Dresden From: Prestwich, North Manchester, United Kingdom
With a name like Dresden from Manchester I was expecting a sound cloned from the DNA of Joy Division. Listening to tracks like Annihilation and Enough Is Never Good Enough, which could have been carved from a template supplied by Elbow, my initial suspicions of glum rock fellow travellers seemed to be confirmed. What I wasn't expecting was the upbeat 'Scars' a song seemingly sculpted from the same clay that The Human League used to create 'Dare'.
New York based 3-piece Violens are an enigma wrapped up in a puzzle. Just when you think you've got them all worked out they throw a smoke bomb in your eyes and disappear in another direction. If you caught them early in their development you'd have them marked down as Joy Division rehearsing in their dad's garage. If all you'd ever heard was 'Doomed' you'd have them marked down as Sarah Records devotees with better producers. If your only exposure was the quite awesome Violent Sensation Descends from their new EP you'd swear blind they were a bunch of acid casualties with a Beach Boys fixation. It's their restless search for pop perfection that has them tattooed on the hipster lips of the indie cognoscenti.
The fidgety trio release their debut album Amoral today via the increasingly impressive Brooklyn label Friendly Fire Recordings and their own imprint Static Recital. An event that will be marked as the first day of the rest of the music industry's life. Go Try MP3 - Violens - Acid Reign This track is linked direct from the Friendly Fire Recordings website and is therefore already freely available so please don't claim breach of copyright Go Visit
It sounds like one of those philosophical puzzles. When is a band not a band when it's I’m not a Band who are a band and not well not really a band. Main non band member, classical musician Stephan J is joined by other non band member Kassandra P to create a sound that melds classical, electronic beeps, industrial noise with the cutest vocals you'll find this side of a Care Bears picnic. It sounds like Mozart joining Daft Punk to cover early Kraftwerk and couldn't be more European if it decided to wear lederhosen and a beret and ditch it's currency to join the Euro.
Check out their cover of Joy Division's 'She's Lost Control' which manages to be both reverential and revolutionary in it's treatment. They've managed to make it sound fresh and new yet like the original. A difficult trick to pull off. They may not be a band but they're definitely my favourite non band around at the moment.
Go Try
MP3 - I'm Not A Band - She's Lost Control (Joy Division Cover) This track is published with the permission of I'm Not A Band's Management Company Auf die Plätze so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
With a name like Dresden from Manchester I was expecting a sound cloned from the DNA of Joy Division. Listening to tracks like Annihilation and Enough Is Never Good Enough, which could have been carved from a template supplied by Elbow, my initial suspicions of glum rock fellow travellers seemed to be confirmed. What I wasn't expecting was the upbeat 'Scars' a song seemingly sculpted from the same clay that The Human League used to create 'Dare'. 
