chaotisch und charmant

panduh party!

2013-05-10T09:06:00.001-03:00

THE PANDUHS PANDUH PARTY! EP beep hop 2012

Plain and simple (and once again): I don't get the fact that The Panduhs aren't indie darlings throughout the world (and other planets)...
Coming from Modesto (California), their sound has a straight forward, vibrant feeling. A combination of punk and twee playfulness covered in sugar. The kind of music that makes impossible to just listen: you have to clap along, hum along, jump along and twist around.
Seriously, check this guys out! It's the kind of simple, effortless and fun loving music that can change your mood and day. Oh, and catchy as hell!

Last Wednesday, 'Love Her More' - the opening track from their latest EP- got a video. With a charming, low budget and amateur aesthetic, the video follows the fun path that their music transpire.
A Chroma-key, watercolor sets, glitter, girls and drag queens extravaganza.

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INTERVIEW 68. thomas mendelovits (milk teddy)

2013-05-08T10:54:00.000-03:00

Thomas
(All photos by Carbie Warbie)

To start talking about Milk Teddy, we have to mention their debut album Zingers, released last year.
Zinger - I've learned recently - means, "a sudden shock, revelation, or turn of events". A very fitting name when applied to Milk Teddy's music.
This album was #11 on my list for best albums of 2012... but if the list had to be made today, it'd rank way, way higher. When I discovered them I thought "Wow, this is good!" but a month ago I started listening to the whole album again and it was, indeed, a revelation. A superb, warm and vivid revelation.

This 5 friends from Melbourne (Australia) make pure guitar psych pop (what is it with Australia and its insanely good number of artists playing around with psychedelia?) combined with walls of sound, reverberations and delays. But there's something special about their melodies: something that I should be able to describe - since I have a music blog. But there are cases when you simply feel and can't quite put into words what is the experience to listen to certain groups or songs. That's the case of Milk Teddy.
While you keep reading, listen to the opening and title track of the album Zingers below... you'll understand what I'm talking about.

<a href="http://knockyrsocksoff.bandcamp.com/album/zingers">Zingers by Milk Teddy</a>
Ok, continuing...
Maybe the difficulty to describe Milk Teddy's music comes from the the abundance of genres in the fabric of their melodies - that goes from psychedelic vibes to punk, synthpop and 60s pop - and the way they're arranged to create something effortless, catchy and breezy. Wrapping all together, is Thomas' soothing and emotional interpretation of lyrics that - as their sound - aren't answers but clues, pieces of a bigger picture that we slowly unveil.

Music to discover. Rediscover. Carry along. And feel it.

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Now we get into a train in Melbourne to talk with Thomas... origins, processes, seriousness of creating music and experimentations are some of the topics.

Alexis

01. What time is it now? Where are you and how's your day so far?
It's 1030am and I'm enjoying Gmail on my phone while on the train to my job at a library in the city. I have night terrors and I woke up pretty shaken this morning; I think because I'm moving house at the moment and all the stress and dirt of that. Anyway, I decided to try to enjoy the walk to the station so I put on Rickie Lee Jones' first album and focused on the preferred large pedigrees of the suburb (my favourite was a large St Bernard - a bit like Beethoven - who was being walked by a man in army fatigues).

02. Tell us about the origins of the project: how it all started? And why the name Milk Teddy?
Milk Teddy started with what must be a common realisation: an interest in pop music and the blind faith to do it more satisfactorily than others around you. Unlike some bands though, we aren't a bunch of bros or an efficiently pieced together group of proven musicians. We're just family and old friends and that made sense for us.
The name Milk Teddy was something that seemed funny and weird when I first had the dream of having a band, which began in high school. It still seems funny and weird now and is maybe only as horribly cute as the Beatles.

Jonathan

03. Pretend Milk Teddy's music is a landscape or a planet. What do we see?
We have a song called 'Hollywood' on our first release (Extra Texture cassette) so maybe Planet Hollywood? More seriously, I think every one of our songs is different so I don't think much in terms of landscape/geological features for our music, unlike maybe how you could for minimal techno/drone/shoegaze/etc.
But I like thinking visually and making music videos and for each of them I think of a suitable atmosphere and movement (because music is the only pure art of motion). Right now I'm planning one using CCTV footage and one with very slow motion falling seeds we call 'helicopters' - maybe together, even.

04. I'd like to know how do you create your music? What kind of references and subjects resonate and inspire you to sit down and write/compose?
Thank you for using the terms 'write/compose', it feels very dignifying for me. I take life/music/art/etc very seriously so writing and composing always takes a long time for us, and it's always different because I don't want to overdetermine the process with narrow opinions. The whole band of Milk Teddy is so amazing and we are usually very sympathetic so we just try to feel natural and believe the song could come from anywhere. None of us listen to the same music or even hang out much so it's always interesting. But all this poses challenges, too...
Sometimes the most silly subject could be useful in writing a new song. One example is 'Laksa', which is a kind of Malaysian and Singaporean noodle soup that anyone who ever tries it can't help but be obsessed over. Somehow it fitted well to just put this word/idea 'Laksa' with the original part - which was on a chord organ - of this as yet unnamed and unfinished song. It gave a certain elegant and vaguely 1960s cosmopolitan feel that we needed to complete the song in a satisfactory way; even if it changed from 'Laksa' in the end.

Bron

As for lyrics, I pretty much write them all so it's slow going here too. Again, it's serious even if some people in a downer town like Melbourne may not agree. I try to pay attention to everything and to be curious: e.g. if someone says "it's bonkers I haven't seen you in yonkers" I would definitely NOT put that in a song. On the other hand, if I had an idea for a song with a verse about L. Ron Hubbard and then, after reading the first chapter of Dianetics: the modern science of mental health (with it's explanation of how shamanic song and other 'pre-' as well as modern audio/health systems are inadequate), noticed an English learners fiction title called 'Dolphin Music', set in a hellishly hot future where humans live in underwater bubbles and listen solely to dolphin song for relaxation, then this definitely MUST go into the song. So it is slow.

05. In November 2012, your debut LP - Zingers - was released. Spacey, dreamy, synth-y and with melodies that could've been part of an album from the late 80s british scene or the early 90s jangle guitar pop from the US. A warm, psychedelic and lush album that works as the soundtrack for a summer party and as the contemplative companion for some time spent alone. What you had in mind while making the album? And how was the process of creating it?
Thanks for the kind words. Imagining our record being played at a party in São Paulo makes me want to keep on. Anyway, it seems everything goes slow for us and the album was no different. Luckily, at the right moment we found the right person to have fun finishing the record. There was no real plan apart from to make an LP that sounded good from start to finish and was fun, distinct and consistent too. For example, I was experimenting by rerouting drums through amps with effects and we realised this would work really well, so for every track we did something interesting like this. It was really fun (and expensive) and maybe you can tell?

06. What's next? What are your plans for the rest of 2013?

Rach

We're just finishing up a run of shows supporting the Zingers LP and both Rachel, who plays bass, keyboard and some guitar, and I are going to Europe soon so now it's time to record demos for the next album. We have over a half record's worth of material and I'm excited to start planning the arrangements/production and find new people to work with on that. Also, Zingers should be coming out in the States soon so I'm planning a few new videos around that.

07. Time and place to listen to Milk Teddy
What you said in introduction to Q5 sounds good. If it suits both a summer party and as a contemplative companion we're happy, though maybe we are better as a live band...

08. Anything else you feel like saying?
Among my friends, everyone always talks about Gal, Gilberto, Milton and Jorge, and if you listen to our community radio stations you can hear all kinds of Brazilian music. But how about some of your favourite stuff from the past thirty years?

[ANSWER TO Q8]
I sent an answer to Thomas via email with some of my favorite Brazilian acts, but reading now, I'm not sure if he meant favorites from Brazil... anyway, here's a short list:

MPB (stands for Música Popular Brasileira or Popular Brazilian Music): Chico Buarque, Marina Lima, Os Mutantes, Rita Lee, Gilberto Gil, Marisa Monte, Secos & Molhados, Roberto Carlos.
Rock: Legião Urbana, Engenheiros do Hawaii, Ultraje A Rigor, Inimigos do Rei, Blitz.
(kind of) Indie: Los Hermanos, Bidê ou Balde, Penelope, Pato Fu, Mallu Magalhães, Wander Wildner.

mnemonic syncretism

2013-05-07T12:17:00.001-03:00

THE SORRY SHOP MNEMONIC SYNCRETISM independent 2013

Here's some sweet noise from the south. And by south I mean the deep, antarctic south of Brazil. A place close to the end of the American continent.
Mnemonic Syncretism is the second album from The Sorry Shop, a band from Rio Grande do Sul (my home state), Brazil, fronted (and produced) by Régis Garcia. It arrives as sonic and distorted as their debut Bloody, Fuzzy, Cozy from last year…
But in this second album, there's an ambient, more melodic and profound feeling that I really, really enjoy, channeling a combination between My Bloody Valentine's experimental fuzziness and Slowdive's contemplative walls of sound with a lo-fi, angry-dreampop aesthetic.

Soundtrack for urban, grey jungles. Or polar expeditions.

Mnemonic Syncretism by The Sorry Shop

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i thought you were my friend

2013-05-02T08:38:00.000-03:00

GHOST LAKE I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND EP INDEPENDENT 2013

Henric Wallmark's musical vehicle Ghost Lake is back with its 2nd EP featuring 3 new songs and 2 versions by guests Marcus Kimaro and J.O. Hansson.
The fun and playful manners are there in the title track 'I Thought You Were my Friend'. It channels the best moments of the warmest melodies from Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and works as a reminder that Ghost Lake is the project of the mind behind one of the catchiest indie pop makers Sweden's gave to the world - Heart-Sick Groans.
The songs 'Why I Don't' Like Clean-Up' and 'If I Did It, It Must Be Right' are endearing, heartfelt and soothing in their simplicity and atmosphere. Indie pop lullabies, if you will. These two songs appear twice: performed by Ghost Lake and versions by guests Marcus Kimaro and J.O. Hansson.

