Sundara Karma - She Said

     1.    Who are they?

      Sundara Karma are an indie pop rock band from Reading, England, growing quickly in popularity. They have a handful of singles under their belt and She Said (Aug’16) is a single from their debut album Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect (Jan’17). 

     2. What's the tune like?

     She Said is a pretty indie synth-pop song with jangly guitar assist and a motormouth pace. She Said has a clever word to say about English hook up culture. Just as instantly likeable as last nights conquest and just as contagious. You know you want it.

     3. Who do Sundara Karma sound like?

     The Amazons, Spring King, Blossoms or Lisbon. The Guardian were feeling Arcade Fire, Bruce Springsteen and U2.  Trippers.

     4. What have the cut and paste merchants said about She Said? 

“Will have listeners instantly hooked” – Euphoriazine. 

“Sundara Karma are rapidly becoming a phenomenon” – Clash Music. 

“The slickest indie pop to come out of England since The Vaccines” – Gig Wise. 

     5. Which bands have influenced Sundara Karma?

The main influences are The Cure, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd. 


6. Why should I give She Said a lash? 

She Said is by one of the hottest up-and-coming bands in England right now and they have banged out a belter with something to say and as sticky as a plumbers crack in summer.


7. What are the other Sundara Karma corkers?

A Young Understanding and Flame are the rock solid treats.


8. Any more words? 

No.

“He taught his heart how to be cool,

Because everyone loves a criminal”

   

     

     The Perks are an indie pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. They are influenced by bands like Imagine Dragons, The Killers, The Foo Fighters and Cold Play. Razorblades slides off their second E.P. At The Docks (2014) and is a tasty little melange of bouncy pop with guitar grunt. Should of been huge.

“I’m gonna do everything that I want to,

And you can’t stop me now”

PYN - My Baby

     1.    Who is  PYN? 

      PYN is an indie pop band from the Netherlands. My Baby (May’16) is their second single.

     2. What's this tune like?

     My Baby is bouncy synth pop with an infectious zest for life and smile on it's face.

     3. Who do PYN sound like?

     Katie Herzig. AURORA. 

     4. What have the press said about My Baby? 

    “Compelling” – Evensi.

    “80’s influenced pop” – Vovert. 

    “This sister will be My Baby!” – Dutch Guy. 

     5. Who influenced PYN? 
    
No knowledge. AURORA maybe.


6. Why should I give My Baby a fair crack of the whip? 

My Baby is a tasty melange of light guitar, jaunty rhythms and light as helium vocals. Pure pointless fun.

   
7. Do PYN have any more good uns? 

Nah. 

  
8. Any more words muppet?

Get away with ya.

 “We’re never lost for words to say”

Tove Styrke is a Swedish electro-pop singer influenced by Robyn, Annie and September. She has recorded two albums and won music awards and had top ten singles in Sweden. The reggae tinged Borderline (2014) is her most popular song and on the Borderline E.P. is this little gem If I'm Talking Loud It Doesn't Mean I'm Talking To You, a song as sticky as a paedo in kindy and a tune Spin said is full of “lip-clenched fuck-offs.”

 “I know that you feel that pop really doesn’t have a clue”

Nada Surf - Cold To See Clear

1.   Who are these trippers?

Nada Surf are an indie rock band from New York City who have been tearing it up since 1992. The band have eight long players to choose from and Cold To See Clear (Feb’16) slips of the eighth, You Know Who You Are (March’16).

2.   What kind of gem have we got here?

A unique one. Simon and Garfunkel in the opening blows but a four to the floor chorus takes glorious flight. The vocals are everywhere from crooning to high register meanders to heart felt imploring. Cold To See Clear is radio friendly indie rock with a slathering of eclectic sauce.

3. Who do Nada Surf sound like?

The Wallflowers or Matchbox Twenty. Fuck me sideways but NPR went straight to Weezer! But realising they were flying into the face of ridicule they threw in a quick curve ball with The Flaming Lips addition.

4. What do the cut and paste merchants have to say about Cold To See Clear?

“Infectious drum beat wrapping warmth and and harmonies together.”- Live and Die In Music.

