There’s something sexy about “American Mourning” by Bikini. You almost feel a little strange for liking it so much. It may be the continuous and occasional monotony of the song’s electronic beats. Or it could be the playful vocal pattern in the verse. Whatever it is, it’s intoxicating. It’s like a car crash — you want to look away, but you can’t. It’s fascinating. Read More »Bikini: American Mourning [mp3]
Superhuman Tomb by House Of Bread will consume you if you let it. And you will be tempted to let it. The album blends two distinct styles of pop, one a haze-filled noise and the other packed with dreamy synths. “Don’t Be Shy” finds a comfortable middle ground, incorporating both by beginning with pleasantly swooning synths before closing out with a masterful noisy guitar. Read More »House Of Bread: Don’t Be Shy [mp3]
Joseph Pruitt of Family Trees has been busy creating a new one-man side project called Son of Rams; music so gritty and irresistible it’s perhaps the best cure for those winter time blues. Though we can hear the classic rock influences, from sixties pop melodies to seventies psychedelic rock riffs, there remains a refreshingly progressive building of sound in Pruitt’s work. His music explodes with triumphant, fuzzed-out glory reminding us of how dirty garage rock can be dangerous and comforting all at once. Jangly, charming, sultry and intoxicating, these sounds are just full of good times. You hear Son of Rams’ songs and it’s like you can hear the sunrise, exactly the kind of thing we should hope for in good rock music. Read More »Son of Rams [Feature]
The music of Portland based band Y La Bamba is that of beautiful, intoxicating contrasts. Both parts calming and alarming, meditative and flippant, their songs weave the delicate web of a line between the joy and sorrow of being alive. I was fortunate enough to see them play in Pullman (alongside Buffalo Death Beam and Horse Feathers) this past week and could not have asked for a cozier winter night. Though the entire evening was satiating, the familial nature of Y La Bamba’s performance is really what struck me; how through the tone and composition of their songs we as an audience were asked not only to receive but also to give. Read More »An Interview with Y La Bamba’s Luz Mendoza
Dream-pop is often best when it has a sleepy bedroom sound to it, casual and relaxed, and that’s precisely how Young Hunting like it. The A-side (“Into Your Mind”) off their new 7″ single, distributed by K Records, hints of The Beach Boys-like harmonies backed by soft, dreamy, borderline psychedelic pop. Their old-time pop sound has also been likened Harry Nilsson, which is more apparent in “Sonata”, the single’s b-side. A more modern reference could be the romantic silhouette vocals of Sweden’s Moto Boy. However you see it, Young Hunting crafts mysterious pop music fit for pleasant slumbers. Read More »Young Hunting [Feature]
Contrary to the word’s Indian and Hindu heritage, the band Pandit is from an entirely different land. Pandit is Lance Smith from Texas and his latest work is a drum-heavy psychedelic dream pop album called Eternity Spin. This album, in my opinion, has one of the better album covers we’ve seen in a while. Eternity Spin follows a self-released EP from early this year, a release that generated a few waves for Pandit and ultimately landed Smith a spot on Waaga Records, on which you can find Eternity Spin. Read More »Pandit: Artichoke [mp3]
Summer Babes is a new garage pop band from Seattle featuring Jeff Albertson, who you may know as the bass player of The Lights. “Crack Habit” is a super catchy pop track packed with indecipherable lyrics, heavy lo-fi percussion, loud fuzzy guitars, and a bouncy keyboard riff. The song can be found on the band’s debut EP, righteously titled Babe Summer. Read More »Summer Babes: Crack Habbit [mp3]
Jon Hardy‘s songs are always thought provoking. And they always seem to have some sort of generation-specific inspiration. Yet his sweet melodies and tantalizing lyrics don’t seem to remind you of any other specific artist. And as it is commonly known to some artists: The more you build on an influence, the more original you become. Hardy seemed to reach back to the 90’s pop rock scene to create “A Hard Year”, the title track from his forthcoming Jon Hardy & The Public EP. Read More »Jon Hardy & The Public: A Hard Year [mp3]
Fuzzy, dreamy guitars and harmonic female vocals may lead you to think of some pretty notable bands of late, specifically Best Coast, Vivian Girls, and Dum Dum Girls. Others too. Add another one to the list, with Reading Rainbow‘s chill, fuzzed-out pop song “Wasting Time”. Take a gander at “Always On My Mind” and you still get the chill and dreamy nature of the previous song, but things are a bit slower and feature a monotonous, surreal drone that flirts with both instrumentation and vocals. Read More »Reading Rainbow [Feature]
The nerd in me has been getting into comics of late, namely Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, so it’s fitting that the first thing I latched onto in Silver Swans‘ bio is that they pulled their name from the group of super villians in Wonder Woman. Like the evil-doers, “Secrets” by Silver Swans will haunt your nights. And they do it with slow, dreamy pop, swirling with synths and beats by DJ producer Jon Waters, and the vocals of Ann Yu. “Secrets” possesses the ability to tailspin you into a hypnotic trance; the song has an eerie calm, perfect for pitch-black nights broken by colorful lights and warm bodies. Read More »Silver Swans: Secrets [mp3]
