Historian

Each year, writers at the Boston Phoenix scour the Internet in search of the 50 best new bands in the U.S., choosing one band or artist from each state. This year they chose Anchorage indie-rockers Historian as Alaska's best, a distinction previously held by Pretty Birds That Kill, The Moon Knights and Stubby’s Crack Co.

While Historian certainly sounds like the band described in the Phoenix’s blurb and the tracks posted on the site are definitely by the Anchorage band, the picture posted on the Phoenix page is of a group from Ohio called Historians (who, for what it’s worth, were not the best new band from that state).

Here’s what the Phoenix had to say about the band pictured above:

Imagine if Nick Cave and Win Butler stepped into one of Jeff Goldblum’s telepods and formed a whole new human being. The music that this ButlerCave would begin to make would sound a lot like the bizarre and beautiful sounds of Historian. One Anchorage Press reviewer describes their sound as something that will make you “want to rob a bank while wearing leopard-print spandex.” But perhaps the best thing about Historian is that they’re able to synthesize so many different influences into something fresh and interesting. Nowhere is that more present than on their first album, Dream Crusher, a six-song ode to the apocalypse. Singer and keyboardist Nate Hurst croons in such a soulful manner that it elevates the more familiar aspects of their sounds into something special. It may not make you want to commit larceny, but it sure as hell will make you want to follow them till the end.