Brooklyn-based New Zealand indie-folk outfit Streets of Laredo have just released their new single ‘Girlfriend’ and it’s pretty damn catchy. It’s a high energy indie-pop track with a great jangly guitar riff and strong percussion throughout. The lyrics are simple enough but are bound to get stuck in your head. Really liking this one.
Peter Bjorn & John are back with a brilliant new track, ‘I Wish I Was A Spy’. At just under two minutes it’s an excellent slice of energetic indie pop with a great boppy chorus that the group are known and loved for. Unfortunately, there is still no word on a new LP, but this will more than make up for it, for now. Listen to it over at NPR.
1 note
London 5 piece Casablanca have been creating quite an amount of buzz ever since their catchy debut single Yes. The band have another seriously infectious number out called Natalie, another finely executed mix of guitar-driven pop and Indie you’d happily dance to. Watch out for this lot!
Here’s the latest single “Let’s Go” from Indie Pop duo Matt and Kim. It’s set to be the lead single from their upcoming LP, “Lighting”. The song is catchy and upbeat, which is what we have come to expect from these guys, and the video features some incredible footage of the World’s Greatest Ball Handler, Pat the Roc. Check it out.
Lighting is due this Autumn.
2 notes
An appropriate song for the weather this week is the lead single and title track off Best Coasts latest LP. Appropriate in that it’s a trademark Bethany Cosetino summer jam, there’s really not much else to it. After the release of her first album came the consistent moaning via her Twitter page that people didn’t take her seriously as a musician. That people had a misconception of her and had labelled her as this cat loving stoner, who just writes about weed, sun and boys. She then went on to sack drummer Ali Koehler, rather ruthlessly apparently, which hinted at another attempt to lose that stoner label. All that aside, she has just released her second LP “The Only Place” with Best Coast. How does it sound? Like your typical Best Coast track. Nothing has changed here, absolutely nothing. “Why would you live anywhere else? Why would you live anywhere else? We’ve got the ocean, got the babes, got the sun, we’ve got the waves. This is the only place for me”. That is the hook from lead single “The Only Place”. A weak attempt at reinventing herself to be honest, as the song and pretty much the entire album sounds exactly the same. Boys, sun, crying, boys, sun, waves, repeat. The album as a whole sounds pretty vacant. The themes that made her debut so endearing have now been replaced by boring, taxing issues about her life and limited stories. Someone is just going through the motions.
The Only Place is out now via Mexican Summer.
Best Coast – The Only Place / Rating: 2/5. (2012)
Craft Spells are back with another helping of reverb-soaked, indie pop on their new Gallery EP. Their debut LP, Idle Labour, I always felt was terribly underrated. It had some fantastic stuff on it, especially “After the Moment”, which was one of my favourite releases that year. This six song EP has more speckles of 80’s guitar driven, synth pop with Justin Vallesteros providing us with more nostalgic lyrics about love and heartache. The band at times does feel like a solo vehicle for Vallesteros, who seems to suffer constant misfortunes in love. However, he does have a wonderful knack for combining melancholy and hopefulness in his songs that make them stick with you. This is another wonderful example of that talent. Stream the album below.
Gallery drops today via Captured Tracks.
Craft Spells – Gallery / Rating: 4/5. (2012)
Eternal Summers – Millions (2012) / Rating: 3/5
Virginia duo Eternal Summers offer us a good way to start our day with their melodic, radio friendly new single “Millions”. Having recently added a new bassist to the line up the band sounds a little more accomplished this time around. “Millions” is the catchy opener from upcoming album “Correct Behaviour”. Having pretty much all your equipment stolen on tour would be enough to put most bands into foul humour. Eternal Summers, on the contrary, sound pretty good here.
Correct Behaviour drops July 24th on Kanine Records
1 note
After a 15 year break from music, New York Indie-Pop outfit ‘Pontoons’ returned this month with a brand new single, “Antidote”. Simplistic and catchy fans of early day REM and Voxtrot should really like this track. Some lovely guitar playing throughout and lyrics you’ll find yourself singing along too. The band, consisting of singer-guitarist Tom Hunt and drummer Christian Harper are planning to release an album sometime this year. I’ll keep you posted on that. More of the same catchy infectious pop we get here can surely be expected. Check it out in the link provided.
When I heard James Mercer effectively dismissed the musicians that helped establish the band to where they are now and help third LP ‘Wincing The Night Away’ reach number two in the American charts, alarm bells went off. I enjoyed it, and thought it had some very catchy numbers, but many Shins fans couldn’t take to Mercers Danger Mouse collaboration ‘Broken Bells’ and was wondering exactly where his heart lied. ‘Port Of Morrow’ confirms that his heart very much still lies with The Shins and its business as usual. Basically, it’s what Shins fans around the world have been waiting for these past five years. The Shins carved a career out of making quirky melodic college rock and that’s the values ‘Port Of Morrow’ sticks too here. First single “Simple Song”, Indie Pop at its best, is a back to form release from Mercer and the SNL performance backed this up perfectly. “Bait And Switch” is your trademark Shins song, that could have easily have fitted in on 2001’s classic ‘Oh, Inverted World’. The haunting backing vocals and slide-guitar on reflective love song “September” show the qualities of Mercers new band. My favourite track on the LP “No Way Down” is arguably as good as anything that Mercer’s produced yet. A fantastic comeback!
1 note
