TRACKING: Gems - "All I Ever"

SOUNDS LIKE: A mixture of Beach House, Mazzy Star, and The xx.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Because you don’t want to be surprised to find out that there was something really great hiding right under your nose.

In preparation for SXSW Music 2013, I listened to more than 200 tracks from showcasing artists, and this is one of the few that really stuck. Imagine my surprise when I found out that GEMS live basically in my backyard.

The DC-based duo of Clifford John Usher and Lindsay Pitts used to make bossa nova-tinged ambient folk rock as Birdlips, but their new project has such a different sound that it merited a different name. And the new moniker is appropriate because when you discover their music you’ll feel like you have found a gem.

"All I Ever” can be summed up in a few words: pretty, dream pop, love. But it’s more than that. There is a longing in the song that will haunt you, so don’t be surprised if you can’t get the song out of your head or if you wind up singing it repeatedly.

GEMS recently opened for fellow up-and-comers Ex-Cops, and played several shows at SXSW. They have a show tonight at the Gibson Guitar Showroom. Don’t miss it.

Tracking: Shark Week - "If You Want Me To Stay (For A While)

Sounds Like: James Brown crooning over a 60’s garage rock revival group
Why You Should Care: Shark Week is gaining notoriety as they are set to play this year’s Sweetlife Festival

 Here is a band that suits their name well. Guitar noodling, 60’s surf vibes contrasting a 90’s fuzzy bass line, and a soulful croon from singer Ryan Mitchell all seem to make up the band Shark Week. The DC native band has been steadily gaining some attention since their formation in 2011. “If You Want Me To Stay (For A While)” sounds like the unapologetic, almost sarcastic memoirs of a road-worn loner and Mitchell plays this part well.

Garage rock is doing this band a disservice by pigeonholing them into one set genre. With that being said, Shark Week’s EP show promise of a band who can adapt themselves to multiple sounds due to the energy they put out. Shark Week is gaining buzz and this is thanks to the soulful force they put behind each track.

TRACKING: Paint Branch - "Brighton Beach"

SOUNDS LIKE: 80's power pop, a lost track from the 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' Soundtrack
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:  Ominous and compelling musical atmosphere

“Brighton Beach” opens the debut album, “I Wanna Live” from former Q and Not U band mates John Davis and Chris Richards, coming together from a five year break as Paint Branch.

With a murky mix of guitar and vocals, “Brighton Beach” creates an overcast winter’s day with a foreboding sense of reaching for something that gets more distant with every grasping attempt to bring it back. Over the course of the song, a couple tries to find common ground in old familiar places but finds that the places can’t help them recapture what has passed.

By the time the song is over, the question is no longer, “Is anybody out there but you and me?” but “Is anybody out there?”  The soaring “wooo”s at the end feel like a final hymn as the relationship is laid to rest.

Despite its gloom, what makes this song compelling and beautiful are the vocal harmonies between Davis and Richards, conveying no bitterness, only loss and regret, and the jangling guitar that speaks when the singers are silent.

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