Maybe, Just Mae be...

The next great band I would like to bring attention to is Mae. They formed around 2001 and released their first album, Destination: Beautiful, in 2003 on Tooth and Nail Records. 2005 saw the release of their second album, The Everglow, which garnered much acclaim from many reviewers. In 2007, Mae signed to Capitol records and released their third album, Singularity. Currently the band only has three of its original members, with a touring bassist and keyboard player.
"The Everglow" is one of my favorite albums and I think it would be great for anybody to pick-up without even having heard the band before. Mae's music has this uplifting quality to it, almost every song of theirs I listen to (especially on "The Everglow") makes me feel good, like I can take on the world. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it is something I don't always get with a lot of other bands. "The Everglow" plays like a story book (it is even suggested that you read the CD pamphlet along with the songs, and it actually is kind of cool) and each song really is like its own tale. I think I am most impressed with the guitar work on this album. Everything is just layered so nicely and each song just has a great cohesive quality.
I had the chance to catch these guys in concert last spring, and honestly I still say it was the best show I have ever seen. It was really cool too, because my friends and I just happened to stumble into a record store near the venue and Mae happened to be playing an in store acoustic set. So it was like we got to see two separate concerts that night, it was pretty sweet! Once we were in the club, however, the real magic began. Mae opened with an instrumental song called "Futuro" (I highly recommend purchasing it off iTunes, or just buying the whole B-sides album that it is on). While they were playing that song, it was like this warmth and joy just fell over the crowd. Again, Mae's music just always seems to have this great uplifting quality to it. The rest of the night was just killer, every song they played was executed beautifully and the depth that they put into their performance was truly a sight to see.
One thing that has made me a little angry is the fact that some fans seem to be giving Mae a hard time about their most recent album, "Singularity". It is certainly different than "The Everglow", more guitar heavy and lacks a little of that "brightness" that "The Everglow" presented. Despite these things, I still think "Singularity" is a good album and I feel that some fans basically just want bands to write the same album over and over again. Bands need to grow and change, even if that means the next album won't sound like the last.
Mae is a band that everyone should check out, and I think their style is one that is easily adaptable to anyone's musical taste. But like I always say, don't just take my word for it (that means go check them out for yourself).

Noteworthy songs:
"Embers and Envelopes"
"Tisbury Lane"
"Sun"
"Suspension"
"Painless"
"This is the Countdown"
"Brink of Disaster"
"Rocket"
"Just Let Go"

Mae:
Dave Elkins, vocals and guitar
Zach Gehring, guitar
Jacob Marshall, drums

Albums:
"Destination: Beautiful" 2003
"Destination: B-sides" 2004
"The Everglow" 2005
"Singularity" 2007

A brief look at: Emery

Another one of my favorite bands is Emery. These guys have been around since about 2001, releasing their first album, "The Weak's End", in 2003. Emery has been one of the most recognizable bands on Tooth and Nail records and have also been noted as one of the hardest working bands today. They released their second album, "The Question", in 2005, which garnered much acclaim among the indie scene. "The Question" has been one of the most interesting and defining albums I have ever listened to. The album is balanced very nicely, so you're not listening to a ton of songs that sound similar in a row. I still have yet to find an album that I personally feel stands up to some of the standards that Emery pulled off with "The Question".
Emery has a real knack for incorporating diversity in their songs. They can be screaming, loud, and in your face the one minute, and then melodic and ambient the next. A great example of this comes from their latest album released in 2007, "I'm Only A Man". The song I am referring to is "Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus". This song seamlessly goes from rock to pop, then rock again, then back to pop one more time before slamming you at the end with a short blast of screamo. Although I feel that "I'm Only A Man" is Emery's best full-length yet, it was put down by a lot of people because it was not quite as "loud" as their previous efforts. Basically all I mean by that is that there was less screaming on the album, which seemed to bum some people.
Recently, Emery put out an EP called "When Broken Hearts Prevail". I love it, and many older fans love it because the band seemed to pull from their older sound for the songs on the EP. All this means is that their was a little more screaming in these songs, but like I said, Emery is great at keeping things balanced. One cool thing Emery does on this EP is that they have two songs that are in a way essentially the same as far as chord proggression, etc. However, each version has a different set of lyrics as well as a different sound dynamically. One is fast and louder, the other is softer and more chilled.
Some notebly cool things about Emery include the fact that the band has essentially two lead vocalists, Toby and Devin. When Toby is up front, Devin does backing vocals and plays bass. Then when Devin is singing lead, Toby takes care of the bass and backing vocals. Again, this really adds to the diversity of their songs. Another nice thing about Emery is their lyrics. While they do often sing about bad relationships and that sort of thing, the never sound corny or cliched, which is nice because we have enough cheesey "girl I need you" break-up songs.
As with any other band that I have, or will talk about, ultimately you should just check them out for yourself to see if they sound like something you would like blasting through your speakers. Emery is certainly a great choice in my book.

Emery is:
Toby Morrell, vocals and bass
Devin Shelton, vocals and bass
Josh Head, keyboards, screaming, and additional percussion
Matt Carter, guitar
Dave Powell, drums

albums:
"The Weak's End" 2003
"The Question" 2005
"I'm Only A Man" 2007
"When Broken Hearts Prevail EP" 2008