Author Archive
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Today’s daily sound is another rewind, as I am dipping back into my collection to pull out one of my personal favorites. This track is by Broder Daniel, a Swedish indie-rock band that enjoyed a bit of whirlwind success back in the early 90s, fueling them through a career that would last somewhere around two decades, despite the fact is came on mostly in fits and starts. Like many rock acts before them, they are probably remembered as much for their volatile instability as anything else, but if you ask me, their music is much more interesting than all of the drama, breakups and A Clockwork Orange inspired fashion statements.
Tags: Broder Daniel, Cruel Town, indie-rock, Shoreline, Swedish
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Three years without any new Jens Lekman material can feel a lot more like thirty, but the Swedish indie-pop sensation has finally returned to croon his way back into all of our hardened hearts. So where has he been hiding all of this time, you ask? Well sadly, it would seem that the breakout success [...]
Tags: baroque, chamber-pop, indie-pop, Jens Lekman, Swedish, The End of the World is Bigger Than Love
Posted in Music News | No Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
It seems like it’s been a minute since a New Zealand indie act really came along and made some waves, but The Naked and Famous are likely to be the band to change all that. These crafty youngsters have been diligently honing their craft for a couple of years now, but it’s this recently certified summer jam that made the worldwide web finally sit up and take some notice. I guess there’s just no room left to hide when your latest release debuts at #1 on the New Zealand single charts.
Tags: electro-pop, indie-pop, New Zealand, synth-pop, The Naked and Famous, Young Blood
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Back when I first fell upon Karl X Johan’s Flames, I commented that the song did not at all sound like the work of two musicians just now making their debut. Little did I know at the time just how spot on that observation actually was. Turns out Karl x Johan is the joint venture of established electronic musician Kalle J (who apparently brings his love for sampled strings in tow) and former Nicolas Makelberge vocalist Johan Tuvesson, which is all information that I would’ve easily discovered with even a tiny bit of elbow grease. And to make matters worse, I actually had some of Nicolas Mackelberge’s serene synth-pop already floating about in my collection all the while.
Tags: electro-pop, italo disco, Johan Tuvesson, Kalle J, Karl X Johan, Nicolas Makelberge, Swedish, synth-pop
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
LA’s Active Child (otherwise known as Pat Grossi) is another one of those names that has become impossible to escape this year, but for pretty damn good reason. His atypical interpretation of the synth-pop genre is mighty refreshing, even in the midst of the huge boom we currently find ourselves in, leveraging unexpected sounds like elegant harp and his own mesmerizing falsetto in ways that are sure to haunt more than a few of your dreams. It’s not exactly the kind of music that needs much expanding upon, if any, but that sure as hell didn’t stop remix junkies Classixx from transforming his simmering analog ballad When Your Love Is Safe into one of the reworkings of the year.
Tags: 80s, Active Child, Classixx, electro-pop, freestyle, new wave, remix, synth-pop, When Your Love Is Safe
Posted in Daily Sound | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
My geek pride took a massive hit when I didn’t attend San Diego Comic-con this year, but at least with the internet around I can sort of feel like I did (it’s much less exciting this way, but it smells better by at least a little). Without a doubt, one of the most epic moments of the con was the reveal of this absolutely massive trailer for AMC’s upcoming series The Walking Dead, and now thanks to the work of one aspiring videographer, we can all bask in its YouTube glory (that is until the suits claw their way to it).
Tags: AMC, Frank Darabont, SDCC, The Walking Dead, trailer
Posted in Film + TV News | No Comments »
Monday, July 26th, 2010
2010 is starting to feel so much like the 80s, I constantly have to stop myself from waking up early on Saturday mornings in hopes of catching the latest edition of the Saturday Supercade (the Supercade being the only reason I’d ever get up early on a weekend to begin with). And even with his debut album, Forget, still a few months off, New York’s Twin Shadow (otherwise known as George Lewis Jr.) is as responsible for this glorious moment in time as anyone, thanks entirely to a string of stunning sneak peeks that have been trickling out since the beginning of the year.
Tags: Forget, I Can't Wait, new wave, Slow, synth-pop, Twin Shadow, Video
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
I don’t know much about the man behind Dreamtrak studios in London, but I do know that he keeps himself plenty busy amassing his own little musical empire. When not tackling recording sessions for all manner of indie acts, he somehow finds the time to run his very own record label and crank out remix after remix along the way (apparently he’s looking to give the Buffetlibre boys a run for their money). While I can’t say I love every single song he touches (at least not the ones that go deep into the heart of techno country), when he takes aim straight for the pop music jugular, it is another story entirely. When it comes to constructing an unforgettable hook, this guy knows a thing or two about a thing or two.
Tags: 80s, balearic, Bodebrixen, Cover the Walls, Dreamtrak Studios, I Was Sad & You Were Lonely, indie-pop, Internet Forever, new wave, remix, synth-pop
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
If you’ve been patiently waiting the two years it took for Ra Ra Riot to drum up some new material, this week has surely turned out to be a good one. I know if I had come around to their greatness back when my best girl had originally given me the heads up, I would be positively chomping at the bit by now to take a listen to Boy, the just released lead single from their upcoming sophomore album, The Orchard.
Tags: baroque, Boy, chamber-pop, indie-pop, indie-rock, Ra Ra Riot, The Orchard
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Though I’ve made fairly frequently mention of Hurts around these parts, they’re far from the only sharply-dressed 80s revivalists currently blazing a path across England. In fact, Brighton’s Mirrors have been cutting off their piece off that tasty pie for well over two years now, having risen from the ashes of former NME darlings Mumm-Ra (no doubt shortly after Juno went and made the Thundercats so horribly uncool). But even with only an EP and a handful of singles under their belt, it’s already incredibly clear that indie-rock’s loss is most definitely synth-pop’s gain.
Tags: 80s, electro-pop, England, Hide and Seek, Mirrors, Mumm-ra, new wave, synth-pop
Posted in Daily Sound | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Baltimore’s Future Islands are the second band in recent memory who deserved so much more attention than I gave them the first go around. And if it wasn’t for the fact that I happen to know an ex-Maryland native with fantastic taste in music, that might never have changed. Well, thank goodness for friends, because now you couldn’t pry their melodrama-prone post-punk from my cold, dead hands, try as you might! In fact, the more cold and dead your hands are, the more you’re probably going to love these guys.
Tags: Future Islands, In Evening Air, new wave, post-punk, synth-pop, Tin Man
Posted in Daily Sound | 4 Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
If anyone can create a film about Facebook that’s actually worth sitting through, it’s probably David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. Prior to the release of this trailer for the The Social Network, there’s was approximately no part of me that had even a little interest in witnessing the meteoric rise of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but apparently Fincher and Sorkin are so goddamn smart, they know what I want even when I don’t!
Posted in Film + TV News | 2 Comments »
