Late Guest At The Party - Most of the Time

Originally from Italy but now based in New York, Late Guest At The Party make rather nifty electro-pop tunes, with their newest song, "Most of the Time", being a great demonstrator of their sound. Its sonic-manipulation production style and lyrical content calls to mind a cross between Cut Copy & CHVRCHES, and has a groove to it that is likely to pull you in.

"Most of The Time" is out now.

SKATERS - Mental Case

New York based band SKATERS made an impact a few years back with their album "Manhattan", which was choc-a-bloc with fast-paced indie-rock tunes like "Miss Teen Massachusetts" and the irristably infectious "I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)", gaining major airplay on Radio 1 and touring up and down the country.

Fast forward two years, and the band have departed from Warner Bros. Records to release music on their own steam, and their first offering might come as a surprise to anyone who was expecting more of the same from the group. "Mental Case" sees the band slow the pace down quite a bit, with a more psychedelic vibes going on, which calls to mind a little bit of John Lennon, some Blur album tracks, and possibly a wee bit of Mercury Rev as well. It's an interesting development from the group, which might point at the direction the band may be headed in now that they're no longer part of the major label system.

"Mental Case" is available to download now.

EVVY - You Said

Quite a chilled-out track, this one. New York based artist EVVY has just released her debut E.P this month. Taken from the release is "You Said", a relaxed yet melancholy slice of electronic pop, very much in the mould of Tove Lo's recent surprise top 10 hit "Stay High". That this song hasn't set the blogosphere alight so far is quite surprising, although in fairness it is competing with six other quite strong tracks on the same E.P, so we'll just have to wait and see if it shoots for the stratosphere.

The self-titled debut E.P from EVVY is out now.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Simple & Sure/Eurydice

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are genuinely one of the blog's favourite new bands to have emerged in the past five years. They first grabbed our attention with their scruffy, lo-fi, yet brilliant self-titled début album, then completely blew us away with their more polished follow-up, "Belong", an album which in "Heart In Your Heartbreak" has given us one of the finest indie-pop anthems of recent times, and which ended up as our favourite of 2011. In spite of this, there seems to have been some uncertainly surrounding the release of album #3. Its release date appears to have shifted several times since it was first announced, and it wasn't until yesterday that it was even confirmed for release in the UK (we'll be getting it a few weeks after our American brothers).

So should we be worried? If the first two singles from the album are anything to go by, we really have nothing to fret over. "Simple And Sure" has been floating on the interwebs for a few months now, and is a deceptively straightforward example of The Pains' knack for a indie-pop brilliance. In "Eurydice" however, they really do have something extraordinary in their possession. Taking its name from a character from Greek mythology, the song is the nearest to a straight-up rock song the band has given us, and has all the hallmarks of a classic - its expansive yet measured production, it's soaring, infectious chorus, and that wonderful moment 3 minutes into the song when the counter-vocals come in. Just when you thought the band couldn't match "Heart In Your Heartbreak", they just go and shoot it out of the water.

The first album from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart got a few complaints from people who though it was too under-produced. Their follow-up received criticism for being too over-produced (something we don't happen to agree with, incidentally). Will their new album be their 'Baby Bear' record, one that is 'just right'? I don't think we've got anything to worry about at all - if "Eurydice" isn't this blog's top song of 2014 come December, and the album isn't jostling for the number 1 spot, then I will be very surprised.

"Days of Abandon" will be released in the UK on June 2nd on Fierce Panda Records.




Photo is (c) Shervin Lainez. 

Dead Heart Bloom - Broken Babylon

It's nice to become re-acquainted with a group that I hadn't come across for years. New York trio Dead Heart Bloom first came to my attention in my pre-blog days back in 2009, when their rather lovely track "Meet Me" somehow made its way onto my iTunes folder. Although it was a decent track, I didn't delve any deeper into their bak catalog, and the band slipped out of my mind until earlier this year, when I learned several things -

a) The band were still going strong.
b) The band's most recent E.P was produced by Anthony Molina, best known for his work in Mercury Rev.
And perhaps most importantly -
c) The band sound absolutely nothing like I had imagined them to be.

Which brings us to "Broken Babylon", the lead track from their most recent E.P "So It Goes". Unlike the harmonious Beatles-esque I'd come to expect from the band, this is a song that packs a real punch. It's a powerful space-rock tune that, somewhat unsurprisingly, has a little bit of the Rev to it, but also little flickers of Spiritualized and The Verve as well.

Dead Heart Bloom are an interesting group indeed - they're a prolific bunch who seem to have received quite a lot of blog love over the past few years without ever crossing over to the indie "mainstream". Hopefully this release will push them into a few more minds. It's great to become re-acquainted with old friends, it's even greater when they surprise you in such a positive way.

"Broken Babylon" is available as a free download in exchange for an email address.

Skaters - Miss Teen Massachusetts

I've been meaning to write about New York rockers Skaters for over a year now, but for various reasons never got around to doing so. It's fair to say however that they've done pretty well in that time, entertaining crowd on both sides of the Atlantic, gracing the playlists of Radio 1, and given us some great tunes like "I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)", a song that came dangerously close to making the blog's top songs of last year.

So with their debut album almost upon us, now seems like the most opportune time to give them a few metaphorical inches, with the release of their new single "Miss Teen Massachusetts". Given that it sounds a bit like Menswe@r, you can tell that it's right up my street.* If you're looking for youthful guitar pop that doesn't take itself to seriously, then you could do a lot worse than Skaters.

Their debut album, "Manhattan", will be released on February 25th.



*That's not sarcasm. Seriously, have you ever heard "Daydreamer"? It's wonderful.

Aware Wolf - Skummy Skummy Skam Guy

 

For a rock band that only has two members, New York based Aware Wolf sure do make a lot of noise. Taken from their first E.P, "Scummy Scummy Skam Guy" takes its lead from a variety of different sources, be it the loud guitars of Japandroids, the lo-fi charm of The Libertines, or the pop-laden punk of Green Day (elements of the track do bear melodic similarities to their track "Jesus of Suburbia"). It's this sort of fun garage-pop that inspired me to start this blog in the first place nearly two years ago, and it's a song well worth taking 2 1/2 minutes out of your day to listen to.

The track from the band's self-titled debut E.P, which is available on a pay-what-you-like basis.