About a week ago I was browsing my favorite online celebrity gossip blog, Oh No They Didn't, when I saw a post about This Is Ivy League. The article said they've been compared to Simon & Garfunkel, Belle & Sebastian, and Peter Bjorn & John--thus my interest was piqued. I went to check out some of their music and, lo and behold, I'd already heard them before but just didn't know it!

(left: This is a picture of This Is Ivy League)

By Rachel Pesin in ME LIKEY | Link | Recommended (1)

Tags: This is Ivy League

I'm a fan of all types of music, but there will always be a special place in my heart for garage-punk (especially the stuff inspired by early 80's hardcore).

(left: My favorite new, undiscovered, unpolished punk rock group from Maine)

Last year I came across this young band on youtube called Otherkids. One of the main reasons I like them (besides the fact that they play a spot-on cover of the Beastie Boys' "Egg Raid On Mojo"), is that that they appear to be a group of high school kids playing vintage-style punk. Pretty amazing, considering most of their peers seem to be more interested in replicating their favorite emo band. Kudos to this group of youngsters for discovering and embracing a style of music that hasn't received a lot of mainstream attention this decade.

Since I haven't been able to locate a band bio from Otherkids, I don't know a whole lot about them. I do know they're from Scarborough, Maine, most of their songs clock in under four minutes, and their sparsely attended (yet enthusiastic) garage shows are very reminiscnet of the ones from my heyday.

By Jim Shearer in ME LIKEY | Link | Recommended (3)

Tags: Me Likey, Otherkids