I Thought You Were My Friend by Ghost Lake

With Ghost Lake, Wallmark goes deep and wanders through a path where acoustic and electronics walk side by side - probably silently holding hands - surrounded by minimalistic trees, desert surroundings and contemplative, organic feelings. What matters, after all, is how we translate life and reality on the inside.

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INTERVIEW 67. beach vacation

2013-05-01T14:58:00.000-03:00

DIY escapism made in a small town located on Whidbey Island, Washington. That's Beach Vacation.
Their first EP, Maritime - released last Monday via Dufflecoat Records - is the debut EP that Captured Tracks will never release. It is such an exciting introductory piece! It's on the edge of surf and jangle pop with a very unique and fresh appeal.
With the opening track 'Waves', we dive into their melodies with the sound of the ocean, seagulls and a crystalline guitar strumming. Compared to the other tracks, it sounds quite conceptualized and contemplative, but it works perfectly preparing us for the what's next.
For the rest of the EP, we get a sound that's warm and with rich textures.
'Washington Weather' and 'Escape' are simply beautiful. Joyous in their melancholic yearning.
I like how you're are able to dive into their melodies and actually feel a breeze and really escape. Even though the EP has less than 10 minutes.
Fantastic release from an exciting new band.

<a href="http://beachvacation.bandcamp.com/album/maritime-ep">Maritime EP by Beach Vacation</a>

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Read my interview with Tabor, Tyler, John and Justyn below.
01. What time is it now? Where are you and how's your day so far?
It is 10:45 P.M. right now, our day was fine, a little tiring, but we got through it. We're in Oak Harbor, Washington. A small town on Whidbey Island near Seattle.

02. Beach Vacation is a fairly young project. Tell us how it all started? And why Beach Vacation?
Beach Vacation started as a small project between Tabor Rupp and Justyn Newman, but became a four piece after a high school talent show back in november, which added drummer John DeAvilla and bassist Tyler Burnett. We chose this name because we thought the music represented a beachy or surfy style of music, and would be enjoyed profoundly on the beach. We currently live on Whidbey Island and are heavily influenced by the beach and being close to the water. The vacation part came from the lack of sun we get in the Pacific Northwest, and wanting to get away on a "vacation".

03. If you had to materialize your music into a planet, what would it look like? What's Beach Vacation's aesthetic?
Probably a tropical saturn with huge sandy beaches, sunshine, and peace! There would always be sun but you'd never have to put on sunscreen.

04. Your music feels like a breeze. It has a fresh take and wanders through genres like surf, new wave, post punk and has an insanely pop appeal. What inspire you to make music? How's your creative process?
Many American shoegaze and Swedish pop bands have inspired us. Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, Craft Spells, and The Radio Dept., have all played a huge part in inspiring us to create our music. Everybody in the band listens to different genres so we're hoping to branch out with future releases.

05. Your first EP Maritime was released on bandcamp a few days ago. What I really like about it, is the effortless balance between an experimentalism/conceptualization and a very poignant pop-ish vein (already mentioned before). Tell us a bit about the making of the EP. What was your idea with it? And how's the public's reaction so far?
We started recording songs immediately after our first show, ideas starting coming out day after day. We began to narrow them down, and came out with four songs.

06. There'll be a physical release of the EP as well, and it'll be released via Dufflecoat Records. How did the contact with the label happened?
Gary Sansom, the label manger of Dufflecoat Records, contacted us via facebook asking if we were interested in making a release with him, we were excited for the ask and gladly accepted.

07. How do you record your music? I wasn't gonna ask this, but I just saw a picture on your Facebook page saying that you're recording a new single entirely in the kitchen…
We recorded our music on garageband in a living room, bedroom, and kitchen, with a macbook that has no working fan. High budget stuff.

08. Perfect place and time to listen to Beach Vacation.
The perfect time to listen to Beach Vacation is when you're laying on a beach in the sun, relaxing, daydreaming, or suntanning. It's great music to chill out to.

09. Probably it's a bit early to ask this since your EP was released last week, but what are your plans for the rest of the year? Can we expect new songs soon?
You can definitely expect new songs very soon, most likely a couple weeks after our EP release on the 29th.

10. Anything else you feel like saying?
Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to listen to our EP and give us a chance! We are so excited with the feedback we've been getting and we're even more excited for the future! We'll try to keep the wait as short as possible for the next release!

INTERVIEW 66. Vinnie Kircher (Jaill)

2013-04-18T12:27:00.001-03:00

Anthropological pop. Is that a musical genre? Do you know any band that could fit right into it? If not, I suggest you take a listen - in case you haven't yet - to Jaill.
A band from Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA) that has been around since 2002, presenting an in depth view from the hipster-ish underground world in form of jangly pop with 90s garage rock guitars with a flair for "jump around" melodies.
With 'Traps' - their most recent album (their 3rd LP) - released via Sub Pop last year, we find their sound wandering through melodies embed in some psychedelia and an appealing (and often heartbreaking) laid back atmosphere.

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After the jump, you can get an insight of Jaill's universe with the fun answers Vinnie gave to my questions. We talked about Jaill's origins, inspirations, music evolution, SXSW, Jaill's songs in Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies and their anthropologic party music.

01. How's your day so far? What time is it and where are you now?
Great. It's my birthday and I'm layin in bed in my house in Milwaukee wi. I'd been pretty sick since we got back from our tour to sxsw but feeling better and getting ready to leave on a short tour out to NY tomorrow.

02. What's your first musical memory? And how's the idea of creating Jaill's came up? And why Jaills?
First musical memory is prolly bein pissed my dad was blasting Take 54 by Harry Nilsson at 8am on Saturday morning when I was like 3.
Being in a band was something I'd done since I was 15, so starting this band was the easily just a next step.
The name came from doodling in the margins of a notebook in college. I drew a snarling dog with the word Jail in his mouth and it seemed cool and fitting.

03. I'm pretty sure you've already seen tons of labels defining your music: power pop, jangle pop, slacker rock, geeky pop, geek-syncratic pop rock (the last one is mine). Walking away from labels and thinking about a Jaill's universe: how does it look like? If your music was a planet, what could be found there?
Ha, well I guess I can only picture our universe looking eerily similar to Mel Brooks' Spaceballs. We've gone from ludicrous speed to ridiculous speed, and trying to keep the robot maid from going from suck to blow. Hopefully you'd find Lonestar and Barf there.

photo by Shawn Fritsche

04. With Traps, released last year, you seem to leave the straightforward sound from the previous albums and walk into more trippy and psychedelic grounds. How did you approach the making of the album? What were your ideas and how do you feel it's different or an evolution from your previous releases?
Well we made Traps in the basement. It took quite a bit of time. We wanted it lush and layered, but it also has a nice uncertainty. Since we made it ourselves, we had ping ponging emotions of confidence over it to real scary feelings of 'do we even know what the fuck we are doing?' it was a fun adventure. Evolution of our sound is happening. Can't stop evolution. If a band doesn't evolve their sound, there is something very unnatural about that. Frozen in time? Sounds horrifying. Preferences change, influences come and go. New musical ideas arise and need to be explored. The short answer would've been that weed melts our brains.

05. I'm very interested about creative process: I'd like to know how do you create your music? What kind of references and subjects resonate and inspire you to sit down and write?
I write all the time. It doesn't take anything other than some free time, and I got that! Smoke a bowl, grab the guitar, and find something interesting. I get shit outta my head- with often every Intention of the song being a throwaway, don't care, just really addicted to writing and recording. The drive is pretty much always there, and when it's not, i get pissed and write a song about it.

06. I find an anthropological line connecting your songs. It's not like there is a song where you sing about puppies or the sun shining over the houses in Milwaukee, for example. There's always some sort of idea trying to understand, explain or acknowledge people's behaviors and the difficulties of interpersonal relationships (wether from a particular person - like a girl - or a group of people or scene…) casting a light over its weirdness, reason to be or its simple existence. Am I tripping here or is it something like that?
That sounds pretty spot on. I think I often approach lyrics with the idea of describing a scene. Its like any writing, you need a setting. Once that image is solidly in your mind, stories come out of the actions, comparisons, and emotions you add to the setting.

07. You were recently at SXSW. If I'm not mistaken, your second time at the festival. How was it? Share some highlight moments with us. And what do you think about DIIV's Zachary Cole Smith statement "Fuck SXSW… and the glorified corporate network party…".
Mistaken! Ha, was actually our third time at sxsw. As always it was amazing fun. Sunny, great friends, tons of music aided by drinking and partying all day. I really enjoy it. I totally understand someone saying fuck SXSW. If u can't hang, u can't hang. If tons of people partying, music drugs and sunshine is too much good shit and u jus wanna hide somewhere cold and dark, then fuck sxsw.

08. What's next? New album on the making?
We are working out the new songs. They are written and demoed. We just gotta tighten them up, and decide how and where to record them.

09. Time and place to listen to Jaills.
Running. Personally, I'd like it to be in the opening credits of the next Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. 12:30 pm. On the bus.

10. Anything else you feel like saying?
No matter how much I tweet at Kelly Ripa, she will not tweet back. Starting to really unnerve me. Why do you think she's so aloof?

INTERVIEW 65. patrick mcintyre (HOUNDSds)

2013-04-15T11:26:00.000-03:00

Music often invokes journey. In HOUNDSds case, the opposite is also true.

HOUNDSds music sounds vintage, futuristic, organic and incredibly warm.
With dreamy melodies, Patrick McIntyre - the Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist behind the project - creates songs with subtle references from the past 40 years: there's 60s pop, 70s psychedelia, 80s new-post-punk-wave and 90s jangle pop...
But don't get me wrong. It isn't just a look at the past. And that's exactly why his music deserves our attention. Patrick manages to own his references while looking ahead (and probably to the sky, due to the light, dreamy and effortless aesthetic of his songs).

Phone Thou (2012, Chill Mega Chill) is his third release: a soothing and original collection of 7 songs that moves away from the experimental and electronic vibe from his previous releases.

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Our interview with origins of the project's odd name, aesthetics, music nowadays and future plans is right after this...

