First things first – Kaela Kimura’s had an absolutely bananas 2010. She rang in the year by releasing a best-of album stacked with excellent J-Pop. That retrospective also featured a new song, “You Bet!!,” that subtly tweaked her rock-side into a more aggressive but still entirely catchy beast that remains one of the year’s best…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9fetf6Hkfc”] Sloppy Joe’s “Portrait” doesn’t require much dissection. It’s pretty straightforward indie-pop with a bit of a Smith’s swagger to it courtesy of the guitars. Plus its loaded up with trumpet. Just because “Portrait” carries all the hallmarks of twee past, though, doesn’t mean it’s bad. Sloppy Joe clearly studied up on how to create…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO9npWfCKGQ”] It seems like human laser light show Avengers In Sci-Fi have been grounded for quite a bit, but conditions have cleared up just in time for a new single. Tongue-twisting “Delight Slight Lightspeed,” presented in clip form above, teases a mission into Coheed & Cambria-lite territory before blasting off into interstellar rock featuring the…
The name should offer a big tip as what to expect – Atlas Young dabbles in bedroom music often associated with acts featuring very similar names. Yet Atlas Young isn’t at all derivative. He makes massive, sky-ward symphonies greatly indebted to shoegaze in his room. Vocals get doused in a colorful coat of swirling electronics,…
Quinka, With A Yawn released a great album last year called Su. Now she brings the world a follow-up…and it’s a collection of cover songs done in bossa-nova style. Seriously. The simply titled Afternoon Bossa finds Michiko Aoki re-imagining 10 songs into Brazilian-tinged numbers. Look forward to hearing Oasis (“Whatever”), Coldplay (“Viva La Vida”) and…