Quickly climbing the ranks of indie notoriety, three bands that are meandering through Portland next week are going to be putting on a show that will undoubtedly be worth your time. Foals, Naked and Famous and Freelance Whale are stopping at the Wonder Ballroom on the 12th of this month as their tour makes its way down the coast.
Foals, formed in 2005, originates from Oxford, England. The band has been creating such a buzz from its supremely catchy tunes that this year it will be performing at the Coachella music festival. This performance will solidify the band’s placement amongst many of the well-known bands performing this year. The group’s current lineup consists of Yannis Philippakis on vocals and guitar, Jack Bevan on drums, Jimmy Smith on guitar, Edwin Congreave on keyboard and Walter Gervers on bass.
The quintet entered this world with the debut album “Antidotes,” which was released in March 2008. Since then, the group’s popularity has been blossoming quickly. Their follow-up, “Total Life Forever,” which was recorded in Sweden and released in May 2010, became a catalyst to take a step further into producing more great music, landing them a nomination for the UK’s Mercury award—a scholarship created by Britain’s music industry to provide financial backing to its recipients. The group is currently signed with Sub Pop in the U.S. and Transgressive Records in the UK.
Another five-piece group, Naked and Famous, hails from the gorgeous land of New Zealand. The band is comprised of Thom Powers, Alisa Xayalith, Aaron Short, David Beadle and Jesse Wood. Their debut album “Passive Me, Aggressive You” was released in September 2010 on the label Somewhat Damaged, topping their home country’s charts with the album’s single “Young Blood.” The single shows very familiar ties to the sound that MGMT produces (with the exception of Naked and Famous displaying a female vocalist instead).
Another note about their single is that when it debuted, it reached the top slot on the chart in New Zealand—making Naked and Famous the first New Zealand artist to do so in three years. According to BBC’s “Sounds of 2011” poll, Naked and Famous was included in a list of 14 other top artists of today, selected by BBC’s “Tastemakers.”
The group has been described as a synth-pop band and, as mentioned before, sounds very much like the pop group MGMT. Prior to their debut of their first LP, the group had released two EPs in 2008 entitled “This Machine” and “No Light” on the label Round Trip Mars.
Last on the bill is Freelance Whales from Queens, N.Y. Before going any further, the group’s name is said to have been contrived from their front man, Judah Dedone, and his near-death experience of almost drowning in the Sea of Galilee while growing up in Israel. The band consists of a motley crew thrown together via Craigslist: Judah Dadone, Nicole Mourelatos aka Doris Flynn Cellar, Chuck, Jacob Hyman and Kevin Read. Dedone functions as the main songwriter, and has stated in interviews that his lyrics are derived from childhood memories and dream journaling.
The band came together in 2008 and self-released their debut album “Weathervanes” towards the end of 2009, later officially releasing it through Mom + Pop Music Co. and Frenchkiss Records in April of 2010. Media outlets like Entertainment Weekly and Pitchfork have dubbed the group’s debut album as “the best electronic indie-pop debut since Ben Gibbard last tuned his laptop.” Dedone’s voice is very similar to that of Death Cab’s front man Ben Gibbard as revealed in the prior.
With all that said, get to this show. You would be making a terrible mistake if you missed it and are a fan of the music that has been catching ears all around the globe lately in the world of for lack of better genre indie. ?