What To Look Out For In 2008

So, enough about 2007... We're all pretty tired of looking back, by this point. That year is so over. But 2008? It's already pretty frigging exciting. I mean, like Ed Wood said, the future is where you'll be spending the rest of your life and all.

The LA Times' Kevin Bronson says that The Airborne Toxic Event, Castledoor, and The Deadly Syndrome are break-out bands for in '08, while LAist’s Joshua Pressman adds Everest and a few others to the list... I'd say I'd have to agree that all of those acts are going to do quite well in '08 and get national exposure and whatnot.

As far as residencies in '08 here in LA go, I believe you'll see Radars To The Sky, The Movies, Rademacher, Le Switch, and The Hectors ... I know I'd go to see them every week for a month, at least ... while bands like Everest and Afternoons will probably (sadly for us) skip them in lieu of national tours like The Little Ones did. Catch them while you can.

I'm looking forward to new albums by The Movies, The Happy Hollows, The Western States Motel, Signal Hill, Mezzanine Owls Death To Anders, Xu Xu Fang, The Airborne Toxic Event, Le Switch, Eagle & Talon, Thailand, and The Black Pine -- and a few of the other bands I'm keeping an eye out for are Marvelous Toy, Princeton, and The Hidden Hooks.

We asked a number of local bands which groups do you think people should look out for in 2008 and here's what they said.

Dave Woody - Tigers Can Bite You

The Happy Hollows and Castledoor have been fighting it out in our stereos for 2008 dominance. And you'll probably be hearing "Life was such a rip off until I bought the new Movies and Radar Bros. records" a lot next year.

Russell Pollard - Everest

Wooden Ships from Portland Oregon. They are amazing. I also think Parson Redheads are gonna do really well. Jeremy Jay is interesting, too. I like his lyrics a lot!

Malcolm Sosa - Rademacher

I think we should all keep our eyes on LA. You guys have a huge crop of great artists. As far as I am concerned, your bands totally dominate the state if not the whole damn nation. There is so much potential there. Some of my long time favorites are The Happy Hollows and Death To Anders. Both those bands seem to have one foot in the world of Fugazi and really aggressive sounding post-punk stuff and then the other in a more fanciful, pop-oriented world. The combination of those two things is so powerful and damn fun and both Rob and Sarah have such great presence onstage.

And The Henry Clay People have blown my minds a hundred times and I have only seen them twice.

But I think a better question would be “What band do I think folks should look out for in 2028!?” -- 'cause really I don't think it is that important to me who the band of this year or next year is gonna be, it is more a question of who is going to put out consistently awesome music for the longest period of time and try to make a career, or at least a legacy, out of the whole thing. Basically: who isn't going to quit.

And I can say with all my heart, for sure, 100%, that my answer to that question is Death To Anders. Those guys have the biggest hearts and the biggest love for music and they have so much musicianship in that band. I don't feel like they'll ever give up. They'll change and get better, different, newer, older -- but my bet is that the Flaming Lips of 2028 will be known as D2A.

I kinda wanted to write something like, "There's nothing those guys can't do if they set their mind to it," and I could write that about a lot of the great LA groups, but the thing that makes me feel so confident about D2A is that I sense their minds ARE set and they WILL do it. By 2028 for sure.

Nate Cole - Castledoor

Well, they're already looking, but Vampire Weekend and local act Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

Sarah Negahdari, Chris Meanie, & Charlie Mahoney - The Happy Hollows

Death to Anders, The Soft Hands, The Movies, One Trick Pony,Henry Clay People,The Pity Party, Rademacher, Lo Fi Sugar, The Mai Shi, Thailand, Eagle and Talon, The Transmissions, Karin Tatoyan, The Karabal Nightlife...

I know I'm forgetting many... There are so many amazing bands right now....

Kim from Eagle & Talon

I've heard early mixes of the new Colorforms record and recently attended a listening party for the Fascinoma record due out in march. Both sound amazing, I think these bands are going to smog 2008. Oh, and of course look out for The Jed Fielder Dance collective!

Everyone from Signal Hill

Local: Beware of Safety, Castledoor, The Littlest Viking, and The Lights From Here.

