STRFKR - Never Ever

1.    Who are these grips? 

STRFKR or Starfucker are an indie synth/pop/rock band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 2007 they have recorded five albums. Never Ever (Feb'16) is the first single to slide off their fifth album Being None, Going Nowhere (Nov'16).  

2. What kind of tune have they rustled up? 

Never Ever is a smooth slip of toe-tapping synth-pop that slinks along without piercing your consciousness. Head-nodding, bum-bouncing, bubblegum.

3. Who do STRFKR sound like?

MGMT. Indie Shuffle  compared Never Ever to Of Montreal, Discovery and Van She.

4. What is the good word from the press? 

“An infectious sing-along melody” – Hypetrak. 

“Bursting with their signature danceablity” – Transversomedia.

“Warm, gooey, synth-heavy indie-pop” – W Week.

5. Who put the bounce into STRFKR? 

Some of the band's influences are hip-hop (Gucci Mane, BigBoi), punk (Fugazi, Nirvana) and pop (Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper) and synth-pop (Giorgio Moroder and New Order).

6. Why should I give Never Ever a spin on the jukebox?

Never Ever has a cerebral, body-moving, groove.

7. Do STRFKR have any more good songs?

Boy Toy is the one you want. Chaotic, spacey and concise synth-pop.

8. Anything else muppet?

No sir.

“Soft velvet and candle light,

Little fears that you keep inside”

Vance Joy is Australian indie folk pop musician James Keogh. His debut album Dream Your Life Away (2014) was an immediate success topping the charts in Australian and making it into the top ten in many other countries. Vance Joy sounds like Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran and Boy & Bear. Some of his influences are Paul Kelly, The Pogues and The Whitlams. The second single off Dream Your Life Away was the hugely successful single Riptide (2013). The tune made it to number one on the U.S alternative charts, top 10 in the U.K and became the longest charting single in Australian history. Riptide has sold a million copies worldwide and has 140 million YouTube plays. It's an intimate, acoustic song and catchy as chlamydia. 

“I was scared of dentists and the dark,

 I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations”

Only Yours - Different

1.    Who are these bearded bros? 

Only Yours are an indie post pop band from Toronto, Canada. Different (June'16) is their debut single. 

2. What have they got to offer?

Different isn't. It's all the retro sounds of eighties pop with a vague indie bent circa 2000's. That's what makes it so good. It's like the musical equivalent of candy floss. You don't feel good about loving it, you know that shit ain't good for you, but you want it bad.

3. Who do Only Yours sound like? 

Kings of Leon. SHIELDS. Passion Pit. 

4. What have the goon squad said about Different?

“Bouncing bass synth drives this nostalgic summer anthem” – Indie 88.

“All hooks, a bold chorus and a glistening verse” – Clash Music. 

“Lush contemporary electro-pop textures meet in the middle with new-wave rhythms” – Dusty Organ. 

5. Which band have put the syrup in Only Yours?

Only Yours are influenced by The Cure, Tears For Fears, Beyonce, Rihanna and Drake. 

6. Why should I give Different a play?

The chorus is as clingy as a girlfriend meeting your better looking ex at a party. Tight.

7. Do Only Yours have any other good tunes? 

Debut single, mind. 


8. Any more words peanut? 

Different was produced by Leon Taheny who has put his nose to the grind for Weaves, Death From Above 1979, Tokyo Police Club and Metz to name but a few.

“The city looks soft through rosy glass,

The night feels young but it moves so fast”

Emigrate are an alternative hard rock band from New York, New York. They were formed in 2007 and have two albums behind them. The bands front man Richard Z Kruspe is a guitarist in Rammstein. The bands second album Silent So Long (2014) included collaborations with a variety of artists (Lemmy, Marilyn Manson, Peaches) but in particular the lead single on the album Eat You Alive featured Frank Delle from the German dancehall band Seeed. Eat You Alive is a hard charging rock song with hints of punk, bombast and sex.

“Getting it deeper than hell in a hole”

Broods - Free

1.    Who are they?

Broods are an indie electro-pop band from Auckland, New Zealand, who fight out of Los Angeles, California. Playing since 2013 they have one long player in the vault. Free (April'16) is the lead single from their as yet unnamed second album.


2. What kind of tune is on offer?

Free is a pure pop ego booster led by Georgia Watts varied vocals and a bombastic, yet brooding bed of synths.


3. Who do Broods sound like?

DIY compared Free to Chvrches.


4. What is the good word from the press?
 
“A big burst of synth-pop, wrapped in meaty chords and dark undertones” – Indie Current.

“Broods go straight for the jugular” – Clash Music.

“A turbo-charged banger” – DIY.

5. Which bands put the passion and prance in Broods’ pop?

Broods influences are Bat For Lashes, Imogen Heap, Lykke Li, Banks, Danger Mouse and Gnarls Barkley.


6. Why should I give Free a twirl?

Free is a pop banger co-written and produced by Joel Little who put his shoulder to the wheel for Lorde. Everyone loves Lorde right? You know what Swifty says, don't be a hater.


7. Do Broods have any more blinders?

Free is the best.


