Poptastic

That's right, a blog post. Who would've thought you'd see another one of those, not me for one. But sure, why the heck not.

Givers. A band who's name I had seen somewhere last month and completly forgotten about. A five-piece indie pop band all the way from Lafayette, Louisiana, and my my are they poptastic (my word of the week by the way).

They've been called a cross between Mystery Jets and Vampire weekend, and they certainly look the part. But the more and more I listen to them I can't help I think they're a conventional version of "of Montreal"; cardigans instead of costumes, simpler lyrics, more minimalist songs. Their album "In Light" was released in June of this year and the first song on the record and single "Up Up Up" is as poppy as they come, and sounds like a fusion of a hundred different indie bands, clearly these guys have done their research which unfortunately does pigeonhole them a bit. The video is a bit... well, I'll leave it for you to watch.

Then there's songs like "Saw You First" and "Ceiling of Plankton" (included above for your listening pleasure) with their vocals taken right out of of Montreal's book. It's hard not to like the songs, yet ultimately they don't stand out from the many, many other similar bands out there. Nothing experimental or outstanding, but simple good for what their are, happy poppy indie songs. They'll be playing the Academy in Dublin come August, and you can guess where we'll be. That's right, at a bar, but then we'll be at the gig.

In other news, I suggest you all go and check out New Band of the Day over at The Guardian, a brilliant little daily blog (hats off to them for their stamina), responsible for a good few of my favorite musics lately including this. As well, Idaho indie band/our friends The Very Most, had a new single out in May. If you like happy music head over here to give a listen.

In the key of Black

Ohio band The Black Keys returned with another album, "Brothers", last month.



It made its way into my regular listening for a while, but has failed really moved me. Produced by Mr. Danger Mouse who also helped produce their 2008 album Attack and Release, and as a result it's got pretty much the same stylings. The single "Tighten Up" is quite a good (and the video is also quite excellent), but it stands out as the pop-iest song on the album. Other songs to check out are "Everlasting Light" and "Too Afraid to Love You". On a whole it's not as good as their last one, but still well worth listening. I'll leave it up to you to make up your mind.

Also, Guy Garvey's Finest Hour has been especially good the last couple of weeks. If you've a couple of hours to listen to it, or even 5 minutes to listen to a song or two, you should check it out. My hunt for more music from the band Black Market Radio, has turned up a couple of acoustic albums by a "Carey Sims and Black Market Radio", and is from what I can tell, completely unrelated to the Black Market Radio I'm looking from. Some alt-folk Americana songs, not all that bad, the hunt goes on however. And finally,