At the end of a year, we want to make predictions for the next one, and although I don’t think we can predict the future, there are reasonable things we can talk about, such as the Los Angeles bands that gonna be big in 2013!
According to Buzzbands LA, 22 LA bands are signed and are about to release their debut albums next year, so that’s a lot of listening ahead… to these bands you can add many others working on an album! LA is definitively a never-ending source of new music.
So I am going to write about only a few bands I have seen live in 2012, which may blow very big next year, at the national or even international level? And at the end of next year, everyone will be able to tell me if I was right or wrong.
FIDLAR: This one seems obvious, they are already mentioned everywhere, from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone, and their album is not even released. One of their last shows was packed with punk kids ready to riot for a cheap beer, and it seems that I am already late on them, they have already blown up! Let’s hope they are not the next Green Day.
Pangea: They could be FIDLAR’s little brothers, as every time I saw them they were opening for them! Each time, they knew how to warm up the crowd for sure and there was something very fresh about them. And, above everything, Ryan Adams himself is going to produce their upcoming EP, ‘Badillac’ and release it on his PAXAM label, according to the LA Weekly.
Haim: I saw this all-girl band a few times, and if the music didn’t blow me away, the charismatic presence of these three sisters was really something to watch live. And they also have a connection with Ryan Adams, who seems to greatly appreciate their super dynamic mix of folk and R&B as he joined them on stage once. Even English critics already love Este, Danielle and Alana Haim! They are young and super pro, they even cover the classics like Fleetwood Mac, and sold out the Troubadour a few weeks ago. They also opened for Florence and the Machines during their tour in England, and Florence Welch had quite an endorsement for them: ‘It’s the perfect time for a girl band to be storming Britain. They are not only the best people I have met in ages, but also have the best hair, the best pop tunes and definitely the best bass face!’
Kitten: If this band does not become the biggest synth-rock act around, I don’t understand what it will take for a band to make it! And it would be mostly because of Chloe Chaidez, a total restless beast on stage, jumping, snorting her wet hair like a wild animal, like a real punk rock star that she already is, and what a voice! She is only 16 or something!
Youngblood Hawke: The joyful and dynamic quintet has super catchy tunes like ‘You Come Running’ that you will never get out of your head once you have heard it. On stage, they give a jumping-explosive and colorful show, and the music can please anyone, from people who like dance music to people who like to sing along at the top of their lungs.
Lord Huron: They are a discreet band compared to all the previous ones, but their work is meticulous, artful, inspired and very poetic. Wild and quiet as the Michigan's body of water they are named after, they are always running after ghosts or running away from mysterious romances. They have just released their beautiful debut ‘Lonesome Dreams’, that I should have included in my best albums of 2012!! Damn!
I have seen tons of other local bands this year, The Lonely Wild, The Neighborhood, Hot As Sun, NO, Tijuana Panthers, The Record Company, Wildcat! Wildcat!, Incan Abraham, Lovely Bad Things, Henry Clay People, Manhattan Murder Mystery, David Shane Smith, Seasons, George Glass, TRMRS, Milo Greene, Dunes, Dante vs Zombies, Nick Waterhouse, Bleached, Gothic Tropic, JJAMZ, Irontom, Saint Motel, Torches, Races, the list goes on and on, and who knows which one of these bands will blow up big next year?