In the latest IRC Readers’ Choice Awards poll, Ireland‘s hot alternative rock and electronic band Two Door Cinema Club edged out other top indie rock bands for the title as the Best Break-Through Band of 2010.
The rising band took 21% of 1,761 votes cast by readers and visitors on IRC during the past two-weeks that the poll has been running. Some people may dispute the validity of Two Door Cinema Club as particularly suitable because their music is definitely electro and dance pop oriented, and therefore, not the traditional four-piece bands that came close, but not close enough, to beating TDCC for the No. 1 slot.
The band’s 2010 release, Tourist History, is what really allowed them to break-through to a much wider audience in 2010. In 2008, TDCC released their self-titled debut album, that got a lot play in Ireland and England. Even though the band were popular overseas prior to 2010, they didn’t really hit critical mass – and penetrate the American alternative music scene until recently.
“This is the Life” – Two Door Cinema Club from Tourist History
If you don’t have Tourist History, you can click here, purchase it and download it to your computer, phone or MP3 player for only $5 on Amazon. The $5 deal is a limited time offer and worth four or five times as much in pure talent and ambition.
The Beginnings of a Fascinating Band
Two Door Cinema Club is an alternative/indie rock band from Northern Ireland. The band members – Alex Trimble,
Kevin Baird, Sam Halliday – formed the band in 2007, and soon after, signed to French record label Kitsuné Music.
Trimble and Halliday first met as kids at Bangor Grammar School, and later became friends with Baird. But it wasn’t until just a few years ago that the friends began to put together what would become Two Door Cinema Club. Interestingly, the band got their name after one of the members mispronounced the name of a local cinema, Tudor Cinema. Throughout 2008 and 2009, the band’s profile steadily increased as the number of views and plays skyrocketed on the band’s MySpace page.
“Hands Off My Cash, Monty” – Two Door Cinema Club for Two Door Cinema Club
Having decided to leave their college studies in pursuit of their dreams, the band focused on getting into a studio and getting out a debut EP. In January of 2009, the band released the EP, Four Words To Stand On, and from there on out, it was a wild ride upwards as bloggers and music critics and fans got their hands on the EP and shared with others. The buzz for Two Door Cinema Club was on, and during the ensuing 12 months they toured, wowed fans and cynics with their well-honed live shows, began getting bigger billings, festival invites, growing record sales and a serious following throughout Ireland, the UK and United States.
In July 2009, TDCC began recording their debut album with Eliot James (The Futureheads, Bloc Party, The Kaiser Chiefs) at London’s Eastcote Studios; by September, the band were mixing the record at Paris studio of Cassius member Phillipe Zdar (Phoenix, Cut Copy, Chromeo). While anticipation built for the completion and release of the band’s debut LP, some details were revealed in January of 2010 when the band provided a track listing to the NME, a popular UK music mag that was obviously keeping tabs on the Irish band.
On February 26, 2010, Tourist History was officially released in the Republic of Ireland; March 1st in the U.K.; and April 27th in the U.S.. Much of the anticipation, and subsequent praise for the album was based on the fact that many singles had been released months before, including alternative radio singles like “Something Good Can Work”, “I Can Talk” and “Undercover Martyn.” Additionally, the tracks “Something Good Can Work” and “Undercover Martyn” were featured on television advertisements for Vodafone and Meteor.
“Undercover Martyn” – Two Door Cinema Club from Tourist History
View all five polls representing 50 bands that eventually, through the voting process, were whittled down to the Top Ten, and then, of course, the winner. Poll One, Poll Two, Poll Three, and Poll Four, and Poll Five.
Following not too far behind the No. 1 Two Door Cinema Club was one of the most popular bands of 2010, Local Natives, who took 18% of the vote, followed by Broken Bells (14%), The Drums (13%), and to round out the Top 5, Freelance Whales (8%).
“Sunhands” – Local Natives from Gorilla Manor
“The Ghost Inside” – Broken Bells from Broken Bells
“Forever and Ever Amen” – The Drums from The Drums
“Enzymes” – The Freelance Whales from 7″
It does say volumes, we think, that Two Door Cinema Club beat out wildly popular, and American, bands like Local Natives, Broken Bells, The Drums and Freelance Whales, among others. But the poll results reflect who the poll takers picked. We even blocked repeated votes by cookie and IP, so the polls that the margin of error would be as low as possible. Nevertheless, by the time the first 200 votes were in, TDCC was in the lead, and at that time, right ahead of Broken Bells. As the poll progressed to over 1,500 votes, the only thing that remained a constant was TDCC’s lead over the other nine bands.
[/caption]In five separate polls, featuring a total of 50 bands, readers whittled down the best break-through bands of the year to the Top Ten. Back in June of 2010, we published the first break-through bands of 2010 poll. In that poll, readers, and visitors, overwhelmingly picked Local Natives at 23%, followed far behind by Surfer Blood, who garnered almost 14%. The dynamic musical duo Sleigh Bells garnered 13.2%, and Canada’s Crystal Castles – another duo – and Brooklyn electro-haze pop artist, Neon Indian, pretty much tied (CC taking it by one vote) to round out the Top 5.See more results, and listen to and download MP3s from all 10 nominees, including the bottom half, which included big-time buzz bands of 2010 like Philadelphia’s Free Energy and New Jersey’s Real Estate. It was stunning to see Free Energy only grab 8.7% of the vote, and Real Estate only taking 4%.
The many wonders of polling
We love polling for many different reasons, but the two biggest reasons are one, the results are always fascinating, and often surprising, and two, it helps us tailor our coverage of bands and music in some part to what the various polls indicate our readers and visitors want more or less of. That’s an important element, as it has been since we started the Top Ten Songs page in late 2009.
This final poll comprised the No. 1 band, plus the runner-up, for each of the five polls of this particular polling series, with a total of 50 breakout bands that we selected with some help from the trends of which indie bands were more popular than the rest, based again, on the Top Ten Songs page, plus other metrics, such as number of page views for an artist profile, reTweets and Facebook ‘Likes’, hearted favorites on our Hype Machine page, and so on.
To browse all 50 bands, visit the following poll result pages that include each individual poll result, band profiles and overviews, plus a free MP3 from each nominee : Poll One, Poll Two, Poll Three, and Poll Four, and Poll Five.
[/caption]In five separate polls, featuring a total of 50 bands, readers whittled down the best break-through bands of the year to the Top Ten. Back in June of 2010, we published the first