01. What time is it now? Where are you and how's your day so far?
I'm answering these questions from New York City on the afternoon of Saturday March 30th. Today is the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I'm at work, but It's an absolutely gorgeous Spring day. I rode my bike here this morning and I have a few outdoor tasks to do, so I will be able to enjoy the weather some. All in all, it's been a great day so far.

02. HOUNDSds. That's a very peculiar name. What does it mean? Where did the idea come from?
"HOUNDSds" is certainly a unique looking name. I've always considered the extra "ds" at the end (which is silent when spoken) to be a visual echo, or a tail if you like, that mimics the meaning of the word itself; something that hounds also haunts, follows, and urges. Another reason I like the graphic alteration is because it stands out. These days, at least in my experience, it's more common to see a band name written somewhere in the ether of the Internet before one hears it spoken (if one ever hears it spoken...), so I figured it would be wise to adapt to that situation. There's no grandiose meaning to the name beyond this other than a few subjective associations. For instance, I was listening to Kate Bush's Hounds of Love a lot when I started the project, and it's undeniable that there's a fine pedigree of bands named after animals in all eras of rock music.

03. Your music is often described as a dreamy combination of 80s guitar pop and synths surrounded by echoes and reverbs. If you had to materialize your music into a planet, what would it look like? What's HOUNDSds' aesthetic?
While it's true that my music is often described as dreamy, which I take as a compliment, I don't really use tons of reverb, echo, and delay. Certainly some, but just not a lot, in my opinion. There is reverb on
the vocals, but not a whole lot on much else. I think people would be surprised at how little of those effects were used on Phone Thou. In the recordings I'm working on now, there's barely any reverb on anything but vocals (that could still change, though). I think what's being perceived as "dreamy" in my stuff has more to do with EQ and harmony. I don't dislike reverb, but it kind of makes my ears tired after awhile, so I tend to avoid an excessive amount of it. I do use a fair amount of chorus effect these days, which is technically a kind of delay.

If my music were to materialize in the form of a planet, it'd probably look like my parents' basement, where I grew up playing drums and guitar, and smell like stale pizza and sweaty teenagers. Scientists would probably downgrade it from planet status at some point in the future, just like they did to Pluto.

The HOUNDSds aesthetic is always changing. It started out as a keyboard and synth driven melancholy pop project, something I wanted to be in the same spirit as chillwave, but it didn't take me long to realize I was an utter impostor in that genre. I think all the think-pieces in the music press on hypnagogic pop around that time got to my head somehow. Around the time of Los Dos, I gravitated towards using more guitar and live drums. On Phone Thou, I just wanted every song to be as catchy as I could manage and have soaring synth harmonies and a stereotypically 80s feel to the overall production. On what I'm working on now, I'm really just trying to concentrate on developing a unique guitar playing style; in general I've sort of morphed into a more serious guitar player. I'm hoping to utilize some wah and fuzz effects on this new material as well. I'm also concentrating on having solid, simple grooves with the bass and drums too.

04. How do you create your music? What inspires you? And, where do you record your music?
These days, when I write, I tend to write on guitar, but writing a song for me is inseparable from the demoing process. So even if I lay down a chord progression on an acoustic guitar as my first step, if I find an interesting bass line, for instance, I always double back and re-do the other instrumental tracks to play better with that interesting bass part; so there's a constant looping motion of revision. I imagine it's similar to writing fiction.

I'm inspired for the most part by other music. Lately I've been listening to the Ocean Blue's new record, Ultramarine, which is very good, as well as Veronica Falls' Waiting for Something to Happen. Tamaryn's records have been on constant rotation for the past few months. As far as older stuff goes, I've been digging a lot of old Ska and Rocksteady, Jefferson Airplane, and I just watched Ken Burns' Jazz documentary not that long ago; all very inspirational things.

I share a very tiny, cramped practice space in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn with another band. It is in the basement of a condominium.

05. Phone Thou is your latest album and seems more upbeat and bright than your previous releases: The Technology of Love (2010) has a cold, Kraftwek-esque feeling and Los Dos (2011) has a more experimental, trippy vibe. Phone Thou (2012) has a sunny, popish, and more accessible quality. What were your ideas creating it? Was the difference between these albums a conscious effort, a natural evolution, or pure empiric experimentalism?
Phone Thou is definitely slightly glossier than the previous EPs, but I think the main reason for it's poppier qualities stems from the fact that it's songs are faster; so they are literally more upbeat than the earlier stuff. The slower tempos on Los Dos allowed me to stretch out some of the sounds and carve an illusion of depth that scanned a bit psychedelic. The colder vibe of The Technology of Love is due mostly to the fact that each song is built on top of a sparse drum machine loop and has more keyboard parts than guitar. On Phone Thou, just to change things up, I didn't force myself to slow anything down and it resulted in a more driving feel. It seemed like a natural evolution at the time. I was just shifting the variables slightly because that's what an artist is supposed to do.

06. Apart from the sold out Phone Thou cassette released via Chill Mega Chill, your releases are available on your Bandcamp page for free or can be bought under the "name your price" option. That said, what are your thoughts on music distribution and consumption nowadays?
In all honesty, I don't think it matters very much whether I charge money or not for my songs, I just want people to hear them. I'm not Arcade Fire; I'm essentially just a serious hobbiest. I don't really have much of an opinion about music distribution because I don't have that much experience with it other than posting my stuff on bandcamp. Phone Thou of course came out on cassette, but as far as I know all the tapes were sold either from the label's website and bandcamp page or purchased from me personally at a show. As far as consumption goes, I purchase a lot of mp3s, some vinyl, a few cassettes, and I also see a decent amound of live music.

07. Are you a full time musician or do you have another job?
I have a full time job at a museum in New York City.

08. Perfect time and place -- or moment -- to listen to HOUNDSds...
I usually listen to my stuff in a very analytical frame of mind and sort of critique myself. That usually happens either on my way to work, or it's the last thing I do before bedtime. I'm quite embarrassed to listen to my music with other people present, and in fact prefer to avoid telling people I'm a musician altogether if possible. There's something about small-talking with a stranger or a new acquaintence about my creative endeavors that I find almost vulgar and do my best to avoid. Talking seriously and critically with friends about it, or in the context of an interview, are different matters that I quite enjoy.

09. What are your plans for this year?
At some point, hopefully this summer, I'll be digitally releasing a 10-song full length album, unless there's any interested labels out there who'd like to do something more with it.

10. Anything else you feel like saying?
I have a few shows coming up: April 26th I'll be playing at the Ho_Se with Honeydrum, and May 22nd I'll be at Shea Stadium with Orca Orca and Grand Resort; both shows I'm extremely excited about.

the chaotisch days #6. vast and wild

2013-04-12T21:41:00.000-03:00

VAST AND WILD MIXTAPE/PODCAST

Download the file or listen here:

In the beginning, it was vast and wild. It was the promise of an entire summer.

Featuring:

• Barnabys from Philadelphia and their incredible, vibrant guitars. 'Global Teen' is part of the EP Delightful Browns, released in 1992 via spinART.

• French Films, from Finland, just released White Orchid (2013) , their second album and it is gooooood. Out via GAEA Records.

• Daniel Johnston and Yo La Tengo with an awesome version of Johnston's 'Speeding Motorcycle', released as a single in 1990.

• Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is a dreampop group from the Philipines. Their music is inspired by "airline crashes and space poetry".

• Möscow Çlub is a band from Japan. 'Bikinikill' is a lovely piece of summery guitar indiepop with reverbed vocals.

• Holiday is a band formed in Yale and active between 1992-1997. 'Candy' is part of Cafe Reggio (1997), released via spinART and Siesta Records.

• Tullycraft's back after 5 years. New album out via FortunaPOP!

• Adam and Darcie's version of The Very Most is part of an EP released via Village Collective (formed also by Canoe and The Very Most). Recently, I wrote about these release. Check the blog.

• Archaster is an artists from Valenzuela City, Philipines. 'Kissing Ballade' could've been recorded by Stephin Merritt.

• Northern Portrait's 'Happy Nice Day' is part of their EP Pretty Decent Swimmers (2013), out via Matinée Records.

• Fear Of Men is definitely one of the most hyped independent bands from 2013. 'Born' is part of their compilation/album Early Fragments.

•Velcro is from Melbourne, Australia. A mystery, actually.

•La Ola Que Quería Ser Chau is a band from Argentina. Fun, bright and loud indiepop.

• The Sweets' dreamy psychedelia is part of a free download, out via Bleeding Gold Records.

• The Snowdrops is a group (supergroup, an indiepop kid could say) formed by members of Lovejoy and Blueboy with Pam Berry (The Pines, The Shapiros, Black Tambourine and many other groups).

INTERVIEW 64. nicola lampredi (brothers in law)

2013-04-06T13:18:00.000-03:00

It's not hard to see how this three boys from Pesaro (a city located in the already famous east "indie" coast of Italy) are committed to music: their aesthetic is an ode to the music they love - think c86, early The Mary Onettes, dreampop, jangly guitars and surf music filled with sand - and there's a genuine feeling of amazement when they look at their short career and how much has happened since the beginning (from playing with bands like Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing and Still Corners to flying to the US and playing at SXSW a few weeks ago).
Last January - following the release of an EP and single - We Were Never Being Boring released their debut album Hard Time For Dreamers. A collection of energetic and dreamy songs that feed hearts aching for some jumping around and at the same time satisfy any desire for melancholy, darkness and contemplation.

WWNBB #043 Hard Times for Dreamers by Brothers in Law

Shortly after arriving back home from SXSW, Nicola answered some questions. You can read it below.

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01. What time is it? How's your day so far? And where are you now?
6:40 pm. I'm at home answering questions for this interview while listening to The Sounds: Jeopardy.

02. What is your first musical memory?
When I was a kid I remember listening to "Bad" from my parent's boombox and dance a lot to it... I guess my first musical memory is Michael Jackson.

03. When did the band started? And why the name?
We formed in late 2010. Initially we were a duo: two guitars and a drum machine. Our first digital Ep came out in spring 2011 for Tannen records. A year later, when Andrea joined us on drums, WWNBB and CF rec released the Ep Gray Days.
The name of the band is a "true story". Jack and Nico are actual brothers-in-law.

