Local Bands to Watch

Music often acts as the universal connector, the one thing everyone everywhere loves. So for a small town like ours, local musicians are often in the center of progression. Yeah, 2014 is going to be a great year for local music, and a lot of it is going to be thanks to the following artists:

As In We

We talk about this band kind of a lot, but it makes perfect sense. They’re all longtime locals who have shied away from convention to bring a blend of post-rock that is altogether mathy and mind-boggling yet accessible and catchy. The band started as a three-piece, but the addition of guitarist Eliza Lutz—who cut her teeth with folky-punk project Prolly—brings so much dimension and opportunity for multi-layered genius rock that As In We has never been better. Their first major release, As Above, So Below, has been a celebrated testament to how much everybody likes it when rock get complicated and lyrics get out of the way.

Luke Carr’s Storming the Beaches with Logos in Hand

Yes, we’ve also talked about Luke Carr a lot, but the massively huge sci-fi opera elements produced by his massively huge roster of bandmates is just so cool, there’s no way we could leave it out. Storming the Beaches relates the tale of a dystopian future wherein industry has all but destroyed any semblance of natural life and the resultant strife of coming up in a world that has lost its way. Carr’s first solo release, Pigrow was a great lead-in to the real meat of the tale, and the upcoming album from his supergroup may just be the kind of thing that makes people proud to call Santa Fe home.

Almost a Lie

Twins David and Adam Malczewski are probably a little more punk rock than even they realize, but it’s in this wide-eyed innocence that they earn fans and friends with every show they play. Almost a Lie is less than a year old, but in that time the two-piece has almost unwittingly assembled an accidental homage to the killer pop-punk world of the ‘90s with a fair amount of White Stripes oomph and hardcore angst to round out the package. The boys are hard at work on a debut album but, until that time, make sure you get out to a live show so you can say you saw them way back when.

The Sticky

Sometimes it is better to feel music in your loins than to dissect it in your mind, but when a groovin’ funk band melds thrust-worthy hooks with some of the tightest instrumentation to come out of Santa Fe since…ever, you won’t have to choose. Led by the inimitable Peter Williams, The Sticky brings authentic funk to a sadly funkless town, and manages to have a whole lot of fun along the way. The Sticky get bonus points for its triumvirate of mega-babes rockin’ the bass and vocals, and that 2013 New Mexico Music Award on their shelf sure doesn’t hurt, either.

David Berkeley

Berkeley quietly moved to Santa Fe and subtly inserted himself within our minimal folk scene with such grace and talent that it’s almost surprising he hasn’t been here the whole time. And whether he’s playing solo of trading guitar licks alongside the likes of local masters like Ben Wright, Berkeley proves that a scene inundated with Americana and country can still learn a lot about acoustic-driven music and the power of passion.

Where? Pick up the weekly Santa Fe Reporter or view the events calendar at sfreporter.com