This year XL Recordings released the album True Romance from London trio the Golden Silvers. At first glance it might be easy for some to pass them off as an 80s rock/dance pop/new wave revival band… but that is far from the case. While there’s that sound coating the LP, the structure calls upon strong influences of funk and rhythm and blues. Sewing it all together is the voice of Gwilym Gold who spouts vocals like Joe Strummer having a night cap with James Murphy.
Sometimes I’m horrible about keeping up with the waves of emails that come in daily. It’s amazing I never forgot about this lone email I received this past august from writer/journalist and author of The Girls Guide To Rocking Jessica Hopper. She was writing to inform me of a show featuring the fabulous Cex and the opener from Toronto Kate Stelmanis. I was out of town at the time, but came back to it a few weeks later to check out Stelmanis’ album Join Us from last year. Glad I did that. Kate Stelmanis is the product of a talented woman, a soaring voice, and a computer. Join Us is packed full of vibrant heartfelt folktronic expressive tunes that sound similar to Bat For Lashes except Stelmanis has a Joan Baez-like voice – one that is so solid and ringing it’s the most powerful instrument of each composition. Join Us came out last year and you can pick it up here. She also has a split 7″ with Fucked Up (she also appeared on Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life in 2008) via Matador and a new 7″ for “Believe Me” that came out this past June 22nd (get it here).
Back in June I caught onto Spain’s Crystal Fighters and their first single “Xstatic Truth”, a blistering rhythmic synth pop explosion. Kitsune is about to release (November 30th)4 their second single “I Love London”, another frenetic beat driven affair, but this time with a grittier punk club influence (or perhaps as the one-sheet calls it – “Basque-tronica”). This track is getting a wealth of air time on radio/blogs and it’s deserved. Here’s to hoping an album is in the works for 2010.
These are the bands that Cali’s Butterfly Bones remind me of…
But not exactly like any of them…
There’s no east coast heavy tension cloud brewing inside these electro pop vibes. Rather a sunny cruise down the boulevard with the sun blazing…in the middle of the winter.
So if you constantly find yourself in the mood for sunny light-hearted electronic pop rock, then perhaps Butterfly Bones will make you smile. Their album, Pretty Feelings, is out now and you can pick it up here.
London’s Citadels have been killing my stereo for a good long while now with their sweet single “Golden Islands” (and the awesome remix by Charlie Fanclub). They remind me of a club happy electronic version of The Big Pink. Catchy…and almost too poppy but gritty enough to make me smile.
Bramble and Jimmy Lazers, the force behind Citadels, also like to flex their own DJing skills. When they do, it’s under the moniker of Labyrinth Jackals. Check their recent remix of Chew Lips:
The music world received it’s second dose of Vampire Weekend’s new album Contra (out Jan. 11th) the other day with the new track/video for “Cousins”. It’s a fast paced energetic FUN song as is the video. I like it. Check it:
I was pretty bummed out when I heard Harlem Shakes had disbanded. I had been a long time fan and was also quite pleased with their debut LP Technicolor Health. It’s not all a loss, because now Harlem Shakes’ guitarist Todd Goldstein can put all his effort towards his solo project in ARMS. Back in 2008 Goldstein released Kids Aflame (read my words on it here) and it gained some hype around blogland…enough so that it’s now being re-released all over the US via Gigantic Records. You should get it…it’s pretty swell. Goldstein writes music that can be intimate folk one second then lush layered compositions the next then Dismemberment Plan like rock another time. Solid all around. He’s now back to writing new work. Here’s his new demo that IGIF put up the other day.
Baltimore’s Beach House gave us all a treat yesterday when they unveiled the first taste of the upcoming third album Teen Dream with the track “Norway”. To say this track is great is an understatement. It’s friggin golden and is making this week sound soooo much better. For this album Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally grabbed Chris Coady and burrowed away in a church in upstate New York to record. The isolation and musical saturation sure paid off. “Norway” is as powerful as it is melodic – yes much like the Beach House of old – but taken to a higher level in all aspects.
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