Blog: the bubble death

No, not quite. This is more like...a change. A shift. I've come to realize that what I thought I'd be good at (music criticism) is really just one of my many phrases of obsession. And to try to do it every day, pushing out a new platter of fluttery descriptors and unrelenting praise has become work, and not fun. Some vague notion of what I should be doing instead of what I want to do. I've mentioned it before: tired of all the hype, all the mind washed hipster chasing after the [...]

well, I suppose there's no way around it. even if you've probably already seen it--hey. It's one of those things you can't leave alone. one of those things--explosions of exclamation marks and instrumental joyous furies and lyrics name dropping Amelia Fletcher and Calvin Johnson. Sure, Los Campesinos! may claim to have never cared about Sarah records, but with a song that proclaims the joys of the international tweexcore underground (and oh oh oh how [...]

when was it exactly, that I realized that I was a popkid? somewhere between the faux emo pop punk and corporate alternative to the faintly indiepop mostly mediocore death cab for cutie to the first liking of bands like of montreal or the boy least likely to, between indie and pop and things that just happen to drift my way, how did I get here? where I can fully admit and understand that more than anything else in the world, indiepop is the one thing that makes me happy. where I'd go as [...]

Blue October-Into the Ocean apparently this song and band is pretty popular...popular as in, people other than me, a handful of bloggers and hardcore indiepop kids have heard of them, as in they are played on the radio and people who listen to the radio would know who they are. Popular as in...I heard this song on one of those myspace celebrity like people's page and thought it was interesting, and then forgo the name of the artist/song and then heard it played in the bookstore where I work one time when the store was set [...]

Trembling Blue Stars-Idyllwild This is anthem for a girl who was once seventeen, who, hears a song on the radio, and remembers the past. The future with its glass buildings and high heels and smudged mascara, cities and lights, a distant reminder closing in...of a past spent holding hands with a best friends, laying on the dew tinted grass at night, tracking a ladybug's progress on a thin twig. A past where her bedroom was the center of her universe, snapped polaroids pinned on walls a musty rose paint. This song is a reminder of all [...]

Future Conditional-Broken Robots There's something to be said about broken items. Hearts, glass, dreams, robots. There's something to be said about this sort of vintage-y electronica. Pop and minimal, and all repetition and these little bleeps of sound. This echoing, male and female vocals, balancing with dark undertones, unspoke accusations, plain words not with malice but with something like resignation? Acceptance? And oh, when the boy rambles, in that faintly bitter tone of his, a continuous stream of words over these backing, pressuring da da da's (don't worry, it's less [...]

It's not just procrastination. Or the lack of anything to say (or ways of saying it). Although, yes, those come into play, somewhat, always. It might simply be fear. Because when you settle down, reach a decision, finally make a post that details your mission in a blog--not to listen to every promo song ever and hand pick the ones that are mediocre to relatively good, to only share those songs that are worth something, something personal, it's a decision to reveal a lot more of myself. Revealing myself has been a [...]

Strip Squad-Hairless Youth of Bosnia Too vulgar to be twee, as Strip Squad's Myspace stated. This! It begins with such repressed, underlying bitter strumming. That same hatred tinged vocals riding on top, pulsing beneath. But oh! Is it sassy. Is it daring. Is it suggestive. Is it twee with an unexpected twist, a punch, a slap on the face carried by these sharp lyrics, paired with toy pianos! Male/female vocal alternations! You won't be talking back with my legs around your neck! I would prefer if I could refer to you as It! (Your [...]

I'm at a weird place in my life right now. It's not about you--it's me. Well, it sort of about you. There's the I'm Not Blogging and Chasing After Repetitive Mediocre Indie Rock Bands That All Kind of Run Together To Be Forgotten Two Weeks Later or Discovering the Remix of the Obscure B-Side By Everyone's Favorite Classic No Wrong Indie Rock Band part. That's something I realized, really and truly, finally. I've always thought that would be the plan of my blog--it's about the music, not the publicity. It's about the writing, not the promos. But, [...]

Annemarie-Bubblegum I See This is beyond--light fluffs of pastel clouds, cuddly shapes, bubbles in glistening hues of happiness and brightness, innocence and so much love and adoration and sunshine! and rainbows! and fresh dew on fields of green grass! and daisys! and tiny flowers! dancing in the softest caress of a breeze! holding hands! smiles and laughs and giggles and memories and nostalgia and living light as a butterfly. This is beyond--twee as fuck POP! cuddlecore anything. Bliss.

Loney, Dear-Saturday Waits Swedish pop. Anticipation. Waiting. Longing. A sea breeze, a memory. Brushing and hinting. These sensations, tiny pleasures, light and quick pressures of action. You won't ever be tell, outright, but there's a suggestion, a whispered action for consideration, rising and rising and pushing, until it becomes a part of your mind. And suddenly, it's obvious, like the catchy rising waves of the song, the layers upon layers of eager anticipation and excitement, covering the nervousness and fear until it becomes a whirl of hopes and dreams and smiles and Saturday night waiting. Waiting [...]