04. If your music was a planet, how it would look like? What's Brothers In Law aesthetic…
It would be a planet without continents or borders...the planet imagined by John Lennon!
A planet where everyone does what they can, without being forced.
We think of our sound as involving, direct and dreamy.
It's a free born sound..that doesn't come from reasoning but from the heart.
These are Brothers in Law!

05. Where do you record your music? Could you send a photo or describe the place you record your tunes?
We have recorded our first album at Studio Waves in Pesaro.
Paolo Rossi (Studio Waves) is a good friend and he has always worked very well with the band.

06. 'Hard Times For Dreamers' is your debut album and was released early this year. Lots of jangly guitars, reverbs and hints of dreampop, surf music and new-wavey/post punk-ish elements. Since you're name deals with family members I'd say you could be the youngest son of The Mary Onettes (their early material); Felt and Sonic Youth could be your uncles and Veronica Falls, Sea Lions and Crystal Stilts could be your older siblings. What were your ideas and references for the album? How did you wanted it to sound like?
We love The Mary Onettes, and Felt is one of our favorite bands! It's always flattering to hear these names when talking about our music. Crystal Stilts is probably the band we all share love for.
We like it when we write songs (as it's been for Hard Times For Dreamers) and all of our influences mix together, shifting the final result from the original idea that Giacomo, for example, had in mind...I think it's beautiful when this happens.We'll try in the future to make our sound more and more "ours", as Lawrence managed to do with every Felt's album.

07. You were recently in Austin for SXSW. How was the experience? Share some highlights of your time there.
Playing at SXSW was totally unexpected for us, considering that our first full length was released last January. It was a great experience, unforgettable! And also a great chance for our band to be known abroad. We hope to be back next year! Too many SXSW's highlights to squeeze in this interview...

08. Time and place to listen to Brothers In Law.
Where you want, when you want.

09. Too soon to ask if you're thinking about the next release? How's the rest of 2013 looks for the band?
Definitely too soon..The rest of 2013 we'll try to play as much as we can!

10. Italy's east coast seems to be a fertile place for indiepop/dreampop bands. How's the scene in Pesaro and the region? Any other bands we should be listening?
The paradox is that Pesaro has (and has had) tons of great bands, but no venues! And in the end it turns out to be quite a boring town.. Maybe it's a little bit for that reason and a little bit because Pesaro is on the ocean that bands here create a sound that goes from post punk to dream pop.  Everyone here tries to make music!
Some bands that we love from Pesaro are Be Forest (Nicola's other band), Young Wrists, Soviet Soviet, General Decay and Versailles. In the region we recommend Karibean!

11. Anything else you feel like saying?
Have a good one!

INTERVIEW 63. masami tsuchiya (wallflower)

2013-04-02T15:20:00.001-03:00

There's a group of artists in the roots of indie music, that decided to make music because they wanted to sound like their favorite band.
While some may see their sound as a simple copy or homage, I tend to approach this issue a bit differently.
I'm constantly talking about "universes" here. And the bands that I tend to fall for, usually are successful - at least in my subjective eyes - in creating this "musical zone" that is theirs.
If every person is different and everyone has an unique reality, is not stupid to think that what may sound similar actually holds an aesthetic that came from one mind in a particular environment that has no parallels with anything else. That's where you'll find the value of creation. And this may seem naive but, the simple fact of getting in touch with someone's creation is already a valid and worthwhile experience. Specially if that creation sounds good as hell and is catchy as a bubblegum stuck under your shoes.
This introduction leads us to Wallflower: a 4-piece band from Osaka, Japan creating catchy tunes and following the paths of The Field Mice, Brighter and - the most direct and obvious comparison - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.
Wallflower's music takes me back to early TPOBPAH music - remember 'Orchard Of My Eye'? - and its naivety.
While the shadow of TPOBPAH is always there, Matsumi, Ryuka, Haruyo and Naohiro own their haven of noise and delicacy with jangly guitars, soft vocals and indie beauty.
Either way, never let comparisons lead you to rushed conclusions. Awesome, catchy music will always be welcomed and praised.

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After the jump, you'll find Masami's interview.

01. How's your day?
Not too bad. But I kept sneezing because of pollen...

02. What is your first musical memory?
My earliest musical memory is "The Ballad of John and Yoko" in my father's car. I don't remember exactly when, but maybe I was 3 or 4 on the way to travel somewhere. My father loved The Beatles and he always sang their songs playing the guitar or the piano. He taught their lyrics to my sister and me as Katakana and then we sang them together.

03. When did you started Wallflower? And why the name?
I started Wallflower on July 2011 with Ryuta. Some time after we started the band, Ryuta lent me the book called “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower” and I got to know the meaning of the word “Wallflower”. It is the name of a flower but at the same it comes from literal translation “Wall-Flower”. It means a person at the party who is standing alone by the wall without speaking to someone because of her shyness. Brighter and The Monochrome Set's song “Wallflower” are my favorites as well.
I had a deep conviction for the image of the word and the meaning of “Wallflower”. That's why I picked this word as the name of the band.

04. If Wallflower were a planet, how would it look like?
It's an interesting question. I think if Wallflower were a planet... maybe it'd be filled with flowers. And there would be many animals, birds and insects. Surrounded by untouched nature beauty and would be always spring or early summer. Only a few people would calmly live there... in different places with some old architecture filled with things they like.
Maybe these images are mainly affected by the secret garden of Shuwa of "Nausikaä of The Valley of The Wind" (comic version) or The world in the dream of “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”.
I long for such a calm closed place filled with my favorite things with only a few people who like me and whom I like.

05. Where do you record your music? Could you send a photo or describe the place you make your music?
All songs are written and edited in my room. But some ideas appear in my daily life. When I come up with these good ideas outdoors, I hum melodies and record them using my iPhone. When I come back home, I listen these materials and create the rough demo playing the guitar. Then we record the most part of our songs at rental studios in our city because we don’t have our own drum kit or guitar amps. And none of us have any room where we're allowed to make loud noises. We need our own studio. (By the way the photo I attached is my desk.)

06. Talk a bit about your debut EP "Filled with Flowers". It screams references from the C86 era and Sarah Records and steps into the 90s with some echoes of guitar pop. What are your references? What were your ideas while making the EP?
I really love such guitar pop bands! I’m mainly affected by Brighter, Another Sunny Day, Razorcuts, Rocketship, early My Bloody Valentine or Primal Scream, and the pop sides of The Cure.
But while we were making the EP, I didn’t have definitive images because we did it only after a month we started the band. I just tried to combine the elements I like. Bright warm guitar sounds, simple chords and bass lines, tight drum patterns, mix of male and female whisper voices, and quotes from my favorite things.
Consequently I couldn’t trace the images in my head perfectly. Each song got different colors inconsistently. So, to be honest, now I can’t stand to listen the EP. But I don’t hate the EP. Because of it, I could confirm the sounds that I wanted to make.

07. Place and time to listen to Wallflower.
Anywhere or anytime you are alone.

08. What are your plans for 2013? New songs coming up?
Now we are in the process of making our debut album. And also we are planning to release a couple of singles. It will be released soon.
I hope you’ll like it!

09. Name a few songs you've been listening lately.
HERON YELLOW ROSES

GOODLY THOUSANDS I WISH

YUMI MATSUTOYA ACACIA

THE PROCTORS I NEED TO TELL YOU

ALPACA SPORTS AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU

10. How's the indiepop scene in Osaka? Any bands we should listen to?
Hard to say, but it's boring. Only a few bands are good. Here, an indie pop scene doesn’t exist. But there are some great parties in Osaka. Like OZ, Anorak Days and Honey Bee Party. They’ve held their great parties almost every month in Osaka. So if you come to Osaka, you should research when these parties will be held!

11. Anything else you feel like saying?
Thanks to ask me questions for the interview! I’m so glad to have this great chance. And at the end, I wanna say sorry that my English is so terrible. I couldn’t try to tell any jokes...
Anyway I’ll keep reading your great blog. Thanks Felipe!

INTERVIEW 62. nate martinez (thieving irons)

2013-03-28T13:51:00.001-03:00

Thieving Irons is the project of Nate Martinez, based in Brooklyn (NYC), and started after his former band Pela broke up.
His first album - The Midnight Hum - was released in 2010 and last year Behold, This Dreamer! came out.
His music has an atmospheric, idyllic quality that could fit on a journey at the sea or a walk through uncharted territories. It's organic like a
waveless ocean that reminds us of its force through grandiosity and subtle movements, not intensity.
With a delicate approach to melody and an almost solemn songwriting, Behold, This Dreamer! takes its time to tell us a story (the one about the journey).
It echoes, it shimmers and transforms itself. Always connected to an aesthetic of dreamy imagery and storytelling, foggy atmosphere and slow burning sentiments.

Behold, This Dreamer! is not only one of the greatest albums I've heard last year: the closing track "Swimming With Minnows" is one of those gems... A finding or revelation, in the middle of your journey, if you will. It has a restraint, quiet and atmospheric feeling with amazing lines - "The silence is the loudest in my head since last May" and "Can I spend time to watch? Can I spend time to drown?" - that every now and then pop into my head.

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Below is my interview with Nate. Inspirations, music in physical forms and a look inside his "subterranean cave"/studio after the jump.

01. How's your day so far?
It's going well. We'll see where it goes...

02. What is your first musical memory?
I remember around the age of 3 climbing onto a bench to play my grandmother's Wurlitzer organ. We visited my grandparents every Sunday and I would gravitate towards the organ each week to discover more sounds.

03. When did Thieving Irons started as a project? And where does the name come from?
It started in 2009. Some say the name comes from the internet, others say Australian slang. I like it.

04. If Thieving Irons were a planet, how it would look like?
If we were a planet, I'd hope we'd look very warm and inviting with lots of colors...

05. About creative process: how do you create music? What inspires you?
Music happens every at moment. Sometimes the vessel I use is a guitar, other times a keyboard. It can happen while walking, in a studio, in my sleep... Inspiration comes from the experiences I have- also the things I read and see and feel.

