The month of August is creeping, ever ceaselessly, forward towards September, and I offer my deepest condolences to those for whom that means the end of summer and the start of a new educational year; teachers, tutors, lecturers, and professors, you have my deepest, deepest condolences especially.
However, the award for greatest sorrow goes to that of Sam Green and The Midnight Heist, whose time as Cultured Vultures New Band of the Month for August will be as over as August is by September. For the time being they still are, though, and deservedly so, having fought off some considerable competition last month to bag the landslide ruling of your voting, to name them not just Cultured Vultures but your New Band of the Month. So go give them a listen if you haven’t yet, they’re dead good, so they are. But hurry right back, we’ve business to attend to.
You back? Excellent. Well, as said, we have business to attend to, and that business being the decision on who gets to take the title of New Band of the Month for September. As with last time, we’ve got a number of new bands aching for/deserving of your love and affection, but it comes down to your decision who gets to claim their place as yours, and our, New Band of the Month for September.
The Goodbye Party
Say hello to The Goodbye Party, the latest project from Philadelphia’s Michael Cantor – formerly of The Ambulars. Having just released their debut, they’re as good as new, in fact they are new, and they’re deserving of your honouring them with the title of Cultured Vultures New Band of the Month: September.
Speaking of that debut, it goes by the name of Silver Blues and it showcases everything and more that The Goodbye Party have got going for them; it’s an eclectic concoction but an altogether coherent mix. Cantor predominantly wraps up The Goodbye Party in a lo-fi style, awash with hazy feedback, bedroom recorded cassette tape hiss, but musically The Goodbye Party encapsulates far more your usual slacker fuzz.
Sometimes sounding out a jangle akin to that of the C86 school of indie, other times ringing out an effects drenched shoegaze, and that’s not taking into account the times they suddenly start playing string-laden, country-tinged ballads, blissed-out atmospherics sporting late-period Beatles harmonies, or grunge coated powerpop. It’s all you might want or need from an indie band basically.
NOMINATED BY: Morgan Roberts
Nolita View
Not a whole lot of information floating about the ol’ interweb in relation to Nolita View, but that just goes to show how hot of the metaphorical presses this South London four piece are. I mean, I myself only know they’re from south London because I found a review somewhere that seemed to know that, it might be completely wrong, but I’m a professional like that.
Anyhow, what’s important for you to know is that they’re as new to you as they are almost anyone else, which is why you must latch onto them now, so that you may say you were there first and be wholly cooler than everyone else. However, in talking to you singularly, I’m actually talking to you plurally, so you’ll all be there.
Which is all the better for Nolita View and their brilliantly catchy take post-punk meets subdued funk that’s all scuttling guitar lines, uptight and angular grooves, punchy vocal hooks, subtly anthemic choruses, and smooth rhythms. Seriously infectious stuff.
NOMINATED BY: Morgan Roberts
Blossoms
Call it a little bit cheeky to nominate a band with almost 10,000 likes and a dedicated following already, but Blossoms are a act that deserve all the attention they get. Which is why I am nominating them for New Band of the Month for September. Deal with it. Or don’t. Just don’t hate me. I need your love.
Blending a lovely mix of Cage the Elephant and 90’s indie, Blossoms are a dreamy, infinitely replayable band hailing from good old Manchester. For some odd reason, I keep likening them to a modern James and I don’t think that’s a hundred miles off. Their anthemic Cut Me and I’ll Bleed is an earworm that will clamber into your lugholes, set up a mortgage and live comfortably surrounded by its beautiful family. Vote for these guys if you appreciate the craftsmanship of decent music.
NOMINATED BY: Jimmy Donnellan
Bad Breeding
Being a previous Single of the Week winner, I was already fairly familiar with the talents of Bad Breeding before it came time to scramble around and find some nominations. It was in this panicked state that I reacquainted myself with a song that made we want to spread panic on the streets of London, Burn This Flag.
After reacquainting myself with their sparse but still brilliant catalogue of punky goodness, finding my next New Band of the Nomination was easy. By playing at a relentless tempo, the guys are able to deliver hard-hitting rock that doesn’t pull any punches. If you like your punk to have a genuine attitude and unleash a desire within yourself to just go and wreck some stuff, Bad Breeding should be the band for you.
NOMINATED BY: Jimmy Donnellan
Until We Last
When you think about the kind of ambient post-rock that makes your soul melt into your shoes, India might not be the first location that springs to mind, but it ought to be. The scene is already well established in other parts of Asia like China, Japan and Taiwan but now it’s starting to travel further across the continent, particularly in Bangalore and Until We Last are some its best local ambassadors.
Their gorgeous, guitar led music rises and falls, never delving into the splintering intensity of Isis or the unbound megajoy of Explosions in the Sky, but retaining a balanced, warm, soulful tone that will whisk you away to dimensions unknown if you’re not careful.
They’ve been on my radar view soundcloud for a few years now but it was only at the tail end of last year that they finally brought out a full EP, it’s called Earthgazing and it’s stunning. The tracks are surprisingly short for a post-rock release, but they’re so tight and well produced that you can get just as lost in them as you would if you were listening to a sprawling, breaching epic courtesy of Mono or Godspeed.
NOMINATED BY: Callum Davies
VOTE NOW
Voting closes midnight August 31st
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