8. Any more words fool?

Broods will be supporting Ellie Golding on some of her North American dates later this year.

Brother and sister Caleb and Georgia Nott grew up in a musical family that played in an ABBA tribute band.

 

“Don’t want your opinion or your fee”

 

North Shore Pony Club are from Auckland, New Zealand. Starting in 2005 the indie electronic dance-pop duo have only one self-titled EP to their name, North Shore Pony Club (2006) and a couple of singles. Sex, Drugs & A Drum Machine (2010) is a party anthem, a chaotic dance floor filler and eblematic of North Shore Pony Club's off-kilter genius. The Corner called North Shore Pony Club, “sassy as hell” and “decent”.

“Yeah bitches I’m living the dream”

 

Coast Modern - Animals

 

 

 

 

1.    Who are these likely looking lads?

Coast Modern are an indie pop band from Los Angeles, California, that started in 2015. Animals (Feb’16) is Coast Modern's second single.


2. What kind of treat are Coast Modern offering?

Animals is a relaxed slow burner with a campfire sing-along vibe that grows on you while the tune has a sly dig at our base instincts.


3. Who do Coast Modern sound like?

Indie Shuffle compared Animals to BORNS, Generationals and The Little Ones.

4. What have the press said about Animals?

“Anthermic and boisterous” – Indie Shuffle.

“Light hearted bounce and a soaring melody” – Pigeons and Planes.

“Clacking percussion and synth excitement” – Consequence Of Sound.

5. Who puts the bubble in Coast Modern’s pop?

Coast Modern’s influences are Weezer, T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Mozart and sixties girl groups.


6. Why should I give Animals a lash?

The loosey goosey, carefree musical atmosphere grows on you. Repeat lashings are in your future.


7. Do Coast Modern have any more goodies?

Animals is the gold standard.


8. Any more words?

Coast Modern said, “ ‘Animals’ poses questions I think we all ask ourselves about what we’re doing with our lives, and explores the struggle between animal desires and actualization of a higher self.”

Coast Modern are fluffing for BORNS this May.

“I’ll be an animal ‘till I die”

 

 

Dessert is served by The Sam Roberts band. A Canadian indie rock band from West Mount, Quebec, Sam Roberts has six long players on his roll of honor and his debut album The Inhuman Condition (2001) was one of the biggest selling independent releases in Canadian history. The Last Crusade (2011) was the first American single from Sam Robert’s fourth album Collider (2011) and was described as “a jammy bassline and some 70’s riffs”.

“Gotta keep on, gotta keep on,

Till the ghosts of war come marching in”

 

 

Ra Ra Riot - Absolutely

 

 

 

 



1. Who are they?

Ra Ra Riot are an indie synth pop band from Syracuse, New York. Absolutely (Jan’16) is the second single that comes dancing and prancing off their fourth album Need Your Light (Feb’16).

2.   What kind of tune is Absolutely?
 

Seize the day, boundless optimism, bouncy dance synth pop with jangly guitar and violins to add some substance.

 

3.   Who do Ra Ra Riot sound like?
 

Absolutely sounds like every other synth pop song. Oh specifics. Well Passion Pit. Doesn't everything? Definitly a bit of Selaphonic and Prides. The band have been compared to Vampire Weekend. Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles went to elementary school with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and they played in bands together.

Others similar artists are Tokyo Police Club and of course Discovery who Wes Miles formed with Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend.

 

4.  Who are Ra Ra Riot's influences?
 

In a 2010 interview Ra Ra Riot mention The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Etta James, Kate Bush and Dolly Parton. They have also given a shout out to Paul McCartney and U2. Their facebook page lists bands they like are Tokyo Police Club, Vampire Weekend, Princeton, Maps & Atlases, Givers and Delicate Steve. Genesis were also singled out on an earlier album.

5. What’s the good word from the press?

“Ebullient,” gushed Stereogum after searching their thesaurus. Consequence of Sound managed to string a sentence together, feeling that Absolutely is "a synth pop whirl wind that asks us to seize 2016 without hesitation." On the topic of the new album Need Your Light, Aisle 5 felt that "it looks towards the future with an optimistic gaze" and is "an album that is celebratory without being saccharine."

 

6. Why should I listen to Absolutely?

 Absolutely is so upbeat it should be illegal and sold on street corners. It feels so good you should find it should find it in an adult store. It's an indie pop anthem.

 

7.   What other good tunes do Ra Ra Riot have?
 

So you still wanna riot? Start with Beta Love for more of the same happy synth pop. Dying Is Fine is a brilliant indie pop rocker and last but not least the first single off the new album, Water, is a slower, more deep and meaningful track.

 

8. Anything else I should know?

Need Your Light was produced by Ryan Hadlock who has broken rocks in the hot sun for The Lumineers and Vance Joy.

Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend produced and co-wrote two of the songs on the album and sang on the first single Water.

Ra Ra Riots second album was mixed by Chris Walla who did production on The Thermals new album We Disappear (March’16).

“Break, break, breaking free

No gravity is keeping me down”

 

The double team is from Discovery the indie electronic pop collaboration between Wes Miles and Rostam Batmanglij. Swing Tree (2010) is a sweet little leccy number.