Hot Damn Jammz 60: I Know, Right?

Sorry we missed you last week, gang. Wish we could say we were doing something amazing like hiking the Swiss Alps or sitting with Mick Jagger at the World Cup but mostly we just kinda forgot about the Jammz,  if you can believe that. That's right...we blinked. Deal with it! This week we're back to our old tricks and we searched far and wide to find some pretty great stuff. Like Aias over there to the left. They get top billing because they are awesome, they are from Spain, and Spain is going to win the World Cup!

Aias
This girl pop trio from Barcelona does nothing you haven't heard before. From Dolly Mixture to the Vivian Girls, there's been a long line of bands combining noisy guitars with girl group vocal harmonies and coming up with pop gold. These girls do add a touch of Motown to their sound though, which is nice. Single on Captured Tracks, of course!

Dream Diary
We heard a rumor that some record pressing plant was going to start doing flexi discs again. If it's true, Dream Diary should put all their songs out on the format. Just like Brighter, Another Sunny Day, and Brian should have! (Does anyone besides me remember Brian? It's about time for a revival!)

Shimmering Stars
Though these kids from BC have adopted the popular reverb-ed out sound of the day, they draw their influences from the squeaky clean pop music of the late-50s/early 60s. Sounds like they raided their grandparents' record collections, found plenty of Everlys, Ricky Nelson and Del Shannon, then stole all the best bits.

Vermillion Sands
This band from Italy mixes rockabilly, garage rock and folk rock into a bewitching whirl of sound and vocalist Anna has one of those voices that kind of knocks you sideways when you first hear it. Check them out playing a couple tracks:


The Young Scamels
A band's reason for forming doesn't get much artier than a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, but the Young Scamels channel that theatrical background into gorgeous post-rock-pop that lies somewhere between the Dirty Three, Rachel's and His Name is Alive.

Reporter
With Nite Jewel, Soft Metals and this band, Portland, OR is shaping up as the capitol of hard-edged but dreamy dance floor explorers. "Total Fascination" finds Reporter at the peak of its powers.

Agent Ribbons
Playing "Victorian Punk," this Austin trio could be Mama Cass' goth-loli granddaughters, the Dresden Dolls' mellower little sisters or the Ditty Bops' bad girl best friends.

Oberhofer
Oberhofer's nicely shambolic songs have garnered plenty of blog buzz, but the barely tamed melodies of tracks like "Dead Girls Dance" show why the band stands out from the pack.

Isa GT
Now that Diplo has given up on MIA for good it seems, he might want to check out the Colombian singer/DJ/producer Isa GT, who makes weird jams with a list of influences right out of the Mad Decent rulebook. Crookers (no slouches at hooking up with talented artists themselves) remixed her track Pela'O - watch it below....