Here comes the first band for 2014’s edition of The Next Big Thing (We know you all are cheering “Finally!” over there, since we have been postponing to debut the first article for this weekly feature)! So, we decided to pick Darlia. The band who are hailing from Blakcpool but now are a Manchester-based rock band. Darlia consist of three members, they are Nathan Day (vocals), Dave Williams (bass), Jack Bentham (drums).

Nathan and Jack used to play together when they were 12 (however, they didn’t start it as a band), Nathan was on guitar and Jack on drums. As the time went by, they also stopped this ‘jamming-session’ and didn’t have any image to do anything about music.A couple of years later, the boys got to have a same shift as a cleaner at their college. They got their rhythm together again, and by the time Dave jumped in, the three decided to form a band and have found their vision for music. The name ‘Darlia’ is not a slang from a sexy looking supermodel Daria Werbowy. Nathan has sort of obsession with flowers. And one day, when they were about to have their first live show in Blackpool, right before they hit the stage, a girl came to him and brought him some flower. Since the band hadn’t settled with any names, the band decided to come up with Darlia as their name.

In 2013, they launched their debut E.P, ‘Knock Knock’. Most of the riffs ftom their songs will revive you to Nirvana, which you can clearly hear in their song, ‘Queen of Hearts’. It’s really hard not to find their music has a major influence of Nirvana’s, and a bit of reminiscent to Queens of The Stone Age’s. Eventhough the band state to QmunicateMagazine that they don’t have any influences to their music, Nathan said “Honestly, not in a negative way but I just don’t think there really is. We don’t try to make anything sound like anyone else. We can appreciate what people and other bands do but nothing really affects the way we sound. It literally sounds the way it is, because that is the way it is.”. What is really interesting to us is how Nathan’s vocals can channel from a Brit-pop sound to a howling rock n’ roll. The other thing that makes this band becomes very dynamic in sound is how they will remind you to The Cure and a bit of Placebo on song ‘Candyman’. The other track from Darlia that will hook you is ‘Choke On Bones’, the song erupts with a killer intro and a quiet chorus to get you into some mosh.

Darlia may sound like a mixture of modern age of Nirvana or Queens of The Stone Age, but they are surely going to resound the guitar music to be on track. Their bass-line, thrashy drums, and also addictive raspy roar that comes out of Nathan’s voice are the things that will make them go big and hard to forget (especially with the bleached-look that Nathan has, Kurt Cobain’s doppelgänger award!). The band made it very clear that they are not trying to be another version of others, “We’re not trying to sound like rock and roll; how can you make rock and roll sound different? We don’t want it to. We’re not inventors, we’re musicians.” said Nathan on who inspired their music. No matter how close or similar they sound to the other legendaries, Darlia have hooked us with their E.P (too bad it only has three songs) and also their other works which will bang our heads.

For this year, we are set and ready to supply you with the exciting names who will rise their way to the music charts or world’s music festivals. After two months of hiatus, we are so glad to present you ‘The Next Big Thing’ which will return next week on Saturdays. Some names might have had their debut a few years ago, but we are sure that they will rock your socks off in 2014. Starting with the hip/hop sensation , Chance The Rapper; Reignwolf the Canadian electric blues band; Lake Street Dive, who will take you back to the sixties with their jazzy and soulful music; and Radkey, the brothers from Missouri. We’ve been reviewing from many music magazines (and of course our music radar) to list more than 30 names to blow your mind.

Make sure you will not miss the 44th artist who’ll start this year’s The Next Big Thing and get some space in your iPod since you’re going to have some new bands to listen to. The Next Big Thing’s Class of 2014 has arrived!

Pond was formed in Perth, Australia. Ever since their formation, there have been some changes to their line up. Current members include former Tame Impala member Nick Allbrook on vocals and guitar, Tame Impala’s Jay Watson and Cam Avery on guitar and drums, respectively, Joseph Ryan on guitar, and Jamie Terry on bass.

In 2008, the first three members of Pond, Nick Allbrook, Jay Watson, and Joseph Ryan stayed at Allbrook’s parents’ residence and recorded what would be the first LP for their band; Psychedelic Mango. The LP was then released in January 2009 with only 500 copies pressed, and was later re-released digitally in 2010. Psychedelic Mango was full with catchy, feel-good summer jams. It’s filled with ultra-feedbacky guitars, repetitive bass lines, and lots of weird chanting. And as the band’s first LP—despite the lack of buzz it received at the beginning—it had given them a great start line for their career. It wasn’t even a year later that they followed up with a second album, Corridors of Blissterday, which Spinning Top has described as “a frenzied effort recorded live with an eight piece band at some point (nobody seems to remember exactly when) in 2009.”

