Winter 2005

By Erik Philbrook with Jon Bahr and Jin Moon

SOME ARTISTS TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR IN 2005

The Academy Is Once former rivals on the Chicago music scene, front man William Beckett and guitarist Mike Carden put aside their trivial differences and found a shared passion for making the kind of music they had long sought to create. Influenced by bands such as U2, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Third Eye Blind and Death Cab for Cutie, and newly signed to Florida-based indie label, Fueled by Ramen, they are set to release their first, much-anticipated full-length album, Almost Here, in 2005. —EP

Sound Team Austin-base Sound Team, after hitting the road in a van and plying their musical wares across America, returned to their hometown, found an abandoned record-pressing plant and decided it would be a perfect place to record. They then drew the interest of producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead), who agreed to work with them in their new space. The world now awaits their debut album on Capitol Records. —EP

Ray LaMontagne LaMontagne, a father of two living in rural Maine, had an epiphany one morning upon waking up to his radio alarm clock playing Stephen Stills' "Treetop Flyer." He did not go into work that day. Instead he began his songwriting career and hasn't looked back. Chrysalis recognized how special LaMontagne was, so they took the very unusual step of producing an album themselves and, after a bidding war, found a home for LaMontagne's beautiful, passionate Trouble at RCA Records. —JB

Anna Nalick Anna Nalick is an unmistakable new voice in pop music, full of youthful exuberance and provocative reflection. Her debut album, Wreck of the Day, produced by Christopher Thom and Brad Smith (founding members of Blind Melon) with Eric Rosse, is a refreshing blend of sophisticated wordplay, haunting melodies, sublime textures and complex atmospheres.

The Arcade Fire Montreal's The Arcade Fire (SOCAN) have arrived - and exploded onto the indie rock scene with their quirky blend of orchestral arrangements, energized rock proclamations and epic choruses. The band, which includes brothers Win and Will Butler, Regine Chassagne, Richard Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Sarah Neufeld, have surprised critics and fans alike with a crazed live show that comes across like performance art. The band signed with Merge and released their acclaimed debut, Funeral, in 2004. —JM

Acceptance For five years, Seattle emo/punk band Acceptance cultivated a fanbase playing the club circuit and performing their harmony-filled, guitar-crashing anthems. Then former MTV "120 Minutes" host Matt Pinfield came calling. Now an A&R man at Columbia Records, Pinfield took the band under his wing and produced their EP, Black Lines to Battlefields. Now Acceptance's full-length, Phantoms, is due out this year. —EP

The Colour Orange County indie rock band The Colour, led by frontman Wyatt Hull, play funky, new-wavish and highly danceable rock that is bringing the band much-deserved attention beyond Sunset Strip. Their debut EP, The Colour is Out and About, is now out on Monarchy Music Corp. —EP

dios malos Hawthorne, California's dios malos believe in the power of a great pop song. But they're also interested in seriously tweaking pop's conventions. The result is music that can best be described as Beach Boys meets Radiohead. Their self-titled debut album has garnered a lot of press from the BBC, Rolling Stone and the music press who are all hailing the group as a "band to watch." —EP

ARRIVALS FROM THE UK

Rockers from abroad who are making their mark in the U.S.

The Darkness Following their successful conquest of practically every place on the planet where the kids like to rock, Britain's The Darkness (PRS) are giving their spandex a well-earned rest before going into the studio to start work on the eagerly-awaited follow-up to Permission To Land (Atlantic Records). Until then, fans will have to get by with having "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" stuck in their heads. —EP

Muse The Devon, England trio Muse (PRS) has long been a force in their native country, but finally made their mark in the U.S. this past year. Their third album, Absolution, was their second to be released in the U.S. and it brought them a greater fan base, helped by their inclusion on The Cure's Curiosa Tour of America. They start the new year off by headlining mtvU's 2005 Campus Invasion Tour. —EP

The Streets Growing up in Birmingham, England, Mike Skinner (PRS) was obsessed with the music of hip-hop giants the Beastie Boys and Run DMC. It wasn't until the UK Garage movement surfaced that Skinner was able to rap about British culture to an enthusiastic scene. Taking the name "The Streets," he had a Top 20 hit in 2001 followed by a debut album, Original Pirate Material that was dubbed a ‘generational classic' and sold half a million records. In 2004, Skinner released A Grand Don't Come For Free, a rare hip-hop concept album reflecting a bizarre, though typical, day in a British youth's life. —JB

Kaiser Chiefs Hailing from West Yorkshire, England and sounding like a hybrid of XTC, Devo and Pulp (with a dash of Dexy's Midnight Runners' passion), the Kaiser Chiefs (PRS) caused a stir in their homeland with the release of two hot singles in 2004, "Oh My God" and "I Predict a Riot." By year's end, "Oh My God" had hit #1 on MTV2's NME chart and the band landed opening slots with hot bands such as Franz Ferdinand, the Killers and the Futureheads. —EP

Dogs Die in Hot Cars Their percolating pop songs have invited comparisons to Dexy's Midnight Runners, Big Country, XTC, Talking Heads, and other new wave acts, but, no matter, Scotland's Dogs Die in Hot Cars (PRS) have won their very own critical and commercial success. Their V2 album, Please Describe Yourself, is chock full of quirky charm, and their first single, "I Love You Because I Have To," is pure ear candy. —EP

Lostprophets Three years after releasing their debut, the Welsh hard rocking sextet, Lostprophets, rolled out their sizzling sophomore effort, Start Something (Sony) in 2004. Influenced by bands as diverse as Depeche Mode, Megadeth and Fugazi, and mixing hard rock, breakbeat and new wave, the boys from Wales were all over MTV with their video for "Last Train Home," toured with Hoobastank, and landed a song, "Lucky You," on the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. —EP

Keane Almost overnight it seems, Keane (PRS) is destined for global success. Their piano-driven pop anthems on their debut Interscope album, Hopes and Fears, are exquisitely melodic and passionate, bringing to mind Paul McCartney's Wings-era work. Radio embraced the first single, "Somewhere Only We Know," like a long lost lover. Singer Tom Chaplin, pianist Tim Rice-Oxley and drummer Richard Hughes easily created one of 2004's best debut albums. —EP

Damien Rice Dublin-born Damien Rice (IMRO) once fronted the hard-edged indie rock band Juniper. But when he decided to go solo, acoustic and dig deeper into his Irish soul, he struck musical gold. Rice's album, O, was first released in Europe in 2002, where it immediately started winning him fans, awards and rave reviews. When it was subsequently released in the U.S. on Vector Records, Rice's star rose considerably. He won the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize in 2003 and began to sell out venues around the world. —EP

ETERNAL FLAMES

The Clash As subsequent generations of rock creators take to the rehearsal room, the studio and the charts, the legendary British punk band, The Clash (PRS), still looms larger than life. When Clash frontman Joe Strummer passed away in 2002, the rock world experienced a great loss. But The Clash's stunning body of work remains as an inspiration - and an education – for all those who walk in their footsteps. —EP

PASSINGS

John Peel For nearly 40 years, the legendary British BBC1 DJ John Peel acted as arbiter of all that was "good" in rock ‘n' roll. He died in October, 2004 at the age of 65.

Johnny Ramone The father of punk guitar died in Los Angeles on September 25th, 2004 at the age of 55, but only after inspiring generations of rockers to pick up the guitar.

20 Artists Who Rock Our World