Features

Withered Hand, Anja McCloskey, The Hysterical Injury, Civil Civic, Love in the Asylum - GIITTV's Tips for 2011

GodisintheTV 06/02/2011

So last month we presented you with our first two musical reccomendations for 2011 pieces(Bill's Tip Tape for 2011,Tips for 2011: Reality Stars Vs Reality) from us here at GIITTV towers. Now we give you the first in a series of colaborative tipping efforts, featuring up and coming and emerging acts that are worthy of your time in the immediate future and the next twelve months. Stand by for more in this series throughout the next month or two. Enjoy!


First up Jennifer Flett, introduces you to Withered Hand:

WITHERED HAND

Withered Hand are a product of the 'anti-folk' scene, headed by Dan Willson who either plays live with other members or solo whilst on tour, they are slowly beginning to make their mark on both sides of the pond with their whimsical lyrics and affecting folk style.

Although Edinburgh based, Willson is heavily influenced by the anti-folk styles of artists like Jeffrey Lewis, and it is this inspiration that has drove him from tremendously shy to an incredibly engaging performer. His lyrics though are unremittingly self-deprecating, there is an endearing humour to his songs that resonate throughout all three EP's he and his band have produced.

Recently they have signed with American Indie label, Absolutely Kosher Records who will be releasing their latest LP 'Good News' over in the states sometime next month. This record cements the genius of Willson's writing talents with, for example Religious Songs, which sums up the nature of his music with one single line - “How can he be happy when he listens to Death Metal bands?”

As Wilson is the subject for many of the songs, it gives an insight into the almost ironic way he sees himself but it's a thoroughly enjoyable journey all the same, from 'forgetting the words to religious songs' to 'getting drunk on tonic wine'.

2011 is already a busy year for the band as they are already on the road, firstly travelling North into the Highlands before heading down into the rest of the UK during February and March and with many sell out dates already under Dan Willson's belt during last year's solo tour of the UK it is clear that the world would not be a better place without him as he suggests in his song - For the Maudlin but the start of something unconventional and superbly unique.

Website : EP available to listen to here on this link..... www.witheredhand.com




Next up Tiffany Daniels gives us two of her picks for the next year:

ANJA MCCLOSKEY

Okay - I may have jumped the gun back in January with my Women in 2010 article. It's not for a lack of worth that Haunted Stereo failed to generate the tsunami flood I predicted in 2010. This coming year, if front-woman and solo-novice Anja McCloskey doesn't challenge the airwaves with her stunning new material, I'll eat my keyboard and permanently loose faith in the general public.

2010's been a productive year for the Southampton resident: she signed to Sotones and released her debut EP Turn, Turn, Turn in September. But that level of achievement doesn't reflect the competency of her work. Brimming with woozy lyrics and the subtly infectious cough of an accordion, it's the musical equivalent of whisky on a dense summer night - perfectly refreshing, dangerously intoxicating and scrumptiously sinful.

Of 2011 she says, “I'm currently planning a two week tour in the USA to take place in February. We'll play Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, Atlanta and some cities in between. I'm then looking at a single release in April with an album to follow later in the year. I'm currently recording for this - exciting times!”

Ivory by abadgeoffriendship

THE HYSTERICAL INJURY

Bath based band The Hysterical Injury push the boundaries of their influence to reveal refreshing new ground. Recalling a mishmash of bands including Sonic Youth, Huggy Bear and a high pitched Babes In Toyland, the songs Annie Gardiner and Lee Stone write are retrospective of the musicians they love, but their aspiration to sound like nothing and no-one else is clear.

Wordy praise aside, they've got guitars! And drums! And they're using them! Grandparents will call it a confounded racket - I call it an iconic breakthrough.

The duo already enjoy a degree of success. Following 2009's debut EP Our Lives Are a Futuristic Nightmare, in 2010 they secured a highly anticipated set at London Ladyfest and were referenced by Tom Robinson, Venue Magazine and Huw Stevens, to name but a few.

In 2011, they are “planning to have [their] first album finished and will be searching for a decent label to put it out. In May 2011 we're due to be touring the UK with Langur organised by Artscare Records!”
www.myspace.com/thehystericalinjury


Adam West by Hysterical Injury

Next up Gwyn Bandfield introduces us to an experimental noise duo:

CIVIL CIVIC

Civil Civic consists of two men (and a “box of drum noises”) who make music together whilst living hundreds of miles apart. Guitar player Aaron Cupples lives in London, and bassist Ben Green lives in Barcelona, and the two halves make their individual parts of the music at their homes and send the results back and forth to one another until they can put together a complete song. You might think the vast physical barrier between the two men would result in a lack of cohesion between the different parts of their songs, but the contrast between the different aspects of their music is what makes it so special. Take the opener from their first EP “Less Unless”, that begins as thumping, instrumental, lo-fi pop and is ruptured after a minute or so by piercing screams and swathes of abrasive, distorted synths.


The band liken their sound to “The Cure getting beaten shitless by Big Black… with no vocals” but personally I don't think this metaphor goes far enough. Their debut EP sounds like more a vicious brawl between all of indie's greats, with DEVO throttling Sonic Youth in a headlock while My Bloody Valentine give the Jesus and Mary Chains a limp kick in the shins.


Next year, the band tell me they are “planning on getting an album recorded and then doing some festival dates, but that's asuming we get enough material together to start recording and that some festivals want to book us. Big if's at this stage, but we paid a gypsy 500 euro last night and she said it's all going to go swimmingly.” For now you can read more about them on the band's blog, or download their EP “1” here:



Lastly Joe Coyle, tells us all about a new band with a soulful pop-rock edge...

LOVE IN THE ASYLUM

Love in the Asylum formed in the spring of 2010. Soon their powerfully incendiary live performances caught the attention of The View's lead singer Kyle Falconer prompting him to ask them to open for The View for 15 dates of their UK tour.

It says something about Love in the Asylum that the band don't have to rely on Dan Dunne's strong gritty vocals and at times cacophonous guitar to engage an audience fully. All the members of this group are equally integral to its sound, be it, Charlie Elliot's stomping bass grooves, Paul Lane's thundering drums or Thom Greene's pulsating swirling keyboards. Love in the Asylum make one special racket. Coming across like the bastard son of Kings of Leon and Vampire Weekend, baptised with a uniquely British ska/ punk hint. Love in the Asylum are a band who truly transcend the sum of their parts and their musical magpie type feel gives them an eclecticism that few bands can currently touch.

Love In The Asylum are currently holed up with producer Jim Anderson (The View, Mark Ronson, Two Door Cinema Club), and have been travelling between a makeshift recording studio in an abandoned World War II RAF base in the middle of a wood and Monnow Valley Studio in Wales where Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Oasis have also graced the halls of one of the most famous recording studios in the country. Love in the Asylum are definitely one of the bands to watch in 2011.


www.myspace.co m/loveintheasylumband