Some deliciously low-res Gol Gappas. Gol Gappas were quite possibly the best jangle that Él ever had going for it, and as such, it's quite a terrible shame that all they left was one EP ('Dinner with Nougat', 1986) and one single ('West 14 / Roman', ???) – a grand total of only six songs! But let's look at the glass half-full here, if we may. Each of these songs are pretty much perfect slices of classic mid-eighties POP!, and here's one of them, my favorite, "West 14". This song, as well as another, "St. Lucy", [...]
Niza in 2000. Kris posted Niza's song "Por Las Tardes" on Heaven Is Above Your Head back on the 21st of January, but I just recently got around to listening to it. Like him, I'm in love! I can't say I've ever heard of them until now, but this song alone is enough to convince me to pick up their lone 2002 LP on Elefant Records, 'Canciones de temporada'. I'm not gonna post the track – you can get it over at Kris' blog – but here's the equally great video for [...]
Mari Wilson Since recently listening to (and listening to, and listening to) the Compact Organization compilation 'A Young Person's Guide to Compact' – reissued in 2007 by the wonderful Les Temps Modernes – I've been in a mad rush trying to track down many of the label's original releases. I was particularly taken by Mari Wilson and after managing to find a couple records on ebay, I came upon this video for "Beat the Beat," which is probably my favorite track from the compilation. Slowly discovering the Compact [...]
Who's that fifth person? If the internet were any type of official indication, one would be led to believe that there are currently no physical copies of anything Nocturnal Projections ever released – which, arguably wasn't a lot anyway. Nocturnal Projections were a post-punk band from Stratford, New Zealand that consisted of brothers Peter and Graeme Jefferies, Brett Jones and Gordon Rutherford. They could easily be likened to Joy Division – they had the gloom, and they certainly had brilliant basslines – but they were ultimately not as cold, and not quite as angular, though everytime [...]
b/w lovely green striped futon sheets! When getting to the Black Cat this past Saturday night only to find out that The Raveonettes show was infact SOLD OUT, I was pretty sure the rest of the weekend was sure to be a bust as well, but despite my fears, it turned out to be a pretty lucky weekend for finding some great records! I snatched up a few things at Som Records in DC that same night, and then while up in Philadelphia on Sunday I came upon a few more gems. They're all there in [...]
I absolutely LOVE the artwork on this record! In accordance with their plan of releasing nothing but totally perfect indiepop singles, YAY! Records ' next release, the debut single from The Sea Lions , is exactly that! The Sea Lions hail from from YAY! Records' home turf of Oxnard, CA and are fronted by Adrian Pillado. They play quick, shambling pop songs that will not only make your little POP heart just melt away to nothing, but will leave you flailing about wildly on the dance floor before you even knew what [...]
Pobpah sandwich! ABC News favs (hehe), The Pains of being Pure at Heart, are celebrating the release of their amazing debut self-titled LP on Slumberland Records with a small bit of a tour in February! I think it's safe to say that if you miss these guys you're going to have a terrible year, so I think you know what you've gotta do. Dates are below! 2/7 - NYC - Mercury Lounge (record release party with Cause Co-Motion!) 2/8 - Philly - Kung Fu Necktie (also with Brown Recluse Sings) 2/9 - DC - [...]
Cloudberry 801! I feel like it's been a while since I've mentioned Cloudberry Records around these parts, though I guess it's not like Roque is dropping new singles on us every week like before. What a fun rush that used to be! Well, in any case, there is now some new Cloudberry upon us – in 3" CD format at that! Cloudberry 801 – which was released sometime around the first of the year, I think – is Cloudberry's first venture into split singles! The single features London collective The Understudies and [...]
Jessica and Henry = The Burning Hearts! Aboa Sleeping is the debut LP from new Shelflife signees Burning Hearts . Burning Hearts are a duo created by Henry Ojala of Cats on Fire and Jessica Rapo of Le Futur Pompiste. I'd been looking forward to hearing their debut for some time now, and a few weeks ago I finally got to! As I expected, it's some of the best sunny, elecro pop I've heard in some time – probably since the last Club 8 record. In fact, some of the [...]
MySpace is the gift that truly keeps giving (though it would be nice if they had not completely fucked up the music player and made downloads impossible), and this week they've given me Dum Dum Girls ! Reverb? Yes! Fuzz? Yes! Catchy melodies? Yes! Dum Dum Girls – who I'm assuming are named after the Talk Talk song – is actually the project of just one Dum Dum Girl – a Librarian from L.A. named Dee Dee. Dum Dum Girls are already being compared to their contemporaries, Vivian Girls, but even early on I think Dee Dee's catchy [...]