WinterKids-Tape It What is this. What is this! It sounds like gee-tars, the sort of pop-emo riffs and mini solos fitting for a My Chemical Romance song (but don't fear...it's indie ). It sounds like vocals, like the Shout Out Louds, that sort of British nasally cutesy white rawker voice. It sounds like repeating verses and choruses and lyrics that include "she said we're just friends". It sounds like a bridge! A clapclap, snapsnap, poppop bridge. It sounds like a chorus that leaps into unsuspecting ears and minds, and stay there, hooked and [...]

Patrick Wolf-The Magic Position I can't help it. This song is infectious, in every sense of the word. This prancing, stomping, clapping, dancing, song. This explosion! of happiness! of hope! of new! beginnings! This glammed out, rocked out, orchestrated, exaggerated, theatrical, powerful anthem to strut on the street with a grin and a wink. Spinning red and white melodies, and a chorus, oh, what a chorus, what a driven, listener singalong/clapalong/dancealong required, punches of melody stuck if your head, chorus! Because yes, finally, there is light, and dazzling explosions of brightness for the future...he's [...]

Au Revoir Simone-Dark Halls Some restless energy, some flickering, blinking drive, urging and insistent but not demanding. Just pushing, pushing with bouncing hooks and cute indie pop girls in indie pop voices. But oh, they are wise, they know. Know this, that, everything. They're only having an adventure, the three of them, the sort of adventure you'll always hear about. But maybe you're invited. Maybe with the frantic pace of the synths, the melody a sneaking thing, sneaking upon heads to bob like toys and smiles to break up unhappy faces. This joy! This dancing on [...]

Time. Schedules. A month (or two). I miss this. Of Montreal-Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse (acoustic) I'm in a crisis Come on mood shift shift back to good again Come on mood shift shift back to good again Come on be a friend Come on chemicals Come on chemical-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohs A song so catchy dancey happy you skip right over that underlying sadness, the confusion and addiction. Hate it but love it. Can't live without it. The synths and sparkles in the original, a big flashy explosion of madness. [...]

Hello Saferide-Long Lost Penpal Featuring Firefox AK Every now and then, I get more and more convinced that Swedish music really is the best music. Every now and then, I find a new artist to obsess over and listen to repeatedly, to marvel at and to sing along with, a new song to come back to, to fall in love with. This is it. Swedish indie pop. The new Marit Larsen, but whereas Marit has the cuteness, the perky sweetness, the sassy pop hooks and comebacks under a shy and [...]

Avril Lavigne-Anything But Ordinary Why the hell am I posting this? Well, as a true (poetry) blogging hipster-writer, I listen to music on an ironic matter. Which is why, there is a Nikki French dance remake of Bonnie Tyler's epic power ballad "A Total Eclipse of the Heart" (probably more on that...another day, when I have all the energy to...disperse on that song and that song alone) on my current myspace page. Which is why, I listen to upsetting, popular, and rather terrible rap songs on occasion. Or stencil shirts with "Ohio [...]

Math and Physics Club-I Know What I Want It's quite remarkable for a band to sound so much like two other bands, and so obviously, non-pretenciously, non-inspirationally so but flat out like two other bands in the same genre in the first place, this Belle & Sebastian nonsense and this Lucksmiths nonsense somehow combining to form this Math and Physics Club nonsense. This Math and Physics Club nonsense though, it's not breaking ground, of course not, but it's perfecting that sound. It's a tingling combination of the former two bands with the right sounding guitars and [...]

Herman Dune-1-2-3-Apple-Tree This is a love song, not unlike any other, but so sweet and brimming with innocent, simple adoration. With honesty and earnestness, no false layers of pretense and pretentious long metaphors and similes, just by using these contrasts, these juxtaposed, sometimes funny, sometimes cute, sometimes charming, sometimes non-nonsensical things. This jingling, upbeat melody, angelic backing vocals a perfect backdrop, but most importantly, this intimacy, this song written for you and just you, because it's obvious, isn't it? Obvious like all these mismatched eye colors and religion, because you know how badly I'd [...]

Regina Spektor-On the Radio Forget the unforgettable quality of "Fidelity," this song is something else. That light, swooping, flickering piano melody, the twittering vocals trickling with a natural procession, and then the chorus, such a perfect storyline, a perfect soundtrack to a beautiful story formed. A simple moment in time, "November Rain" on the radio. I've never heard the song, but I don't have to, because I can feel the song, and it being a bit long, playing twice, the ba-da-dum-dun-dun and snapping echoes, its pop lyrical simplicity, the beauty of this happening, the DJ your [...]