October 10, 2008

Hearts of Palm UK, sensitive all girl synthpop FOR LIFE!

Hearts of Palm UK, is that girl that introduces herself to you under the wrong name at a party, but through perseverance, wit and charm you will find out on the third or fourth date. I say this because their name itself is something of a red herring, they are from Echo Park, California. That’s pretty far from the UK. Either way, the female electro-pop brandishing trio fires off some touching and danceable tracks on their debut album “For Life”.

Songwriter Erica Elektra originally wrote the album on her acoustic guitar, and fantasized about remixing it into a more electro style. So she did, and the results are gorgeous. These are three girls after my own heart, incorporating sweeping keyboard melodies, emotional bass, glitchy beats and even vocoder over their lovely voices. Another contributing factor in the sublime sound featured on this album is sure to be that it was mastered in Sweden by Henrik Jonsson who has mastered the likes of Peter Bjorn and John, Robyn, The Knife, and Lykke Li. I’m telling you, those Swedes know where it’s at. All this and they have a Brian Ferry cover. What are you waiting for! Sample tracks below!

Hearts of Palm UK – Forever

Hearts of Palm UK – More Than This (Bryan Ferry Cover)

Heart of Palm UK Myspace

September 5, 2008

Dada Life Remix Lykke Li

Are you ready for more modest cutesy female vocals over thumping beats and stuttering synth arpeggios? Of course you are. Dada Life transforms the slowly sashaying original into an old school dancefloor storm. It might take a full minute before you recognize those gentle vocals, but the synth riff that drops and the use of the reverb on the vocals that creates a kind of”Pull Away” effect adds some serious velocity.

Lykke Li – Dance, Dance, Dance (Dada Life Guerilla Fart #4)

Lykki Li Myspace

September 1, 2008

Emilie Simon Covers David Bowie

After enduring mostly uncomfortable and campy covers on Canadian Idol earlier this summer, particularly one painful female fronted cover of ‘Space Oddity’ I was weary of another female fronted cover of the same song. Emilie Simon of Paris, France really impressed me, especially in the wake of hearing some excellent covers off of the “Life Beyond Mars” Bowie Tribute album. This is probably my favorite cover of the Bowie classic to date. When the glitchy African rhythms and hand claps kick in, I have a feeling you might agree.

Emile Simon – Space Oddity (David Bowie Cover)

Emile Simon Myspace
P.S. Check out her amazing promotional photos! For serious.

Monsters are Waiting

Filed under: Feist,Metric,Stone Roses,Tegan and Sara,The verve — AZLTRON @ 8:22 am

The Echo Park, California indie group Monsters are Waiting first came to my attention with their excellent cover of the Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored” which had excellent breathy female vocals provided by Annalee Ferry. I checked out their Myspace page and was pleasantly surprised to find that their original work was at least as good as their excellent cover. They’ve got an album coming out in the next few months, it should be good, I’ll keep you posted.

Monsters Are Waiting – I Wanna Be Adored (Stone Roses Cover)

Monsters Are Waiting Myspace

August 15, 2008

The New Up

San Francisco based rock group The New Up have crafted an EP entitled Broken Machine that calls on psychadelic influences as well as garage rock influences. They sound something like if you took Midnight Movies, Metric, and The Stills, put them in a blender with some vanilla yogurt, a flute and set it to high. Thier rock is smooth linear affair with some added guitar crunch once in a while, like a female fronted late 80′s era Echo & The Bunnymen. Pretty neat.

The New Up – Ginger Tea


The New Up – Top of the Stairs

The New Up Myspace

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