Pop Cult - Sunday Mourning

1.    Who are these rock heroes? 

Behold the majesty of Pop Cult an indie rock-revivalist band from the Sunshine Coast, Australia. The champs have had their shoulder to the musical wheel since 2015 and Sunday Mourning (Sept'16) is their third nugget of gold. Sunday Mourning is the lead single from Pop Cult's debut E.P. Cult Classics (Nov’16). 

2. What kind of magic are they weaving this time around?

Sunday Mourning is gentle pop-rock comedown music that slides quietly along infecting your soul. Harks back to English indie of the 90's and grunge in equal measure.

3. Who do Pop Cult sound like? 

The Smashing Pumpkins, The Las, Primal Scream, Oasis, The Who and The Rolling Stones.

4. What have the freedom fighters in the press said about Sunday Mourning?

“Pretty and melodic on the surface but dealing with darker themes underneath” – The Music.

“Quirky indie music that gets stuck in your head” – UK Mix Forums.

“A great pop song with the catchiest of hooks” – Third Outing.

5. Which bands are Pop Cult followers of?

Some of the main Pop Cult influences are E.L.O. , T. Rex, The Velvet Underground, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub.  


6. Why should I give Sunday Mourning a whirl?

Because you love 90's indie and grunge and need a comedown melody.


7. Do Pop Cult have any other good tunes?

Fuck yes. Feels Right is a Primal Scream-esque, gospel tinged, retro-classic. Gotta Keep Lovin' is a cruisy indie rocker with a healthy lash of Madchester. 

8. Any more words chief?

Not a dilly.

“It’s Sunday morning and I feel so low” 

The Picturebooks are a German garage blues-rock duo. Playing together since 2005 they have five long players on the books. The Picturebooks mind of The Kills, The Black Keys or The White Stripes; but with grit. Your Kisses Burn Like Fire is the lead single from the album Imaginary Horse. Punk News called the album “vicious, modern rock and roll” and New Noise Magazine said the song, “oozes sensuality, starting slow and smooth before rising into a roaring climax, that levels off again into a wave of dirty blues rock.”

“Drunk and sunken pride”

Pop Cult - Feels Right

1.    Who are these foot soldiers of rock’n’roll?

Pop Cult are an indie rock band from Queensland, Australia. Feels Right (March'16) is the second single to soar off their as yet unnamed debut EP.


2. What’s cooking?

Feels Right slides along all retro trippy English inde vibes, heavy bass and background guitar flourishes. The chorus steps it on up and it goes a little gospel in the breakdown with handclaps. Familar but new.


3. Who do Pop Cult sound like?

Primal Scream, Teenage Fan Club and a splash of The Happy Mondays. Rolling Stone Australia were feeling Oasis and The Who. Trippers.


4. What have the press said about Feels Right?

“On the fast track to become Aussie indie rock royalty” – AAA Backstage.

“Oozing early 90’s rock, easy guitars and gospel type harmonies” – Rabbit Radio.

“The chorus is an absolute belter” – Adam Not Eve.

5. Which bands put the belt into Pop Cult’s belters?

Pop Cult’s main influences are The Velvet Undergound, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and Electric Light Orchestra.


6. Why should I give Feels Right a rumble?

Feels Right pushes all the right retro-nineties buttons with fresh excitement and a message about rising up for the good fight.


7. Do Pop Cult have any more good ones?

The first single Gotta Keep Lovin' is a lovely little number with more easy-going English indie stylings.


8. Any more words?

Elliot Heinrich has said Feels Right is a “gospel jam, with a subversive social commentary. We’re encouraged to be passive and accept the way things are, but our generation have more power than ever to question and change things.”
 

“Do what feels wrong until it feels right”

Primal Scream are an indie rock band from Glascow, Scotland. Formed in 1982 they have eleven long players in the vault and are still going strong. Screamadelica (1991) is their most popular album, selling 3 million copies, and Movin On Up is track one on the album. Pitchfork called Movin’ On Up an “immense dance-rock single” and Sreamadelica “half strutting with confidence, half yearning for transcendence.”

“I’m moving on up now, getting out of the darkness”

The Best Indie Tunes of 2014 - The New Pornographers

 

 

 

 

The New Pornographer’s Dancehall Domine (Oct'14) has a rolly chorus to make you bop along. Keyboards reminiscent of The Doors and indie guitar of The Killers. It’s contradictory, both an eclectic and by the numbers indie rocker and a song Slant Magazine called an "unabashedly classic-rock sound rave up."

 

The New Pornographers and been mixing it up since 1999 and  Dancehall Domine is from their sixth haymaker Brill Bruisers (Aug’14). The New Pornographers fight out of Vancouver, Canada.

The New Pornographers are influenced by ELO and wanted this album to emulate the comic greatness of Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

The New Pornographers greatest victories are War On The East Coast, My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism, Twin Cinema, Sing Me Spanish Techno and Your Daddy Don’t Know. All orgasmic tracks.
 

Sloppy seconds goes to British new wave band Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Rocket Miss USA from their debut album, and only album that matters, Flaunt It (1986). Sigue Sigue Sputnik were famous for their cypber punk fashion, synth inspired techno beats and punk riffs. 

Flaunt It is an album New Noise Magazine said is "a groundbreaking release that anticipated the rise of sampling and the eventual marriage of rock and high tech." But I have included it here because it's funny as a facial and they inspired the latest New Pornographers album.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen,

There are seven wonders in the world,

You are about to witness the eight one"