As the record industry continues to crumble, the digital revolution gradually finds its footing to provide the artistic freedom and everyman accessibility that are supposed to counterbalance the fact that
Metallica can't move units the way they used to. Enter
Daphne Loves Derby, a three-piece band from Kent, Washington, with members so young they would have most certainly been eaten up and spit out by the recording industry machine of an earlier era, despite the fact that whiz-kid singer Jason Call graduated college (yes, college) by 18. This band built its reputation on the strength of several demos circulated on the Internet via websites like Purevolume and the ubiquitous Myspace. Of course, the result of their high-bandwidth success is a regular old-fashioned record deal, and the sound of their first album rides so close to
Death Cab for Cutie,
Jimmy Eat World, and the like that they could have been assembled in a record company meeting. But as Reality Bites teens of a new generation overtake the rap-rock ignorance of their older brothers, no one need complain about the stop-start sway of "You Versus the World" or the wash of garage-tuned power chords that drives "Sundays." It's still been a bit of a wait for some honestly surprising music to reach listeners' attention via the web, though. ~ Joshua Glazer