Goodnight Lenin - Portrait Of Youth

1.    Who are Goodnight Lenin?

Goodnight Lenin are an indie rock band from Birmingham, England. They have been together since 2011 and have one album in the bag. Portrait Of Youth (March’17) is a standalone single. 

2. Is Portrait Of Youth any good? 

Yeah. A slow, ponderous piano intro sets an epic tone to a melancholic build up to a furious strum out. It's a special kind of guitar driven indie heaven but if it's you, it's you. Try out Portrait Youth. 

3. Who do Goodnight Lenin sound like? 

The War On Drugs, The Airborne Toxic Event, and (an Irish) Bruce Springsteen. 

4. What is the word from the press about Portrait Of Youth? 

“Authentic and raw” – And So She Thinks.

“A rock anthem in the making” – Counter Act. 

“Splicing alt-country DNA with an almost punk spirit” – The Hearing Aid.

5. Which bands inspired Goodnight Lenin? 

Some of their main influences are Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Father John Misty, and Fleet Foxes. 


6. Why should I give Portrait Of Youth a spin?

Because you like a bit of Irish. Because you like an epic. Because you won't hear this on the radio. 


7. What are Goodnight Lenin's best songs?

Desire is good. 


8. Any more words? 

Legs.

“The greatest weight is a heavy mind”

Bonaparte is the Swiss indie rock/electronic musician Tobias Jundt who lives in Berlin, Germany. He is similar to Frizka Viljor and I Heart Sharks. Fuck Your Accent (April'17) is a single from his fifth album The Return Of Stravinsky Wellington (June'17). Bonaparte is an eccentric musical genius who produces quirky pop gems and if you don't like the instant, but disposable, charm of FYA try the maudlin slow burn of Melody X. 

“Don’t understand half the words you say,

I love how you say it anyway”

The Best Indie Tunes of 2014 - Strand of Oaks

Strand of Oaks Goshen’97 (Apr’14) is insistent, raw and emotive. Wailing guitars provide the intro and then it's more guitar galore, more rock than indie and more story-telling than big chorus indie pop. Think The Hold Steady, The Gaslight Anthem or The Airborne Toxic Event and The Boss most obviously.

Music for the top six inches not the six between your legs.

 

 

Strand of Oaks are singer/songwriter Timothy Showalter’s project. He plays out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  and has four albums under his belt. 

This missive is from the fourth album HEAL (June’14).

Showalter declares himself “so into U2” and but there are a lot of folk influences in there too.

Other tunes worth a crack are Shut In and Same Emotions.

 

 

 

 

 

The Airborne Toxic Event are an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California. They started in 2006. Their main influences are Bruce Springsteen, U2 and The National. They have been compared to Arcade Fire and The National. Numb (2011) is from their second album All At Once (2011) and is a song Spin called "a gorgeously wailing new wave soundtrack."