Man, do you know how hard it is to write an intro for this thing every year? There’s the nagging temptation to try making some grand statement about what’s going on here at a given time, to pat ourselves on the back and say we’re living during the greatest time in the city’s history, or, conversely, to take a stand against a scene that is dying or dead or at least pales in comparison to the scene that existed back when we were of just the right age to really care about that sort of thing.

The truth, though, is that very little ever actually changes. There is an ungodly amount of terrible shit being produced and supported around here every single day, just as there probably was in 1978 and in 1986 and in 2001. But buried beneath all of it, there’s the good stuff–the bands that embody the best of whatever trends are currently taking hold of the city, and the bands that make a splash by paying those trends no mind whatsoever. The hard part, of course, is summoning the energy to keep looking for them.

Let it serve as motivation, though, that whatever your opinion of Brooklyn’s music scene is at any particular moment, there are kids out there who feel like they’re doing their thing at the most important point in all of history, and that belief, along with the spirit and passion it inspires, tends to function as a catalyst for music that is very much worth digging for. This never changes. We do.

During the song “Wrapped in a Page” from Bedrooms, the debut EP by Brooklyn band Xylos, Eric Zeller sings the line “You said you found me aloof/But I never had claimed to be anything else.” And aside from it being a pretty good line in a song that sounds like it could have been a collaboration between Andrew Bird and the Shins, it’s also a bit strange. Zeller, and Xylos as a whole, really, comes off as anything but aloof. The songs on the EP (which they’re giving away for free on their website, xylosmusic.net) are marked by nothing if not an overwhelming feeling of warmth and comforting familiarity. The arrangements, which lean as heavily on electronics as they do on xylophone and lightly strummed acoustic guitars, are consistently surprising, and with the stellar boy-girl vocal melodies that pop up all over the place, the general vibe is relaxed — not boring, mind you, but relaxed, as in, “I’m going to listen to this while I sit outside on my porch this morning, the summer sun shining on my face as I close my eyes and realize that everything is just lovely.”

When did the band form? 
Fall of 2008.

Where was your first NYC show?
Our first show was at the Mercury Lounge, but we played a practice show the weekend before at Pete’s Candy Store.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show? Venues not necessary, but you’re encouraged to share.
One time the promoter offered us $300 in cash or $300 in ecstasy.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
Suckers, no doubt.  They’re freakin awesome.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful? 
Irritating trend: bad monitor mixes… when we can’t hear our harmonies, we’re totally screwed. Meaningful trend: shakers and tambourines.

Assuming you all work day jobs, how does it affect the band’s ability to tour and record?
Yeah, some of us do have day jobs, and yeah, it totally sucks.  We’ve been pretty much confined to New York, Philly and Baltimore up to now, so it’s given us the opportunity to focus more on rehearsing/writing than playing a ton of shows.  Probably a blessing in disguise.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
No, everyone knows that New York is the greatest city in the world, if not the universe.

Among the many things we love about the Beets is that the day after the photo shoot where we took all the photos you’re looking at right now, we saw images from a show the band had played the night before, and we realized they’d come to the shoot, three-quarters of them hours late (the other quarter totally prompt), wearing the same clothes they wore on stage just hours earlier. Another thing we’re way down with is that two of the band members are actually from here: Jackson Heights, Queens, to be exact, which is obviously a rarity. But more than anything, it’s their effortless take on 60s garage-rock, less of the poppy, Beatles-aping variety that’s typically associated with the era, but more of a rhythmic, plodding variety, with guitars that seem every bit as percussive as the drums, and snotty, joint vocals that are almost chanted more than sung. They just released their debut full-length: a 12-song 12” LP called The Beets Spit in the Face of People Who Don’t Want to be Cool, a title that works on about one million levels.

When did the band form?
The band formed on May 31st, 2008.

Where was your first NYC show?
May 31, 2008 at Goodbye Blue Monday.

Describe the process by which you typically book shows in the city.
We’ve never really booked our own shows, we’ve been very lucky to have a lot of great people come to us and ask us to be on their bills.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.

Air Waves and German Measles. We would love to be their sacrificial lambs.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful?
We aren’t really aware of music scenes, not hip to the jive. We just feel there are a handful of really good bands and they happen to be our friends. Is that a scene?

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
We wouldn’t dream of moving out of New York, what are you, retarded?  Two of The Beets have their parents here in good ol’ Jackson Heights, represent.

Oooh, an L Magazine “8 Bands You Need to Hear” first! The Albertans is the relatively new project from Joel Bravo, a name you might remember from the first ever installment of this feature, when one of our chosen few was Bravo Silva, a band in which Bravo featured prominently, alongside Henry Silva. They wrote impeccable pop songs that were smart, upbeat and slyly danceable, and we were in love. Then they broke up. We’re pleased to inform you, though, that we have all but forgotten about them, thanks to the new material Bravo’s churning out as part of the Albertans. They remain rooted in the ways of pop music, but nothing ever quite jumps out and bashes you over the head. The guitars are gentle and often sparse, melodically rich and warm in tone. They’re joined by drums, bass, two keyboards, various percussion, and, of course, Bravo’s delicate, quirky vocals (think Dan Bejar), which happily sit high in the mix. They’ve got a new record coming out in June, and if we were putting money on it, we’d say you’ll be hearing an awful lot about it.

