Royal Canoe - Walk Out On The Water

1.    Who are the lads?

Royal Canoe are an indie pop band from Winnipeg, Canada. They have been making tunes to get down to since 2010. Walk Out On The Water (Sept'16) is a single from their third album Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit (Sept'16). 

2. What have they got to shout about?

Walk Out On The Water burbles along saturated in saccharine-sweet pop and unremarkable until the gospel chorus arrives. And it's a beauty. Like a fat rail; instant gratification and you'll be coming back for more far too soon.

3. Who do Royal Canoe sound like? 

The tune minds of Strangers You Know, The Young Wild or even Yeasayer.  Indie Shuffle were feeling tUnE-yArDs, Mura Masa and Hozier. Opinions. Everyone's got one.

4. What have the pricks in the press said about Walk Out On The Water?

“Fun, experimental surprises” – Ride The Tempo. 

“The chorus provides a hook that runs through your mind for hours” – The Nu World. 

“A pretty unique sound” – Indie Shuffle.

5. Which bands have put the soul into Royal Canoe?

The big influences on Royal Canoe are Beck, The Knife and Outkast. Dr Dre and Snoop Dog are thereabouts too. 

6. Why should I give Walk Out On The Water a moment of my precious time?

Indie pop. Gospel. That's the good stuff right there. A song with emotional haft and to get you on the good foot too. The chorus is a treasure.

7. Do Royal Canoe have any more good songs?

Not for my money.

8. Any more words muppet?

The album Something Lost Between Here And There was co-produced between the band and Ben H Allen who has done nine to five for Cee Lo Green, Bombay Bicycle Club. M.I.A. and Deerhunter among others. 

“I’m strong enough to bleed”

Only Real is Niall Galvin, an indie pop rock musician with a fat wedge of hip hop elements in his music. His music is similar to Beck and he has mad love for Kanye West, Dangermouse and Grimes as well as guitar music. Only Real have released one album, Jerk At The End Of The Line (2015). On that album is You Can't Get Happy, one of two hit songs off the album and a song that Stereogum described as “melodic rap sung lyrics while riding a dreamy pop groove.”

“Do you think of me at all?”

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Kid Astray

Kid Astray It’s Alright (March'15) is fucking good times brilliant. Good enough to make a dead man dance. It starts with the perfect set up. Thirty seconds of near unaccompanied laidback singing, a little guitar plucking and synth build up then the rhythm section give it some tits and at the one minute mark the climatic all in. Arses are shaking and pussies aching. Choruses like this need to be carved in marble for future civilisations to understand the unalloyed joy of using up all the oil. Bag this tune and sell it on the corner. It’s instant happy.

No shortage of synth but it ain’t too soft Goldilocks. Just enough guitar to edge the tune close enough to indie rock that you won’t lose your street cred blasting it from your car stereo. A tune about overcoming the demons of your past, Elizabeth Wu’s voice is nigh on angelic, and provides a superb counter point to Benjamin Giortz’s more earthy lead. All told this banger is as sticky as a pre-schooler’s hands after going to the toilet and dimes to dollars you can bet this is one of the best fucking indie songs of 2015.

“You keep blinding me, with your own stupidity

It makes me curious, how you get so furious,

But it’s alright, you are gonna make it alright…”

 
Kid Astray are an indie pop band from Sandvika, a town close to Oslo, Norway. They started making sweet music in high school and this is the second offering off their debut album Home Before Dark (June’15).

Shit you need to know:

Kid Astray’s  main influences are Passion Pit, Foster the People and The Wombats. Kid Astray also wouldn't kick Michael Jackson out of the bed for getting frisky and like 80's and 90's synth pop.

The drummer’s mom’s punk band are an inspiration.

The band met and started playing together in high school. One was a Vogue model, another a junior golf champion and another a piano prodigy.

If you're looking for another Kid Astray cracker try Still Chasing Nothing.

 

Here is the Australian indie funk rockers Bluejuice and I'll Go Crazy (2014).