Blips | Under The Radar Acts – French Films And Diarrhea Planet

In our never-ending quest to dig up great bands whose tickets cost less than a corned beef sandwich at your local deli, we bring you our latest round of Blips here on JamBase. The idea behind Blips is to form a lasting relationship with acts we believe to have bright futures and stick with them as they develop and grow. We view Blips as a progression that begins with a mention in a Blips segment, then leads to a Blips Update, and ultimately culminates in a feature length interview. In this edition, we have some really cool new music, so take a sec, poke around the bands’ various websites and see what you think of these two under-the-radar acts…

French Films

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Finnish band French Films is a recent winner of a 2013 European Border Breaker Award, an honor bequeathed to ten emerging European acts each year. Previous winners include big hitters like Mumford & Sons, Adele and Damien Rice. So who knows, they might become the biggest Scandinavian culture export since Dragon Tattoos. Even if they don’t though, I pretty much guarantee they will become the biggest band to ever come out of Finland, because (no offense Finland) basically not one single other band has ever come out of Finland.

French Films have a sound firmly rooted in late ’70s and early ’80s English rock. Yet, despite all the forthcoming ’80s references, this is a fantastic band with a modern feel. The recent full length White Orchid includes a bonafide hit song in “Latter Days,” which tactfully bursts from stylish verse to an utterly infectious chorus. The song highlights subtle maturity also in the chord patterns, which ever so slightly defy natural expectations for the timing that keeps the sound fresh.

Broadly, the rest of the catalog is high quality -albeit a bit “same-y.” The song “Juveniles” is a rave-up revue of “Dancing With Myself” and “Where We Come From” and lands somewhere between more twee modern British bands like Allo Darling, while still recalling Duran Duran.

French Films might take a little getting used to since the sound is quite nostalgic, but give it some time. This is one of the best bands emerging today (and they might change your stubborn opinion about Billy Idol once and for all).

Recommended if You Like: The Cure, Billy Idol and Psychedelic Furs

Diarrhea Planet

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Diarrhea Planet barely constitutes an under the radar band anymore, because they have recently secured a pun-worthy crapload of publicity via Best Band Name lists, Worst Band Name lists and blog-friendly cover selections (Jeff the Brotherhood’s “The Tropics” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”).

Still, I think they qualify because up until this week nobody really talked much about their actual music. Rather, they served more them as an excuse to dust off some lines from Steve Martin’s Parenthood. This past Tuesday, they just released their full-length I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, which is an ass-kicker album. The record lacks any real powerhouse individual numbers, but it’s very good as a complete work. The highlights include the rhythmic dual guitar riffage on “White Girls (Student of the Blues, Pt. 1),” the towering punk jams at the end of “Babyhead” and “Ugliest Son,” and the finger tapping guitar and OG punk styling of spoken lyrics on “Emmett’s Vision.”

In terms of the future of Diarrhea Planet, the band’s blog star will inevitably fade when the name is no longer eye-catching, but what will be left is a fanbase of punk fans who appreciate quality guitar shredding and a musically induced endorphin-release. This is a high-energy band with instrumental chops to spare.

R.I.Y.L.: Titus Andronicus, Less than Jake, and Fang Island

Written By: Ryan Dembinsky