“Driving but warmly produced, with instantly memorable melodies.” - Brooklyn Vegan.

5. Who gave Nada Surf their groove?

Nada Surf's influences are Lou Reed, Frank Black, The Flaming Lips, old school punk and Leonard Cohen.

6. Why should I give Cold To See Clear a shufty?

There is an aching beauty to the chorus of Cold To See Clear a driving beat and the vocals are outstanding. Cold To See Clear is Nada Surf's best song since Popular.

7. Do Nada Surf have any more rollicking numbers?

Yeah. Popular was a massive hit in the 90's and no wonder. Sharp tune.

8. Any more wonder words dear scribe?

Nada Surf have said Cold To Be Clear is about, “moments of clarity and light and hope and positivity that sprout up to our surprise. The feeling of awakening you can get in winter when you open the window to see what the air feels like outside, that awakening gives me instant peace at some animal level.”

Nada Surf played an Iggy Pop tribute with Joey Ramone where they smashed out some of Iggy and The Ramones most popular tunes. Sounds like a blast.

 

“Whatever I do, the radio took me,

the radio, radio made me,

What can I do but dream?”

 

Slippery seconds is popping. Husbands are a popular French synth pop band singing in English. I don't know jack shit about them but the tune You, Me, Cellphones (2013) is enough for anyone to love them. Beck mixed with MGMT if you must. The gang chorus is as sticky as a rapist in church. Get amongst it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clean Cut Kid - Pick Me Up

1 . Who are this this motley looking crew?

Clean Cut Kid are an indie pop rock band who fight out of Liverpool. They have been on the lam since 2014. Pick Me Up (Feb'16) is a stand alone single and they have three more singles in their swag.

2. So what kind of tune are Clean Cut Kids peddling?

The kind that gets stuck in your brain on repeat god damn it. Like it or loathe it. Pick Me Up sounds like youth tearing it up and to be fair it's hard to connect the song with the faces. The chorus roars along faster than a junkie from the plod and if English guitar indie is your thing this is a bullseye.

3. Who do Clean Cut Kid sound like?

Well bugger me Billy that's a dot ball. King No-One, High Tyde, Circa Waves, Blossoms and Regions will all put you on the right road. You will have to find the right address.

The guitar in Pick Me Up draws comparisons in overheated imaginations with The Clash's English Civil War and in general the song has vague echoes of Billy Joel's piece of pus We Didn't Start The Fire. Don't let it put you off.

Liverpool Noise compared Clean Cut Kid to Angus and Julia, and Beach House. Vampire Weekend twinkled The Line Of Best Fit.

4. So what do the cut and paste jackals have to say about Clean Cut Kid?

Slim pickings. Science of Sound say Pick Me Up has a “... jubilant chorus and sprightly melody lines serve as an injection of pure adrenalin.” Youthgasm heard “a lolloping anthem,” Its All Indie were buzzed by, “Genuine thought provoking lyrics and equally mind pushing compositions treat any listener to a delightful experience.” Popped Music straight batted with “... signature harmonies, skilful guitar licks, bouncing bass lines and super 80's synths.”

In general Clean Cut Kid's music has been described as “... undertones of psychedelic rock and country, but on the whole they deliver truly mesmerising folk melodies that are extremely catchy,” by Liverpool Noise having a laugh. “The whip-smart immediacy of classic radio pop; but there is something much deeper going on in there too,” analysed U Music Pub and “inventive and adventurous art-pop,” plonked Turks Underdog.

 

5. Which bands influence Clean Cut Kid?

Bands that have put the stride in Clean Cut Kid’s step include St Vincent, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Talking Heads and Arcade Fire. Front man Mike Hall has said he spent years listening to The Beatles and Michael Jackson. In the Liverpool Echo the band mentioned love for Fleetwood Mac, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. More recently they have been listening to Grimes, Taylor Swift and Youth Lagoon. 

 

6. So why should I listen to Pick Me Up?

 Besides the fact that it's more infectious than a Thai rent boy's shit pump? There's a hint of grit lurking in what could be passed off as only sparkling indie pop. Real rock'n'roll. The song is as advertised, it will pick you as fast as a puff of ice.

