Vita Bergen - Replace

 

1.    Who are these fellas?

Vita Bergen are an electronic indie band from Gothenburg, Sweden who formed in 2010. Replace (Jan'16) bubbles off their debut album Disconnection (Oct'15).


2. What do Vita Bergen have on offer?

Replace is a dark atmospheric dance rock tune that casts a glance to days gone by.


3. Who do Vita Bergen sound like?

Tape TV are sure Replace sounds like Mando Daio and a consensus led by Clash Music think Vita Bergen are generally like Arcade Fire.


4. What have the press said about Vita Bergen's music?

“Driving bass and urgent tempo” – The Revue.

“Grandiose soundscapes sometimes closing in on the bombastic” – Meadow Music.

“Large extravagent instrumentation with a driving rhythm section” – Bedroom Disco.

 

5. Who are Vita Bergen’s influences?

Vita Bergen's main influences are Wolf Parade, Bright Eyes, Okkervil River, Arcade Fire, Neil Young, Pink Floyd and Neil Young.


6. Why should I give Replace a listen?

Replace is a new take on an old electronic goth sound and it does it well. Good for a change of pace.


7. Do Vita Bergen have any more great songs?

Curtains is the best thing Vita Bergen have ever done and was one of the very best indie songs of 2014. Absolute, knock me down dead, brilliance.


8. Any more information about Vita Bergen?

Vita Bergen means white mountain but is not a reference to the park in Stockholm. It is a reference to the mountains of Gothenburg and an allusion to their purity.

Vita Bergen drive a big black Chevy that gets three miles to the gallon.

“We replace ourselves, because the past is binary”

 

 

The Mission are a gothic rock band from Leeds, England, who started in 1986 and are still going strong. They have produced eleven albums in their long history. Carved In Sand (1990) is their most popular. The album had a handful of singles but Deliverance is the fucking killer. Go to the one and a half minute mark for the start of the song. Mental live. Goes right off.

“Surrender to the wisom of age and the spirits of time”

 

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Passion Pit

Passion Pit are super popular. 2012’s Take A Walk has 21 million You Tube plays to date and Carried Away has 11 million. Well Until We Can’t (Let's Go) (Apr’15) is the third single off the new album Kindred (Apr’15) and has only has 350 000 plays so quite a reverse you might imagine. Except while this is another tune that built up slowly on me like dick cheese, this is the best Passion Pit tune by donkeys miles. Even better than February’s release Where The Sky Hangs and that’s saying something. Where The Sky Hangs has a sexy, slinky groove but Until We Can’t (Let's Go) is the peak of a rise, full of jubilant hands in the air excitement. Under The Gun called Until We Can't “a bombastic, synth-heavy dance party” and NPR said it's “a euphoric anthem.”
 

 

Passion Pit is Michael Angelakos, an electric indie-pop musician from Cambridge, Massachusetts who has been putting grooves in vinyl since 2007. He has a four piece touring band. R Kelly and Usher are Mr Angleakos' big influences and he listens to a lot of hip hop and rhythm and blues. His music has been compared to Madeon, Zedd and 1989 era Taylor Swift. Until We Can't (Let's Go) is a song about escaping physical confinement and the positive effect it has on mental well-being. Or, presumably, about how we project negative thoughts on our surroundings. The media like to make a lot out of the fact Michael Angelakos has a bi-polar disorder. Until We Can't is all big synths and drum but it's the singer's phrasing in the bridge that elevates this into the stratosphere. Until We Can't (Let's Go) is as sticky as a gypsy in the tax office and one of the best indie songs of 2015.
 

“Somebody else told me something about
Where you live can cause you suffering”

 

 

Shit you need to know:

Exclaim called Until You Can’t (Let’s Go) “a bombastic tune” and Consequence of Sound were sure it's the best track on the album.

Until We Can't (Let's Go) was compared to Sun City by Indie Shuffle.

Lotus Land called the new long player Kindred, "the quintessence of joy" and Spin said it's “joyfully, euphorically saccharine.”

Not everyone has a hard-on for the band. Rolling Stone thought it's, “so relentlessly up, it starts to feel suffocating,” and Slant Magazine condemned it as “insufferably smug.”

Phoenix is one of Michael Angelakos's favorite bands and the whole band love Michael Jackson.

Passion Pit covered the Smashing Pumpkin’s iconic Tonight, Tonight in 2010.

The band’s name, Passion Pit, refers to drive-in movie theatres.

 

 

The double dip is random as fuck. An indie pop gem from English indie-pop duo Summer Camp. Bad Love (May’15) is the title track from their third long album.
 

“My love was tainted, my love was flawed”


 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - San Cisco

San Cisco released Run on Nov ’14 so there’s that but, as it was the shock troops of a triumvirate of triumphant singles from their shit-hot 2015 album Gracetown (April'15), let’s roll on. San Cisco are an indie pop band from Fremantle, West Australia, and like skate-boarding and gaming. They have been compared to The Drums, The Flaming Lips and Vampire Weekend. Their influences are MGMT, Vampire Weekend and The Flaming Lips. The AU Review said Run is "...a classic, upbeat indie bop-along track indicative of the infectious grooves that the band has become known for..." and the album Gracetown is "...a record that is fresh and exciting, while still paying homage to the unique sound..."

 

Run is another song that grew on me slowly like cock rot. It's got this funky, heavy breathing for percussion and a fat beat that minds more than a smidge of Gorillaz Feel Good Inc and somehow I conflated the Isabella of this tune with Arabella in the Arctic Monkey's song. Easy done. Anyway the song is about chasing a lady above your weight-class. The band have said Run is "...a darker, dancier number than usual..." and has a "bangin riff." It does, it bangs harder than sailor in Bangkok on two days leave. With a fat groove and some dirty guitars in support Run is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“Gave my heart to Isabella,
She's bad news but I'm no better”


 

 

Shit you need to know:

Run is the lead single from San Cisco's second album Gracetown.

The three men in the band went to school together and played in school bands.

The band were originally known as King George but a survey of friends and family persuaded them to change it to San Cisco, because it has a “clean slate.”

When The Gramophone Rings said Run is "a fun and flirty tune" and "the perfect dash of summer warmth."

Gracetown was produced by Steve Schram who has bent his back for bands like Paul Kelly, Little Birdy, The Cat Empire and Shihad.



Songs that Run is similar to are Al Bairre Bungalow, The 1975 Chocolate, and The Jungle Giants She’s A Riot and Sweet Emotion by The Kooks according to Indie Shuffle.

I was minded of Chet Faker's Drop The Game, Flume's Holdin On and Passion Pit's Where The Sky Hangs.

Bass player Nick Gardner accidentally shot himself in the foot when rabbit shooting at a friend's farm.

In 2013 San Cisco toured the US on fluffer duty for The Vaccines.

The band have a popular cover of Daft Punk's Lucky recorded on iconic radio program Like A Version on Australia's Triple J (2013).

If you need more of San Cisco's sweet goodness try the sublime Magic, fantastic Too Much Time Together or the wonderful Bitter Winter.

 

Slippery seconds is from Brooklyn indie pop duo Matt and Kim. The couple have been making sweet music together since 2004 and quickly found mass popularity, touring in 2013 with Passion Pit and fronting Fall Out Boy shows in 2014. Matt and Kim have five albums on the shelf and Hey Now came bubbling off their fifth New Glow (2015) and will make you jump around like you've got a ferret in your pants and it's commando Monday.

“Oh you’re the troubles that I always find

But if you died I’d die right by your side”