Artists You Should Know February 11

Artists You Should Know

By Erin Evans
Contributing Writer

This week’s Artists You Should Know is brought to you by the great Snow Storm of 2014. I have been holed up in my apartment binging on Netflix like the internet is ending tomorrow. Needless to say, my cabin fever flared up. Thankfully, these bands have provided an excellent soundtrack to dance away the winter blues.

Hailing from Manchester, England, The 1975 sounds like Jimmy Eat World and Bloc Party having a love child together.  Blending alternative rock and synth-pop, The 1975 create a sound that is both ethereal and haunting. They just released their debut, self-titled album back in September. You should definitely check out, “Sex”, “Chocolate” and Talk!” off the album. If you dig The 1975 and need some summer plans, they’ll be playing at the House of Blues in New Orleans on June 1st. 

Diane Birch sounds like a modern day version of Carole King. (Ask your parents. They’ll probably know.) After hearing her play at a club in 2006, Prince invited the singer/songwriter to play with his band.  You might have caught her recently playing with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on “Pretty in Pain” from her recent album, Speak a Little Louder.  This wasn’t her first time playing with Fallon’s house band. She was a featured background vocalist on their collaboration album with Elvis Costello, Wise Up Ghost. Check out the aforementioned “Pretty in Pain” and “Frozen Over”. Birch will be playing the House of Blues in New Orleans on March 17th.

Bastille recently performed on the most recent Saturday Night Live hosted by Jonah Hill. This performance will, probably, catapult the indie rock band to being really well-known. Hop on the Bastille train before it’s too late. They released their album, Bad Blood, back in March 2013. Their single, “Pompeii” has been played a bit lately. It was featured on the trailer for the upcoming animated film, Mr. Peabody and Sherman. (That was made into a movie? Alright…) While “Pompeii” is a really strong single, check out “Things We Lost in the Fire” and “Laura Palmer.”