Elsewhere: Port Blue, All India Radio, Musee Mecanique, You.May.Die.In.The.Desert, Awake and Alert, and Rajiv Patel.

Jason Bays & Colleen Coffey -- The Spires

Jeremy Jay, Luke Top,The Capstan Shafts. Any oddball writing good songs in his closet.

Keith Waggonner -- Amateurs

A few of my favorites around town right now are Le Switch, Frankel, and I Make This Sound. All three have impressed me at one time or another this year. I would definitely recommend checking them out, if you haven’t already.

Kate & Andrew Spitzer - Radars To The Sky

Really looking forward to albums from: The Airborne Toxic Event; Death to Anders; Thailand; Flying Tourbillon Orchestra; Western States Motel; and listening to Rademacher's new album.

Bobby Tamkin - Xu Xu Fang

- A Place To Bury Strangers

Jordan Huddock – Marvelous Toy

- The Henry Clay People
- Amnion
- Princeton

Nicki Nevlin - The Black Kites

Radars To The Sky, Le Switch, Mezzanine Owls, The Hectors, Io Echo, The Happy Hollows

Aaron Kyle - Le Switch

The Henry Clay People. Princeton. I Make This Sound, Tandemoro

Joel Graves - Everest

The Watson Twins
Hayden
Chairlift
Foster Timms
Through The Sparks
Vetiver

Corinne Dinner - The Hectors

Black Kites - Guitarist Alan spins out the sweet riffs like some kind of shoegaze salad shooter, and singer Evelyn pulls you in with her voice and serene presence.

Radars To They Sky - Their sound is so big, but it still feels very fragile and intimate which I think comes from both the quality of the lyrics plus the lush interaction of Andrew and Kate's vocals. And Seamus plays guitar like he's got one more day to live and he's not going to waste it.

The Health Club - We just played a show with them at The Scene, and their singer goes from this strong melodic voice to a Cobainesque growl with his vocals but it's completely fuzzed out and not human. When I asked him what distortion pedal he was using on his vocals, he said, "What do you mean?" That's awesome.

Mospeada - They're very clever songwriters. The songs stop and start in beautiful and unexpected ways, and guitarist Gabriel is a wizard with a Memory Man and a Mascis-style solo.

Mike Corwin – The Devils Romantics

Jack Wilson Jr., Lord Falcon, Davin Givhan and the Chocolate Teddy Graham Band.

Eli and Mary Chartkoff - The Monolators

There are a bunch of groups that are going to be releasing new records in 2008 that we're looking forward to -- I Make This Sound, Wait Think Fast, Summer Darling, The Breakups, Shirley Rolls, Vaudeville, Natural Disasters, and Death To Anders. Of course Castledoor is supposed to put out a new record next year that I'm itching to hear.

Nikolai Goodich – Molecules

Molecules... Molecules... Molecules

Mike Lee – Letting Up Despite Great Faults

Happy Hollows, Butcher the Bar, Glass Candy

Brian Canning – Afternoons & Irving

Dirt Bird and Castledoor and I think people should always look out for The Movies as they are the most under rated band in the history of rock and roll along side Moby Grape. I think people should look out for the experimental performance group ARTEL, I believe they will be getting allot of attention next year. I'm hoping they will start performing at clubs around town.

Will Etling – The Deadly Syndrome

That's a tough one. I'm really bad at following unknown acts. I find
out about stuff once everyone around me has already been listening to
it for months.

Claire McKeown – Dirt Bird & Afternoons

Sam Sparro and Jail Weddings.

Erica Elektra – Hearts Of Palm UK

hmm.... us!

Daniel H – The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra

Much like earlier this year with bands like Cold War Kids and The Silversun Pickups, I think its only a matter of time before Radars To The Sky, Castledoor and The Movies are all over the radio/mtv.

Rob Danson - Death To Anders

Everyone that's coming out with a new album (or just did) - Rademacher, Radars to the Sky, The Happy Hollows, Death to Anders, and The Henry Clay People.

Heisenflei & M – The Pity Party

In 2008, look out for The Happy Hollows and, god willing (if there
is one...), The Pity Party.