There’s a fresh start within every end. And since 2013 left us for good, NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION embraces 2014 in all of his potential goodness. And a new year also provides tons of new music from beloved favorites and talented newcomers. And since artists like MY BLOODY VALENTINE, BOWIE or BEYONCÉ showed us last year that the element of surprise marks a strong new promotional strategy we can’t be sure about anything. Who knows – there might be even be another DAFT PUNK album …
Over the course of the next twelve months we can only be sure of one thing – to be amazed by beautiful new music. And since it is impossible to give a complete overview at the beginning of the year we’d like to highlight five newcomers and five well-known acts we’d love to welcome over the next months.
Five newcomers
The good thing about newcomers is that you can’t really forsee the future. How many great newcomers of 2013 weren’t on our radar twelve months ago? How many lovely records weren’t already made by then? The amount of surprises is quite high within this category. Here are five potential newcomers who you should not miss.
SAY LOU LOU. We’d already expected the debut longplayer by these lovely Swedish sisters in 2013, following their dreamy 2012 tune Maybe You. But it looks like the duo wants to release the best possible outcome. Following the latest singles Julian and Better In The Dark we really can’t wait to this shiny piece of pop. One year ago they promised us dream pop and beyond – well, we’re still waiting.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE. Definitely an artist who will break-through this year. With Cornerstone and I Won’t Complain, the English singer songwriter, musician, composer, interpreter and poet who is of both West African and Chinese descent and is currently living in France, already blew away the blogosphere in 2013. With his a raw, soulful voice, he gets a lot of attention and has everything that is needed to make it big in 2014.
LULU JAMES. With her 21st century soul music that not only is of high brilliance and elegance, but also amazingly dance floor compatible, the British singer is one you can expect a lot from during the year 2014. NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION deeply fell in love with this lady and is highly convinced that her songs can be heard pretty much everywhere soon.
KORALLREVEN. The 2011 released debut longplayer by Swedish dream wave duo KORALLREVEN was probably one of the most underrated albums of the past years. Being heavily influenced by the tropical sounds of Samoa and the Pacific it mixed exotic elements with Balearic beats. Last year, these guys dropped the new single Try Anything Once and we can’t wait to book another ticket to the sun with the duo’s sophomore longplayer.
SOHN. Mysterious Austrian/English artist SOHN has already been an important element of buzz in the blogosphere of the past months. Previous singles Bloodflows and Lessons mixed dreamy electronica with soulful r’n’b vibes. It’s the sound that works best at the moment and SOHN marks an expert in creating it. His debut album comes this spring, hopefully following these big footsteps.
Five comebacks
There’s nothing better than the return of old friends. Last year already saw the return of a few artists we didn’t really expect. Same might go for 2014. There are the obvious big players like METALLICA, U2 or COLDPLAY who will return after a certain hiatus. But there are plenty of others who NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION loves to have back in the next months.
INTERPOL. The New York post-punk heroes recently tweeted that the recording of their fifth album is done. The new INTERPOL record will be a tough one. It follows a four-year-long hiatus of the band and it’s the first material without influential bassist Carlos Dengler who left his colleagues shortly after the making of their most recent album in 2010. Where is this band heading? Light or dark? Can the new material stick of to their previous hits? The first half of 2014 will hopefully answer that.
LOGH. Back in 2007 they released their latest album North, which – at least for fans of melancholic music – still might be one of the best albums ever written and recorded. Since 2009 it was been silent. In early 2013 it was reported that the band from Sweden started working on a new album which will be released in 2014. The expectations are high and the anticipation even higher. One of the comebacks of the year!
MEW. They are in the studio for quite some time now and it looks like these Danes are true perfectionists. It’s been five years since there last studio output and MEW really kept us busy with first teasers and their very own app. Well, nothing against a clever viral media strategy but we would rather hear new music by these guys. And we surely will within the next months.
TIGER LOU. Nothing is planned yet as bandleader Rasmus Kellerman recently told us in an exclusive interview. After their first shows in four years it looks like the Swedish band enjoys sharing one stage in the same way as they did years ago. We even witnessed new material on the indie-rockers recent Stockholm show. They might definitely return live within the next months and maybe also with a new EP or even the follow-up longplayer to 2008’s A Partial Print. Either way – TIGER LOU are always welcome.
TOOL. Yes, we’re quite aware that TOOL might provide the biggest question mark of all the upcoming album releases. Nobody seems to know for sure in which state the follow-up to 2006’s 10.000 Days is. Danny Carey said it would make progress, Maynard James Keenan was more skeptical. But it currently really looks better than before that the fifth studio-album from these living legends will happen this year and not in the next one. Even Mr. Keenan sounded optimistic in recent interviews. Doesn’t that look hopeful?