Yes Giantess

The beauty of a music festival is that you start planning your way around the timetable and find yourself looking up bands you've never heard.

So it's thanks to the post-Hurts slot at Summer Sonic that I gave Boston-based electro band Yes Giantess a whirl.

Guess what?

They're a lot of fun, and should put on a high energy show! No surprise, seeing as they're pals with the Passion Pit guys, who also know how to get a crowd going (and play later on the same stage).

The Ruins

Wonderful Life

For the next week, consider this corner of the internet a Summer Sonic 2010 playlist.

First up, the early band we'll be aiming to catch over at Maishima.

I've already introduced you to Hurts early leaks, and some are comparing them (for good reason) to 80's icons Pet Shop Boys. A band with a clear image and solid tunes, I'll be surprised if this suited-up duo don't give it a real go.

Here's the spruced up, sexier, video for Wonderful Life, now the official lead single for their upcoming debut album, Happiness.



A great way to start a festival, indeed

We are all illuminated. Lights are shining on our faces.

Hurts finally have their debut album Happiness hitting those proverbial shelves in September, so they're ramping up the leaks to try and get you to actually buy it (as if there's any question I will).

Here's the latest tune they're testing out with the masses. It's live and it's Illuminated.



I'm definitely now more excited to see them live in a few weeks at Summer Sonic!

There's also some sort of new full-fledged video about to drop. Keep an eye out for it here.

Two Door Cinema Club

The neatest part of going to a music festival, especially when there are already plenty of bands you know, is the discovery of new things you might like.

Later this summer we'll be hitting one of the Summer Sonic days in Japan. Filled to the brim with up-and-coming musicians we've had on our radar (Orbital, Hurts, Delphic, Passion Pit, Calvin Harris and 3Oh!3 among others), the festival is already having a spillover effect on our iPods.

Take Two Door Cinema Club, for instance. Were they not playing on the same stage as some of the above, they may not have gotten our attention just yet. Effusive and likeable, this Northern Irish group is proving to be a nice frothy summer addition to the ol' iPod.

Something Good Can Work


Undercover Martyn


I Can Talk


Fittingly, they also have a cheeky little lushy tour of Japan they've posted up...

Does it feel better than love?

So talk about jumping the gun.

While it's not the album I requested this morning (rock stars never listen to me), Hurts were a step ahead of me, and leaked another brilliant new track today.

I'm not sure it's really Better Than Love, but it'll do for now. It's the best track yet from them.

Blood, tears and gold won't make it any better.

Last time we checked in on Hurts, I liked what I saw, but hoped there was more to come.

Luckily the retro-styled UK buzz band, while still working on an actual album, did release another track, and it's also pretty darned good.

Blood, Tears & Gold


The duo are still getting traction, with very little music to show for it yet, but so far I'm intrigued. They're also laying on the moodiness thick with some artsy videos that you can check out over here.

It's definitely something different, but I think a proper little EP or an album might be in order sooner, rather than later.

Never give up, it's such a wonderful life.

Maybe you'll hear about this band again, and maybe you won't. Such is the lot of the internet buzz bands that percolate in the blogosphere.

So with that disclaimer, here's a great little tune from a new British band called Hurts, that's being rumored to be big in 2010.

I'm at least intrigued with Wonderful Life:



Here's hoping there's more to follow...