06. This is a new question I start asking people and it's somehow connected to the one about creative process… Where do you record your music? Could you send a photo or describe the place you make your music?
As of recent I built a studio. I call it Twin Buffalo. It's a subterranean cave with lots of musical instruments and a growing list of recording gear.

07. 'Behold This Dreamer' is your latest album, it was released last year and features 11 songs soaked in texture, depth and with a floaty quality imprinted throughout the whole album. What were your ideas creating it? Being the follow up for your debut, did you felt any pressure?
The idea was to not think too much. Instead to react. I wrote the songs and then booked some studio time and gathered 3 friends and we recorded all the basic tracks for the full band in 4 days- I then puttered around for 6 more days. So the album is largely just played live with each musician not really knowing the song ahead of time, just reacting in the moment. The depth, I think comes from everyone being extremely talented musicians, being old friends, and listening. No pressure at all comparing it to the last album. I can't compare. They're 2 different experiences. This one definitely came together extremely quick- the album was tracked and mixed in a total of 14 days- and completely finished.

08. What one can expect from a Thieving Iron's concert?
Tough to say... Hopefully to feel good afterwards.

08. Place and time to listen to Thieving Irons.
Anyplace, anytime.

09. What can we expect next?
I imagine more music will be happening.

10. Name a few songs you've been listening a lot lately.
I can't recall any particular songs, but I do play various vinyl albums from a pretty nice collection my girlfriend and I have. I like finding odd gems. I will say I enjoy Bombino- that's been a nice discovery over the past couple years. I love Saharan/West African music- especially the guitars.

11. Anything else you feel like saying?
Thank you for taking the time to asking these questions

village green

2013-03-21T18:08:00.000-03:00

VILLAGE GREEN A VILLAGE TEN COLLECTIVE COMPILATION 2013

Here's a pretty concept executed by pretty indie bands that are part of an even prettier group that goes by the name Village Ten.
In their own words...

"Village Ten Collective is an artists collective. Village because we dig villages, Ten because we started with ten people, and Collective because “Super-Friends” didn’t fit in the logo.We are not a record label, but neither are we independent artists – we fit somewhere in between, nicely cradled in that grey area, a place where we have some of our needs met that a label provides while maintaining the flexibility and freedom of being independent. Our dear friend Ashley Mae said it best, “The collective is a grassroots operation to create and promote good music which inspires us to love our own human story.”"

Adam and Darcie - You're in Love With the Sun (The Very Most) by Village Ten Collective
The artists populating Village Ten are The Very Most, Canoe and Adam and Darcie. All wandering through sweet melodies of indiepop. With Village Green, a 6 track EP released early this week, their "super-friends" status creates new bonds that words cannot express (they are kind enough to share it with us, listeners). With each band covering two songs from the other two groups, what we end up getting sounds like a testament, a reassuring feeling of love, familiarity and appreciation.

Beautiful, smelling like leaves and nature, fresh and profound. The ending track, You're In Love With The Sun - originally by The Very Most and here performed by Adam and Darcie - is a tearjerker in its simplicity, minimalism and honesty. Again, a testament.
A special release put together by - no doubt - special people, that goes way beyond the idea of "covering someone else's music". It's true friendship proved by and in form of music.

village ten bandcamp

INTERVIEW 61. Lisle Mitnik (Fireflies)

2013-03-19T17:54:00.001-03:00

Lisle lives in Chicago. He makes music in his home and has a few different projects. Holding them all together, there's a delicate and fragile sense of melody with roots in classical music and dreams of being part of The Beatles.

Throughout the years - wether as Fireflies, Very Truly Yours (where he plays guitars), Tiny Fireflies (a duo with Kristine, also from Very Truly Yours), or Edine Avec Lisle Mitnik Et Son Orchestre (with Edine from The Marshmallow Kisses) - Lisle's been crafting melancholic gems that are a hybrid of infectious, addictive indiepop with the prettiest - sometimes guitar, sometimes mellotron, sometimes piano - strums, a DIY aesthetic resembling lo fi acts from the 80s and an imagery field with hopeless love and winter scenarios.
All in all, his music is a celebration of beauty in a world where classical music goes very well with indie pop guitars and winter wonderlands.

Below you'll be able to go even deeper into Lisle's world and aesthetic. Get a cup of coffee or tea, put on your headphones and just let Fireflies music be your companion as you read his words.

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01. What's your first musical memory? And when did you started making music?
My earliest memories associated with music come from when I moved into a new house around age 4-5. The previous owners had left behind a piano, and I started taking lessons shortly thereafter. My teacher was very keen on classical music, so I learned how to play all the standard beginner arrangements of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, and my personal favourite, Bach. From this point, I think I was always surrounded by music in some way. If I wasn't practising, I was hearing my parents' record collection, or little blips and beeps from my Nintendo. Looking back, I think all these things helped shape my taste in music.
Though I was always hearing music, and dreaming of being a Beatle, it took a long time before I felt like it was something I could do myself. I wrote one piece of music in high school on the piano (the tune of which became "Frosti" from the Fireflies "Snowstorm" EP) but I didn't really start making songs properly until college, when I picked up the guitar. I found it much easier to write humming melodies while strumming chords on the guitar, rather than at the piano. Actually, discovering indie-pop (specifically, the band Brittlestars and the K records world) helped me feel like making music was something I could do.

02. You have several musical projects: Fireflies, Tiny Fireflies (with Kristine from Very Truly Yours and Tiny Microphone) and more recently collaborated in a beautiful EP with Edine (from The Marshmallow Kisses). Do you have a different approach to each? Are they all 'active' projects or do you consider this collaborations as something temporary?
To me, they are all always active. For Tiny Fireflies, Kristine is writing the chords/melody, and so I am usually expanding on that with drums, bass, and guitar. Kristine writes much more complicated chords than I do, so it makes me play instruments in a different kind of way than I am used to. Probably the key difference is that Fireflies songs always resolve, musically, whereas with Tiny Fireflies, we always try to leave a bit of tension.
The project with Edine started with "Movie Life," a song I had written originally for Fireflies. Once we finished that song, I felt inspired to write a whole bunch more songs in that same vein. Knowing that Edine would be singing the songs, I actually changed my approach, both in terms of melody and lyrics. I guess I was trying to write from a more feminine perspective. We ended up with about an album's worth of material. I also challenged myself to use as little electric guitar as possible. It being my normal primary instrument, this forced me to change the way I was writing.
Fireflies is more of my "default" mode of writing. Doing everything myself, it's very much my singular vision...which can be limiting in some ways, so I appreciate being able to have these collaborations to bounce ideas off of people. It challenges me to try things I wouldn't normally do myself..and then I can learn new things to improve my own song writing. For example, I typically was always most inspired by music from 1968 - 1973..in terms of sound quality and production..but after working on Tiny Fireflies, I've found more early 80s electronics creeping into my newer songs.

03. What inspires you?
At the risk of sounding very hokey, I think I am most inspired by beauty. Though this is very vague, it's also very specific to me and my taste...there's beauty in feelings: joy, sadness, and also in the world around us: nature and culture. Whenever I behold something I would define as beautiful, whether it's a song, a book, a person, or even just a memory of a moment in time, it makes me feel inspired. It's very fluid..so I'm not even sure if it's beauty that leads to inspiration, or if it's feeling inspired makes things become beautiful...
Of course, the other thing about beauty is that it is delicate and always fleeting. Songs and books always end. Spring flowers wither and die..and of course people are always coming and going from our lives...and so I think songwriting for me is about preserving and capturing beautiful moments and beautiful feelings. By writing a song, it's like I can preserve something and keep it from fading away.
I guess this is why I always tend to write "pretty" music, and gravitate toward pretty sounds in my own personal listening habits. The songs I hold most dear are always pretty, whether it's on the surface like song silly pop tune, or deep and spiritual beauty, like an old folk or classical melody. I've never really understood very dark music, like death metal or something, where the goal is to create something extreme or "ugly." I'm sure that's fine for some, but it just isn't me.

04. This is a new question I'll start asking to the people I interview and it's somehow connected to the one about creative process… You record your music at your house, right? What's the structure you have? Could you send a photo or describe the place you create your music?
For the most part, making music has always been a very private activity for me. In college, my dorm had a dedicated music room in the basement. The nice part was, only about 5-6 people at that time actually were really using it. My school had plenty of real practice rooms in the music building, so all the serious musicians used those. I shared equipment with a couple of friends who later became the successful dance-punk band, Hockey. Whenever I could, I would lock myself up down there to write. In those days, I had a lot more free time, so I was churning out a lot of songs.
When I moved to Chicago, I couldn't really have a dedicated home space for music, living in small apartments. Luckily, this year I moved into a detached single-family home, and now have a dedicated space in the basement which Kristine (of Tiny Fireflies, VTY, Tiny Microphone) and I share. It is sound-proof and acoustically treated, so it's perfect for both recording and practising for shows. I attached a few photos of our set-up.

05. Several releases from Fireflies are available for free download. What are your views - as an artists and as a consumer - on music distribution?
As a consumer, the record + download code is really the ideal format. When I'm at home, I mostly listen to records, but when I'm out and about in the world, having the mp3s is a really nice convenience.
As far as Fireflies releases being available for free download...it wasn't really a conscious decision, as much as it just the way things turned out. Of course, In my ideal fantasy world, I would have loved for all those download singles to have been 7" records, but I understand that making records is very expensive, and really I'm just grateful that people want to hear my songs at all. It's something I never really expected when I started writing. It was always just for me, and so when other people like them, I'm OK with letting people hear them in whatever way economy dictates.

06. Do you get to live off music? Do you have another job?
Currently I do have a day job. I'm not sure how the situation is abroad, but in the US, I think it's very difficult for people to make a living doing solely music these days. I would love to have more time to write and record, but I realize that not everyone gets to do that, so for the time, I don't mind having this split life. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery and this dream life of making music and travelling can be possible ;)

07. Place and time to listen to Fireflies.
I guess it's really up to the person listening! For me, I always make the songs by myself, so I think my music has a solitary, reflective feel to it. It's probably better suited for a rainy afternoon than a sweaty night at the disco.

