14 Bands to Watch in 2014: #1 Clearly Beloved
For the past few years I have shared my “top local albums” with NadaMucho.com as part of their comprehensive year-end coverage. Albums are so 2003 though, right? Does anyone care anymore?
For me, it’s always about live music, so this year I decided to share my picks for the local acts who put on the best live performances. These are bands you should get your fanny out to see in 2014.
The first is Clearly Beloved. From a solid rhythm section to a pair of violin-wielding sirens to multiple visual elements (including puppets!), this band is a real treat to see live, but the most exciting part is waiting for the guitar player to burst into a prog/metal solo. These always surprise me at first but end up fitting strangely well within the band’s songs, which sometimes also feature marimbas, hand bells, toy piano, viola and glockenspiel.
Don’t let their propensity for props and kitschy instrumentation fool you, though. Clearly Beloved is not a band that relies on showmanship or cheap-yet-entertaining fanfare: they have the musical chops to back it up. So get out and see them in 2014 or you will you will “clearly” be missing out. (See what I did there?)
In the meantime, check out this video and the Q&A we did with Jennifer last year.
Check out the other bands on Tim’s list of “14 to Watch in 2014” at:
- Crooked Smile
- Death By Stars
- Elbow Coulee
- The Spider Ferns
- Summer Babes
- Ever So Android
- Wildlife Indoors
- Radio Raheem
- Poverty Bay
- Threefold Seahorse
- Infinite Flux
- Mrs. Howl
- Suction