Music Bank
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Senseless Things
The Senseless Things’ bounding, enthusiastic blend of loud guitars, punk tempos, and bubblegummy pop melodies made a splash on the British scene in the early 1990s. After a few indie singles, including the insistent “Too Much Kissing,” the band turned out a fine trio of albums notable for their Jamie Hewlett-drawn covers, their mix of snappy singles, and their more thoughtful, sometimes political album tracks…
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Underworld
Underworld became one of the most crucial electronic acts of the 1990s with a progressive synthesis of old and new, an approach that has served them well through the late 2010s. The trio’s two-man front line, vocalist Karl Hyde and keyboard player Rick Smith, have been recording together since the early-’80s new wave explosion. After the pair released a pair of obscure rock albums, they hit it big the following decade with new recruit Darren Emerson…
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The Saints
The Saints were among Australia’s most important rock bands, and the first group from the Antipodes to make a splash on the international punk rock scene. Their independently produced 1976 debut single, “(I’m) Stranded,” was a blazing slice of stripped-to-the-frame rock & roll that became a sensation in Australia and the U.K., and 1977’s “This Perfect Day” was a near-perfect encapsulation of the first era of punk with its blazing speed…
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Future Islands
Future Islands’ trademark sound is sleek, guitar-less synth pop balanced with the howls, yelps, and croons of dynamic vocalist Samuel T. Herring. The Baltimore-based group honed their sound on a series of promising albums before their near-perfect 2014 LP Singles and a stunning appearance on Late Night with David Letterman vaulted them to prominence. Herring’s daring as a vocalist and the band’s sweeping melodies were further honed to a point on the slick 2017 album The Far Field…
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Donovan
Upon his emergence during the mid-’60s, Donovan was anointed “Britain’s answer to Bob Dylan,” a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadour’s own unique vision … Donovan fully embraced the wide-eyed optimism of the flower power movement, his ethereal, ornate songs radiating a mystical beauty and childlike wonder; for better or worse, his recordings remain quintessential artifacts of the psychedelic era, capturing the peace and love idealism of their time to perfection…
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Little Barrie
Little Barrie is an English rock group consisting of Barrie Cadogan (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Wharton (bass, vocals). Virgil Howe contributed drums and vocals from 2007 until his death in 2017. Their sound has drawn from a mixture of influences including freakbeat, garage rock, UK R&B, neo-psychedelia, surf rock, krautrock, funk and rock and roll…
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Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin was one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-’60s hits with Atlantic Records — “Respect,” “I Never Loved a Man,” “Chain of Fools,” “Baby I Love You,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Think,” “The House That Jack Built,” and many others — earned her the title Queen of Soul…
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Local Natives
California’s Local Natives make hooky, nuanced rock that balances post-punk urgency with folk-tinged lyricism. The group had a buzzy moment in 2009 when their debut album, Gorilla Manor, attracted fans and critical praise for its vibrant mix of kinetic tribal rhythms and soaring falsetto harmonies…
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Blab Happy
Blab Happy were a British indie band from Leicester formed in 1987, comprising Mick McCarthy, Jon Dennis, Tony Owen and Jeremy Clay. After two EPs released on their own Wisdom label won airplay on John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show, and enthusiastic reviews in New Musical Express, Sounds and Melody Maker, they were signed by Demon Records offshoot F-Beat, for whom they released 2 albums, 1991’s Boat and 1993’s Smothered…
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Moose
Not so much underrated as unheard, Moose grew up in Britain’s distortion-heavy shoegazing movement of the early ’90s but soon shed the fuzzy wash of their compatriots to embrace a clean, acoustic-based style — inspired by ’60s icons Burt Bacharach and Tim Buckley as well as jangle merchants like the Byrds and R.E.M. — that still relied on the intense guitar effects which characterized the band’s early works. Moose was formed in early 1990 by the songwriting team of Kevin (K.J.) McKillop and Russell Yates…
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