08. Name 3 songs you've been listening lately. And 3 artists you'd like to collaborate with.
Songs: (these are the three highest played songs on my iPod in 2013 so far!)

As far as collaborations, I really love recording, engineering, mixing, production, etc..so I'm really up to do any kind of work together with other musicians. A top three is very difficult for me to figure out. I'm lucky to know quite a few very talented musicians, so to all those folks, my door is open! Let's make a record! That being said, if you'll allow me to be a bit unrealistic, the top of my dream list (but still living) would likely be John Cale. I'd love to have him produce and play on a record of mine...sort of like Nick Drake's Bryter Layter.

09. You live in Chicago. Are you part of an indiepop scene there? Any bands that we should know?
If there is an indie-pop scene here, I am neither aware nor a part of it. Of course I haven't played a Fireflies show since college, but even with Very Truly Yours and Tiny Fireflies, we always seemed to be on our own a bit here in Chicago. I really don't think people much care for pop here. It's a bit of a hard-edged town. Rough winters, hot summers, not especially scenic...People like their music a bit more intense I think than we can deliver.

10. Anything else you feel like saying?
Thanks a lot for asking me to do this interview! You've forced me to think about Fireflies, which I have neglected to do for a little while.

breathe

2013-03-17T12:23:00.002-03:00

TEAR TALK BREATHE bleeding gold records 2013

Tear Talk's debut EP Port Sunlight (2012), was a tribute to melancholy, sound textures and gloomy - but also sunny - days. A whole universe presented in 6 songs, created by guys that a year before the release of the EP, didn't know how to play their instruments.
Music, indeed, comes from within...
A year has passed since their debut. It got raving reviews, passionate followers and was called the best EP of 2012 by this humble blogger.

Now they're back with B R E A T H E, a 7'' featuring 3 songs also released via Bleeding Gold Records.
Their already signature melancholic, texturized sound gains more depth and goes darker. While 'Port Sunlight' features a Galaxie-500-meets-the-C86-movement kind of sound, B R E A T H E comes with a darker take on post punk-ish melancholy. The songs take their time to build up and create a feeling that reminded me of the expression "the calm before the storm" (the restraint, almost spoken vocals help to build the mood).
At the end of the hypnotic 5 minutes of 'Parallel', it's impossible not to think that there's this band making music for a couple of years, with 2 very distinctive releases - one made for sunny winters and the other for apocalyptic nights. I was curious to hear what would come after 'Port Sunlight': would it be more of the (beautiful) same? What I got was a sense of movement and cinematic expansion.
As I said before, Tear Talk's universe is a cohesive collection of brights and darks, feelings and cold hearts painted with talent, distorted guitars and a sense of direction.

Worth of mention: the amazing cut out artwork and colored vinyl. If good music wasn't enough, beautifully made vinyls and artworks are also a signature of Bleeding Gold releases.

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the chaotisch days. 5

2013-03-14T23:17:00.000-03:00

A LITTLE BOY IN 29 DREAMS

Today is this little boy's birthday.
He turned 29 today.
He runs this blog and wants to share 29 songs with you.

A little boy in 29 dreams by Chaotisch Und Charmant Blog on Mixcloud

nectarine

2013-03-01T13:57:00.001-03:00

COLOURED CLOCKS NECTARINE (independent, 2013)

Heartfelt progressive pop psychedelia. Or as the band defines it: augmented pop. From Melbourne, Australia.

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Nectarine by Coloured Clocks

INTERVIEW 60. the arctic flow

2013-02-28T18:13:00.000-03:00

Making music is - among other things - an act of honesty. And while the concept is highly subjective, sometimes we run into artists that exude this concept by creating utterly personal universes. For some people (I include myself in this group) that's where they find truly musical gems.
That's the case of The Arctic Flow, a project created by Brian Hancheck from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Brian's music is his way of express his melancholy through dreamy pop hooks and shoegaze, ethereal landscapes. A place of his own that we are fortunate enough to be able to experience.
The Arctic Flow has several releases since its beginning in 2008 in labels like Holiday Records, Bubbletone Discos, Beko DSL and more recently Dufflecoat Records. You can check and get them all at his bandcamp page.
Long live the sensitive ones.

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Here's our interview.

01. What is your first musical memory?
My first musical memory is probably when I was 4 or 5. My brother and I shared a bedroom and he would put on Beatles records and play along on the side of the bed with a pair of drum sticks. I always though that was cool. But there has always been music in my family. I first learned to play drums when I was 10. Soon after that my brother, Mom, Dad and me would spend evenings playing music together in our living room. At 13 I started learning guitar and from that moment on I had no life. I spent all my social time outside of school learning chords and writing songs. I didn't hang out with friends in high school, or go to games or dances. I just stayed at home and played.

02. When did The Arctic Flow started as a project? And where does the name come from?
I started The Arctic Flow in 2008. I had quit playing in my last proper band in 2004/2005 and decided I would never again play in anybody's band. Quite frankly, I had grown tired of playing clubs and playing songs that I didn't like.  I bought an 8 track recorder from my friend and started using it. At first I was experimenting with sounds like feedback and just multitracking guitar parts and ambient drones. I thought it would be cool to have an ambient project and I put some of those early songs on myspace. After those first ambient experiments, I started writing songs and over most of 2008 and early 2009, I recorded a six song EP called I Saw The Silver Sun.  In the Spring of 2009 I received an email from Jacob Graham from Holiday Records and The Drums. He had stumbled across the EP on the internet and asked if he could release some songs on his label as a free download. I agreed and he just re-released the EP as it was. After that everything happened very quickly. The name, The Arctic Flow, comes from a line in a song called "Crawl" by The Prayer Chain. I thought they actually sang the line "the arctic flow" in that song and I later found out it was a different line all together.

03. What is The Arctic Flow's aesthetic?
My aesthetic is just to make pop songs, whether in a dreamy, ethereal state, or with a shoegaze feel. I like innocence and unrequited love. I never really had a conceived image. The labels that have released my music come up with the art work. It usually fits the music. I always wanted my covers to look like something The Smiths would have put out.

04. About creative process: how do you create music? What inspires you? And how do you record your stuff?
I am inspired by what I listen to. I can always tell which band I was listening to when I record something because there are always elements of those bands that come through. I always seem to come up with a melody or chorus in my head while on the beach or driving or even at work. I'll write it down or sing it into my phone. The chorus of the song always comes first and then the verses are just thrown on at the end.  As far as recording, I don't have this massive studio or anything like that. I just have a very simple digital recorder and some effects. I have one guitar, one bass, one keyboard and an old microphone and some odds and ends. That's it! The actual recording process usually begins with me programming drums and then putting down the bass track. I'll then start adding guitars and keybords and then vocals. I really wish at times I had an engineer or even a producer.

05. You're from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. How's the music scene there? Any bands or artists we should be listening?
I've said this before, but Myrtle Beach is a dismal and hopeless place for any musician with any vision or substance to play or have a chance to be heard. We do have a House of Blues here that gets a few good bands. Dinosaur Jr. and Morrissey are two that have come through here, which for this town is very cool. Sadly, the music scene here is mostly bars with cover bands playing classic rock and country. I can't say I know enough about the music scene here anymore to recommend any bands. I've been out of the scene for nearly 10 years.

06. You have plenty of releases in different labels: Holiday Records,Beko DSl, Bubbletone, Dufflecoat... when did you decided to make your music public and how the opportunity of releasing your material happened?
Well, you know the story about how I got hooked up with Holiday Records. After that first EP, I put out another one and then a single. I also release the LP, All The Way Until December, on Holiday Records as well and was a part of several compilations. After being with Holiday Records I did the digital singles series with Beko. That came about through being contacted by Reno, who is in charge of Beko. I just started introducing myself and emailing labels and little by little I started getting request for songs from Bubbletone and Little Treasure and Dufflecoat.  I was finally able to put out actual CDs with the last two EPs, which is really exciting. I have been so very blessed by all these people who think enough of my music to want to put it out.

07. Dreams You'll Never Find is your latest release. On the Bandcamp page of this release there's a small intro text, giving some context on how the ep was made. It says you spent some time during 2011 and 2012 dealing with depression and "the blues". Being your music so melancholic, did that helped you to make music?
Yeah, the story behind Dreams You'll Never Find is a difficult one. I don't mind sharing it, though. In January of 2012 I started recording the EP. I had just released As Close To A Kiss As We Will Ever Be and was ready to start again. After the first few songs I just started thinking that nobody wanted to hear what I was doing and began to really doubt myself. I began to compare myself to other bands and was thinking that all my work would go unnoticed. I actually felt like destroying The Arctic Flow. I was really close. I pressed on knowing that I had made a commitment to Gary from Dufflecoat Records to deliver an EP. Through the coarse of 2012 I recorded and erased the EP 3 or 4 times. As 2012 started to draw to a close I just tried one last time and decided that I would let it fly and see what happened.  What happened is that Dreams You'll Never Find became The Arctic Flow's most successful release to date. Hearing the overwhelming support from people is what I needed and little by little, even now, I am starting to believe in myself again. I feel very excited about the direction I'm taking.

08. Place and time to listen to The Arctic Flow.
I used to think The Arctic Flow was a good soundtrack for dreary , winter days. But, I would suggest listening while traveling. A friend of mine, Christian, said he listened to The Arctic Flow on his trip to China. Others have said they prefer to listen with the lights out. I guess there is no right or wrong answer.

09. What can we expect next?
Well, I am currently recording a mini LP for Shiny Happy Records that I hope will be out in the Spring. After that will be an EP for Susy Records most likely at the end of Summer or early Fall. By the end of the year I hope to have another EP in progress for Friendly Otter Records. I will be very busy and need to get started. I've recorded all the bass and drums for the new album. Time is just an issue right now. Sometimes I over commit myself.

