Tag: "Indie pop"

La Sera : Sees The Light
0 Comments. 735 Views. Posted 30 Apr 2012 @ 9:21am.
Break-up albums are a dime a dozen, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more lighthearted breakup album than La Sera’s Sees The Light. Opening song Love That’s Gone has all intentions of being an introverted, self-pitying song going by its title and musical style, but when Katy Goodman kicks things off with the lyric ‘I love my life without you’, it suggests something quite different. After this... Read More
Lapalux and oOoOO Double Bill
0 Comments. 769 Views. Posted 29 Apr 2012 @ 4:41pm.
Alias of twenty-two year old Essex beats fiend Stuart Howard, Lapalux is a name to keep your eyes on. Responsible for some seriously stellar releases on Pictures and his new home, Flying Lotus-owned Brainfeeder alongside stellar reworks for Bonobo, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and Crystal Fighters, Howard's unique brand of twisted sampling skills and soulful, warm beats is proving... Read More
Ball Park Music
0 Comments. 1,096 Views. Posted 12 Apr 2012 @ 1:43pm.
  Brisbane indie-pop troupe Ball Park Music are set to bring their reputable live show back to Melbourne. The 180° Tour, the band’s most ambitious yet, has frontman Sam Cromack in a spin. “The tour’s been a massive step up from where we were previously: bigger venues, more ticket sales and it’s just been quite surreal for us to watch it all unfold.”   The group’s growing popularity... Read More
François & The Atlas Mountains : City Kiss
0 Comments. 490 Views. Posted 11 Apr 2012 @ 3:05pm.
  Domino’s newish French pop signing delivers another dreamy mid-tempo indie pop number. Some swirling synth strings and a bit a French muttering provide what little there is to notice in this song. It’s all a bit gloopy and tedious.   Read More
Field Music : Plumb
0 Comments. 774 Views. Posted 28 Mar 2012 @ 5:43am.
  Creatively-boisterous siblings Peter and David Brewis – aka Field Music – have indulged in fits of whimsical experimentation for this, their brand new LP. Their steep ambition has come at a price, however: Plumb is defined by a disorienting incoherence, making for a decidedly challenging listening experience.   The record concerns itself with a mischievous whimsy, lofty and forever... Read More
SXSW 2012 @ Austin, Texas
0 Comments. 2,060 Views. Posted 20 Mar 2012 @ 12:20pm.
  In his inspired and inspiring SXSW keynote address, Bruce Springsteen quoted legendary music critic Lester Bangs, who wrote that Elvis Presley was the last thing that we would all agree on. Springsteen talked about a time when there were so few bands around that record stores didn’t exist, when albums were racked in a corner of the local drug store. Not anymore. There are more music... Read More
Francolin
0 Comments. 1,320 Views. Posted 19 Mar 2012 @ 10:27am.
  “I’d like to say it was because I had a dream where I saw this bird, it was a Francolin, but that’s not true,” says Staffan Guinnane, singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for local indie pop band Francolin. Guinanne is explaining why the band took the name of a relatively unknown bird closely related to the pheasant. “Actually what happened was that I went to Wikipedia and got a... Read More
Real Estate : Easy
0 Comments. 517 Views. Posted 7 Mar 2012 @ 9:35am.
  Real Estate’s sunny sixties psych pop has a bit of muscle under the surface – a kicking rhythm to drive the washed out harmonies and twanging guitar patterns. I’m getting a bit of an emperor’s new clothes feel about this one though – the their rolling, dreamy indie rock is nice but awfully forgettable.   Read More
The Belle And The Bone People : The Light
0 Comments. 810 Views. Posted 29 Feb 2012 @ 8:30am.
  Seems fledgling label The A&R Department like their music soft and intricately detailed, a kind of folk rock-infused needlepoint. I think their taste is a bit weird, to be honest. The Belle And The Bone People single, for example, is layered but almost offensively smooth, verging on adult contemporary. It is indie pop with a jazzy, theatrical edge, but the lyrics seem flamboyantly and... Read More
Devotional : Mercy
0 Comments. 749 Views. Posted 29 Feb 2012 @ 8:16am.
  This washed out drift of indie rock recalls American Analogue Set, with its scrawling guitars and wispy, Mazzy Starr-like vocal performance. It’s a gentle and atmospheric effort from Sydney’s Devotional (formerly called A Casual End Mile), but it doesn’t improve on its predecessors. Read More
