Kniife Prrty - Stay Wild
Chicago’s Kniife Prrty returns with another haunting single perfect for the wee hours of the morning or sunset, when reality gives way to dreams and dreams fuse with reality.
June 17, 2010
June 16, 2010
Hungry for The Cure!
Robert Smith Requesting some Ham (Illustration By Aaron Z. Lee)
The Cure is a group I find myself returning to constantly, the sheer diversity of their catalog is enough to satiate any hunger for music that fits nearly any emotional category. I found myself looking up old interviews and watching live performances from various eras in The Cure’s history which resulted in me finding a picture of Robert Smith with his tongue out and I couldn’t resist making a cartoon out of it, since one of his nick names is “Fat Bob” and he has gotten chubbier over the years, but seriously, the man is a genius. For a video and mp3 of The Cure’s “Hungry Ghost” (One of the best off of The Cure’s 2008 album “4:13 Dream”) make the jump! (more…)
June 14, 2010
Moscow’s Upstation is here to Groove you!
Moscow's Upstation
Moscow’s Upstation is the second Russian band that has been brought to my attention after Cheese People. Upstation is a bit less in your face and a bit more cohesive. They implement smooth funk-rock reminiscent of bands like the Van She, Cut Copy and others looking to the nostalgic synth-pad filled music of the 80′s for inspiration. Look out England and Australia, Russia has entered the game.
June 11, 2010
Stretching the Truth with Performance’s Joe Stretch!
(We Are) Performance walking in a winter wonderland.
(We Are) Performance walking in a winter wonderland.
With the release of three promotional videos for three tracks (“Reptile”, “Let’s Start”, and “The Living”) off their unnamed forthcoming album, my excitement for (We Are) Performance’s return is at an all time high. To address this anticipation I spoke with lead singer and author extraordinaire Joe Stretch about the new album, being covered in ink, irony, and sitting on the bottom of pools. (more…)
June 7, 2010
Soundpool combine beats and atmosphere with “Mirrors in Your Eyes”!
Soundpool
Soundpool, a band out of New York City has released their third studio album entitled “Mirrors In Your Eyes”, and what they’ve done with it is put a bit of mirror ball action (i.e. dance beats) into their soundscapey shoe-gazey sound. Singer Kim Field’s vocals are as formidable as ever, cooing through wet blankets of reverb, funky bass and heavily affected guitar. The beats and bass provide a driving structure that unifies the songs in a way that works. Not every band can take their formula for music and drop in some funky grooves, but Soundpool have done it, and they sound mighty classy doing it.
June 4, 2010
Thieves Like Us Release “Again and Again”!
Thieves Like Us
Thieves Like Us the 2/3 Swedish and 1/3 American synth-pop group born and bred on the nostalgic and intensely emotional pop of the 80′s has released their second album “Again and Again” here. It’s available from i Tunes and you can buy it online if you’re fluent in French (Which I am not, dangit!) But fear not, you can enjoy the tracks at that link. The album has all the atmosphere we’ve come to expect from the group with maybe a little more funk and dance-ability than we’ve heard from them before. The track “One Night with You” sounds like a New Order b-side complete with chorus affected bass. “Lover Lover” is the most pronounced pop moment the group has achieved in their career thus far. Thieves Like Us has done it again, I can’t help but love everything they do. They’re just so darned good.
May 20, 2010
Interview with NewIslands!
NewIslands play catchy edgy pop.
Up and coming band New Islands from Midlands, UK consists of veteran singer songwriter David Jones (Formerly of The Departure) and his compatriots Tom, Raif, Luke and Bogart. They play music firmly in the pop realm but with an edge like David Bowie, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. I spoke with them about where they’ve been and where they’re going.
As for the name “NewIslands”, Do you have an interest in the geological creation of islands? Or perhaps a more interpretative reason for the name?
Well, at some point in the future, dependent on available funds, we may put into practice our long-term goal of creating our own paradise. The name also has metaphorical meanings; we often write about themes involving escapism.
How did the band all get together?
NewIslands was started by myself and Luke. Luke was originally going to produce a couple of demo’s for me, but that plan kind of escalated into us starting a band. The other guys were recruited through friends and contacts we both had, it was quite a natural process really.
Enigmatic Characters
What was your first gig performing all together with your current line up?
