Secret Crush #1: The Veils

Some bands are amazing, but don't get nearly enough love. It can't have escaped your attention that approximately 88% of the bollocks written on the internet is about unbearably new, frankly unproven bands with two decent songs. Best of luck to them all, of course, but also, it pains me a bit that the world is literally awash with bands who despite their obvious talents, can't get arrested. Bands and musicians who didn't quite appear at the right time, or wear the right hats, or something, and have therefore failed to become as massive as they really deserve to be. There are lots of bands in this category I love, but none more so than the Veils.

I shan't bother to give you the full Wikipedia spiel on them. Suffice it to say that if you have ears, and they work properly at least some of the time, you need to listen to this man sing:

The crazy-brilliant Nick Caveisms don't stop there either. I got into the Veils thanks to a particularly effusive review in Q, which had taken time out from blowing Coldplay and Muse to review the debut release by a bunch of stragglers from New Zealand called The Runaway Found, in 2004. In that review - no more than a paragraph or so long, was something about a man with a voice that combines the best bits of Liam Gallagher and Jeff Buckley's singing. I picked the album up soon after, on spec, and can kind of hear that in the early stuff, like this:

I've loved them like slightly odd relatives ever since. Each album, from The Runaway Found to the darker, more assured Nux Vomica (2006) 2008's Sun Gangs and the Bernard Butler-produced EP Troubles of the Brain from 2010 has revealed a better, braver band. For reasons that defy logic, however, they're not headlining enormous festivals and having streets named after themselves. This is a band, after all, whose lead singer was described as "a young but maturing real artist in the vein of Nick Cave and David Bowie" by the man who signed him, Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis. I mean, come on.

I've never seen them live, as they seem to appear in front of people about as often as Halley's Comet, but will do (hopefully) when album four comes out next year. More here:

Aren't they just fucking fabulous? Show them some love here, follow them here and buy everything they've done off iTunes or wherever. Don't torrent them, else I'll be round to slap you in person.

Oh, one more thing:

OK, now you can go. Tell everybody! Run, you fools!