1. The Strypes

The Ireland-based band consist of Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals), Pete O’Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica) and Evan Walsh (drums). After a year they formed the band, their career started emerging in April 2012 when they released their first EP, “Young, Gifted & Blue” (contains of blues cover work like Bo Didley’s “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover”), and the EP went to number 1 in theiTunes Blues Chart just a day after it’s released. On March 28th 2013, the band released their debut single “ Blue Collar Jane “. So far, the responses to their debut has been radically positive. Dave Grohl, Sir Elton John and Miles Kane are some of the big names who have turned into the Strypes’ listener. Seriously, do you think you have any reason to make you don’t like this band? N to the O.

2. Swim Deep

Swim Deep are an indie-rock band from Birmingham who were formed in 2011. The Birmingham boys are Austin Williams, Tom ‘Higgy’ Higgins, Zachary Robinson and Cavan McCarthy. In 2012, Swim Deep signed with Chess Club and released their debut single, ‘King City’. And in the end of 2012, the band went to Brussels to work with Charlie Hugall for their debut album, ‘Where the Heaven Are We’. Charlie Hugall is a British producer who has worked with Florence Welch, the Maccabees, Kaiser Chiefs, and many more. Swim Deep step in the year as the ones to watch, NME also put them on their ‘Best New Bands in 2013’ list. Just like how they describe the music, Swim Deep are more ‘Roll’ than ‘Rock’

3. HAIM

Americans must be obsessing over their pop culture, but this band, Haim (rhymes as “time”), lead into the music revolution in 2013. Haim consist of three sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim. The band have released two EPs, Forever and iTunes Festival : London 2012, three singles, Forever, Dont Save Me, and Failing, and one incredible debut album Days Are Gone. The band put some hip/hop, RnB, pop, and even folk (it’s pretty much seen as the girls are a huge fan of the Strokes and Danielle is a fan of Usher). Eventhough the iconic singer, Mick Jagger, said “Haim? Never heard of them” the sisters will be pretty much known soon since they were one of the lineups for SXSW. So far, they have accomplished in being nominated fopr MTV’s Brand New For 2013 and topped the BBC Sound Of 2013 (which they defeated great bands like Savages).

4. Palma Violets

If someone asked you a question about what bands that you should look out in 2013, the answer must be Palma Violets. Palma Violets, the band who graced to be on the front cover of “NME” has stolen the spot as one of the most exciting names in the industry. Palma Violets consist of bassist/vocalist Chilli Jesson, guitarist/vocalist Sam Fryer, keyboardist Peter Mayhew and drummer Will Doyle. “Best Of Friends” which is the band’s first ever single, get to be voted by NME as song of the year of 2012. Zane Lowe also listed the band’s track on his “Hottest Record in The World”. Palma Violets’ debut album “180” which also worked by Pulp’s Steve Mackey. And it peaked at number 11 on UK’s music chart.

5. Jagwar Ma

Hailing from down under, Jagwar Ma, got to be listed as NME’s Most Lookout Names in 2013. The duo who consist of Jono Ma and Gabriel Winterfield are bringing back brings the baggy music to the 2000s era. According to their Facebook page, Jagwar Ma got their influences in making music by Aphex Twin, Phil Spector,and Martin Hannett. In the early 2013, the duo were chosen to be one of the line-up for Big Day Out 2013’s side show. The duo are now with the label Future Classic ( which also has worked with Tensnake, Classix, Flight Facilities, and many more). Jagwar Ma’s debut album, Howlin, has given a prove that Sydney is a gold mine for a good music.

6. Peace

A quartet from Birmingham, Peace, came to the rescue a guitar-driven music in the UK! The band consists of brothers Harry (vocals, guitar) and Samuel Koisser (bass), Douglas Castle (guitar) and Dominic Boyce (drums). The band also made their debut performance for Glastonbury 2013. Their debut album, In Love, was produced by Jim Abbiss, the producer of Arctic Monkeys’s “Whatever People Say I Am….” And contained re-recorded version of 3 of their hits such as “Wraith”, “California Daze”, and of course, “Follow Baby”. Guardian and NME have listed them as “band to watch” and “purveyor of 2012’s catchiest song”. BBC have listed them in the “Sound of 2013” list.