When did the band form?
May 2008.

Where was your first NYC show?
Glasslands Gallery.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show?
The least was zero dollars, and the most was somewhere between $200 and $400.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
SyLVie and BruNO.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful?
I like that Williamsburg and Bushwick are continuing to thrive musically, in any and all ways.

Assuming you all work day jobs, how does it affect the band’s ability to tour and record?
We work in bursts, and try to tour as much as possible.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
Since we formed, we’ve spent much time in Vancouver. It’s a little harrowing, but 4/5 of the band is originally from Canada. And Canada is a very supportive place to play music.

Savoir Adore got its start as a two-piece consisting of singer-songwriter Deidre Muro on keyboards, and Paul Hammer on drums. As the tale goes, they took a trip to a small town in Upstate New York, conceiving a story along the way about an affair between a student and a professor. Holed up in Hammer’s parents’ house, the two would turn the story into the songs that made up their debut EP, The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and the Girl With the Animals in Her Throat. It’s a strange little twelve-song suite, with lyrics that border on mystical and a sense of musical adventurousness that takes them through fairly straightforward folk, cutesy electro-pop and some other stuff that sounds half like gypsy music and half like Joanna Newsom, less the harp and the totally kooky voice, if that makes any sense. They’ve since become a six-piece, and they’ve started to earn attention from the blogs for their live shows. They’ve got a full-length scheduled to be released on Cantora Records this year, but the first single, the instant-hit “We Talk Like Machines,” is available now.

Where was your first NYC show? 
The Pitt (underneath the Plum) about two years ago — it was a show put together by Cantora Records with Chief, Rumspringa and Rifle Recoil.  It was packed and we had major technical difficulties, but it went over pretty well. 

Describe the process by which you typically book shows in the city. Sending hard copies of music, links, hooking up with friends, etc.
We try to set things up with friends mostly, and also through existing contacts. We haven’t really contacted many venues cold.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show?
The most was $250 at Bowery Ballroom, the least I think was actually $0! We won’t mention names…

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
French Horn Rebellion. 

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful? 
All the very DIY venues in New York are great, and it’s encouraging to see so many people wanting to be involved in the live music scene by curating, promoting and hosting their own shows.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
No, we haven’t considered that.  We are all pretty solidly based in NYC.

It is exceedingly rare that we willingly play along with bands who insist on having grammatical and stylistic errors as part of their names, but we are making an official exception for pow wow! (lowercase letters and exclamation point very much theirs), a band full of Jersey kids who relocated to Greenpoint, despite it being absolutely impossible to get a pork roll, egg and cheese anywhere in the neighborhood. They play indie-pop that borrows from much more than the fuzzed-out 80s and early-90s fare that’s so popular all over the city these days, managing to avoid the “revivalist” tag with just enough hints of the Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers and Magnetic Fields. The melodies are non-stop, the vibe laid-back but somehow menacing and sunny at the same time, and the harmonies lift the whole thing to a new level. They’ve got three EPs coming out in the next few months via Brooklyn start-up Stunning Models on Display.

When did the band form?
2005.

Where was your first NYC show?

Club Europa, June 2006.

Describe the process by which you typically book shows in the city.
E-mail. Fake personas. Imitations. And intimidation.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show?
NOTHING. And the most wasn’t over 200 dollars.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must
name one, lest you seem selfish.
Our favorite NYC band right now is a tie between Los Basement and the Beets. Would willingly give up our spot for either of the two.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful?
I think Mikey said this best: white kids can’t dance. That’s irritating. The most inspiring? Well… that white kids STILL can’t dance.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
We’re currently being propositioned to move to Austin by a good number of our friends who are moving there by summer’s end. And by our “friends” we mean a good chunk of the rotating cast of characters who make up what we call “our own little traveling circus,” so that’s kinda sad to think about. The other obvious place we’d consider is L.A. You know, for the neon-colored sluts or whatever.

Thanks to Arcade Fire and a smattering of other bands that have bought into this idea that it’s perfectly acceptable to have every single one of your friends join you on stage, it’s no longer terribly rare to come across a band like Emanuel & the Fear, a mostly Brooklyn-based band boasting eleven members. What sets them apart, though, is that each and every one of them is there for a reason. You won’t find anyone standing around lightly tapping on a tambourine — they’re a massively ambitious rock and roll orchestra incorporating everything from violin and cello to trumpet and trombone, not to mention the standard guitar, bass, drums and piano that are represented as well. The songs are based in the pop tradition, with melody proudly taking center stage, but the tidy and immaculately composed classical arrangements and the subtle electronic flourishes give the whole thing a much grander feel that immediately drives home the point that these folks can’t be contained by small stages for very long, neither literally nor figuratively.