10. Top 3 best songs ever made and today's top 3 best songs.
Top three songs ever made? I'm just going to throw something at you from the top of my head.  
"Just Like Heaven"-The Cure
"This Charming Man"-The Smiths
"Sometimes"-My Bloody Valentine

And today's top 3 songs: 
"Dream Waters"- By The Sea 
"Funerals"- Airel
"She'll Come Back For Indian Summer"- Alpaca Sports
and one more
"Dreams"- I Do Not Love.

11. Anything else you feel like saying?
I'd like to thank you for taking time to interview me. Happy wishes for my friends in South America.

BEST EPS/SINGLES OF 2012

2013-01-18T18:43:00.001-02:00

Following our belated look at 2012, today we share our favorite singles and EPs released last year. Lots of independent artists and breakthrough artists.
(also: a classy, affecting and gorgeous year for EPs released via Bleeding Gold Records).

EPS/SINGLES OF 2012
25 MALES MalesMalesMales independent
24 SEABRIGHT Children Of The Sun independent
23 PRAYTHING Her Skin Caught the Glow independent
22 PINEBOCKS Love Is... independent
21 LEMUR S/T EP independent
20 SAMBASSADEUR Memories / Hours Away labrador records
19 TRIPTIDES Couch Surfer independent
18 OLD MAN WINTHER Bedroom Country Vol 3 independent
17 LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID Jupiter independent
16 HEHFU Come Home EP independent
15 BENTEVEO Super Tranqui fuego amigo discos
14 THE OCEAN PARTY In A Knot sound of melbourne records
13 FOSSIL COLLECTIVE Let It Go dirty hit records
12 CIVIL LOVE S/T EP independent
11 GENERATIONALS Lucky Numbers independent
10 FAMILY OF THE YEAR Diversity nettwerk records
09 SONGS FOR WALTER Meet Me At The Empire bleeding gold records
08 THE HOLIDAY CROWD Over The Bluffs shelflife records
07 THE PANDUHS Panduh Party! beephop records
06 THE VERY MOST Ununiversilazible Us little treasure records
05 INDOOR VOICES So Smart bleeding gold records
04 SEAFOAM S/T EP lo-rise recordings
03 MADRAS thingscanchange independent
02 FIELD TRIP Cream EP independent
01 TEAR TALK Port Sunlight bleeding gold records

BEST ALBUMS OF 2012

2013-01-17T14:53:00.001-02:00

Ok. I know it's a little late, everyone must've forgotten 2012 by now, but here's my list of best albums of 2012.

2012. ALBUMS
50 ANTIBODIES Birthmark polyvinyl
49 GRIMES Visions arbutus / 4ad
48 THE STATE BROADCASTERS Ghost We Must Carry olive grove records
47 SO MANY WIZARDS Warm Nothing french kiss
46 JACK WHITE Blunderbuss third man records
45 THE DANDELION WAR We Were Always Loyal To Lost Causes deep elm records
44 THE SCHOOL Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything elefant records
43 M. WARD A Wasteland Companion merge records
42 POOR MOON S/T sub pop records
41 ONE TWO THREE CHEERS AND A TIGER A Lot of Talk wohnzimmer records
40 THE SORRY SHOP Bloody, Fuzzy, Cozy independent
39 TEMPLETON El Murmullo independent
38 EARLIMART System Preferences the ship records
37 DAN ROMER & BENH ZEITLIN Beasts Of The Southern Wild OST thirty3 and a 3rd records
36 SLEEPY SUN Spine Hits the end records
35 TIGER IN TRAINS Foundry independent
34 MOTORAMA Calendar talitres records
33 NETHERFRIENDS Middle America kilo records
32 SEAMUS FOGARTY God Damn You Mountain fence records
31 TWIN CABINS I'm Sure independent
30 THE LUYAS Animator dead oceans
29 EZRA FURMAN The Year Of No Returning kinetic family records
28 HIGH SAFARI Skylight special blend records
27 DELAY TREES Doze soliti records
26 HOLOGRAMS S/T captured tracks
25 JAILL Traps sub pop
24 VIOLENS True slumberland records
23 TENDER TRAP Ten Songs About Girls fortuna pop!
22 SILENT WHYS Our Rook independent
21 TANLINES Mixed Emotions true panther sounds
20 THE RAVEONETTES Observator vice records
19 THE WAKE A Light Far Out ltm records
18 SAN CISCO S/T fat possum
17 HOLIDAYS Young Love keep it yours records
16 LIGHTSHIPS Electric Cables domino records
15 ECHO LAKE Wild Peace slumberland records
14 HOUNDSDS Phone Thou chill mega chill records
13 THIEVING IRONS Behold, This Dreamer! independent
12 TWO WOUNDED BIRDS S/T holiday friends
11 MILK TEDDY Zingers the lost and lonesome recording co.
10 ORCA TEAM Restraint happy happy birthday to me records
09 LA BIEN QUERIDA Ceremonia elefant records
08 OPOSSOM Electric Hawaii fire records
07 JOEL ALME A Tender Trap razzia
06 ADVANCE BASE A Shut-In's Prayer caldo verde
05 THE DEDDINGTONS S/T cloudberry records
04 CROCODILES Endless Flowers frenchkiss records
03 CATS ON FIRE All Blackshirts To Me soliti
02 KLAUS & KINSKI Herreros Y Fatigas jabalina musica
01 MY HEART BELONGS TO CECILIA WINTER Midnight Midnight chop records

best for guests. mike (slumberland records)

2012-12-31T21:56:00.000-02:00

Closing 2012's edition of our Best for Guests special is Mike 'Papa Slumber', the guy that for the past 20 years, runs - by himself - one of the most important labels for independent artists: Slumberland Records.
Since 1989, Slumberland released albums from Velocity Girl, Stereolab, Boyracer, Crystal Stilts, Black Tambourine, The Aislers Set and many, many others.
Today, 20 years later, the label - that in the past spent some time inactive - is more popular than ever. The label's "gems of 2012" include the album Europe, by Allo Darlin' and Echo Lake's Wild Peace.

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MIKE SLUMBERLAND'S LUCKY SEVEN FAVE POP RECORDS OF 2012
THE GARLANDS LP
 LIGHTSHIPS Fear And Doubt EP 
LINDEN Bleached Highlights LP 
LITERATURE Arab Spring LP 
SAINT ETIENNE Words And Music LP
 SEA PINKS Freak Waves LP
 SMALL REACTIONS Nerve Pop 7"

best for guests. marc cantone (the city and horses)

2012-12-31T18:15:00.001-02:00

Marc is the children's television producer behind The City And Horses, a band from Brooklyn that makes cute and witty songs with fun, endearing and nonchalant indie pop melodies.

The City and Horses 3rd album is set to be released in 2013.

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SINGLE OF THE YEAR

I'm not really good at finding new music. At the risk of sounding gigantically pretentious, I've mostly been listening to old Noel Coward recordings and Orson Welles radio broadcasts this last year. However, a while back my band was featured in the Band of the Day app, which does exactly what the name says: introduces users to a new band every day. So one day the app featured Dominant Legs. The first song I listened to was Hoop of Love. And I didn't stop listening to it for at least three weeks. On repeat. For hours on end. It's an Orange Juice style hip shaker. The song's got more hooks than a tackle shop. The slapback vocal is barely decipherable but I sing along anyway. And there's a female counter vocal going on that softens things up nicely.

The video looks like a commercial for jeans or sunglasses or shirts but it made me fall further in love with the song. Hannah Hunt, the female counterpart, is beyond fetching. So fetching it hurts. From what I understand she's the girlfriend of the lead singer from Girls. Yeah, I have a shot.

This song is the single of the year. And it's also the song I've always wanted to write. The groove, the castoff coolness of the vocal delivery, the Orange Juice guitar. I wanted to do that! In fact, I've tried and failed. But at least I can stop trying now. Dominant Legs beat me to it. And probably did it much better.

best for guests. henric wallmark (ghost lake)

2012-12-31T17:23:00.001-02:00

Henric is a musician and multi instrumentalist from Sundsvall, Sweden. His part of indie pop darlings Heart-Sick Groans and the mind behind Ghost Lake.

At the moment Henric is at the studio with the band Harry Lynch, mixing songs with Henrik Sunbring (Agent Side Grinder, Marching Band). They'll be released in some time in 2013.

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FILMS

 MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE
I didn't see this until this year, it's really from 2009, but I was so happily surprised. Mellow, eery and excellent! By Werner Herzog, with Chloë Sevigny and Star Trek Into Darkness bad guy Michael Shannon.
Also: LOOPER! Apart from Joseph Gordon-Levitt's annoying Bruce Willis forehead/nose, it was a sweet little action piece.
As with CHRONICLE, it also had some cool Akira things going on.

BEST MUSIC
SIMIAN GHOST YOUTH
Someone reviewed this somewhere with "it sounds like glass" or something, makes sense. extremely nice production, sweet songs.
ANGEL OLSEN HALF WAY HOME
Here's an album to make a tidy little incision in your heart and then gently fill it with xenomorph blood. timeless classics! singer-songwriter angel olsen sounds sorta 60's but modernly fresh (the musical dream completed). her vocals are fitting to her christian name, loose, theremin-like and utterly beautiful. check it out, especially this undeniable hit - Angel Olsen – Free!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sekbCD_oFl0
VERONICA FALLS S/T
This album was gentle to me in the beginning of the year, reminded me of how effective simple songwriting can be, at its best! neat little stories in the lyrics too. guitar pop with generous reverb.

This year I've been making comics and writing books mostly! I'll release a single from my pop outfit Ghost Lake early 2013, with B-sides covered by Marcus Kimaro and Jerker Olov Hansson.

There's also a video for that single, with performances by the three great singer-songwriters John Hawks, Johan Brännström and Daniel Rodin, and the venomous dancer Petter Häggström. The vid pitch is David Lynch meets Fist of The North Star in Arkham Asylum dreamy darkness.

I did three music vids 2012 - one animated vid for pop phenomena Heart-Sick Groans,  and I did one video for Ghost Lake, with choreographer Marie Herdensjö and photographer Patrik Forsberg...