We have only ever had this line-up, and our first gig was at Mat Hornes first ‘Session’ night at the Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch, London. It was a great first gig!
Being from the UK, the area where some of the world’s best synth pop came from, who are some of your influences from the region?
We’re influenced by quite a few British artists, namely Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Pink Floyd.
Your song “Cross Town Feel” has a theme similar to (in my mind at least) Romeo and Juliet, do you draw inspiration from literary sources? If so which ones?
I’d say most of our material comes from personal life experiences, dreams, film and music. So in a way there is indirect influences from literary sources.
Is your songwriting process pretty democratic, or does one person mainly write the songs and the band then fleshes them out?
Luke and I write all of the songs in ‘the barn ™’, where luke produces them as we go. We then take them to the band and spend a bit of time rehearsing them. The band add a bit of character to the songs, and more of a live feel. Its a great process and tends to be very productive. When together we try and come up with one or two tunes a week. We’ll do this for a few weeks, and then maybe take a break so we don’t start repeating ourselves, and then come back fresh. We love the writing process.
You recently released a video for your song “Out of Time”, I’m assuming the band made an appearance via close ups of your eyes, but what was that experience like shooting a video like that? What do you think of the final product?
Yeah, the band made an appearance in the video, and contributed a lot of ideas. Roman Rappak did a great job of realising our visions. It was shot and edited in his warehouse flat in South London. We are really pleased with how it turned out.
What’s next for NewIslands?
Well as we write we are putting the finishing touches to a new tune, so pretty excited about that. As for the future, we are preparing our second single and getting new material ready. We will be playing a few shows in the coming months also.
Wave Machines release “Wave If You’re Really There” in US Exclusively on their website.
Wave Machines, Good Music from London, UK
Wave Machines, a band that erupted into my consciousness last summer with their infectious hit “Keep the Lights On” has released their acclaimed debut album in the United States (Finally!) via their website.
Check out their album “Wave if You’re Really There” streaming here! While “Keep the Lights On” will certainly hit the sweet spot for those who are looking for some dance-tastic tunes in the vein of MGMT and Passion Pit, but that’s not all that the London Quartet do. They’ve got some layered pop songs that are more akin to James Yuill covering The Cure with the Beegees. If you’re unsure if that’s a good thing, let me assure you that, yes, it is a good thing.
Midlake Live in Ithaca @ Castaways!
Midlake Perform Live at Castaways in Ithaca, NY May 18, 2010
Midlake took to the stage at Castaways in Ithaca the other night and showed off their solid songwriting and their ability to rock out whether it was with their four guitarists or flutes, recorders and even picolos. The band had been robbed in Columbus, OH a few nights before, but they managed to get some gear from various music shops in Ithaca. In particular, several tambourines from a man who was very excited about percussion. Despite all this their show was worth coming out for not only for their set but a nice intimate set with Jason Lytle (Formerly of Grandaddy). Castaways is a really great venue, because it can nab up names like My Dear Disco, A.C. Newman, Neko Case and Jason Lytle in an extremely intimate setting that’s not really all that far away.
New! Interview with NightWaves & their Empire of the Sun Remix!
NightWaves are a synth pop group based out of Los Angeles
NightWaves are a synth pop group based out of Los Angeles
NightWaves is a group based in Los Angeles, California who make stirring and substantial synth pop. I spoke with them about their origins, their involvement with Binary Entertainment and their plans for the future.
How did you (Kyle Petersen, Josh Legg, and David Urbina) meet?
Josh: Kyle and I met at USC, where we were both on the intercollegiate sailing team. Throughout school we bonded over and debated music pretty heavily. I remember somehow getting an advance copy of The Killers’ Hot Fuss and us falling in love with it right away. We had been writing music for years independently, but we started to collaborate more in 2008 after our tastes moved into more electronic genres. The third member of our band, our guitarist David Urbina came from our time at USC as well. We make electronic based music, but we knew we wanted NightWaves to move towards a more organic, live sound, so adding Dave as the principle guitarist made a lot of sense.
How did you decide that making a synth-pop band was what you wanted to do?
