Explosions in the Sky

I was looking back through my old posts, and I can't find anything on this band out of Texas.  They are a bit more well-known than the typical band I comment on.  I've known about them for several years; however, at a recent yurt trip for a friend's bachelor party, one of the other groomsmen was playing their most recent album on some speakers he brought on the trip, and it was extremely good.  Although the band has been around since 1999, this album "The Wilderness" was evidently their first one in five years.  The music is exclusively instrumental, and highly orchestral, with a large variety of instruments and sounds.  Overall it's sort of "epic" in the original sense of the word.  Much of it sounds like a landscape.  There are quite a few other bands who have a similar vision and sound (such as Mogwai and This Will Destroy You), but Explosions in the Sky is probably the best-known.  If you haven't listened to them, do it.

Weaver at the Loom

This is an electropop group out of Minneapolis.  They remind me of a substantially more upbeat, rocky version of Beach House (somewhat more like Coldplay in that regard).  The lead singer has an extremely tuneful voice, which works well with the backing instruments.  The end result is quite a pleasure to listen to if you like alternative rock and electropop.  They have an EP entitled "Lap Dog" (which I originally thought was the name of the band, but it's already taken by another band) available for download on noisetrade; evidently they also have two full length albums which I have not yet listen to.

Tow'rs

I thought I had already done a blog post on these guys, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere.  They are sort of an indie-hipster folk group out of Flagstaff with a lot of soul / blues influences.  They sound a bit like a Christian version of the Head & the Heart.  The dude has a really deep and gruff sounding voice, and it works really well with the girl's voice.  The backing instrumentation is pretty extensive, with lots of guitar and various types of percussion as well as a lot of strings.  I initially heard of the group when they put up one of their EPs up on noisetrade, but was just reminded of them today as they posted their recent full-length album "Grey Fidelity" for free download.  It's phenomenal.  The rhythms and guitar work are exceptionally well done.  I think this is one of the best up-and-coming indie folk bands I've heard of.