Palebear Archives

Category : 80s Throwback

Bedroom Eyes
Embrace In Stereo

I caught this Swedish band off of 3hive yesterday and they’re great, like many of the smaller and unsigned pure indiepop bands coming from that country. I don’t know what it is, but the music of indieSwedes just seem to really agree with me (I wonder if it’s the fact that they like handclaps so much in the songs.)

Anyhow, this is Jonas Jonsson’s wonderful little bedroom EP project Embrace In Stereo under the name Bedroom Eyes and it’s available in its entirety for free on the website. Backing him up are Emil Karlsson (drums), Mattias Andersson (bass) and Patrik Zackrisson (keyboards).

The poppy flavor of the songs include a bit of 90s (or is that 80s) throwback with a hint of twee mixed in. And a bit of Teen Fanclub influence perhaps. Jonas’s voice also reminds me a bit of Tim Booth. My favorite track is “The Skywriter” which contains a surprisingly drony and driving outro, somewhat at odds with the rest of the tracks which are more pure pop.

Band Website:

www.bedroomeyes.se/

Available Tracks:

Motorcycle Daydream
Dancing Under Influence
The Skywriter
Blueprint for Departure

by Palebear | No Comments

Citified
The Meeting After The Meeting

Lately, I have been really digging the album from Citified. Listening to “The Meeting After The Meeting” is like being in a shoegazer timewarp. Definitely channeling some good old Cure, Echo and the Bunnyman and The Church, this is one the best albums I’ve heard lately in this genre. Hey, the neu 80s are back with a vengeance so it’s no surprise that bands that sound like this are popping up left and right. Still, I think Citified does it really well - they get in a few more modern music knocks as well - I hear some Autumns in the mix, Mark Kozelek, maybe some Kingsbury Manx (interesting that the album was engineered by Jerry Kee). Swirling and nostalgically beautiful, this album is definitely a keeper.

Visit:
Citified Myspace
Eskimo Kiss website

by Palebear | No Comments

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
S/T

When a relatively unknown indie band gets a blog buzz on, it’s a difficult thing to suppress. I thought I was up on the cutting edge by finding this band, but I’ve since seen them featured in any number of music publications and even dropped by word of mouth by someone whose idea of “super indie” is the Arcade Fire. Last to the party, as usual.

This is delicious and pernicious indie pop that grabs a hold of the reins of your brain lobes and rides you down a somewhat 80s dayglow tinged road. “In This Home On Ice” will find you galloping along helplessly with the song’s shimmering guitars. There is little debate as to whether lead singer Alec Ounsworth sounds just a tad bit like David Byrne, but on this track he comes across more Elephant 6 - like, maybe Neutral Milk Hotel. He also sounds a bit like the Decemberists as well, but the music is less choppy waters and more tidal wave-like.

Continue reading “Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Map
Think Like An Owner

I’ve got quite a few CDs by the band Map, including 2 EPs “Secrets of the Highway” and “Eastern Skies, Western Eyes” and this full length album “Think Like an Owner”. I always sort of pegged them as shoegaze, but this album seems to feel quite a bit different. There’s a bit of retro 80s feel to the songs and many of the tracks appear darker in tone.

Josh Dooley leads the quartet Map with his slightly angular harmonies. The musicians are excellent at attaining a dreamy blend of slightly distorted guitar and splashy drums. But the slower songs on the album (like “Girl”) are surprisingly tender and show the band is capable of slower poppy stuff too.

Continue reading “Map - Think Like An Owner” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Midnight Movies
Lion The Girl

You know, I have to say I was guilty of judging a book by its cover. The name Midnight Movies just sounds like a band I wouldn’t be into - like ugh, Ska, or something. It turns out that they’ve got a cool modern sound mixed with a tinge of 80s - but they’re definitely more along the darker rock or dreamrock scheme of things. No Ska here.

Their sound reminds me a bit of Clinic and Blonde Redhead (who they’re touring with) though the vocals are sort of Nico plus Stereolab. Funny, on the slower areas of the songs I also hear Madder Rose? The music can come across a bit detached or distant at times, though that’s definitely on purpose. They also bear a resemblance in style to the great Silversun Pickups, and I believe they’re also a local band right here in my backyard.

I was sent their new release “Lion the Girl” the other day and I have to say it’s one of the stronger albums I’ve received this year. It ain’t going to replace Loney, Dear as the front runner, but it’s pretty high up there. And it’s a totally different sound - rocking all tomorrow’s parties in every way.

Listen:
Midnight Movies on Myspace

On Itunes:
Midnight Movies

Watch:
Patient Eye
Persimmon Tree

Visit:
Midnight Movies website

by Palebear | No Comments

Mon Frere
Blood, Sweat and Swords

Never let an album cover pre-influence your opinion of a band. These words should be enscribed on a stone tablet and hung over every prospective music reviewers desk. I’m often guilty of this sin, and the Mon Frere album was no exception. I mean just look at the cover. Swords with skulls through them… hmm, can you say either supergoth or blast-plaster metal?

Indeed. The band is nothing like that and they’ve even provided a handy genre categorization for me which is Powerhouse Electro Dance Rock. Oh, another rule for the stone tablet mentioned above: Never let the first song of an album influence your overall perception of the band. I listened to the first track (”Y.M.M.W.D.S.B”) and was all, like, Mates of State! But after that first song, they start to live more up to their genre.

I will give Nouela some props in that she has some crazy amazing pipes. She belts that stuff out. However, the music tends more toward synthyish new wave and electro-rock like No Doubt. (Occasionally, I hear something that reminds me of Rainer Maria, but it’s mostly a fleeting hint.) Her voice fits the music style superbly and the songs are fairly catchy, but just isn’t my cup of tea. Right now, anyway.

There is a bit of a campy or even loungey aspect to some of their tracks. The guitar is often nicely choppy and chunky, like on “Let It Bleed”, “Big Shot” or “Drain”. For “Bulliton” can you say Barracuda? Hehe. They even slow it down a bit on songs like “Leaving Town” which sort of reminds me of a Devics song?

Bratty and brash, I think most of these tracks would fit pretty well next to your synth-pop stuff. Just don’t let your mom see the cover.

Band Members:

Kyle Swisher - Guitar
Nouela Johnston - Vocals, Keys
Dustin McGhie - Drums

Albums on Itunes:

Blood Sweat and Swords
Real Vampires EP

Available Tracks:

Drain

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Ramones
Blitzkrieg Bop

OK, so I confess that I absolutely detest Pepsi. And don’t even get me started on the evil aftertaste in Diet Sodas. So put them together as Pepsi Diet Soda and create a commercial and you get something I’d really, really hate. And in fact, the only redeeming thing about that commercial (well, I admit the CG is not bad for the dancing sodas) is that they used Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones as the background music.

The commercial features a bunch of sodas in a 7-11 upright glass door fridge cooler, each “type” of soda on a different shelf. They actually went out of their way to render “Diet Coke” cans too. So only the “cool” Diet Pepsi cans are the ones to pogo to the beat of Blitzkrieg Bop, while the other sodas are complaining. I dunno, I might be complaining too about neighbors in the upstairs shelf making a racket. The commercial ends with a lone Diet Pepsi can slam dancing through the glass door and spinning around on the floor.

Continue reading “Ramones - Diet Pepsi Commercial” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Scanners
Violence Is Golden

This is a short review of the band called Scanners, and not the Cronenberg movie. If you’ve somehow managed to stumble upon this page while looking for the movie, head on over to IMDB. Or read about the band’s “Violence is Golden” for a bit, and then off you go.

Anyhow, Scanners deeply channels (and there’s a pretentious review word if ever there was one) Chryssie Hynde and her Pretenders buds with slamming and snarling guitar riffs and a bit of 80s new wave synth party thrown in. Vocalist/bassist Sarah Daly is mostly responsible for the Pretender references with her ringing set of wrought iron pipes.

The music sometimes reminds me of 90s Brit-bands like Elastica, though there’s also modern touch to the music. “Joy” and “Lowlife” start off the album in spectacular fashion, with glossy shimmering soundscapes. Some people are going to gothic-ize their reviews of this album but I’d say its more punky than overall gloomy. Sometimes I can’t figure out what they’re aiming at, for instance in “Changing Times” which has a guitar riff that sounds like a Snow Patrol or Travis track embedded in it. The band is also capable of so-called “birdwalks” away from straight up punkwave.

“Evil Twin” starts off almost folky semi-sweet, like a Jeff Hanson tune but quickly gets good and creepy, while the keyboard beeps of “Look What You Started” puzzle and ponder their way through a reversed 16th century classical melody.

The band is releasing stuff on Dim Mak. Have a listen…

Available Tracks:

Lowlife

Band Website:

Scanners Music

by Palebear | No Comments

The Jim Yoshii Pileup
Silver Sparkler

If, like me, the first thing you wonder about The Jim Yoshii Pileup is how come they have that name when none of them is named Jim Yoshii (or let alone Jim) then prepare NOT to find the answer out here. I’ll just stick with figuring out the music thank you very much.

I’ve known about this band for a little while, I think I first heard them on Soma FM. They play their own brand of slightly mutated indie rock. I thought I actually remembered some of their other tracks being more experimental as far as atmospherics go. So I was a bit surprised that the track made available for download off their new album Picks Us Apart is actually quite smooth and and much more straighforward indie rock. It’s also damn catchy.

Continue reading “The Jim Yoshii Pileup - Silver Sparkler” …

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

The Like Young
For Money Or Love

I’ve been a fan of the super-energetic poppypunk of The Like Young ever since I was passed the “Looked Up” Plus Four EP off Kittridge Records. (”You Can’t Get It Back” is a serious pop anthem on that record).

What’s that? You say there’s another band called The Like that I might be getting them confused with? Not so… and in fact IMHO The Like seem a bit overrated. Give me The Like Young anyday over them.

To make matters even more confusing, the married musical couple of Amanda and Joe Ziemba (remember the band Wolfie? That was them) have just been signed to Polyvinyl Record Co. who are home to another, slightly more famous married duo… Mates of State. Though the Mates are pretty cool, they never really knocked my socks off… I always thought their songs were a bit jarring. The Like Young, however, have been regulars in our CD players for some time and provide that winning combination of un-pop punk smarts with really good pop songwriting.

Anyhow, they are coming out with an album called Last Secrets on Polyvinyl in the spring but until then you can get a taste of what’s to come by listening to their track “For Money Or Love”. By the way, apologies that the thumbnail above is NOT the album cover but just a pic of them. I’ll change it out when the album comes out.

Brash and bratty vocal melodies by mop-topped Joe are wrapped in Amanda’s cooling vocal harmonies and the whole thing is rolled unceremoniously up in head-bobbin’, chugworthy punk rock. Imagine mid-period Sleater-Kinney with a guy on lead, or Quasi with much less acrobatics and keyboards. There’s also a throwback to the simpler pop-punk times of Weezer, The Rentals, even X at times.

This is a band that you just gotta root for. One reason for that is unlike some bands that have a tough exterior shell around their music, all the tough and crazy problems that The Like Young have survived through both as a musicians and as a couple are laid out bare in their songs. And according to the website, their next album is going to have even more of that heart-sleeve angst. They’ve truly lived through this. I mean, that one song is called “For Money Or Love” which pretty much says it all. Powerful, catchy stuff.

Members:

Joe Ziemba - guitar, vocals
Amanda Ziemba - drums, vocals

Albums available on Itunes:

“Looked Up” Plus Four (Kittridge 2002)
Art Contest (Parasol 2003)
So Serious (Parasol 2004)

The Like Young website

by Bryan | Comments Off