And while the band has had members of Tame Impala as their line up, Pond is most definitely not a side project. Aside from the fact that Pond was formed before Tame was, there was also the slight difference in their style of music. Pond combines not only a mix of psychedelic rock, garage rock, and funk, but also a taste of Bowie-esque glam rock into their music.

The original idea of Pond is to get anyone they want to make whatever music they wanted in a collaborative way, and boy, don’t they stick true to their concept. It shows in the way their music sounding a lot like firecrackers; bursting with fiery spirit and untamed creativity. You can hear their excitement and passion dripping in each song they write. And according to those who have had the privilege of seeing them live, Pond’s live shows are much like a punch in the face that you’ll really, really enjoy.

Their third album, Frond, was released in May 2010 and featured a heavier pop influence than previously heard from the band. But it wasn’t until their fourth album, Beard, Wives, Denim, was released in March 2012 did the band start to get a boost of real critical acclaim. Beard, Wives, Denim was made in twenty weeks, with ten people involved in the project–neither of them had gotten any sleep throughout the whole process. As the result, in the record you can hear people coughing, or woo-ing and laughing—which to us, makes the record sounds raw and somehow much more alive. The first single off the album, Fantastic Explosion of Time, is explosive, jumpy, and brilliant. NME branded it as sounding like “The Stooges playing an early Kinks raunch-rocker for a ‘Nuggets’ compilation,” and later also called the band as the “Hottest New Band in 2012.”  It was also Beard, Wives, Denim that ushered Pond to the North America market, securing them 31 shows, including 8 at South by South West.

Pond might sound like a bunch of friends who make music because they truly love it and they’re having so much fun doing what they do—which, is actually how it should be done. But passion isn’t the only thing they have; they have shown the decency to write only the amazing songs. This is why we feel like we should be keeping an eye on these guys. Judging by what they have laid out in store for us so far, it seems like Pond have both the blooming talent and the extremely fertile mind grapes. Their next album, Hobo Rocket, is set to be released earlier this August. While speaking to Tone Deaf, guitarist Jay Watson had said of the new album: “We were going to do a really nice, beautiful orchestrated album, but we figured we might as well capture the live band as we’ve been touring… So that’s what ‘Hobo Rocket’ is, the full on, manic acid rock.”

Nadafiksi’s tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes at the same time. Contemplative. Anything the music gives to you, you shouldn’t have another think coming, you just listen to it. You will have your mind occupied by one comforting chaos. You might want to listen “Darimu Untukku”, their single-album Extended Play, Marujelaba.  The lyrics are about disquiet of human wrapped by an acoustic music. The changes from minor to major music is providing us a kind of mixed feeling of happiness and sadness, vice versa. Once again, comforting chaos.

“Sayup-sayup tercium wangimu
meninggalkan semua kenangan
Sayup-sayup tercium wangimu
menjauh meninggalkan daku..”

Another track on the EP is “Susah Tidur, Susah Bangun”. Released on Kineruku’s 10^th birthday party (Rukustik #5) on 7^th April. And also, give it a try to their debut, “Burung”.

Formed on 2009 and fixed on early next year, Nadafiksi was formed by Dwi Kartika Yudhaswara (vocals, guitar player, and lyricist) and Ida Ayu Paramitha Saraswati (as a key-flute and on vocals), also Raden Rizka Gunadi Ganda Permana (as a cello player).  When Yudha met Ida, it connected about anything, and there was this persuasion to make music together. “Ida’s musical taste and the preference to painting art have the same scratch and meaning with me,” Yudha said. And so they tried to search down for their music objectives all the time until they met Tesla Manaf, Bani Ambara, and Ahmad Kurnia. The last three names give the spark to Nadafiksi live’s set. Contrabass, flute, jimbe, sadatana, and guitar synthesizer are the things we could see on their live perfromance. Now they are currently on progress to record an album. It will be produced by Tesla. “What will we do is always sincere and surrender ourselves to The Mighty Lord,” added Yudha.

Let’s celebrate the sadness beautifully!

Follow them on Twitter: @nadafiksi

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?