ONETTES. yes you got it right. When I first chanced upon them, I was thinking along the lines of the fictional band in That Thing You Do!, The ONEders. While sounding absolutely nothing like them, the Onettes have preserved the dark indie elements of 80s (the church, new order, echo and the bunnymen, the cure) and updated it for our current consumption. Well, not really an update but more of a revisit; I love how this swedish export marry the dreampop.shoegaze echo-y vocal elements with the new-wave drumming style of new order/joy division.
One criticism though: The mary onettes style of music make for at the most, 2 albums worth of listening. What happens in the 3rd (if there is a 3rd)? I cannot forsee/tolerate them having one more album that sounds almost identical as the first 2. Not unless you’re Interpol or Teenage Fanclub. But in the interest of good music history appreciation, most successful bands are able to retain their meaning and sound in the most different ways possible. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that The Mary Onettes do. For now, allow Philip Ekström and the boys remind you of how of wonderful the dark 80s sounded.
Free downloads:
Void (from S/T debut album) (right-click “save as”)
Lost (from S/T debut album) (right-click “save as”)
To be released 3rd November 2009.
During my sophomore year in Western Australia, I depended on Eirik and Erlend’s music to quell the sickness of boredom and misery. It didn’t help that Perth was mostly oh-so-slow moving and dreary. And I remembered when I listened to the songs with my eyes closed, I can almost imagine them playing in the same room I was in. ‘Quiet is the new Loud’ became my staple make-me-feel-happy-when-I’m sad music. I had hoped to see them perform live in a intimate setting like a pub or a recital hall.
I eventually got my wish – 5 years later at the Esplanade. Those guys at Mosaic did one-better. They got the Kings to play at a concert hall instead; in front of a full house of 1,600.
3 years on (thankfully we had Erlend help fill the gap with his solo electronic dance album and side project, Whitest Boy Alive), they are back with their 3rd studio album, Declaration of Dependence, to be released on the 2nd October by EMI.
IMHO, there is nothing groundbreaking about D.O.D., but it is just comforting to know that are 13 more new aural pleasures for us to ponder our lives with, to sit through rainy sundays with or to end a heavy Partying night with. One song struck me particularly though: Track number 13,’ Riot on an Empty Street’. It was a previously recorded song from their ‘Magic in the Air’, limited 3-track Ep.
“why, why so quiet oh my mysterious country singer she asked my life (love), it’s a riot I am climbing barricades in empty streets at night when I’m down fighting shadows twenty-five postcards in a box in my room telephone conversations gas slowly leaking out of a heart shaped balloon it’s a dangerous game that I’m not sure if I could keep playing for long it’s a dangerous game, it’s a very fine line and if one step is wrong I have no cards to play and that’s why I’ve got nothing to say tonight”The song is probably describing a situation where the boy knows that his relationship with his girlfriend is coming to an end because of the distance between them. Something we all can relate to, at least at some point in our lives.
florence + elly
I think 2 is better than 1, because ’2 becomes 1′ is the oh-so-awful song by spice girls. Pardon the corny-ness ‘cos this week we’ve got a double-bill recommendation lined up: FLORENCE + THE MACHINE and LA ROUX.
Similarities: Both Florence Welch and Elly Jackson were both born and bred in London. Both bands were voted in BBC’s Sounds of 2009, of which FATM came in 3rd and LR came in 5th (If you must really know, Little Boots came in 1st and White Lies came in 2nd, with Empire of the Sun coming in at 4th between FATM and LR).
Both were nominated for this year’s Barclaycard Mercury Prize.
That’s where their similarities end.
Florence + The Machine – Lungs
Lungs is a pretty delightful album to listen to, all the way from the first to the thirteenth song. Especially when you’ve heard it way before all your other friends have, and you’re thinking of boasting your brilliant find. Described as ‘soul inspired indie”, I couldn’t agree more. Try to picture Sinead O’Connor, Sarah Mclachlan or even Paula Cole singing at double the speed, backed by “indie-ish” harp, piano and hard-thumping drums. In fact, if I’m allowed to, I’d like to call Florence Welch today’s Kate Bush.
