Indiepop findings – Page 2 – Emmas

2019-02-112019-02-11

Tallies

We suspect that writers of reviews who claimed the staggeringly beautiful debut album by Canadian four-piece Tallies for the shoegaze genre didn’t extend their listening adventure beyond the opener „Trouble“, which is indeed a bit of a moody and wall of sound affair. But the album – no it’s not. Even though we are no proven experts in the territory and do not know where Tallies themselves stand on the shoegaze matter, we find hardly a shoe being gazed at on Tallies, an album that is bound to put the Toronto-based band on the indie royalty map. Read on

2019-02-032019-02-03

Chorusgirl

When someone makes a record, one would assume one of the key motifs (apart from either an artistic expression of oneself or making lots of money) to be a desire to be seen and heard, to shine in the light of a stageset. So it’s somewhat puzzling to find a record that seems to be driven by the opposite desire to grow smaller and smaller until finally disappearing, driven by introversion and despondency. Shimmer And Spin, the second album by the London based, German-UK noisepop outfit Chorusgirl is such a record. Read on

2018-12-172018-12-17

Free Cake For Every Creature

We don’t really know what twee is anymore, do we? Not at least since Marc Spitz in his 2014 book tried to portray it as a wide-ranging cultural movement, vaguely drawing a line from JD Salinger to Kurt Cobain and beyond, but effectively killing any distinctive use the term may have had before (still a good book though, mind), be it pejorative or affirming. Read on

2018-12-172018-12-17

Ghost Thoughts

Davina Shell from Amsterdam used to be in the Vancouver indiepop four piece Thee AHs, who put out four albums of dark, Beat Happening-coloured bubblegum pop between 2011 and 2015. Subsequently, Shell released a 7″ under her own name before choosing the moniker Ghost Thoughts and signing to the fabulous Jigsaw label from Seattle, where Ghost Thoughts’ debut EP came out in early 2017, a collaborative effort with a different vocalist for each of the songs. Read on

2018-11-262018-11-26

Strawberry Generation

Strawberry Generation are a bunch of students who found eachother at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and formed a band, as students would do. Starting out by putting very different musical influences and favourites together, they finally settled for Canadian indie superdarlings Alvvays as a role model for their sugary brand of indiepop. Read on

2018-11-262018-11-26

Peach Pit

Here’s a post about a not new record by a not new band. I found Vancouver indie four-piece Peach Pit a few weeks ago when I was doing what we all should be doing from time to time – browsing the recent releases on the criminally undervalued Vancouver DIY label Kingfisher Bluez, who have had an amazing output of almost 100 singles and more than 30 albums since 2011. Read on

2018-10-302018-10-30

Songs For Walter

Among the vast scene of acoustic folk that’s been part of the indiepop world for many years now, Manchester’s Laurie Hulme is one of the most interesting and original artists – by virtue of his music writing but also by virtue of the subjects his songs revolve around. His 2016 debut was inspired by stories of (and hence a tribute to) his late grandfather. This gave the album its title and it also provided the band name he’s been using since, Songs For Walter. Read on

2018-10-022018-10-30

Night Shop

The guy on the left is Justin Sullivan. Yeah, I know, and no, not that one. This Justin Sullivan used to play drums in a US indie band called The Babies – a band led by singer and songwriter Kevin Morby that we have to confess we’d never heard of before finding Sullivan’s debut solo album, In The Break. Listening to The Babies, it is obvious that ignoring them for so long hasn’t been our smartest move, they’re really good. So their drummer has just released his own record under the moniker Night Shop. Read on

2018-09-262018-09-26

Alpaca Sports

One of the most under-appreciated phenomena in pop music is bands that remain true to themselves in the course of their career. The dynamics of attention to the most recent song / release / show seems to require a constant need to re-invent oneself or at the very least make giant steps in whatever direction away from the last song / release / show. Read on

2018-09-182018-09-18

The Goon Sax

What to call this: You release your first record at the age of 17/18 to widespread international acclaim and excited cries of „flawless guitar pop“ and then follow it up two years later with something that will have no critic even think about the overused phrase „difficult second album“? We call it true class, yeah. The Goon Sax have just confirmed themselves as such a class act with album no. 2, We’re Not Talking. Read on