 7. Do Clean Cut Kid have any other groovers?

 First stop to getting on the good foot should be Vitamin C. Clean Cut Kid's best song a get happy pop rocker with bubble and bounce.Classy song, great video. That's all I'm having.

 8. Any icing for the cake?

The keyboardist Evelyn Halls is married to the singer and guitarist Mike ... ahhh you get the picture. But y'know, every football team has a goalie but goals still get scored, so follow your crush if you have one Jimmy.

The band were on fluffer duiteis for Years & Years, Circa waves, Brandon Flowers, Rat Boy and The Courteeners in 2015. Keeping good company.

 

“I hear your voice, it cuts like a knife,

hits like a bolt from the blue, Pick Me Up!”

 

 

Slippery seconds is brought to you today by Zibra an indie synth-pop band from London with three short players under their wings. The band have been making music since 2012 and Wasted Days (Oct’16) is their most recent, and most popular, effort.

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Mates of State

Mates of State's Staring Contest (Apr’15) is one of the best pop records of 2015 and never mind the ‘indie’. The track starts with singer Kori Gardner saying,“Hey! I like it like this,”as a big atmospheric beat is laid down. No wonder she liked it. Synths and drums lead a nostalgyic tour de force of carefree youth in love, sample lyrics “...we once were wild," and complimented by spectacular alternating female and male vocals and a crashing staccato rhythm. Movement magazine called Staring Contest "a fist-pumping opener" and regardless of what you're pumping, Staring Contest is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

Mates of State are a husband and wife indie pop duo from Connecticut, by way of San Franciso, with seven long players in the vault. Pop Matters calls them, "...valid and essential pop."  Mates of State's influences are Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Neil Finn and Fugazi.  Mates of State have been compared to Feist, Los Camposinos! and St. Vincent but prefer not to be shoe-horned into a genre.

“Climb higher on the chain link fence
It's all about you, I'm wild about you”

 

Shit you need to know:

"Staring Contest" is the debut single from a five song short player "You're Going To Make It” (June'15).

NPR said Staring Contest, "...bursts with giddy excitement."

Movement Magazine said the new EP is, "...nothing but choice cuts; five anthemic and emotionally-rich songs..."

Of the band in general Pop Matters felt, "...musically they are like no one else around."

Not everyone is feeling the love. Pitchfork said "You're Gonna Make It" is "...out of time at best, irrelevant at worst."

Mates of State have toured intensively internationally and have performed fluffer duties for bands like The Postal Service, Spoon, Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie.

Mates of State released an album of covers called "Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) (2010) with a Belle and Sebastian cover, Sleep The Clock Around, and others by Death Cab For Cutie and Nick Cave.

If you need more Mates of State check out Gonna Get It.

 

Todays tag team effort is from Mates Of State's 2005 tour mates, the Ariziona rock band Jimmy Eat World.

This is Jimmy Eat World's biggest hit, a raucous punk pop banger, The Middle (2001).
 

"Hey! Don't write yourself off yet

It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on"

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2014 - Parade of Lights

Parade of Lights are an indie dance band aiming for a rebel without a pause moment in Burn (Sept’14). With incendiary lyrics like “Common let’s ride, we’ll take on the world tonight” it’s clear ‘the man’ everywhere is shiteing it, bracing for worldwide social revolution.

 

But just like Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It if you’re up for some bedroom rebellion, up for the ride, it can be all good anthemic fun. A rock drum beat and some indie guitar keep this song grounded while the synths and vocals send it soaring.

Parade of Lights describe themselves as an electronic rock band and bound out of The City of Angels. They’ve been lighting up the place since 2012. Burn is the fourth track beaming off their second E.P. Golden(March’14).

The band have been compared in favourable light to Imagine Dragons, MGMT and M83. The band have expressed a like of My Bloody Valentine, Failure and Depeche Mode.

Didn't need turned on to more? You're gonna miss out on Golden and We’re The Kids in a flash.

 

 

 

Slippery seconds go to AWOLNATION THISKIDSNOTALRIGHT (2013) because it's a fat cock song.

If you don't like it .  Well you know.