Destroyer is the nom de rock of Dan Bejar, who's a songwriting member of the much more successful New Pornographers. Bejar's fey brand of louche is not everyone's cup of tea, but he rides it to ecstatic choral heights at least once or twice per album. His latest, Kaputt, was released on Jan. 25.
With their slackerfied-Blondie sounds, California trio Best Coast have a lot of potential as an up and coming band to get big on their first time around.
Impresario of Baltimore's Wham City loft, Deacon's rocking is experimental, freaky, funny and hard-driving. His look pretty much redefines unassuming, but onstage he has a huge pied piper personality and can get a crowd to do pretty much anything. Tourfilter was at a Middle East show where Dan talked the entire audience of 600 into walking out of the club onto Brookline Street, and continued to play to an empty room for a few minutes before everyone shambled back in again.
Shimmery Spector-tinged bedroom pop. The NYC couple follow last year's sweet, buzzy 7" with a surprisingly substantive album. Girlish vocals skirt the edge of saccharine and xylophones do tinkle, but thoughtful lyrics, solid bass lines and echoing crescendos give the songs backbone: this is pop that delivers. Album out 6/7.
LA outfit does surfy, psyched-out covers of '60's Cambodian pop tunes. A New album, Cannibal Courtship, was just released.
The Budos Band share a label (Gabriel Roth's Daptone Records) and a musical philosophy with the breakout Dap-Kings, but they play much smaller venues and evince a hairier, warmer vibe.
The Black Angels borrow their name from a Velvet Underground song ("The Black Angel's Death Song") and their echoey, tambourine-fringed dirges owe a lot to John Cale & Co. as well. This tour is all about their third disc, Phosphene Dream, set to be released on 9.14.
Portland indie quartet lays playful melodies over danceable, slightly trashy-sounding beats. Live show is rumored to be colorful and over the top.
Roger Waters will be performing Pink Floyd's awesome 1979 double-album The Wall in its entirety.
Backed by a swooping organ, Asheville, NC's Reigning Sound are (inspiringly) in love with jangly, soulful singer-songwriters of the past: Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen.
Caterwauling Brooklyn experimentalists Dirty Projectors have collaborated with Bjork; a track from their new Album Ascending Melody can be downloaded for free at their official website!
Aziz Ansari earned a place in Tourfilter's heart with his depiction of a Pitchfork-terrorizing "Indie Marketing Guru" in a send-up of the dawn of the MP3 blog era; he tours regularly with a hilarious conventional stand-up act.
Musically RJD2's got a lot in common with his labelmates at El-P's Definitive Jux Records - underground hip-hop artists like Aesop Rock and The Perceptionists. He delivers sample-heavy, funky, mostly instrumental jams that bring producers and DJs like J Dilla, Prefuse 73 and Kid Koala to mind.
Young duo from Vancouver manages a very complete sound from just a guitar and a drum-kit. Their loud, slightly detuned and anarchic songs echo My Bloody Valentine and Lush.
Author of numerous musical paeans to boston, Jonathan Richman's lyrics are sweet, sad, funny, and readily comprehensible; his melodies are witty and pretty; his live show is intimate. here's a video of Richman performing crowd favorite "I Was Dancing At A Lesbian Bar" on Conan.
"New York's loudest band" channels 80's angst heroes like the Cure and (especially) Jesus And Mary Chain. Don't be fooled: there are sweet melodies behind the fuzz and echo.
Johnny Marr, the God-like guitarist for the Smiths, is a Cribs member and will be touring with them for their visit to the Paradise. Laddish UK rock band, with saucy lyrics (sample song names: "A Man's Needs", "Girls Like Mystery").
like tortoise, new yorker marco benevento mixes rock with experimental music and jazz. downtempo, airy compositions filled with strange electronic sounds and flaming-lips-like crescendos. check out this awesome video.