The Maccabees : Given To The Wild
0 Comments. 967 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:06am.
  Given To The Wild is the third album by inventive English five-piece band The Maccabees, who are enjoying the heady delights of receiving that rarest of treats: popular success mingled with critical caresses. This atmospheric thirteen-track opus stormed into the Number Four spot on the Official UK Album Chart upon its first week of release and has been praised heartedly by English music... Read More
Angus Stone : Broken Brights
0 Comments. 1,515 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 9:40am.
  The first single from Angus Stone’s new solo album is yet another milky, seductive indie pop tune. Amidst a slow spatter of drums and rich strums of acoustic guitar, his voice creeps like honey, hypnotic and melancholy, like a latter day Elliot Smith.   Read More
Various Artists : Sound Of Melbourne Records Sampler 2011
0 Comments. 1,905 Views. Posted 18 Jan 2012 @ 8:42am.
  Innovative new indie label Sound of Melbourne Records, which was established by Liverpudlian Joe Grimes and is admirably dedicated to supporting and showcasing unsigned local artists, has positioned this interesting 15 track compilation as the first in a series of annual samplers. Guitarist, singer and songwriter Tash Parker, who has supported performers such as Clare Bowditch and Missy... Read More
Georgia Fair : All Through Winter
0 Comments. 1,111 Views. Posted 13 Jan 2012 @ 8:54am.
When I first saw Georgia Fair play it was in a support slot for Oh Mercy, and the Sydney duo of Jordan Wilson and Ben Riley performed a sublime rendition of Crosby Stills & Nash's Helplessly Hoping. A gutsy play no doubt, but they were able to pull it off - so much so that the pedant in me didn't even get riled up about the ignored third harmony part.   The wistful acoustic finger-... Read More
Ocean Party: Young Love
0 Comments. 911 Views. Posted 6 Jan 2012 @ 10:19am.
  Local lads The Ocean Party have recorded an indie pop tune so laid back it’s almost lounge. Unfortunately, the instrumentation is a little plodding and the vocals – vaguely reminiscent of Ollie Brown and The Art Of Fighting – sound kind of dispirited. The could be quite atmospheric, played live, but the single is pale and flat. Chronic fatigue in song form. Read More
Twin Sister : In Heaven
0 Comments. 1,533 Views. Posted 21 Dec 2011 @ 9:14am.
In Heaven is the debut LP from Long Island's Twin Sister and it's quite a poppy affair. Following on from their 2010 Color Your Life EP - the album has a soft airiness to it which makes the songs seem to drift in and out of one another. There's a similar mood throughout the album, this congruency is effective in part, but the lack of diversity tends to bore me a little. The production is very... Read More
Tigertown
0 Comments. 4,576 Views. Posted 9 Dec 2011 @ 8:24am.
To many artists, the prospect of playing with their brothers and sisters might be a nightmare thought - not to mention that it only takes a short look into the music history books to find that more than a few sibling rivalries have spelled the demise of bands in the past. However, Chris, guitarist from bohemian, alternative indie Sydney-siders, Tigertown, reassures us that this is not the... Read More
Number Station : Hold On
0 Comments. 1,072 Views. Posted 30 Nov 2011 @ 8:38am.
Points for style - Number Station have the most beautiful and environmentally responsible CD packaging I've seen in a while - an origami sleeve that unfolds into a Rothko-esque mini poster. The track walks a fine line between angular Brooklyn style indie rock and a fluid, straight up pop melody. It doesn't smack you over the head with a killer hook or a radically distinctive sound, but the song... Read More
Architecture In Helsinki
0 Comments. 1,176 Views. Posted 18 Nov 2011 @ 8:30am.
Cameron Bird isn't sounding too hot. Stuffed up, sniffling and in general, quite depleted, Bird is suffering from a bad cold. "The road, you know?" says Bird dryly in between sniffling. It's an elusive comment, but one that makes total sense if you were to take a look at hometown heroes Architecture In Helsinki's recent touring schedule. This year alone, the band has had three separate tours of... Read More
Dusken Lights : Little Shelley’s Bottom Is The Top
0 Comments. 1,210 Views. Posted 16 Nov 2011 @ 1:22pm.
This song is such a gentle exercise in twinkling indie pop that it took me a couple of listens to register that it is about someone's arse. Read More
