I originally found out about M83 through TheSixtyOne. I confess, I’ve been spending more time on this site then on the 10 or so other music blogs that I regularly browse, but I’ll probably get back to most of these blogs in the next week or two.

M83 is one of those bands that do particularly well in the independent music discovery engines. They cross a variety of styles, and appeal to music fans of most of these styles, including indie rock, electro, new wave, and experimental. They remind me of the band Mew quite a big, especially their song The Zookeeper’s Boy.

Happy, brisk, light, effortless – The Coral’s In the Morning drops like fresh snow on a sunny powder day in Tahoe. Grab a cup of Joe, put this track on, then get ready to get your ski on.

Or, if this song isn’t your style, crank a little Black Tide Shockwave. That should get the juices flowing.

Back to The Coral, they have released five albums to date, and were formed in 1996 near Liverpool. They definitely have the psychedelic pop thing going on.

School of Seven Balls, er Bells, is an experimental indie pop band, comprised of twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. They drop all kind of vocal harmonies, while instrumentalist Benjamin Curtis creates some truly unique noise pop backgrounds.

They’re named after the possibly-mythical South American pickpocket training academy. Not sure what each bell refers to. If anyone knows, feel free to enlighten us in the comments below.

Random thought – I bet if we turned off the lights, we’d be like ‘where’d they go?!?’

A light happy tune that will keep you in a good mood. Try following this jam up with Royksopp – What Else Is There, a song cast in a similar mold.

Lykke Li was born Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson in Sweden, but apparently her full name was too hard to remember, so she shortened it to create her stage name.

Her original sound would make you think that she’s been around a while, but she’s only 22.

Props.

Fleet Foxes are another indie pop band from Seattle. Though I can’t shake the comparisons to Band of Horses, I will say that I like this jam more than any of the Band of Horses tunes.

ThreeImaginaryGirls puts it best:

” Their delightful, pop-styled songs sounded tight but not rigid and got the crowd swaying along straightaway. With bell-toned guitars, bright keyboards, and a dash of shimmer round the edges, Fleet Foxes craft deliciously melody-driven songs that are intensely charming. ”

I’d say that this song is charming slash powerful, and not the other way around.

Great Lo Fi, indie rock band. This song sounds like a cross between Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Band of Horses.

Pinback formed in 1998 in San Diego, and have had a revolving door of members including all of the following: Terrin Durfey, Eric Hoversten, Ryan Bromley, Cameron Jones, Kenseth Thideau, Gabriel Voiles, MC, Dmitri Dziensuwski.

Even before Justice decides to remix some of their tracks, MGMT (pronounced ‘The Management’) put out some super catchy indie rock tunes.

Time to Pretend is my favorite, followed closely by Kids and Electric Feel.

Frightened Rabbit is a Scottish indie rock band. Formed in 2004 by brothers Scott and Grant Hutchison. They then recruited members Billy Kennedy and Andy Monaghan in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

Here’s what Scott Hutchison has to say about the changes in the band’s lineup, which also speaks to the band’s style and way of doing things. (from Wikipedia)

” the initial line-up in Frightened Rabbit was just myself. I had really only been messing with my 4 track for about 6 months before I started playing some shows on my own. Some of the songs still didn’t have words and I was mostly just mumbling nonsense half the time. Grant joined a year later, making the outfit much noisier. Billy came along about 6 months after this and actually made it a bit less noisy. He’s very calming like that is Billy. Andy has been in the band since January, and adds all the extra details we were missing before. Still not sure if we’re finished gathering members. ”

Song found via The World Forgot

Giving multiple members of Band of Horses a run for their money for the award for ‘ biggest beard on an indie rocker,’ The Black Keys are an indie rock band from Akron, Ohio. They released three albums between 2002 and 2004, and they released a fourth album in 2006 under nonesuch records.

They can certainly crank out recordings.

In 2007 they were working on an album with producer Danger Mouse and singer Ike Turner. That project was then put on hold indefinitely with the death of Ike Turner in December 07.

Are their any other bands from Akron, Ohio? You bet – Devo.

Similar Jams to The Black Keys – Psychotic Girl

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Ain’t No Easy Way
King of Leon – Taper Jean Girl

I’m getting flashbacks to the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime.

Maximo Park discovered their gem of a singer when he was performing Stevie Wonder’s Superstition at a Karaoke bar. Well, actually, it was Maximo Park’s drummer’s girlfriend who discovered him at the Karaoke bar, but lets not split hairs here.

Formed in 2000 in the UK county of Tynn and Wear (Northeast England) , Maximo Park start generating a following once singer Paul Smith joined the band.

And we all now know how that happened..

Of the band’s many career highlights, none probably surpasses the tribute to them on a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. For about a month, Newcastle circulated these bottles to local bars, clubs, and venues. The label on each bottle said Maximo Brown Ale.

Unfortunately, Newcastle didn’t also name a beer after them, though with more songs like this, I’m not ruling anything out for the future.

Songs similar to Maximo Park – Acrobat

David Byrne and Brian Eno – Strange Overtones
Bloc Party – On