It's been missions!

Yeah so apologies for being away for so long. I've been busy getting a lot of stuff sorted at work and for my upcoming move (only 12 days away!) so I haven't been able to find much new music. Instead today I will come up with a Top Ten of bands who I have reviewed/seen live for today. I need something to get me motivated so without further ado it's The BTB Top 10 so far!

10: boxViolet - boxViolet are one of my favourite bands because they are genuinely different. Their sound hails back to a bygone era when rhythm effects and sound effects were the key to making music that would top the charts. boxViolet are bringing that back and what a welcome return it is!

Favourite Song: It's still 'Sad Sad Girl'

9: Frenchie - This guy is Pop at its Poppiest and to say anything else is a lie. Frenchie doesn't try to disguise his pop sound, like so many artists do, but embraces it and that is the mark of a true musician. This a pop act Mika should be looking up to and saying I want to be like him because you know, Mika isn't great. Frenchie is.

Favourite Song: Oh What A Feeling.

8: Fire In The Hole - This is a rock band with a twist. You may think their sound is similar to others and then they bring in the funk. If the Red Hot Chili Peppers had kids with Michael Jackson then I'm sure Fire In The Hole would be their offspring. These guys were born to make music and make it they shall!

Favourite Song: The Human Race Erased

7: Sound The Attack - This group epitomises heavy rock and they do it well. It's all you can do to stop yourself becoming emersed in their sound and jumping and singing with them. So my advice. Don't stop yourself. Let Sound The Attack attack your senses with full force and you'll be all the better for it. Rock has found one of its new saviours.

Favourite Song: Bully Empire

6. Private Dancers - I love Brazil for many things and Private Dancers are one of them. This lot know how to make music that people will still be humming long after the songs have finished. If CSS were the first true big band out of Brazil then Private Dancers will be the second. I know it because I say it. To disagree that Private Dancers are an amazing band should be punishable in some way. I don't how but it would be painful.

Favourite Song: The Form

5. Carmen - Carmen are brilliant. They have such a great sound about them that I bought their album to hear the gems they hadn't put up on their MySpace. It's a brilliant debut album and I one I would recommend to anyone who is serious about their music. Their rock pierced with melodies makes for listening you won't forget.

Favourite Song: Be My Forever

4. Plug In - These French rockers are brilliant and were the joint pick of the bunch when I asked listeners for their band of the podcast when these were featured. Surely to be as big, if not bigger than their french contemporaries The Teenagers. We're reaching an age where, I hate to say it, guitar bands are becoming one and the same. Plug In have something about them that sets them apart and I can't wait for their EP.

Favourite Song: Misters

3. Crossed Keys - My favourite band from the USA. They won the Californian Battle of The Bands and for good reason. They're brilliant. They sent me their CD and I'm not bored with it at all. I really can't wait until Crossed Keys come to the UK. I'll be right at the front of the crowd singing along to all their songs. They had a big impact on me from the first listen and that impact gets better with each listen.

Favourite Song: Sin In a Bottle

2. PARK - Nothing can describe how mega their sound is. I can try but I wouldn't do them justice. This band need to be big. They just have too! Their songs, especially Not For Me and Nameless Faces, are so damn epic that they need to be played on the Main Stage at Reading and Leeds. Just listen to them and I know you'll agree. There's a reason I haven't stopped listening to them!

1. Letters From London - Okay so I never reviewed these guys on here but I've seen them live enough times to justify why they are number 1. I've followed these guys for the last 3 years and seen them grow bigger and better. They even have a Japanese street team! How many bands can claim that? They're live shows are always fantastic and if they can they will let you invade the stage on their last song. John Sterry creates lyrics as well as Pete Doherty if not better, Billy Smith plays Bass like a demon who's escaped from hell, Danny Smith plays the guitar like a mainiac because well he is one and Christian Parker bangs his drums like a madman with talent.


My Top 10 and I'm sure you'd agree. BTB is back! Woop!

Searching...

Again I have found it difficult to find musical acts that make any impression on me but I kept on going until I found some bands that were worth my time and worth your time. After filing through a lot of crap I want to thank these bands and all the others I have reviewed so far for keeping my faith in music strong. Also I'm searching as it were for someone to help me with this, an additional writer so if interested then contact me.

The first I have found that is very talented is boxViolet from LA (yes its LA again...) who to me sounds like a modern mix of Eurythmics and Blondie rolled into one. As soon as I heard the first beat from "Sad Sad Girl", I knew that I would be hooked into listening to every song boxViolet had to offer and then listening to them again just to hear the musical genius they hold. If anyone deserves worldwide fame then boxViolet are that band. I dare you to tell me these guys aren't talented because you'd be wasting your breath.



BTB Favourite Song: Sad Sad Girl


The next band I have for you is called Attention Now! from Stavanger Norway. Now this is of the best indie electro rock I have heard in a long time. The blend the sounds they have really well topped with two talented vocalists and some great musicians and you have a recipe for perfection. Attention Now! are that perfection you seek in everything else and more. I cannot find a single fault with this band...well one. I'm not going to be able to see them live for a long long time!



BTB Favourite Song: Sarcasm Shooter

And the final band I have for you today is called Noise Republic and are from Nottingham, England. This pop punk twosome know how to write some good tunes and lyrics. These guys are working on their album and if listening to the songs they have on their MySpace and Facebook page doesn't make you wait in anticipation for that release then nothing will. The music that Noise Republic create can be listened to in any situation and in a way gives the songs something of a keeper status by which I mean that their songs will not be forgotten 5,10 or even 20 years from now. Get listening!



BTB Favourite Song: Gambit



Download: Gambit from Noise Reoublic's MySpace

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