Over the last fifteen months, live music has come to a standstill. With the vaccination rate on the rise and COVID-19 cases beginning to slow down, it appears we may get to see some of our favorite performers back on stage again soon.
Last summer, I spent a lot of time outside in my yard, sitting by a bonfire, and listening to music. I discovered a ton of new stuff, as well as mulled over the idea of why certain artists weren’t more popular. Since then, I’ve been pondering the question if someone were to ask me, “What artists or band would you recommend I may have never heard of?” I tend to look past the mainstream to find music (as well as film) from not only independent artists, but artists from all over the globe.
So, I’ve put together a list of the top five artists/bands I feel people should give a chance. I also chose not to pick things from a single genre of music. Artists range from synthwave to country, metal to EDM, a little something for every taste. Now, lets take a look:
5Poppy
I know, but please hear me out. Best known for her performance art videos on YouTube, Poppy has grown and evolved over the years. Starting with her satirical internet videos, she would eventually release her debut EP Bubblebath under the name That Poppy, achieving minor success with the song “Lowlife,” which was essentially a traditional pop song.
From there, she dropped the ‘That’ from her name and released Poppy.Computer (2017). It’s an album that fully embraced her creepy, robotic internet image while being inspired heavily by Japanese pop music. Shortly after in 2018, came the second album Am I a Girl?. The music on this album began to transition away from the bubblegum pop and felt more like a dance record. At the same time, there were a couple of tracks that combined all the sounds she had experimented with before, as well as heavy metal. This led to last year’s I Disagree, an album that is straight up metal/industrial.
Poppy is growing, not only in popularity but as an artist. This year, she was nominated for a Grammy for “Best Metal Performance” and is currently working on a new album. Over the last couple of months, she’s debuted two new songs and it appears she will be continuing down a heavier path, but those songs sound nothing like what she’s done before. In 2019, Poppy spoke publicly about the abuse she had suffered while paired with her long-time collaborator Titanic Sinclair. She’s battled back against critics, speculating that the brilliance behind the Poppy mystique was Sinclair and not her own ideas. She’s proving everyone wrong and is quickly becoming an unstoppable enigma. Her career is one worth following, and new music is coming later this year.
4VOYAG3R
VOYAG3R (pronounced Voyager 3) are like us. They’re film fans, pop culture fans, and obsess over an era like no other, the 1980’s. Heavily influenced by the synth sounds of that time period and film scores by John Carpenter and Goblin, these three guys deliver a massive sound that body slams you back to a period when the gore was practical and the action heroes were the real deal.
The trio features Steve Greene on keyboards, Aaron Greene on guitar, and Greg Mastin on drums. Their first single was a track called “Victory in the Battle Chamber” and was released by Bellyache Records in 2013. This is the song that in a sense defines what’s great about them. It combines the synth sound with heavy guitars. Think Carpenter’s Escape from New York theme but supported with a heavy guitar riff and blistering drums. They followed the single with their first album Doom Fortress, taking a path similar to what was heard on that first single. Their second album Are You Synthetic? is still firmly planted in that same world but takes more of a twisted, sci-fi, fever dream approach. Their most recent album, 2019’s War Mask, combines a little bit of both their previous efforts and gave birth to one of the best synthwave albums of the last several years.
VOYAG3R’s music has been featured in the Rowdy Roddy Piper short film Portal to Hell and they had a track on the companion album to the documentary Rise of the Synths. I’m not sure when to expect new music from these guys, but I’m pretty sure they’ve kept busy during the pandemic.
3Omnimar
Earlier this year, I did a pretty extensive interview with Omnimar members Alex Vrt and Maria Mar in regards to their latest release Darkpop. In short, the Russian synthpop duo have defied classification and consistently build upon their previous work in order to deliver something fresh and exciting. To learn more about Omnimar, please refer to my previous article, or just let the music speak for itself…
Learn more about Omnimar via their label darkTunes Music Group.
2Orville Peck
Orville Peck is a mystery. A man who has kept his history hidden and never appears on screen without wearing some sort of fringed mask. If you do your research, you could discover his real identity, but that isn’t important. The music is so hauntingly beautiful, dark and light, and his voice is near heavenly. It’s easy to get lost in Orville Peck’s world, and if alternative country were a thing, Peck would be the poster boy. He’s a little bit Elvis, a little bit Orbison, with a sprinkle of Cash, and a whole lot of Peck.
His debut album Pony was released in 2019 and featured songs such as “Turn to Hate,” “Hope to Die,” and “Queen of the Rodeo.” His music videos tell unique stories with a flare and style that would feel right at home in a David Lynch or John Waters’ film. In 2020, after a short delay, Peck released the EP Show Pony that featured a surprise duet with modern country superstar Shania Twain. And speaking of duets, his most recent collaboration was with drag queen Trixie Mattel on a cover of the Johnny and June Carter Cash classic “Jackson.” This guy really has something special and where he goes from here is anyone’s guess, but I’m guessing he’s going straight to the top.
1Nemophila
Japan has been host to some killer metal bands over the years, but the one group I felt completely sucker punched by was Nemophila. In a sense, they’re a bit of a supergroup with the members having all served (or still serving) time in other bands over the years. They consist of lead vocalist Mayu, drummer Murata Tamu, Haraguchi-san on bass, with Hazuki and Saki on guitars.
Formed in 2019, Nemophila have yet to release a full length album. What they do have is several singles including the most recent, “Dissension.” The song is so insanely heavy that you will need to listen to it on repeat for days, even weeks (I’m not exaggerating…). I dare you to not bang your head when the opening riffs take control.
I recently viewed the livestream of the Naon no Yaon Festival in Japan, which features the best all-women rock bands the country has to offer and when Nemophila took the stage, there was a shift in energy. You felt as if you were witnessing something special, and if any of those bands has international crossover appeal, it’s Nemophila. With only two official music videos on their YouTube page, they do happen to have videos of themselves playing cover songs, including a cover of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper,” which has reached over 1.6 million views.
Nemophila is insanely tight as a band; the precision with which they all play is the standard with which all artists should strive to do. Even with how technically superior they are to so many other bands, they haven’t forgotten what’s most important, to have fun. Just watch the recent video of another Iron Maiden cover, “Aces High.” They never lose their smiles and rock harder than most.
When they finally do release that full length album, they’re going to blow fans away. In the meantime, you can pre-order their latest release “Oiran – Extended Edition,” which is a collection of all the singles they’ve released to date plus the English language version of “Dissension.”
Visit Nempohila’s official website.
Maybe I will chime in with five more bands at another date but for now, you can’t go wrong with the talent I’ve mentioned above. Check out their videos, visit their sites, and “You’re welcome!”
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