is still proudly the home of the regular Recommender showcases you are likely to see fresher talent trying to fill it's main room. At Digital, which has been one of the UK's best clubs for many years, there's a step up in the size of bands, in order to pack the larger [...]

We aren't a particularly negative music blog, always trying to base our selections on artists we actually like. The main reason for this is that it's enough effort to maintain a blog - sourcing good music, researching it and then putting the post/editorial together - so why would we bother with all that for something we didn't really enjoy. However, we break ranks today, as there's been a crime against music itself and we are going to enjoy tearing this band a new one... Keen followers of this blog may recall how we've covered Hurts [...]

For lessons in groove you don't have to look too far beyond the excellent Toronto pair Freedom Or Death. This week we were kindly sent their cover of the Nas tune, If I Ruled The World , by one half of the duo, Steve Fernandez. They had a very successful CMJ Festival and wanted to do a cover of an artist that represented New York, so they turned to their love of Hip Hop. The original is rather stripped down affair, with a simple bassline over a sharp beat/clap, filling out [...]

This duo have been digging away at this project for a few years now, but they seem to have evolved from their initial easy-to-ignore, post punk appearance and earned themselves some fresh attention with the release of their single, ' While You Are Sleeping ', earlier this year. Unfortunately, when we looked into their recent history it seems that Io Echo have inadvertently sent out some mixed messages, following a few questionable support slots that fought against their initial hipster image. Can you really be considered popular among the counter-culture, fashion crowd with support slots for the [...]

This four piece from Leeds have got something just a little bit special - originality. It's something that's handed out by critics like autumn leaves, but real, true and interesting originality is actually as rare as finding a pigeon in a hole. Film 's music is an eccentric blend of folk and theatrical balladry, but it's Joe Newman's voice that strikes you as it dances over it. The vocals walk a difficult tightrope, which find the safety net if they fall the right side, should you consider them brilliantly styled and original. However, if you feel [...]

Following our post a few weeks ago about The Good Natured 's cover of a Sufjan Stevens tune, ( find that post here ), we have been fortunate enough to obtain yet another fresh cut. This time we are giving away a remix of their tune, Be My Animal , which was released as a single on November 1st. The new edit comes from the hands of the UK producer, Max Cooper , who's been responsible for many remixes over recent months, from Hot Chip , to Portishead , to Au Revoir [...]

We run an ongoing series here on The Recommender called ' Remix Specials ', where we select those artists, producers and DJs who have built up a significantly impressive collection of remixes. Previous editions involved Soulwax , The Knocks , The Shoes , Bloc Party , Starsmith , The Golden Filter and DiscoTech . We've had one eye secured on today's DJ, Little Loud , ever since we first heard his remix of Yeasayer 's Madder Red. His remixes have a certain signature to them, like all the [...]

The Vaccines are the buzz band de jour in the UK, getting slots on Jools Holland , coverage in NME , plays on Radio One and a handful of selected headline shows. To be honest it feels a little rushed and they must be careful not to be the brightest burn, as we all know sparks don't last. We saw them live on Monday and although we enjoyed their live set, we were concerned that there wasn't a massive amount on offer beyond the excellent singles, ending their set soon after it started [...]

It pains me to say it, following the relatively recent online buzz of bands like Tall Ships and Loose Talk Costs Lives , but we think we've once again seen the new Foals. For fucks sake. Is there some kind of secret factory, situated somewhere inland, probably operated by Yannis turning some large wheel and stuffing coal in the back?! On a serious note though, this new midlands four piece share plenty of genes with the Oxford math rock pioneers, but for once there's plenty outside of the seemingly standard formula to take note. [...]

We adore the London MC, Kieran Dicken, also known as DELS , but he's never featured on the pages of The Recommender before now, so what better excuse than a feature on his awesome videos, having had the new one, for the tune Trumpalump, released in recent weeks. Produced by Hot Chip 's Joe Goddard, who also makes cameo appearances in the videos, features in the songs, as well as contributing remixes, showing off just how keen he is to back this special urban talent. It's understandable when you get beats, basslines and a flow this [...]

Every year the French fashion/record label, Kitsune Maison , assembles a selection of cutting edge artists for it's annual compilation and the knock on chatter around the music press falls around like an Icelandic dust cloud. Unfortunately these compilations aren't necessarily always consistent, as some of them become giant firework shows, where others don't quite go off and should have remained locked up in the damp shed. This is perhaps understandable when you're dancing along an edge of music that's as cutting as this, but even so, the discussions have already started in anticipation of the new compilation, (number [...]

If hype was a seed then The Vaccines ' was planted earlier in 2010, as murmurs of a cracking new four piece, using the pseudonym of The Red Indians, were preparing an assault on the UK indie scene like no other. As we come to the close of 2010, what's now emerged is a group that's soaring through the media like a Giant Redwood. This included securing a performance on Jools Holland (see below), earning an opening slot on the UK-wide NME Awards Tour , taking pornstar-scale inches up in the music magazines and blogs, finally completing the [...]

We're usually up for squeezing as much positivity out of the day as we possibly can, but we also like to leave some room for a little bit of militant rucking on occasion. We all need to vent, right? OK, so we might not be up to the wild, combative standards of The Agitator , aka Derek Meins, but then again we can't all be the Pied Piper now can we. Yesterday he released his new video, from which we had only previously seen snippets and teasers. Filmed in Central London for the release of his second [...]

Have you seen how Ellie Goulding hits that drum through the last song at her live shows? In all honesty we find that terribly annoying. She just looks a little wet for all that banging and crashing, lacking something authentic about it. Well, the same could be said for the even more dainty Florrie , a new solo artist who's been rumbling around since her summer single, complete with a remix by Fred Falke , for her tune ' Call 911 '. She too looks very feminine and you might have noticed that she's even more [...]

Having released one of the best albums of the year and one of the finest debuts in recent memory, with Man Alive ,  Everything Everything spared The Recommender a little time towards the end of their current UK tour. We bring you their answers on the day that their new video for the excellent single, ' Photoshop Handsome' , is released. This is one of the highlights, among many, on the Man Alive LP, perfectly showing off their experimentalism, with the video chopping and changing just as much, having been created by dozens of unknown animators. Enjoy [...]

Sarah McIntosh, the creative force behind one of the hottest buzz bands of 2010, The Good Natured , has an astonishing ability that belies her 19 years on this planet - she's mastered that difficult balance of creating melodic pop with a powerful, emotive and honest beauty. It's a rare skill to manage, seeming to be raw, yet rounded, brittle, yet strong, but she's nailed it. It was previously located inside the likes of Bat For Lashes and Liz Fraser, among a handful of talented others, but it's even more rare in male artists. One successful protagonist however is [...]