...and this pizza fest that i did with Jerker Häggström & Johanna Näsholm

best for guests. leif anders (orca team)

2012-12-30T15:27:00.001-02:00

Orca Team is a band from Portland, Oregon now based in Seattle. Their aesthetic is clean, simple and straightforward: black clothes, short songs drenched into 60s surf pop and stripped down to guitar, drums and bass. The strong bass lines could make everything too post punk-ish and sad, but crystal guitars make their music sound light and unaffected. It's like a prom in the 60s (with mirrorballs and stuff) taking place on a beach.

Their debut album Restraint was released this year via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.

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FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2012
THE MIAMI DOLPHINS Capri Sun Self Released
THE INTELLIGENCE Everybody's Got It Easy But Me In The Red
DEEP TIME S/T Hardly Art
HOLLOW BOYS When You Think Of Us, Pray For Us Self Released
THE SHIVAS White Out Burger Records/K Records
TRIGGER EFFECT Escape From Planet Scorpion Indica Records
CATE LE BON Cyrk The Control Group
CRIMES Good Hope Self Released

I thought 2012 was an alright year for music but for the most part, everything tended to sound the same. Melodies and guitar hooks. Distortion and back up vocals. Everything is lush and slick. It's rare that I can find something I enjoy listening too in this modern age. With no arrogance attached to this statement, sometimes the reason why I write music is because there are tones and melodies that I have always wanted to hear but have never found them before. I would be relieved if in the near future I found out I was directly ripping off someone else the entire time. At least that would save me the explanation of how I write. I could just say I plagiarize everything.
While I would never say that I play abrasive or "hard-to-get-into" music, usually I am drawn more towards the uncertain aesthetic of a band. I'm old enough to say that I prefer a presentation of music as opposed to a band playing a show. I'm not excited about your unshaven guitar player wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Is it your day off from work? Why the fuck am I watching you preform? Better yet, why did I pay to see you? Bring me something to see that I don't see everyday on the street. If you are so goddam creative, why did you assume that your music speaks for itself? It could for most everyone else. Not me. I suppose I'm the asshole there.
I'm not sure why but I am always intrigued how bands that put thought and fresh ideas into music are usually over looked by the popular masses. This is an old tale and to be fair, if there was a sudden change and everything that was subversive became popular on a mainstream level, I'm sure many of us would eventually go to underground shows to watch boy bands and Top 40 sound alikes and say things like, "Well, at least they can play well and sing in key unlike that shit I hear on the radio." Who knows, I think for the most part recorded music is boring and a waste of time. I'm much more of a person who likes to judge people upon a live setting. It's where the action is.

best for guests. urko (civil love)

2012-12-30T10:03:00.000-02:00

Civil Love is a band from Peckham, South London. Their sound is light-hearted, 60s influenced summer tunes with a feet in psychedelia and Pavement chiming guitars.

Their first EP - Civil Love - was released last April and you can get it on bandcamp. A new EP is being made...

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Here's Urko (vocals, melodica, bass, percussion and a bunch of other instruments).

"Our 2012 single ''Under The Sun'' is on Spotify too but it would've been a bit too arrogant to include it on the list haha so there you go CIVIL LOVE Under The Sun

FAVORITE TRACKS OF 2012
KING TUFF Alone & Stoned
These guys have a really fun garage pop thing going on, very catchy phrases and wacky guitars.

JOHN TALABOT Destiny feat. Pional
Spanish electro fellow. Very originally crafted and impressively danceable tunes combining tropical(ish) and darker sounds.

TAME IMPALA Endors Toi
I was sooo skeptical about these guys in the beginning as everyone was kind of ranting about them (I still don't really get their super critically acclaimed first album) Fucking good psychedelic pop, lot's of 70s prog sounds that most bands wish they knew how to capture.

OPOSSOM Blue Meanies
Ex-Mint Chicks Kiwi guy. I find this stuff better than his old band actually, as I also find Unknown Mortal Orchestra which is the other guy from Mint Chicks. Not a big fan of Mint Chicks as you can see.

THE ELWINS Come On Out
Canadian small town indie pop gem. They should be as big as The Shins maybe. Unfortunately Lana Del Rey exists today.

MICHAEL KIWANUKA I'll Get Along
Panty wetter guilty pleasure. He's really good, dammit. Reminds me of Fleet Foxes and good Soul like Otis and Curtis Mayfield.

M. WARD Clean Slate
A more than decent remain of those alt-folky days back at the end of the last decade. Silky vocals.

LIGHTSHIPS Sweetness In Her Spark
I hate when the first thing they mention is he being the bass player from Teenage Fanclub. Gerard Love is one of the most brilliant artists on the face of the planet and whoever disagrees will be attacked by a giant squid someday.

BEACH HOUSE Other People
Surprisingly non-ephemeral indie windie pleasure. All their songs sound the same therefore all their songs are awesome songs. Those muffy synths and rebervy vocals keep giving me the same chills as a couple years ago with their amazing ''Teen Dream''

MAC DEMARCO Freaking Out the Neighborhood
Lo fi jangly young Canadian dude. Chorus pedals, funky and dry drum beats, zero cliches despite this shitty description.

TWIN SHADOW The One
80's leather jacket mix raced fashionable guy from the States. Perfect for non-integral fans of Bruce Springsteen like me. Probably you'll like him if you feel the same way about Morrissey which I don't.

BREAKBOT Baby I'm Yours feat. Irfrane
French DJ or electro something, I don't know, a friend recommended it to me because he knows I love Michael Jackson and indeed I liked the guy and yes he sounds a bit like MJ. Nothing wrong about it. Extremely catchy, makes you want to take off your shirt and jump into a fountain or similar behaviors.

FRANK OCEAN Thinkin Bout You
This is my most embarrassing entry on the list but I don't care because this guy is infinitely talented and his whole album is a piece of diamond. I barely listen to cheesy chart oriented RNB or Hip Hop but this guy's gotten me addicted for quite a while already. Credible and unpretentious lyrics for a genre of frequent verbal saturation.

JAPANDROIDS Fire's Highway
WOOOOOOO ANTHEMS WAAAAA so melodic and powerful and kind of nostalgic, like I wish I was 17 again and jumped off the pier naked after 20 shots of tequila.

NOW, NOW Lucie, Too
Melancholic (emoish?) guitar band from Minnesota I think. I hear some Pedro The Lion maybe but I'm not sure wether they ever heard about that guy.

FANZINE L.A.
My favorite band in London. They have everything I die for. Amazing harmonies, unordinary chord progressions within the pop structure, catchy vocal and instrumental melodies etc. Way beyond the 90's gimmick.

WEIRD DREAMS Hurt So Bad
This guy likes Brian Wilson. No doubt about that. And he's from London too. Not many Londoners do this kind of stuff so I thought I'd mention him.

BEING THERE 17
Sweet band from London too (kinda paying homage to my surroundings). They sound a bit like those British bands from the laste 80's and early 90's like Ride, Another Sunny Day, Stone Roses etc. A bit like ''The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart'' too, let's be honest. Really enjoyable stuff though!

THEE BRANDY HIPS Cynicism
These guys are from my lovely hometown in Spain and I'm highly honored to be friends with them. We've been struggling together across the sinuous circuits of musical activity for many years and they put out a really good album this year. Anyone into Deerhunter, Neutral Milk Hotel, 60s garage and 70's powerpop should be fond of these fellows.

EL MATO A UN POLICIA MOTORIZADO Dos Galaxias
I don't listen to much current stuff sung in my mother tongue but hey, here's some hell of an Argentinian ''Guided By Voices'' nobody should ignore. Also, their lyrics are often about the things I love most in life, like Love itself, Outer Space, being in your room, a movie, crushes on girls etc.

best for guests. ray kimura

2012-12-29T19:10:00.000-02:00

One of Ray's self portraits

Our next guest is an illustrator from Tokyo, Japan. Ray Kimura's work may be very familiar for indie pop kids around the world, thanks to her very personal, colorful and delicate aesthetic (and awesome taste in music). Ray's work combines her passion for indiepop bands and illustrations.
In 2012 - apart from her famous band illustrations/portrayals - she did the Japan tour poster for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and all the artworks for Alpaca Sports releases (her aesthetic is already part of the band's imagery).

You can check and follow her work on facebook.

BEST ALBUMS 2012 TOP 10
01 TOY Toy
02 THE ICE CHOIR Afar
03 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams  (Mini Album Japan special edition) 
04 MY BLOODY VALENTINE Ep's 1988-1991
05 RIDE Going Blank Again: 20th Anniversary Edition
06 WILD NOTHING Nocturne
07 DIIV Oshin
08 RINGO DEATHSTARR Mauve
09 LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS Untogether
10 VIOLENS True

BEST ARTISTS 2012 TOP 10
*Except The Pains, most of following bands are new comers! 
*Wallflower is from Japan, which is gonna be 'Japanese pains'  
01 TOY facebook
02 SULK facebook
03 HONEYSLIDE facebook
04 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS facebook 
05 ALPACA SPORTS facebook
06 THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART facebook
07 ICE CHOIR  facebook
08 THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE facebook
09 ERIKA SPRING facebook
10 WALLFLOWER facebook

BEST TRACKS 2012 TOP 5
01 TOY Motoring

02 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS Hai bby (ft. Tiny Microphone)

03 ALPACA SPORTS Just for fun

04 ICE CHOIR A Vision of Hell, 1996

05 WILD NOTHING Shadow

BEST GIGS 2012 TOP 5
*Instead of 'labels', I chose my personal 'BEST GIGS' in 2012  'Cause during this year, I went to 5 music festivals and 15 headlining shows.  In total, saw the gigs of 37 bands!! (haha, I'm a gig-junkie!)
1 THE STONE ROSES @Fuji Rock Festival 12 (Jul 27) 
2 THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART @Shibuya Quattro (Feb 17) 
3 PRIMAL SCREAM @Rocks Tokyo (May 27)
4 PAUL WELLER @Zepp Diver City (Oct 27) 
5 THURSTON MOORE (with CHELSEA LIGHT MOVING) @Hostess Club Weekender (Nov 4)