Alaska

After two quite massive lists of Helsinki and London, I wanted to plunge into something a lot smaller. Before embarking on this blog project, I had only ever heard of one Alaskan artist, but I was delightedly surprised to find a bunch of great beginning artists from this American state with a population of just under 750,000. As one could easily assume, Alaska has some great bearded folk artists in their lumberjack outfits. However, there's much more than that. There are some really great and modern-sounding indie bands and artists as well. It seems that Anchorage is one of those cities that have given birth to artistic environment and innovative new music. The playlist is just over one hour long, so it's a good choice for listening, when you don't have too much time on your hands. There are also a couple of bands that are not on Spotify, which I present first. Here's the link to the playlist: Alaska, US


The Sweeteners
This rough garage rock band uses electric guitars with buzzing overdrives, but the songs have some catchy pop-melodies. The sound could be compared to bands such as The White Stripes and The Black Keys, but they maybe need that some original element to make their music as interesting. I'll be interested to see where this band's direction is going.

Pretty Birds That Kill
This band is really what you might call alternative. They have fairly lo-fi sounds of buzzing guitars and psychedelic organs. The vocals are sung through some sort of weird effect. The songs are interesting to begin with, but I would hope a bit more hooks.

SJ Stephens
This lo-fi artist has only made few recordings in her basement featuring just her guitar and vocals. The songs are promising, so if she decides to release an album in the near future, I, for one, will be interested.


And now for the actual playlist:

Portugal. The Man
This stupidly named indie pop group, despite of their name, makes interesting and catchy songs with cool sounds and innovative styles. This was the only Alaskan artist I knew before embarking on this list, so it might just be one of the most well-known of these Alaskan artists.

The Wagner Logic
The Wagner Logic is a great indie rock band with melodic songs using innovative guitar riffs and unpredictable vocal harmonies. The sound is appropriately lo-fi, but still the songs sound ready the way they are. I would love to see this band live.

Young Fangs
This band sounds a lot like the mid 00's indie. Their sounds are somewhat similar to The Flaming Lips' albums in the early 2000's, but with a bit more buzzing guitars and rock n' roll. I wouldn't be surprised to find this band in one of the hipster festivals in Europe soon.

Historian
This band has one of the most original sounds on this list. The songs are menacing in an interesting kind of way and the vocals are really unique with echoey low deep booms. The guitars and rhythm structures have gotten inspiration from post-rock bands.

Seth Boyer
Seth Boyer was one of my most pleasant new finds from Alaska. His vocals bare strong resemblance to Nick Drake and the laid back songs have some similarities as well, although the sounds are not as acoustic and the guitar-work is not as brilliant. The sounds remind me more of bands such as Mazzy Star.

Animal Eyes
Animal Eyes plays skilful indie pop-rock. The songs have great melodic structures and the vocals are appropriately unique. Above the sound, soar the clean electric guitars. Animal Eyes already has a brilliant sound, now what they need to accomplish is to make more memorable tunes and hooks.

Marian Call
This singer-songwriter has striking resemblance to Regina Spektor. The catchy pop-melodies and beautiful vocals are the essence of this great artist. Some less-customary instruments, such as clarinet and different clanking percussions are used on the album.

Jewel
Jewel is apparently fairly well-known at least in the US. She has received four Grammies and sold millions of albums worldwide. Still, I had never heard of her before I started making this blog post. Her voice is really professional. Some of the songs are excellent, although a consistent brilliance is absent.

Meg Mackey
This singer-songwriter folk musician makes absolutely beautiful music. Her voice is delicate and masterful. The guitar-playing is not anything special, but it gets the job done. At parts it sounds like she's singing in your own living room, because the production gives room for authenticity.

The Builders & the Butchers
This band mixes many different styles and genres. Their music has influences at least from country, blues and folk traditions. The indie-style vocals give it's own spice to this mix and I mean that only in a good way. this sounds like it could be quite brilliant live.

Matt Hooper
Matt Hooper is a masterful guitar-player and his soft voice compliments his easy-going folk songs perfectly. There's something laid-back in his music, which makes you forget the rush of the world. Subtle use of strings is done brilliantly.

Feeding Frenzy
This is one of the best bands on this list. Their best songs are not on Spotify, however, so I suggest you check out their bandcamp page as well. Their beautiful and authentic sounding folk will surely break many hearts around the world as long as it will be heard. Absolutely brilliant stuff!

Jonathan J. Bower
This man represents one of my all time favourite musical genre: melancholic singer-songwriter folk with beautiful melodies and pop-elements. Bower's sound is finely tuned to perfection of what it is still sounding authentic and acoustic.

Michael Howard
Michael Howard is a great folk musician, who really knows how to play guitar. his voice is also absolutely brilliant. The high notes soar beautifully with a little bit of echo. This music really doesn't need any other instruments in addition to guitar and vocals.

Hobo Jim
Country legend Hobo Jim makes quite traditional country western songs, but he does that really well. The vocals and melodies are really beautiful and guitars and banjos are played excellently. I didn't use to understand country music when I was younger, but now this kind of sound really appeals to me.