When did the band form?
In November of 2007.

Where was your first NYC show?
Our first show was in December of 2007 with just a few people at the Water Street Bar in DUMBO. First show with the full orchestra was January of 2008 at Fontana’s.

Describe the process by which you typically book shows in the city. Sending hard copies of music, links, hooking up with friends, etc.?
We try to stick with friends and friends of friends who book shows to organize evenings along with us. 

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
Either the Loom or Home Video.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating?
It seems at a lot of places, people come to see their band and just talk and don’t listen to opening bands, which makes me feel bad because it stinks to have to play over such a thing.

Assuming you all work day jobs, how does it affect the band’s ability to tour, record, etc.?
If you start anything from the ground up you’re going to have to hustle and make sacrifices.  I think one can either be defeated by this sort of discomfort or use it to help push them onward and out of said spot.  I like to think we’re among the latter.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city. If yes, where and why? If no, why? 
The only other cities in America I’d consider are Austin or San Francisco, but I think New York is a hard place to top just because of the size and design of it and the energy it yields.

Admittedly, it would be easy to write off Anamanaguchi as a something of a novelty act, or at least as a part of a tiny niche that’s so specific it almost doesn’t bear mentioning. Their roots are in 8-bit, a style of electronic music that utilizes the iconic sounds of outdated technology like the original Nintendo system. It’s a gimmick, obviously, if also one that lends itself to the occasional moment of transcendence. What Anamanaguchi have done, though, is to incorporate those same sounds while also flashing some of the more impressive guitar and drum parts you’re likely to hear anywhere in the city. It’s an absolute aural assault, with blistering speed and impossible-to-follow time signatures, but there’s also an undeniable pop sensibility at play, which is precisely what makes them a band that should be heard by everyone, and not just devotees of a micro-genre. Basically, everyone should listen to Anamanaguchi more and Girl Talk far less.

Where was your first NYC show?
We technically played our first show in early 2005 but I [Peter Berkman] don’t want to talk about it. We played our first real show at the Cake Shop in January of 2006 when I was 17.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show? Venues not necessary, but you’re encouraged to share.
A grand in New Jersey, and nothing for a show in Brooklyn where we were having a bad time and just left early.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
Starscream, Lionshare, Fiasco, Ninjasonik, Graffiti Monsters.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful?
I’d say the decentralization of the Todd P. empire. A lot of promoters are coming up now in Brooklyn and shit’s getting pretty exciting.

Assuming you all work day jobs, how does it affect the band?
We’re all in school, but it doesn’t really affect us. We’re awesome multi-taskers. We haven’t had any seriously conflicting dates so far. On the plus side of being in school, we have access to studios to record whenever we want.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
No way! New York rules. We have yet to visit a more musically active city.

Possibly the least well-known band on this year’s list, Darlings is a Brooklyn-based four-piece that sounds pretty much exactly how you always wanted your high school garage band to sound. They’re surprisingly impressive on a technical level, with all sorts of meandering guitar melodies and interesting interplay between instruments. The recording is far from polished, but it’s got this perfect level of fidelity that keeps things clear enough but also seems to say, “We could have made this sound better, but we didn’t feel like it, you fucking square.” They call to mind a sloppier Teenage Fanclub or Sloan at times, with whimsical melodies that feel completely timeless. Then, out of nowhere, they turn into a loud, screamy rock band, like early Replacements or the Jason Lowenstein contributions to Sebadoh, or maybe even… Nirvana? Basically, they’ve held onto the idea that this whole music thing was always supposed to be fun because you get to bang on shit really, really hard — it just so happens they bring an awful lot of other stuff to the table as well.

When did the band form?
Summer 2007.

Where was your first NYC show?
147 Bleecker St.  It was Matt and Joe’s apartment at the time.

What’s the most/least you’ve ever been paid for a local show? Venues not necessary, but you’re encouraged to share.
We played a packed show not long ago in Fort Greene that apparently none of the bands got paid at. One time we played a show on the Lower East Side and we made like $250. We even got taken to this secret room that looked like a VIP coke den to get paid.  It was impressive.

For what NYC band would you sacrifice your spot on this list? Must name one, lest you seem selfish.
Boogie Boarder, The Sundelles or The Tony Castles.

Is there a current trend in the NYC music scene which you find particularly irritating? One you find inspiring or meaningful?
Rooftop and any outdoor shows in the warm seasons are great.  Hopefully we get to play some of those soon.

Do you ever consider moving the band to another city?
We’ve been hearing that it’s a real buyer’s market right now in Detroit. You can buy a house for like $100 or something because people have been abandoning them and getting the fuck out of Detroit.