Absolutely Incredible: Clip Art Covers
(Minus the Comic Sans, but we’ll get over it)

Happy New Year! Here’s to at least another year of sounding like Patrick Bateman when talking about new albums. We’ve got to go return some videotapes…

peace & love in 2012 

jb // ss

Trophy Wife / Oxford, UK

If there’s one band we talked about most in 2011, it’s Trophy Wife. They crept in late last year wanting to explore a new sound all their own and these three have been making music together for what seems like forever. They broke away from Jonquil last year to pursue this project—and if you’re into Oxford Band History, then you remember them from such projects as The Modern and Wait For Coniston.

Their EP, Bruxism, hardly even sounds like a debut with everything in its place and coming off so immaculately polished. Upon first listen, it immediately sends you into a somber dream-like state, that makes you forget about every electro-pop band you’ve ever listened to. It has a definite (literal) theme—for those who are unfamiliar with sleeping disorders: bruxism is the unconscious grinding of the teeth. If you purchased a vinyl copy, you can see such sleeping disorders engraved on the inlet—such a brilliant detail. You almost wouldn’t even know that each track is produced by a different person, including James Yuli, Ewan Pearson, and Yannis Philippakis. Most have described it as ‘sad disco’ or ‘melancholy pop’, regardless of how you choose to categorise it, you have to admit it’s unlike any other sound that has come to fruition this year. From great studio performances at Abbey Road, to innovative videos, a brilliantly recorded EP, and their drummer, Kit, playing flawlessly sparse beats on a one-of-a-kind setup, their originality supersedes any expectation you may have about them.

You can expect to hear even more about TW in 2012, with numerous (and massive) upcoming shows, and a debut full-length album being recorded as we speak. In the meantime, you can grab a copy of Bruxism via the Blessing Force shop and hear the infamous Joanna Newsom cover that started it all, amongst other great tracks, on the BF compilation, which you can get via free download.

Pet Moon / Oxford, UK

(aka Andrew Mears) is most prominently known as the frontman in the late band, Youthmovies, and the early spawning of Foals—but has evolved into one of those creative giants who seems to have their hand in almost everything.

Mears’ own vision of what joyously-dark pop music sounds like a modern day Phil Collins on salvia, and it’s refreshingly brilliant. Check out some of his demos on SoundCloud, and keep an eye out for his debut EP coming out shortly via the Blessing Force label.