Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Good News for People Who Love Bad News, Johnny Marr, Modest Mouse, No One's First and You're Next, The Moon & Antarctica, The Smiths, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Modest Mouse is a featured artist in our latest issue
Known for their loaded lyrics and lengthy album titles, Modest Mouse have been at the forefront of the indie-rock movement since their 1996 debut, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. Since then, the band has gradually progressed from tastefully engineered lo-fi to a more expensive, involved sound without losing their uniquely chaotic vocals, symphonic instrumentation and violently beautiful stage presence. Following the August 4 release of their latest EP, No One’s First and You’re Next, 20 Watts decided to take a look back at Modest Mouse’s impressive discography. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: pop rock, Syracuse, White Picket Fence
20 Watts’ Isabel Alcantara spent an evening with Syracuse’s best pop-rockers, traipsing around campus and attempting to corral them as they yelled at the Shack-a-Thon-ers on the quad. She put some of her best shots to music for this 20 Watts slideshow.
– Isabel Alcantara
Check our awesome 20 Watts exclusive photos and interview with Caution Children, one of the hottest bands coming out of Ithaca today. They played our launch show and now they’re playing on your screen! Photos by Max Jackson and interview by Caitlin Dewey.
– Interview by Caitlin Dewey
– Photos by Max Jackson
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Billboard, Cat Power, Erica Scarano, Jenny Lewis, Kanye West, Neko Case, Taylor Swift, Thao Nguyen, The Avett Brothers
Taylor Swift shares a sound with plenty of indie artists out there
Taylor Swift may not have Kanye West’s approval, but the girl makes music people like. Swift was the first country artist to win an MTV Video Music Award, and her album Fearless has been wildly successful on the Billboard charts since its release last November. And, oh yeah, she’s just 19 years old — an age when most kids can barely do their own laundry, let alone front their own tour.
Despite her success, Swift seems to have managed to keep acting like a regular girl. In her video “Thug Story (w/ T-Pain)” she jokes about her love for her mom and the joys of baking cookies. On her Twitter page, she regularly discusses argyle socks, hanging with her friends and walking through Radio City Music Hall.
Basically if you like Taylor Swift, you’re probably drawn to her love-struck country ballads and cute-and-wholesome girl-next-door image. The only thing she’s missing is indie cred, which is why 20 Watts has compiled this list of similar indie artists — you’ll likely love them, too. (more…)
Filed under: Emerging Artists, Features, Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Clocks and Calendars, Sammy Awards, Square Studio, Syracuse New Times, White Picket Fence
White Picket Fence are a young band living life and doing what they do best
Take a minute and picture Varsity Pizza on a weeknight. The radio hums in the background. An employee behind the counter systematically wipes down pans. A couple sits quietly in the corner while cooks bustle around the kitchen, shouting light-hearted insults as they work.
And when the Camillus-based band White Picket Fence enter the room, everything somehow becomes brighter, warmer and more pleasant. Such is the charm of the gang of recent high school grads, who promptly pull together their shared pizza order, sit down together like a family and begin cheerfully recounting the story of how they became local legends.
For the women of the band, at least, that story goes back more than 10 years. Frontwoman Elise Miklich has been a vocalist since primary school, close with the band’s guitarist Kelly Clancy since the girls were in second grade. Drummer Garrett Koloski, bassist Ryan Chapman and guitarist Logan Messina joined the girls after they graduated from high school last June – a month that also saw WPF play their first show and release their debut album, Clocks and Calendars. They won a “Best Pop” nod at the Syracuse New Times’ Sammy Awards not long after. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Erica Scarano, Jenny Lewis, Kanye West, Neko Case, Taylor Swift, Thao Nguyen, The Avett Brothers
Taylor Swift may not have Kanye West’s approval, but the girl makes music people like. The only thing she’s missing is indie cred, which is why 20 Watts has compiled this list of similar indie artists you’ll likely love.
Mary Cappabianca dishes the dirt on Neko Case, Jenny Lewis and others in this 20 Watts podcast. Read her print story here.
– Mary Cappabianca and Irina Dvalidze
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: The Temper Trap, The xx, Keys N Krates, Xylos, Royal Bangs
The Temper Trap are one of 20 Watts' top five bands to watch this month.
The Temper Trap first received notice on Australian radio late last year with their shimmering first single “Sweet Disposition.” Since then, the song has soundtracked the “500 Days of Summer” trailer — and the band has begun to turn heads overseas.
Their debut album Conditions, produced by Arctic Monkey’s Jim Abiss, boasts clean, arena-ready strumming beneath frontman Dougy Mandagi’s funky high-tenor. Mandagi’s vocals are actually an integral part of The Temper Trap’s charm — one could even say that they have a psychedelic quirkiness reminiscent of MGMT. Unlike their more famous American brethren, however, the Temper Trap balance strains of funk and psychedelia with the familiar comforts of toothless indie rock.
It’s only a matter of time before that combination forces U.S. audiences to fall in love.
– Jen Littman