Kyle: Well I wouldn’t say it was a calculated decision or anything like that. At the time that NightWaves started Josh and I were just heavily involved with music, going out to Spaceland and the Echo every week getting $3 PBR’s and seeing the upcoming indie bands emerging from the east side here in LA. So at night we’d do that, and in the daytime we were spending a lot of time cruising Myspace and just digging into all the emerging melodic dance music that was coming out of France and Australia at the time. Josh and Dave and I have played in a lot of different bands in the past, mainly just as a way for us to play our instruments and make some music. But I think when NightWaves started it was just sort of the right crossroads in our lives where we started to embrace pop music, and we tried to combine all of our musical past into one sound that just kinda felt right for the change that was going on in our world.
How did the name “NightWaves” come about?
Josh: A theme that comes up over and over again in our music is that of waves. Besides the litteral association with the ocean, which is something we’re somewhat obsessed with, it refers to a few different things. Thinking of emotion in terms of waves… That feeling you get when something boils up inside you and you can’t help but let it take over. Waves of altered states. Waves of tension and release in music. NightWaves just is speaking on how everything feels bigger at night, when your blood is flowing a little faster. We’re just trying to capture those feelings.
How did you get hooked up with Binary Entertainment?
Kyle: Josh and I actually started Binary in late 2007, so NightWaves had a pretty easy time getting signed up with that, haha. Long story short, Josh and I were both working different jobs, we had always shared a profound interest in music, we talked about doing something in artist management, we put the pieces of the puzzle together and that was the beginning of what Binary is today. This is all relevant because that’s when NightWaves started…as I mentioned above, Josh and I were so into music discovery at the time, it was just sort of natural for NightWaves to start as we were trying to create music to sort of define in our heads what this new sound was all about, and that new sound became the style of Binary. So Binary and NightWaves are kinda twins…but Binary was born first.
Looking back at the songs you’ve done as NightWaves, what is the common theme that runs through them all?
Josh: It seems like everyone we hang out with here in Los Angeles has Peter Pan syndrome. Nobody really wants to grow up. Its not a ‘we want to party hard all the time’ thing, but more of a longing for the innocent times of our youth, when any day could be the most important day of your life. Themes of innocence and nostalgic memories of youth definitely appear often in NightWaves’ music. Our friends in LexiconDon have a song called ‘Dance Floor Affair’ thats about the power of having a one night, or even one song, intense relationship with someone you’ve just met. NightWaves is always about recalling something primal and emotional from listeners. As far as we’re concerned, the types of emotions you felt when you were a teenager are the purest you can find.
What does your live show set up look like?
Kyle: In terms of technical setup, we’ve got Josh and I with our keyboards running our synths through Logic, and then there’s Dave on a Les Paul guitar, and then there’s a currently unoccupied drumset in the back, haha. Josh and I both have microphones so we can do some dueling vocals.
David: Adding the live guitar and drums definitely bring a rockier, explosive element to the original tracks and it translates really well on stage. We realize the importance of putting on a show. People want to hear flawless well-produced songs, especially in the dance/synth-pop circles, but they’re also there to see a live organic performance. Our set up brings the two together in a way that people don’t usually expect from the original recordings.
NightWaves Performing Live
What’s an instrument neither of you can live without?
Josh: Its hard not to say the soft synths that we write with in Logic. Without them, there would definitely be no NightWaves. That being said, I’ve been writing with an acoustic guitar for over 10 years and even NightWaves most recent single “Sweet Carrie” was written just like that, with an acoustic guitar and a pad of paper. It’s gotta be my Martin acoustic.
Kyle: Hmmm, even though I sadly and apparently can live without my acoustic guitar, which has been put on the shelf for awhile since I’m busy playing synths all the time, if I was on a deserted island and could only have one instrument it would be that. I think acoustic guitars can just build a much stronger bond with their owner. It’s like having a dog that you don’t need to feed or pick up his shit.
What do you have planned for the summer?
Kyle: Man, we’re so pumped for the summer. Well aside from a ton of stuff going on with Binary, NightWaves will be heading out to the East Coast to Josh’s place in Boston so we can sort of get away from all the constant distractions, for lack of a better word, of Binary. The idea is to emerge ourselves in a tranquil place and to just get creative. Kinda like when other bands disappear into the woods for months and emerge with beards and a full length. Except we’re not going into the woods…and we won’t be gone for months…but I could go with the beard thing, that’d be tight.
NightWaves Perform Live
NightWaves Perform Live