The Better Mousetrap Treatment : Sidewalk Glass
0 Comments. 1,243 Views. Posted 2 Nov 2011 @ 11:29am.
Brisbane's The Better Mousetrap Treatment walk a careful line between sweet and saccharine with their anachronistic indie pop, which comes barreling out of the late nineties like the noughties never happened. They sound like The Lucksmiths, with more instrumentation, or The Earthmen, with less, hearts bouncing away on their tidy little sleeves. Cute. Read More
M. Jack Bee : Sound of Love
0 Comments. 1,629 Views. Posted 19 Oct 2011 @ 3:09pm.
Byron Bay's M. Jack Bee has a beautiful voice, a low timbre with smooth edges and a wry undertone that climbs into a strained alto every now and then. His publicist compares him to Neil Diamond and Jack Ladder and that's about right - he's a youthful indie pop crooner with a polished, slightly husky charm. His voice takes centre stage in this song, accompanied by slim piano notes, steady tom... Read More
Grouplove : Tongue Tied
0 Comments. 1,822 Views. Posted 12 Oct 2011 @ 11:32am.
Grouplove return with another bounding, joyful single from Never Trust A Happy Song. Compared to Colours and Itchin' On A Photograph, Tongue Tied has a more consistent beat, more of a pumping dance rock aesthetic, similar to the all-in pop-gasms of Architecture in Helsinki. A ferocious indie party tune that sounds better if you play it loudly. Read More
Faker Tour
0 Comments. 1,194 Views. Posted 21 Sep 2011 @ 1:20pm.
After announcing release plans for their Get Loved project last week, Faker is kicking off on their first national tour in three years. Straight off the back of a national tour with UK purveyors of indie pop The Wombats, Faker: Live! will see the band visit metro and regional centres around the country, giving fans an exclusive opportunity to experience the band’s brand new music and... Read More
The Jungle Giants : Mr Polite
0 Comments. 2,279 Views. Posted 3 Aug 2011 @ 2:07pm.
A bouncy little afro indie pop tune from Brisbane hopefuls The Jungle Giants. This barely-out-of-high school collective is led by songwriter Sam Hales, who has listened to his fair share of Phoenix and Vampire Weekend, emerging heavily influenced but also pretty inspired. Mr Polite is upbeat and playful, led by a popping rhythm and topped with an all-in, crowd-stirring chorus. Read More
The Dunes : Going Under
0 Comments. 1,716 Views. Posted 20 Jul 2011 @ 3:41pm.
The first sounds from a new Adelaidian duo, formed late in 2010. Going Under is a wistful indie pop tune that meanders under the limp drive of singer Stacie Reeves (a Texan). They're aiming for a languid Mazzy Star-style pace, but don't quite sink to that evocative, dreamlike state of grace. Sounds instead like an off cut from the Once More With Feeling episode of Buffy the... Read More
One Kind
0 Comments. 1,649 Views. Posted 15 Jul 2011 @ 12:58pm.
Define your genre in five words or less: “Modern indie pop rock”    Someone walks past as you’re playing, they get a beer and tell their friend about you. What do they say? “Who are these guys?”    How long have you been gigging and writing? “Just kicked off our Miles to Victoria tour and will be gigging throughout July. We have been prepping ideas and song shells for the... Read More
Liam Singer : Words Make the Master
0 Comments. 2,255 Views. Posted 8 Jul 2011 @ 1:12pm.
Liam Singer of Brooklyn, NY, returns with another heady storm of piano and violin - a complex, chamber music-inspired indie pop melody. Evoking sad, spattering rains and rumbling winds, the baroque composition is tied together by Liam's earnest poetry; a kind of Paul Simon-esque anchor for all that sweet, swirling melodrama. Read More
Big Scary : Mix Tape
0 Comments. 2,098 Views. Posted 8 Jul 2011 @ 1:05pm.
If I had forgotten the frankly disgusting talent of Jo Syme and Tom Iansek, the first single from their new album is one hell of a reminder. The urgent, piano driven pop of Mix Tape is naïve, disconsolate and explosive - a song that shudders between youthful enthusiasm and world weary irony, as Tom sings about hooking up with a girl for whom he has reasonable lust but only lukewarm feelings: "I... Read More
Souls On Board : You Can Dance
0 Comments. 2,664 Views. Posted 29 Jun 2011 @ 11:54am.
A mild-mannered indie pop song that opens ambitiously, with an Arcade Fire rumble, but fails to bloom. The song collapses on itself in an interesting way, at least, with fitful drums, the lamenting drone of strings and hopeless little glock twinkles clinging together sadly. Read More
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