Start your weekend off right with music from artists featured this week on BestNewBands.com.

“Colours” – Grouplove
“Boyfriend” – Best Coast
Lauren Novik surveyed the recently-announced lineup for Lollapalooza 2011.

Lauren wrote, “Aside from strong and steady headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, and Deadmau5 – I was beyond excited to see Gold Motel, Grouplove, Young The Giant, Best Coast, and Fitz and the Tantrums all up in the Lolla mix! Serious evidence that Perry Farrel & Co. will never cease to surprise me. (Scope the full lineup HERE!)
I knew their lineup would be one to watch and wait for (anxiously and with baited breath at that!) and I was not only pleasantly surprised, but I found myself even more excited to get back to Grant Park for the weekend of August 5-7!”

Read the rest of Lauren’s Lollapalooza preview here.

“Go Around” – Nenna Yvonne

This week BestNewBands.com gave away tickets to Nenna Yvonne’s show at The Key Club Thursday night. The lucky winner was Chelsie, who left a comment on the giveaway post and scored the free tickets. Congratulations, Chelsie!

In a preview for Nenna Yvonne’s March 29 concert, Claire Gallagher wrote, “This singer-songwriter is no acoustic-guitar-playing, eyelash-batting, photo-with-my-cat-Mr.-Fluffles-taking kind of girl; the 21-year-old Nigerian falls more along the spicy lines of Nicki Minaj or Kelis (Nenna Yvonne went to the same prestigious high school as them: New York’s LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts). Her beats are fresh, her songs danceable. She is comparable to Rihanna, except she doesn’t sound like an animal in heat when she sings (yeah, I went there).”

Read more BestNewBands.com posts about Nenna Yvonne here.

“Where Is My Mind” – Eastern Conference Champions
Daniel Kohn reviewed ECC’s latest album, Speak-Ahh.

Daniel wrote, “The album kicks off with strumming and familiar vocals of lead singer Josh Ostrander on ‘Attica.’ The pace starts off slow, then the band kicks it up a notch towards the hook and the tune takes off from there. Greg Lyons’ terrific drumming sets the pace for Ostrander and Melissa Dougherty. The change of pace in the middle leads to a big finish, which is the perfect way for the song to end. ‘Attica’ is a bright song that would be the perfect backdrop while you’re cruising down the PCH in a convertible as the sun is gleaming on the hood of your convertible.

“It’s been a while since the masses were treated to an Eastern Conference Champions record, but after listening to Speak-Ahh the wait has been worth it. Intricate melodies, songwriting risks and their darkest record to date, ECC proves sometimes good music is worth the wait.”

Read the rest of Daniel’s review here.

“I’m On Fire (Cover)” – The Airborne Toxic Event
Claire Gallagher reviewed ATE’s sophomore album, All At Once, which was released Tuesday.

Claire wrote, “Despite a solid three-year gap between releases, the album somehow seems a little rushed. On a good note, the band sticks to their original sound—alt-rock made lovely by various string instruments coupled with front man Mikel Jollett’s voice always adding a gritty drop of honey—with the only detectable change being a subtle and enjoyable use synthetic sounds in a few of the tracks.

“There are still some standout tracks: the single ‘Changing’ has a great hook, ‘Welcome to Your Wedding Day’ is a fun and exciting electronic take on ATE’s signature sound, and ‘The Graveyard Near the House’ is a sweet and affectionate little closing. It’s still a very listenable album, just not particularly as heart-wrenching as their debut (they set the bar pretty high with that one). Put it this way—the album is good, just not memorable. I’m sure as I keep listening to it I will love it more with each dissected nuance, but for now, it doesn’t strike me as amazing.”

Read the rest of Claire’s review here.

“Let’s Pretend” – Life of Agony
Lauren Novik interviewed bassist Alan Robert. Here’s a video of their conversation:

Check out the rest of Lauren’s post here.

“Hey Big Bang” – Superhumanoids
Laurel Kathleen previewed Superhumanoids’ concert tonight at The Echo in LA.

Laurel wrote, “If you’re in LA and searching for a safe musical haven away from the madness of Comic Con in Anaheim, go see Superhumanoids tomorrow night at The Echo! They’ll be playing with the enjoyably rocking but hard-to-pin-down Royal Bangs and the equally trippy Therapies Son, and tickets are only $8 in advance. Superhumanoids are no strangers to BestNewBands.com: in addition to being nominated for two of BnB’s year-end best lists for their incredibly catchy song and delightfully strange corresponding video for “Persona”, the band even provided the story behind the song in a backstory article by Leona Laurie. I reviewed their set at The Echo last fall with We Barbarians, and I liked them so much I even downloaded their EP Urgency (now available on iTunes).

“If you’re going to The Echo tomorrow, it’s located at 1822 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California 90026. The show is 18+ and the doors open at 8:30pm. Advance tickets are available for $8 here or $10 at the door. If you’re going to the show, be sure to post back on our Facebook page to let us know how it went!”

Read the rest of Laurel’s preview here.

“Austere” – The Joy Formidable
Kristina Villarini previewed TJF’s concert tonight at Webster Hall in NYC.

Kristina wrote, “This Friday, Welsh trio The Joy Formidable will be playing Webster Hall on Friday, April 29th in their last U.S. show before heading overseas to support the Manic Street Preachers. But tomorrow is about the surge and success of this band, a Welsh, uptempo version of My Bloody Valentine, who will perform songs from this year’s The Big Roar. Creating their own brand of head-nodding mood music, The Joy Formidable continue to draw large crowds–who know every word to every song–for their hour-long sets.

“The band has earned rave reviews from NME, The Guardian, the London Times, Spin and Pitchfork, heavy rotation on Sirius XM’s indie rock channel, Sirius XMU, and can count some female rock royalty as fans; Garbage’s Shirley Manson and Courtney Love. I’m excited about their show tomorrow evening, not simply because I believe the band are talented as heck, they are. They also have the support of a band that is gaining a large amount of traction through video play (who knew?) for their debut album Arrows, The Lonely Forest.”

Read the rest of Kristina’s preview here.