Houndmouth - This Party

1.    Who? 

Houndmouth are an indie/folk rock band from New Albany, Indiana. This Party (May’18) is the lead single from their third album Golden Age (August’18).

2. What? 

This Party is quite a departure from Houndmouth's roots/rock sound, instead embracing a pop/rock song that rests on an electronic dance groove.


3. Who do Handmouth sound like?

Generally Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats or The Oh Hellos. Specifically Passion Pit or Gorillaz. 


4. What have they said about This Party in the press?  

“High energy and ultra-melodic” – Broadway World. 

“A synth-laden fusion of pop and rock” – Mxdwn. 

“Much stronger electronic influence” – Paste. 

5. Which bands have influenced Houndmouth? 

The Band, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, and Green Day. 

6. Why should I listen to This Party?

Because you need a light rock moment with a couple of hooks and a sticky chorus. Because of the way Houndmouth take it down to a whisper in the breakdown before the all-in chorus.

7. What other bangers do Houndmouth have? 

Sedona. 

8. Any last words?

This Party is produced by Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Lemon Twigs) and Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War On Drugs).

The Oh Hellos are an indie folk rock band from San Marcos, Texas. The brother and sister band started making music together in 2011 and have recorded three albums and four E.P's. The Oh Hellos are influenced by Los Compesinos!, The Pogues, and Mumford & Sons. Torches (Nov'17) was the lead single for their third album Notos (Dec'17). Torches is a bombastic indie folk song that builds with strings and is given punch by the gang vocals.

San Cisco - SloMo

1.    Who are they? 

San Cisco are an indie pop band from Perth, Australia. SloMo (Oct’16) is the second single from their as yet unnamed third album due in early 2017.

2. What have they got?

SloMo is a bouncy little effort of white boy funk with indie vocals. A party tune. 

3. Who do San Cisco sound like? 

Passion Pit, Grouplove and Capital Cities. 

4. What have the illustrious members of the press said about SloMo?

“Infectiously groovy” – East Of The 8th.

“A slick, funky effort” – Music Feeds.

“It darts and swaggers” – Triple J.

5. Which bands have influenced San Cisco?

Their main influences are The Turtles, The Beatles, MGMT, Vampire Weekend and The Flaming Lips. 

6. Why should I give SloMo a lash?

Because it's funky, fun and forgettable. 

7. Do San Cisco have any other good songs?

Run is the really good one and sounds like something Gorillaz would be proud of. Bitter Winter and Too Much Time Together and the quirky indie pop side of things. Lovely. 

8.Any more words?

The bass player in the band shot himself in the foot while rabbit shooting.

“We get tied up in the moment”

Carl Barat and The Jackals released their debut album Let It Reign (2015) before Carl Barat went back to the circle jerk that is The Libertines. Carl has a fondness for bands like The Clash, The Velvet Underground and Nirvana. One of three singles off Let It Reign was Glory Days, a song The Guardian called “a guttural, Clash-like, homage” from an album NME felt “crackles with delinquent fervor.” Glory Days is an apocalyptic rocker with a ska undertone and a fucking belter to boot.

“You can say goodbye to the last gang in town”

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”

Yeasayer - Silly Me

 

 

 

1.    Who are these lads?

Yeasayer are an experimental rock band from Brooklyn, New York. They started there journey together in 2006 and have delivered four albums. The fourth long player Amen & Goodbye (April’16) delivered the third champion single Silly Me (March’16).


  2. What kind of cow are Yeasayer milking?

More indie pop than rock, and more ‘hit the nail on the head’ than experimental, Silly Me is a bouncy electronic pop number more contagious than a kindergartener’s hands during a flu epidemic.
 

3. Who do Yeasayer sound like?

Passion Pit. Indie Shuffle think Silly Me sounds like Wolf Parade, Animal Collective and Menomena. DIY were thinking Beck.


4. What do the brigands in the press have to say about Silly Me?

“A starry-eyed, energetic synth-rocker” – Stereogum.

“Ruffled-hair guitar line soon meets up with heart-stopping drum parts, wild instrumentation and synth lines” – DIY.

“Upbeat and energetic” – Pigeons and Planes.

 

 

5. Who puts the sparkle in Yeasayer’s eyes?

 

Yeasayer are influenced by classic sixties rock and 90’s alternative rock like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Beck. Yeasayer have also talked about having love for Bollywood soundtracks from the 70s, Mapfumo records, and Celtic music. On a prior record they mentioned mad love for Ace Of Base.
 

6. Why should I give Silly Me a rattle past the ear holes?

 

Silly Me is fabulous fun, instant pop gratification and a dance floor filler. Hot love and no tease.

 

 

7. Do Yeasayer have any more crackers?

 

 I Am Chemistry the first single off Amen & Goodbye is a bit of a tripper but fits the bill.

 

 

8. Any more eddifying facts and figures to share with the masses?

Amen & Goodbye was produced by Joey Waronker from Atoms For Peace and ex-drummer for Beck, Smashing Pumpkins and R.E.M.

 

“Need to practice my apologies,

Swear not to disagree anymore”

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Slippery seconds is served courtesy of Youth Club an indie dance pop band from Southend, England. Starting in 2013 the band have two E.P.'s to their name and two singles. One of the singles, a double A side with Pressure, is DTLA  (Nov'15) and it's a killer track. Described by Indietronica as mixing “guitar licks, electronic keys and R’n’D vocals to create crisp, dance oriented pop.” Not just popping harder than a nun's cherry DTLA has a bass string guitar undercurrent and is as smooth as a Compton pimp. Get some love.

 

“If it rains that can only mean there will be rainbows”

 

 

  

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Flor

Get Behind This (Jan’15) is a synth driven indie dance tune that starts out a mite melancholy over the ashes of a fire. But by chorus time its hands in the air, let’s get retarded, happy good times and that transition is gold. Sure as shit you’ll find your head nodding and toes tapping of their own volition. This bauble is as infectious as chlamydia’s dick and that’s enough to make it one of the best indie songs of 2015.

 

 

An ephemeral track with the nutritional value of cotton candy, yet it captures the zeitgeist of West coast indie synth pop; uplifting, joyful, all drum machine, synths and girly man vocals. While some may rail against the pussy nature of this tune and dimes to dollars no one out there is carving ‘Flor4real’ into their arm with a knife after the life changing experience of hearing this indie dance pop tune, that doesn’t mean this is anything less than top shelf indie.

“I guess I never thought,

anything good could come from the dead and gone”

 

 

Get Behind This is the third track off Flor’s first short player Sounds (Feb’15). The band sing out of Los Angeles by way of Hood River, Oregon and got started in 2014.

Shit you need to know:
 

Flor are currently touring with Young Rising Sons.

People have made comparisons to Passion Pit and Two Door Cinema.

Broods, Smallpools and Oh Wonder all have songs they love.
 
Heart and Back Again are the other Flor songs that don’t suck hairy balls even if they do.

 

Well seeing as you’ve been warmed up goes to one of the greatest Canadian indie rock bands of all time Sloan and this fucking great rocker Unkind (2011). Bit of a manly palate cleanser.