Winston's Zen

ZENDAR SPECIAL: 10 HOT NEW ACTS FOR 2009

Welcome to what should be the fourth installment of the Zendar 2009. Already running a day behind schedule, it is in fact the third installment. Each Most day(s) this week Winston's Zen will introduce you to two more artists who are set to take over your airwaves in 2009. On Saturday Sunday we'll bring it all toghether into a fully downloadable playlist for your listening pleasure.

Here's todays yesterdays terrific twosome:

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SLOW CLUB

By their own description a “two-piece one man band” hailing from Sheffield, you can probably tell by the press picture that Slow Club are a million miles from the legions of Monkey aping bands calling the Steel City home. Quirky tales of young loves lost set against a gorgeous backdrop of girl-boy harmonies, a breezy acoustic guitar, the odd random object (empty bottle, back of a chair) and Charles and Rebecca’s infectiously sunny disposition, Little Man Tate, this ain’t. Signed to the serious cool Moshi-Moshi records, Slow Club spent 2008 showing off a seriously impressive live act at the UK hippest festivals (Latitude, Offset and Camden Crawl) after honing it on supporting slots with label mates Hot Club de Paris and Tilly and The Wall.

2008 was undeniably the year that mixing a little folk in with your rock became cool again and fans of enigmatic bitter-sweetness ala Noah & The Whale (who the duo supported in the summer) will already be lapping up Slow Club In 2009 everyone else should too. Just please, don’t start using the term Nu Folk. I beg you.


MP3: Slow Club - Me and You

Myspace | Last.fm
Buy CDs | Buy MP3s

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PASSION PIT

If, like everyone here on Zen Avenue, you spent a large part of 2008 dancing round your living room screaming “Control yourself. Take only what you neeeeeeeed from it” with MGMTs Oracular Spectacular blaring away in the background or promising Friendly Fires that you too are gonna live in Paris one day, then then get ready to fall in love with Passion Pit.

This Boston five piece, brainchild of Michael Angelakos unleashed the gargantuan Sleepyhead on a largely unsuspecting public last year. Simultaneously passive, aggressive, melancholic, and euphoric the track set bloggers fingers alight (Pitchfork placed it in their top forty videos of the year) and Passion Pit were rapidly escalated to the buzziest of 2008's buzzword bands. Their September EP Chunk of Change gracefully demonstrated an ability to shift tempos at will, and with a debut long player set for release in the spring and a full UK tour in February, you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll be hearing a lot more from Passion Pit in 2009.


MP3: Passion Pit - I've Got Your Number

MySpace | Last.fm
Buy CDs | Buy MP3s

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That's it for today,

Back tomorrow (I promise) with two more hot prospects to delight yout ears.
Winston