7. Chvrches

The scottish electro-pop trio which were formed in 2011 consists of Lauren Mayberry (lead vocals, additional synthesizers and samplers), Iain Cook (synthesizers, guitar, bass, vocals), and Martin Doherty (synthesizers, samplers,vocals). The appearance of Chvrces surely is a fresh air of Glasgow’s music scene, and they set a high bar for some kick-ass accomplishments. The album The Bones of What You Believe contains of experimental sounds that will float you to the spaces. Stormed out from Glasgow music club to a bona-fide music festival, Chvrches are seriously in the game. The hype recognition which is reached in a quite short term doesn’t give a reason to the band as one of the one-hit wonders. It’s clear that Lauren, Iain, and Martin are ready to blast with another infectious tunes of Chvrches.

8. Lorde

This young girl named Lorde has a special something going on. At the age of sixteen she has bombed the music chart and make her way to the top. The New Zealander kitty has been talked about by well-known musicians for her abbility in writing songs. Her debut album, Pure Heroine, made herself a truly heroine. The album has a major variation of music, from darkwave to synth pop. To validate that she’s been making some real deal, her name is ready to battle with the other musicians as she gets nominated in Grammy Awards 2014. Yes, you heard that, the kitty is ready to roar her music. Louder.

9. MS MR

The New Yorker MS MR ( (Lizzie Plapinger and Max Hershenow) has made their own path for their music. The chillwave/glitch-pop/gloom rock tunes from MS MR will be easily received by Florence + The Machine’s fan or Lana Del Rey’s. The duo have released their E.P titled “Candy Bar Creep Show” on September 14 2012. And it was released via Tumblr. The ep consists of four tracks, they are “Bones”, “Hurricane”, “Dark Doo Woop”, and “Ash Tree Lane”. Their debut single “Hurricane” get good critics from the reviewers and complimented that the song has the enchanting vintage sound. The duo’s debut album, Secondhand Rapture, climbed to number for Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart.

10. Parquet Courts

From the Big Apple comes a big talent, Parquet Courts. The band consist of Andrew Savage (guitar, vocals),Austin Brown (guitar,vocals), Max Savage (drums) and Sean Yeaton (bass). Parquet Courts originally released a full lenght album, Light Up Gold, in 2012. However, they re-released the album in 2013 with a larger label. It’s pretty clear that Parquet Courts represent the underdog culture, by seeing the band’s statement and their roots, they want to show the world the unseen space, the ugliness and the awkwardness that the world has avoided. Maybe Parquet Courts sound very typical for their very underground statement, but as we see deeper, this band is genuine.

 The appetizer of the night was the opening act Couple, one of the pioneer indie bands in the country, the band started their set with a new song from their new album, “Sedia–Sedia”. After performing six or so of their songs like, “Be My Baby” and “Tentang Kita”, the crowd built up. However, the organizers had to cut short Couple’s set by one song due to time constraints.

On course to the Entrée of the event: Peace. An indie rock sensation from Bristol, with a line up featuring brothers Harrison Koisser, vocalist cum guitarist, Sam Koisser the pretty boy bassist, Douglas Castle on the guitar and Dominic Boyce on the drums. The band made their stage debut in Asia with their set in the quaint Bee, radiating such a quirky and yet rockstar-ish presence as they came on stage with hair long enough to cover their entire face and fashion sense that accentuated their UK vibes.  Their jeans were as tight as leggings. This critically acclaimed band, which have been compared to the likes of pioneer indie bands such as Foals and Wu Lyf, have a lot going for them, making the crowd anticipate their appearance on stage.

Not wasting any time, the band opened their set with the song “Follow Baby” the very song that upped their name in the indie rock scene after renaming their band from November And the Criminal to Peace in early 2012. Their set list was planned like a movie: It had a dramatic opening, training to a nice progression that filled the set with notable songs from their album “In Love” such as “Blood shake”, “Waste Of Paint”, “Float Forever” and even their cover of Disclosure’s song “White Noise”. In between songs, Harry brought out his panache, from the way he said “KL, sup” to the chuckling moment when he squinted looking at the set list saying, casino online “What’s next, I can’t read”.

The crowd got their dancing shoes on, hair pushed back and ready to bop their heads when Peace played their most highlighted song in the album, “Wraith”. Not disappointing really as this song really has its flow of moods throughout, making it a real nice peak to the entire show. At this time, you could clearly see the moods of the crowd in play; the love-struck couples in one corner, the pretentious hipsters looking cool in the other, not to mention the sudden cornucopia of head bopping amongst the rest of the crowd. Cheekily enough, somehow every time someone on the floor shouted out, “HARRY WE LOVE YOU” Harry would turn over giving the most flirtatious look he could, going, “Aww, I love you too!”