Tracks we love: Dog Days are Over, Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up), You Got The Love.
Bigbeat electronica version of
Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (P.E.S.T. Remix)
LA ROUX
80′s synth-pop has never gone away and with Elly pushing the case further with La Roux, I don’t see how will we ever forget the likes of The Eurythemics, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode or the Human League. Citing them as her major influences and coupled with the brilliance of co-writing partner, Ben Langmaid and Dubstep maestro, Skream (who produced the album), La Roux, I feel can be immediately placed alongside the other brilliant synthpop bands who are currently the epitome of the genre: Passion Pit, Ladyhawke, Little Boots, etc. AND mind you, this is much better-written pop than Lady Gaga’s!
Tracks we love: Quicksand, In For the Kill, Bulletproof, Tigerlily.
A lil’ something for the dubsteppers: In for the Kill (Skream’s let’s get ravey remix)
It’s been awhile since we at poptart gave our listening recommendation (besides our monthly top ten tunes) and for today’s, we have Fanfarlo. Based out of London, this 6-piece indie-folk band brings to our ipods and ipod touches 13 whole new refreshing, easy-listening, feet-tapping aural pleasures. Using mostly acoustic guitars and besides the sounds of mandolins, glocks, accordions and saxophones, the band also uses other everyday household items such as keys and saws!
Dubbed as Britain’s Arcade Fire, ‘Reservoir’ instantly packs that familiar punch, for anyone that remembers the impact ‘Funeral’ had upon its release. Produced by Peter Katis (The National and Interpol), Fanfarlo sold a digital-only version of its album for $1, in order to, I quote,
“Hello. Because we want everyone to hear our album, and in the spirit of “why not”, we are now letting you download it, along with 4 exclusive bonus tracks, for a mere one dollar until July 4th (or, if you like, Independence Day.) After that, the madness will end and you will be able to get the CD, the vinyl and a beautiful new special edition at normal prices.”
We at poptart hereby apologise for not informing you of this earlier.
Sounding like a mish-mash of Decemberists and Arcade Fire, coupled with Alec Ounsworth-ish (Clap your hands say yeah) sounding lead vocals, every song on this album sounds so complete, lavishly arranged and epic. But if I had to choose 3 songs as favourites, they would be, ‘Finish Line’, ‘Harold T. Wilkins Or How To Wait For A Very Long Time’ and “Ghosts”.
A little trivia for you: See the 2 girls on their album cover? One of them is the younger sister of Jón Þór Birgisson (Sigur Ros).
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Currently on repeat for the 11th time, I just had to recommend this brilliant album to those out there who haven’t heard it yet. And because Adrian and I both had Joy Formidable songs (2 different ones at that!) on our June playlists, it definitely says something about this little gem of an album.
Despite having only 8 songs (5 already available for download, all 8 for streaming on myspace) on their debut, A Balloon named Moaning was sold out during the online pre-sales; this and between making it a freedownload on NME’s music blog. Radiohead started the whole free-download-or-pay-how-much-you-think-it-is-worth thing and so many bands have caught on since. Fighting piracy with a little guilt trip, perhaps?
The Joy Formidable are a 3-piece band, originally out of North Wales, but currently residing in London. They are catchy, poppy and rocky, all at the same time. I’d like to classify them as punkpop or dreampunk, since someone classified them as dreampop. The band consists of nothing less than: Rhydian – Bass/Vox, Ritzy – Guitar/Vox, Justin – Drums/Vox.
The JF has 2 singles to date; they have put out their second single “Cradle” on February 2nd of this year, and their previous single, “Austere”, which was released during the summer of 2008, had its video banned from youtube because it features people’s faces as though they were masturbating (you can still watch it on the official website 
). “Cradle” takes that same epic pop sound that TJF create so well and cranks it to another level. But IMHO, even the other 6 songs are good enough to be released as singles. And since they have offered free downloads, we’re not gonna be giving you samples to listen this time round.
Links —> myspace | joyformidable.com | Freedownload! (just give them your e-mail address and you can download 5 of their songs)