The Bridal Shop I've been consistently in love with The Bridal Shop since I first heard "From Seas" almost two years ago and right now I'm extremely excited because I just found out they'll be releasing a new mini album soon! The record, which will be titled In Fragments is going to be a lush, danceable, pop masterpiece if the two songs I've heard so far are any indication! The brilliant thing about The Bridal Shop is that they're so tough to pin down. You hear a song and you think you've [...]
2008 was a fantastic year in POP! I lieu of making a classic "My favorite albums of the year" list like I usually do, I decided this year to follow my love of mixes and make a super amazing mix highlighting my favorite songs of the year! This wasn't much of an album year for me anyway, so this works a little bit better. I did a lot of single buying and listening and as I think many will agree, this year – even more than last – the single really made a return! There were great [...]
I know I'm a bit late in my goodbye, but I felt it important to mention. In case you don't already know, Indie-MP3 has finally closed it's internet doors. I knew Tom and Trev were getting pretty busy with all their LostMusic dealings, but I had always been oblivious to the fact that Indie-MP3 might one day be affected. I owe a great huge debt of gratitude to what they've been doing over there since 2001. It's in large part to Indie-MP3 – and also Roque's old blog Mira El Pendulo (inspired by Indie-MP3) – that I even got into [...]
Teresa and Lisle! Two If By Sea! Two If By Sea are, in a word, heavenly. As a band, they are Teresa (The Haircuts, Junebug) and Lisle (Fireflies), who are such a perfect musical match that I can't believe it didn't happen sooner. Their music is – like I said before – heavenly. Their list of influences pretty much much nails their sound perfectly; The Cat's Miaow, The Field Mice, and The Clientele, just to name a few. At the moment I'm completely in love with "Pale As White," with it's beautiful reverbed [...]
Let's pretend he just saw Santa. Holy Moly Merry Christmas!!! So, um, sorry about saying I would put this up last Thursday and then actually putting it up five days later, but Christmas picked a bad time of year to take place. If it wasn't finals week and I didn't have a handful of finals projects due I might be able to better take in the abundant cheer that the Christmas season brings. Oh well, at least I've got next week. So, instead of studying for a History of Modern Design exam I bring you [...]
The Crystal Stilts' debut LP Alight of Night will go down as being one of my very favorite records of the year. It's become my go-to record for walking around the city this Winter and it's given me even more appreciation for how well tremelo and reverb work together when covered in fuzz. When I saw them back in October they were amazing and life-affirming and damn well blew Vivian Girls right out of the water. But anyway, they've just released a brand new video for "Prismatic Room." I kinda wish they would have made a video for [...]
Sharesprings are a brilliantly noisy pop band from Jakarta, Indonesia. I came upon them on MySpace a couple months ago, probably. I'd planned on mentioning them way earlier – as they're awesome – but they fell through the cracks. They're self-described "tweegazers" and their influences include Yo La Tengo, early My Bloody Valentine, Rocketship. They bring together breathy, reverbed-soaked vocals and noisy, swirling, reverb-soaked guitars to create beautiful soundscapes built upon catchy pop melodies! They've appeared on several compilations and self-released their Ceiling Blossom demo earlier this year. Here's a song from that demo – [...]
I haven't got a lot of time between class to truly explain how much I love this video, and I've gotta get back to sketches, but I highly encourage you to go watch it RIGHT THIS MOMENT!!! P.S. Christmas Mix soon! As Colin would say – Yow!
I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving! That's All! And this: [MP3]: Moped :: Turkey
I finally got to meet William and Christine of Skipping Stones Records at this year's New England Popfest, and I can now attest that not only only are they lovely people on the internet, they are also lovely people in real life! So lovely infact that they've just set up a Thanksgiving Sale over at the Skipping Stones website! You can head HERE to get the details. They've got some great records on sale from Celestial, The Charade, Dyrdin, superfallingstars, and others – oh and the Popfest compilation is also part of the sale! I'd highly recommend picking [...]
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![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Download: Lissy Trullie - "It's Only You, Isn't It"
‘SNL’ Showcases Karmin, Honors Whitney Houston
SBTRKT – Pharaohs (What So Not’s ‘Club ReRub’)
Love You Whitney
