So, there's this tracking/analytics website called Next Big Sound, and they offer a service for bands where they track every time a band is mentioned/linked to/shared/etc on the web and translate it into statistics so that the band can analyze where their internet presence is working and where it isn't.
Prefix reported earlier this week on the bands that experienced the biggest boom in popularity following this year's SXSW Festival, and the results are pretty interesting. Epic sad-sacks Antlers picked up a bunch of fans, which is nice, since their 2009 album Hospice went criminally unappreciated despite heaps of critical acclaim. Wu-Tang Clan member GZA also picked up a wad of fans, which is kind of weird, but so did a pretty great band called Phantogram, whose myspace is here, in case you'd care to take a listen.
Experiencing the biggest post-SXSW buzz, however, was a band by the name of Fang Island. The band's myspace claims they sound like "everyone high-fiving everyone," and I gotta say, it's pretty on the money. On their debut, self-titled album, the band stomps around energetically for half an hour, usually with the aid of sky-reaching group vocals and jerky, uptempo rhythms. Fang Island is fuzzed out, but they aren't hiding behind their production value - I think the sound quality here is really all the band could afford at the time. Some of the album comes across as just a little novel, but by and large, the band's energy and interlocking guitars are enough to entertain.
Fang Island are worth keeping an eye on, but they're nothing spectacular as of yet. Kudos to the hype machine this time around for showing a little restraint - I'm digging the band, but too much Fang Island would be overwhelming.
...Oh, you'd like to hear a song, would you? I'll do you one better:
