The Maccabees

High energy indie rock.  In the wheelhouse of Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, and I also hear some punk-ish Sleater-Kinney or Fugazi or Firehose flavor in here.  I have never heard of the band before in my life, but they were able to snag good festival slots in the past as well as a nomination for the 2012 Mercury Prize (like the top album Grammy for Brit bands).  And they are opening for Mumford now. I'm hooked.  Love their sound.

English band, and according to Wikipedia, they got their name by "flicking" through the Bible and picking out a random word.  I was wondering why they chose that weird word as their name - now we know.  Just so you'll know what these flickers are all about, the Maccabees "were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a province of the Seleucid Empire."  Rebel army leaders.  Like Admiral Ackbar, but you don't get sued by Lucas for calling yourself the Maccabees.

Sadly, Spotify doesn't have all of their albums.  Wikipedia says that the band has 2007's Colour It In, 2009's Wall of Arms, and 2012's Given to the Wild, with another album (Marks to Prove it) coming out this year.  All Spotify has to offer is the 2007 album.  Sad-face.  But it is a blast of an album.

My favorite tune comes in at fourth place in the popularity index on Spotify - called "X-Ray," with 1.12 million listens.

Urgent and fun rock and roll.  Their most popular song on Spotify (obviously also from that album) is called "Toothpaste Kisses" and has about 8.6 million spins.

Not sure how that one got to be so popular, kind of a weird sound with only one little, short chunk of lyrics.  Nice little love poem and all, but they take up about 30 seconds of the 2.5 minute song.  Must have been featured on Girls or something.

The top song on their YouTube page is the title song from the upcoming Marks to Prove It, and it fires me up.  That opening blast and scream is fun stuff.

And then they go all trippy with the underwater sounds at the end.  Fun tune.  I'd jam it again for sure. I might be reaching my video overload limit here, but because my niece is named Ayla, I have to present you with "Ayla," from 2012's Given to Wild.

Going a little more arena sound now than back in the original album days.  Not sure I like it quite as much.

Aaaaand if you have eight extra minutes you don't know what to do with, here is a short film named after their 2012 album:

Pretty weird.  Not sure that is necessary.  BUT, I do think you should go jam their original album on Spotify and get a taste for yourself.  I've got them penciled in to enjoy at the fest as well.