 Nearing to the end, the band picked it up one last time with “Higher Than The Sun” before nicely ending with a spring romance vibe by playing “Lovesick”.

            With 11 tracks played altogether, the band did a beyond amazing job of showcasing their album to a different part of the world. From the beginning of the set till the end, one of the things that was hovering around in my mind was “Right off the studio album”, proving that they are just as good live as they are in MP3 format. Hailed as “The future of indie”, this band quite honestly has a lot coming up for them. Definitely more to love from this Bristol quartet, Peace! (Pun totally intended) (Zafran Aqil/Raja Kathryna)

]]> http://www.svanapaper.com/peace-forever-and-ever-in-kuala-lumpur/feed/ 0 http://www.svanapaper.com/peace-live-in-kuala-lumpur-in-august/ http://www.svanapaper.com/peace-live-in-kuala-lumpur-in-august/#comments Wed, 10 Jul 2013 04:38:23 +0000 svanapaper http://www.svanapaper.com/?p=4576 Upfront continues to bring exciting international acts right through the second half of 2013. Come..]]>

“No! We’re like Birmingham’s biggest buzz band but we just want to represent London,” said Ellie Rowsell, the frontwoman of Wolf Alice, to NME. We’ll put that as a starter just in case you guys will put them along with Birmingham’s bands like Peace or Swim Deep. Wolf Alice might be your average indie band, but they are starting to be the ones to watch. The band consist of Ellie Rowsell, Joel Amey, Joff Oddie, and Theo Ellis, were formed in 2010. Wolf Alice’s early root was basically a country slash folk-infused psych rock but later when the rhythm section joined, they turned into rock-pop with some fiery and loud tunes in it.

At the beginning, Wolf Alice was Ellie Roswell’s solo project. The story is simple, Ellie and Joff were planning to create a MySpace’s page, then later completed by the additions of Joel Amey and Theo Ellis. If you listen to their ‘Leaving You’, you’ll recognize them as a solo affair, but the song gradually shows a sound of a fully-formed band. The name of the band was picked from an Angela Carter’s novel.

In 2012, they released their first self-titled EP and a single, ‘Leaving You’. Wolf Alice’s Leaving You has earned an airplay on BBC Radio, the band also have spotted by NME to their Radar’s list and featured as one of the most exciting new bands in 2013. In the same year, Wolf Alice did some touring with Peace. The band are not bringing some heavy material music (that contains of random idealist thoughts) but they bring this sweetness, light, full of friendship stuffs, especially in their song ‘Bros’. Ellie Roswell described their music as “It was teen self-indulgence in a way, if that makes sense. When you’re 16 and you hate your parents, boys don’t fancy you and your friends didn’t invite you to their sleepover. You think you’re going through something no one understands so you write a song about it and it makes you feel better. Also I just wanted to be Avril Lavigne…obviously.”

Wolf Alice might be known for their sweety friendship songs, but you can get yourself to listen to ‘Fluffy’, which was released in February 2013. Fluffy is more to a pop-rock loud song that will snab people’s ears with the repetitive loud part, “Set Free! Set Free!”, on its chorus. Wolf Alice are just a pure work of the London four-piece that will suit your life’s soundtrack. You may ask more about Wolf Alice’s songs, just wait for them as Ellie confirmed the band have bunch of songs that they would like to show to a wide listener, but they are only available for the live shows. So, we can only say “keep calm and listen to Wolf Alice”.

And then a quartet from Birmingham, Peace, came to the rescue. They have taken the airwaves since last year with their debut extended play, Delicious. Their first single, “Follow Baby”, is a mixture of Madchester-esque melodies and American alternative sound. Their other single, “Wraith” and “Bloodshake” contains a catchy guitar riff. It was like a newborn baby of Foals and British 90s music.

Their debut album, ‘In Love’, is about to come out next week (March 25^th) and there are lots of people expecting something out of this album. Guardian and NME have listed them as “band to watch” and “purveyor of 2012’s catchiest song”. BBC have listed them in the “Sound of 2013” list.

Their album was produced by Jim Abbiss, the producer of Arctic Monkeys’s “Whatever People Say I Am….” And contained re-recorded version of 3 of their hits such as “Wraith”, “California Daze”, and of course, “Follow Baby”.

So, are you ready to follow them to the airwaves?