What else could one call this blog? Our little city has conceived some of the best bands in the country, so I’m putting some of them in one place – and also into a music playlist for you to dance around your room to (hey, no judging). Most bands/artists seem to sway towards the indie genre, but I’ve tried to find and include a couple of lesser known beauties to add to your music players.
Alt- J
Recent winners of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize, three of the band’s founders actually met at Leeds University. The quartet was officially signed in 2011 by Infectious Records and have since become more and more successful. Their debut album ‘An Awesome Wave’ continues to sell thousands of copies. For any Alt-J newbies, the bands are a bit indie and a bit alternative. You can find ‘Tesselate’ and ‘Breezeblocks’ on the HC playlist (link below). The boys are currently on a world tour, but are coming back to Leeds to play in May 2013, sadly- and not surprisingly – it’s completely sold out!
Corinne Bailey Rae
University of Leeds graduate and jazz powerhouse Corinne has had massive success both in the music industry and in being praised by Vogue for her amazing clothes sense! The Yorkshire star made her entrance in 2007 with herself named debut album. Best known song ‘Put Your Records On’ made no.2 in the charts. Her second album followed the death of her husband Jason Rae – ‘The Sea’. I recommend ‘Are You Here?’ and ‘The Blackest Lily’.
Hadouken!
New rave/ dance punk are probably best known for the scarily catchy ‘That boy/ that girl’, but have so much more to boast about. They have remixed for Plan B, Klaxons and Bloc Party. The band actually created their own label ‘Surface Noise’ records in Leeds; and are back this year with the Ministry of Sound label.
The Pigeon Detectives
We have Rothwell, West Yorkshire to thank for bringing these lads to our musical attention. They played Leeds/ Reading festival in 2006 and 2007, and in the former supported fellow Leeds based band Kaiser Chiefs. A bit reminiscent of the Libertines, but with a rockier vibe, the band’s 2008 album ‘Emergency’ reached number 5 in the charts. The follow up album had only reached UK number 30, but the band are still touring successfully and ‘Done In Secret’ is more than worth a listen!
The Dunwells
I’ve actually discovered a new favourite listen in compiling this list. The Dunwells are a folk rock band, formed in our fair city. Their debut single ‘I Could Be a King’ was released in 2011, it is upbeat and full of glorious banjo riffs. Their debut album came out this year: ‘Blind Sighted Faith.’ The album, as a whole, is a mixture of folk and soft rock – it’s quite a refreshing noise and they will definitely do well at filling a niche in the music scene with their talent.
Kaiser Chiefs
Everybody knows these guys! ‘I Predict a Riot’ was one of my tweenage favourites, when I was on a canal boat holiday (I kid you not). 2007 album ‘Yours truly, Angry mob’ had no less than two platinum certifications, the main hit of the track list being ‘Ruby’ (aahhhhhh). Our Leeds gems took a three year break until 2011, and are back on tour in 2013.
The HC playlist can be found on Spotify- just search ‘Her Campus Leeding Bands’!