By Bruce Rave
Dead Sara is a heavy LA band that absolutely shreds live. If you loved Wolfmother when they first hit the world stage a few years ago, I bet this is for you. They’re starting to gain some national attention, so keep an eye and ear on them.
Dead Sara – WeathermanDead Sara 
(Facebook)
Check out Bruce’s “Go Deep” show on Fridays 1-3 pm Pacific, 4-6 pm Eastern, 9-11pm GMT. Also listen to past shows at Bruce’s blog and follow Bruce on Twitter.
The Neighbourhood (who are actually Californian) put on for the British big guitar band block with new track “Female Robbery”. Sure, the track does have those epic guitar elements (and it certainly has a massive enough chorus) but they’ve been pushed way back in the mix in favor of loud, compressed syncopated drums and hip hop-esque use of vocal sampling. So are bands like The Neighbourhood the way forward for Brit-esque band music? Don’t ask us to decide, but for now “Female Robbery” ticks enough “good song” boxes to get a b3sci co-sign.
The Neighbourhood – Female RobberyThe Neighbourhood (Tumblr)
Rating 8.3
The title track from APTBS’ new EP, which is due out tomorrow, is a compact piece of dark (loud) pop. “Onwards To the Wall” sees the Strangers at a place in their progression as a band where the hooks are a bit more plentiful and up in the mix and the rhythms are a bit more syncopated. The band is still loud as hell (Early in their career, APTBS were sometimes touted as “The Loudest Band in New York”) but there’s more of a tune in this new track then in some of the band’s previous material. We’re definitely psyched to dig into the rest of the EP (which you can do on hypem).
A Place to Bury Strangers – Onwards To the WallA Place To Bury Strangers 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.2
Like whatever a blackwitchmoth is or what that name might even mean, we’re sure that once “Lovecraft” locks you into its simple and straightforward diy groove, you will be hooked. “Blackwitchmoth” style.
BLACKWITCHMOTH – LovecraftBLACKWITCHMOTH (Soundcloud)
Rating 8
Tango In The Attic embody much of the great pop songwriting quality of some b3sci’s favorite post-90s Modern Rock bands (from both sides of the pond). Check out this live preview of their song “Swimming Pool” below and keep an eye out for a new LP from the band expected mid-April.
Tango In The Attic – Swimming Pool (live)Tango In The Attic 
(Facebook)
Rating 8
By Chris Gedos
Wild Nothing follows up “Golden Haze” (and its glorious fade-in) with “Nowhere”, which constitutes Jack Tatum’s first official live instrumentation studio recording! For this reason I can forgive the somewhat heavy, baroque jangle-jam production. Tatum guides “Nowhere” home to safety with an unconventional lyric and effective yet truncated bridge. The 7” is set to drop on February 21st, but I would expect an LP before the summer solstice.
Wild Nothing – NowhereWild Nothing 
(Facebook) (Official)
Rating 7.85
So we’ll cut right to it: Radiation City, a 5-piece out of Portland, sound A LOT like Radiohead and Jeff Buckley. Now the covers of NME, Q, etc are littered with band after band that have attempted to harness that formula with varying results (anyone remember jj72?). Radiation City does acquit themselves of the Buckleyhead sound quite well. Perhaps advantaging them over those aformentioned bands, RC do sprinkle varying other sounds and influence. We can hear some bossa nova, lounge-y pop (Broadcast, Goldfrapp, etc.), maybe some Stereolab in there (who knows). “Find It of Use” is the lead track of Radiation City’s upcoming Cool Nightmare EP.
Radiation City – Find It of UseRadiation City 
Facebook)
Rating 8.1
By Chris Gedos
A lot of great things have already been said about Tribes’ Baby, which was released digitally and in the UK on January 16th. Here’s another English band that’s easily mistaken as American. Globalization has erased many of the boundaries in our arts, to the point where a band doesn’t immediately disclose themselves as English (Joy Division), Irish (U2), or American (REM) as they did 30 years ago. Tribes’ most autochthonous moment, “Corner of an English Field”, is no “Village Green Preservation Society” in terms of a prototypical homage to the English pastoral. Bands claim a greater allegiance to genres these days, as is the case with WU LYF (Heavy Pop), Holwer (Garage Rock) or Tribes (Power Pop). But Tribes is so fully rooted in the power pop tradition; this is the true flag to which they pledge allegiance. They know to always go big in the chorus, and they know how to keep a listener on their feet with shifting dynamics. While Holwer practices more of a ‘kitchen sink’ approach on America Give Up (with solid success), Tribes opts for a very specific language and employs an economy of sounds (gimmicks, if you must) within that language. As a result, Baby sounds like the direct result of several decades of combined musical experiences. On “Himalaya” and “Night Driving”, ditties which other bands may chicken out and play too soft, Tribes retains their raw energy and ‘fuck off’ ethos throughout. The Londoners have truly hit it out of the park with Baby. If they hadn’t already released “We Were Children” and “Sappho”, even more pundits would be comparing Baby to The Blue Album. Better poised than The Vaccines to make a US splash, they’ve set the bar awfully for the first half of 2012.
Tribes – When My Day Comes Tribes – Half Way HomeTribes: 
(Official)
Rating 8.9
By Bruce Rave
Howler’s America Give Up album might be the first 2012 candidate to make my year-end list. The album isn’t yet out in the States, but this Minneapolis band is blowing up in the UK and currently touring all over Europe with their dirty rock sound. They’ve got the energy and enough hooks, where there are 7 different tracks I’d like to play on my new music show. Europeans are saying that 19 year old Jordan Gatesmith is a star. We in the US will be finally able to see them at SXSW in March, and at other venues around the country.
Howler – Back to the GraveCheck out Bruce’s “Go Deep” show on Fridays 1-3 pm Pacific, 4-6 pm Eastern, 9-11pm GMT. Also listen to past shows at Bruce’s blog and follow Bruce on Twitter.
By Tamara Tabet
It’s always such a pleasure to see a We Have Band show!
The band was playing at “the 114”, a new and hype parisian venue for the launching party of an equally new and hype magazine named Plugged. We thus got to have a preview listening of several tracks from their upcoming album Ternion, and they just sound great! The band still has much energy to spare. Despite singer Dede’s usual (but harmless) simpers, and Thomas’s (her husband and bass player) flimsy voice, the set is brilliant. In my opinion, the trio’s strongest member is undoubtedly Darren: being so close to him while he plays is really impressive because he literally feels in fusion with his sampler – a mad-doctor of indie-rock ! But what’s truly admirable about this band is that even though their songs are fairly dark (even more so on Ternion), they still make you dance the hell out of you! Special honors for “Watertight”, available for streaming below.
We Have Band (Facebook)
“When I See You Again” is rough around all of the right edges. Like it’s big and loud but also packs some pretty cool vocal elements. When was the last time you heard such an awesome round in a rock and roll song? “When I See You Again” is previewed from Shimmering Stars forthcoming Ghosts Past EP. Get into it below:
Shimmering Stars – When I See You AgainShimmering Stars 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.1
David’s Lyre continues to roll forward with new track “English Roses”. “English Roses” balances very well great pop hooks with a bit less pop, spacier instrumental arrangement (Think 00’s British guitar music).
David’s Lyre – RosesDavid’s Lyre (Facebook)
Rating 8.1
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