What’s a hero to do in a world of one hit indie rockers and pretty pop cross-overs?  The shelf life of a song is about as lasting as a look that the performer is sporting.  A real hero has to brave through the swarming numbers of people who want to call themselves musicians – because they think it’s cool, because they think they are – and brandish an exciting cape, super power or at least a dazzling smile, long enough to stave off the inevitable reality of being replaced, substituted and forgotten.  

Singer Bryan Hopkins and bassist Dan Fine, who were later joined by guitarist Chris Latham, have braved through an entire city of has-beens and never-beens, to forge their name in the music industry.  The band have surged forward to perform to sold out gigs, opening for the Alaska Ultimate Fighting Championship, and guest performing for Alice Cooper.  Not even near death experiences can stop them from getting to fans.

On one occasion the band’s tour bus overturned on the ice in Oregon, but the band, hauled their New York sense of resilience (the kind that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys made proud) out of the wreckage and on to a stage.

The drummer in the band, was a noted local session drummer, who was hired purely for completing the band’s demo recordings.  But after hearing the finished recordings, Pete Burke, decided to sign on full time to the band.

Hopkins’ vocals are thick with  a refreshing authenticity of rock edge, and is reminiscent of an understated version of James Hetfield. The band’s music style will not back down from an impassioned ferocity that underscores the band’s refreshing appeal.

Lullaby
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Call Out
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Band Members:

Vocalist – Bryan Hopkins
Guitarist: Chris Latham
Bassist: Dan Fine
Drummer: Pete Burke

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Every time someone says New Moon, it’s like Pavlov’s bell for girls to gush at Taylor Lautner.  Who, even with his transformations, is the more sizzling choice for Bella Swan over Robert Pattinson.

It is one of the most anticipated movies and sequels of the year and that’s why it isn’t a small accomplishment to get your name on the soundtrack.

Alongside the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and The Killers, is Band of Skulls, with their song Friends.

Their music is a reminder of why we are addicted to anything Jack White creates, whether it’s Dead Weather or the Racounteurs.  Not that White created this band, but you can’t dispute that the band’s sound is reminiscent of the Stripes when we first heard those brain-scrambling riffs and arms and legs flailing rattle of drum bashing.

They need one more than White Stripes needed to offer something this good but it’s still a mighty fine combination of blues hum and groove in their garage punk banter and a whole lotta gritty dirty guitar rock and roll.  Singer-bassist Emma Richardson, who’s favorite music influence is Tom Waits, combines with singer-guitarist Russel Marsden and drummer Matt Hayward, to constitute the band.

The band’s debut album is titled Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, in the same studio Radiohead used to record in but now uses to store their awards.

“They just keep their awards and gold records there,” says Marsden. “But it was still inspiring for us to be around the stuff of our favorite band from Britain.”

I Know What I Am
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Monsoon
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As Time Breaks Off
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Los Muertos
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The Wishbones
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Friends
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This Indie quartet are quickly earning a reputation for jawdroppingly amazing melodies.  Though they were formed late last year their success has been spiraling since the beginning of this year to the extent that they are more widely recognized as one of the best new bands of 2009.

Their music has been described as ‘surrealist neo-classical avant-pop for the digital age.’ Decked in chiming guitars and frenetic energy, this is pop that gets you lyrically outsmarted and progressive rock that gets you rhythmically out-danced.  The structures of their songs challenge the usual simple structure of catchy-melody good-beat pop tricks that artists like Lady Gaga thrive on.  This UK quartet adds inventive and refreshing complexities to the structure and content of a pop song.

The name of the band must have some kind of derivative from the eclectic range of influences that has inspired its creation  – influences that include everything from R. Kelly to Michael Jackson to The Smiths to even Destiny’s Child – and the eclectic constitution of its music – their songs famously sounding like multiple melodies overlapping one another.

Influences: Ezra Pound, Steve Reich, The Smiths, The Beatles, Michael Jackson (among others)

My Keys, Your Boyfriend
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Suffragette Suffragette
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“I just want the money, I just want the clothes, I just want the fast cars…I suppose I just wanna be successful” – those are some of the first lines from this 22 year-olds rap song Successful and you’re natural reaction will be what a cliché!

But what’s the cliché – is it that he’s singing about what every rapper sings he wants, or that by so singing, he’s got what every rapper wants? He’s already got the girls ready to scream on cue, Rihanna’s paparazzi-framed kisses, rap superstars from Kanye to Lil’ Wayne ready to give him the champagne-welcome at his shows, the charts ready to make him richer than the single digit rise of his music and the red Nike Air Jordans that must be giving him the wings he needs for this kind of success.

But the difference in this Canadian-American rapper, born Aubrey Graham, is not just his lighter skin, but his refreshing ability to work an understated charm and cheeky nonchalance to an otherwise Craig David like smooth R n’ B vibe. He doesn’t croon with the pretty-boy swagger of Craig nor with the cock-sure slickness of Kanye but offers blushingly honest and sometimes dark lyrics with an irresistible ability to make his singing seem like the most simply natural thing there is.

And the influences for his music are not the most predictable either, including David Bowie and hardly-the-hip-hop mentor Bob Dylan.
He started his rise to fame, using the fortune he earned from his TV appearance for 7 seasons in Degrassi: The Next Generation, to invest in jumpstarting his music career. The high school drop out released a couple of mix tapes that weren’t conceived to offer anything new from what other rappers had already made to superstardom with, but then Lil Wayne came along.
“Wayne told me to just remember it's about your thoughts, you got to think about what you want to say beforehand," said Drake in an interview with Rollingstone magazine, "And then from there, you make it rhyme or you make it connect. But the more important thing is, What's your message, What's your point. And that should be the bare essentials of a line or a verse — what do you really want to say and what do you want to say about yourself? "I think he gave me that advice truly for me to set myself apart as a rapper," he adds, "because I know Wayne sometimes raps for the sake of being a phenomenal rapper. And other times you'll get a song where he tells a story and gets personal. But when he gave me that advice it was almost like him giving me like a cheat code. Here, I'm gonna give you something; I'm gonna give you a piece and see what you do with it. And So Far Gone is what I did with it”

Best I Ever Had
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Successful
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A Night Off
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Sooner than Later
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Give Ya
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Closer to my Dreams
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Where to Now
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Special
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