Bands That Should Have Made It // NEN Noughties
We’re totally over reading about bands who defined the noughties…Chris Moffatt takes a look at those who got left behind.
Field Music
Brainchild of brothers David and Peter Brewis, Field Music is a loose collaboration of pop musicians from the “Sunderland scene” that has previously included members of both Maximo Park and the Futureheads. They’re certainly as tight as both of those bands and while not as immediately commercial, their music is surely as good. Restrained guitars, obtuse piano licks and close harmonies make for a satisfying whole. The band chose to go into hibernation in 2007 after they got “sick” of their music and decided to avoid “having to compete in the sphere of indiedom”, but have since reunited with a new album due for release this year.
Of Montreal
It’s hard to overstate just how brilliant Kevin Barnes’ music is. Not afraid to experiment with several different musical styles across an album, expect each song to contain at least three great tunes. With flashes of XTC, Sparks and Prince in evidence, expect songs with traditional structures, pop choruses, electronic instruments, awkward polyrhythms and psychedelic lyrics. He has been known to ride a horse on stage in live performances. What more do you want?
Pure Reason Revolution
http://www.myspace.com/purereasonrevolution
Seeing this band play live is like standing under a waterfall of synths and massed voices. Taking the best elements of first-wave prog bands like Yes and Gentle Giant and combining them with the stadium-sized rock riffs of Muse really shouldn’t work, but it does. Strangely underwhelming on record, this is a band that have to be experienced in the flesh (if only to see the extraordinary sight of so much hair on one stage). Best discovered via 2006’s The Dark Third.
Howie Beck
Canadian songwriter Howie Beck should rightly be held in the same acclaim as Elliott Smith, Conor Oberst and Richard Hawley, such is the inherent quality of his songwriting. His 2006 self-titled masterpiece is crammed full of the kind of melodies that stick in your head for days. They’re the kind of tunes that sound easy to write. With deceptively simple arrangements, Beck shows no sign of the songwriter’s usual fear of the major chord. Every time I hear Jack Johnson’s simpering surf-pap on the radio I want to grab a Howie Beck album and wave it in the air, screaming “This is what decent tunes sound like, you oblong-faced surf gypsy”.
Okkervil River
Like Arcade Fire but around one thousand times better, Okkervil River released five albums in the Noughties, but were largely ignored by the music press in the UK. Imagine Elvis Costello singing Bright Eyes lyrics with backing from Bellowhead, and you’re somewhere close to the genius of Okkervil River. I’d recommend starting with 2007 album Stage Names and working backwards.
Boards of Canada
Almost single-handedly responsible for getting me through degree-level Maths, Boards of Canada were making impossibly beautiful electronic music way before Royksopp had reached the ears of Europe’s advertising executives. Densely layered analogue synths and live vocal samples create a uniquely naturalistic sound, with nostalgic references to childhood adding a cosy warmth. Hugely influential in the ambient scene, they remain criminally underrated by the mainstream.
By Chris Moffatt
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