Lord Huron - "Time To Run"

My first experience with Lord Huron was about a year ago when I listened to "The Stranger", one of the four enchanting songs on their first EP, Mighty (2010).  I recently learned of their full length debut album, Lonesome Dreams, that came out this past September and, guilty as charged, have been listening to it on repeat.

Growing up on Lake Huron in Michigan, Benji Schneider started Lord Huron, which has turned into a collaboration of four "best amigos", as he calls them.  Now they are based out of Los Angeles.  Since the release of their debut in 2012, they've been getting quite popular.  They showed up on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in November and have been touring the world, charming the masses with their sounds, ever since.  Their show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on February 23rd is even sold out!  Well, being signed to I Am Sound Records will give you this level of publicity.  After all, the record company signed Florence and the Machine, IO ECHO, and Kate Boy, to name a few.

Satellites - "Railway Line"

Be prepared: this Copenhagen native is about to knock your socks off.  If you don't know already, I am a huge fan of The National and am constantly on the prowl for musicians who can pluck my emotional strings like they do.  Well this one-man-band has answered my prayers.  His name is Johnny Vic and he  puts all these amazing sounds together to create some damn good songs.  Watch him live here.  His deep, soft, booming voice makes it all the more melodramatic.  Some may call it depressing, but I dig it.

The fact that he's not even on Spotify is quite surprising to me and very unfortunate.  However, you can stream his first and only album, Satellites.01, from his SoundCloud page or directly from his creatively designed website: http://www.satellites01.co.uk/.  And I highly suggest you do so.  This is his only music video out, but the rest of the tracks on the album are superb as well.

I also want to point out how rad this video is.  It was directed, shot and finished by Tim Walker of Westbound TV.  The technique he used is phenomenal.

Kasabian - "Fire"

Upon meeting the most adorable Dublin Irishman on Thursday, I was introduced to the electronic rockers Kasabian. After listening to them for the first time, I feel guilty, or embarrassed, for not knowing them before.  They've been around since '97 for God's sake! The English natives from Leicester have produced four pretty badass albums that just seem to get better and better.

We might want to file them under indie rock, right? Wrong.  Lead song-writer for the band, Sergio Pizzorno makes it clear that Kasabian is not indie, "We've never been an indie band, you know, and I sort of fucking hate indie bands, I despise that speed of music." What they really are is "future rock". AllMusic gives a definition that I would say is thoroughly on point for these guys and perhaps the future of rock: "...the band's foundation remained rooted in swaggering, fragmented dance textures and boisterous rock & roll."

I thought this video for "Fire" was pretty sick, but if you want to see what it would be like to rock out to them live, check out their video for "Underdog", their most famous track.  I strongly recommend their most recent two albums, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2007) and Velociraptor! (2011).

Fatboy Slim - "Weapon of Choice"

Also quite amusing is Slim's video for "Weapon of Choice", starring the one and only Christopher Walken shimmying around an L.A. hotel.  

Fatboy Slim - "Praise You"

Is everyone aware of how hilariously entertaining Fatboy Slim's music videos are? I definitely wasn't.  I thought I would bring it back old school while we're on the topic of talented deejays.  Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) was born in the UK and never had much success in playing instruments.  So he got his hands on the turntables and made magic.  

The following comment is from a die-hard fan that fits Fatboy's persona to the tee.  It'll hard to meet someone "who's attended a Fatboy gig and not had a laugh, a bit of a dance, acted a bit silly and had a damn good time- which, at the end of the day, is what this dance malarky is all about, isn't it?"

All his videos are pretty comical, but "Praise You" is by far the best.  It hardly cost anything either.  It's really just a recording of a prank pulled at a California movie theater so it took less than $1,000 to make. But it was dubbed "Best Breakthrough Video and Direction" at the MTV Video Music Awards, showing that money isn't everything.  

C2C - "Happy" Ft. D.Martin

I haven't been this excited about a post in a while.  So forgive me if freak out a little.  I present to you a quintet of insane deejays.  Maybe these guys are old news to some of you.  But I am a newly christened C2C fan and super excited about it.  DJ Greem, MC 20Syl, DJ Atom, and DJ Pfel make up this crew of turntable genius'.  They're from Nantes, France.  And they "blend analogue and digital like melted musical butter".

I am certainly not opposed to any of the tracks on C2C's freshly debuted EP, Down The Road.  All five songs are so completely different, yet all still hold the same electro-funkiness.  I would definitely check out "The Beat" for a good party groove.  However, I chose to feature my favorite of the C2C videos, which isn't on the EP. Why?  Because director Wendy Morgan has created such a carefree, good-spirited image for us, I literally caught myself smiling as the video played.  I hope it will do the same for you.  Call me crazy, but music makes me move, and moving makes me happy.

White Rabbits - "Percussion Gun"

If you haven't noticed already, I'm a huge fan of tracks dominated by drumming. And this is just that kind of song.  My favorite part of the whole performance is watching Matthew Clark and Jamie Levinson go absolutely nuts on drums. They put their whole being into it. It's so great.

Not much of a "new" band, they released their first album in 2007, and have produced two more after that. This Missouri six-piece has had their songs featured on the Friday Night Lights season 4 soundtrack as well as season 3 of Gossip Girl.