Pulley was something of a pop-punk supergroup with members of Ten Foot Pole and Strung Out. The band was started after singer Scott Radinsky was kicked out of Ten Foot Pole for not having enough time to commit to the band (in addition to being a singer, Radinsky was also a Major League Baseball relief pitcher.)
The song ‘Cashed In’ is from their 1996 debut, Esteem Driven Engine. The song outlines Radinsky’s reaction to the commercialization of punk music. Radinsky (along with most of the other members of Pulley) was a veteran pioneer of the pop-punk movement before it was commercially viable and the historical importance of their former bands is often overlooked because they didn’t strive to achieve mainstream success.
Midnight Juggernauts are a Melbourn, Australia-based indie rock/electronic band. After a series of EPs they put out their debut album ‘Dystopia’ on Siberian Records in 2007. It’s a great album start-to-finish, my favorite tracks were ‘Nine Lives’, ‘Ending of an Era’ and ‘Road to Recovery’ The band features Vincent Vendetta, Andy Juggernaut and Daniel Stricker; they often draw comparisons to David Bowie and Kraftwerk.
A friend sent me this video for MGMT’s song ‘Time To Pretend’ and both the video and the song have really been growing on me. MGMT, consisting of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden just released an album on Columbia called ‘Oracular Spectacular.’
If you pay close attention to the video, you’ll notice a reference to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s psychedelic opus, The Holy Mountain, about halfway through. The video itself is pretty psychedelic itself, they seem to have deliberately used some crappy editing to finish the effect. I really like the backing bass/synth in this song, I just wish there were live drums instead of the drum track. The lyrics are obviously meant to be ironic, poking fun at the typical idea of rock star success.
The Trons are an all-robot band from New Zealand; this isn’t just some video expirement, they record original songs and play live gigs, in fact, recently they played the Hamilton’s Ignition Fringe Festival. They are comprised of various junk parts and you can even read an interview with the Trons here.
I dig their sound, it’s kind of a mellow surf rock, reminds me a little bit of early Van Morrison (in fact the beginning of this song really reminds me of the classic Van Morrison and Them tune, ‘Gloria’.) Hopefully the Trons will one day be taken on tour through the states cause I would definitely like to see them.
British Sea Power are an English indie rock band whose sound has been compared to that of Joy Division, the Cure and the Pixies. The mix a lot of very melodic, sappy sounds with a little bit of dissonance. This song is from their latest album entitled ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ Ironic title as this song is not very rockin’, but it’s a catchy song and the puppet-heavy video is cool to watch.
Crystal Castles (Ethan Kath and Alice Glass) are an electronic indie band from Toronto that utilize a lot of retro sounds; this genre is often referred to as ‘chiptunes.’ Crimewave is from their 2008 self-titled album and is actually a remix of a song by HEALTH.
The group was actually formed as an accident, when Alice Glass recorded some vocals over an instrumental track by Ethan Kath as a test, which eventually ended up in the hands of record label executives who offered them a deal.
Recently there has been some controversy surrounding them, as apparently Ethan has been accused of lifting sounds from other electronic artists. It’s hard for me to really care about this though, because the entire genre of electronic music is founded on people stealing the sounds of others.
The Bronx is a pop-punk band from Southern California. Normally this kind of music isn’t my thing, but they have kind of an old rock and roll sound that made them grow on me. They have put out two self-titled albums and, oddly enough, will be putting out another one soon.
White Guilt is on their second self-titled album, this video reminds me of my high school Summers when my friends and I would go hang out at Venice beach, where this video was shot, and running away from bike cops.
The Eagles of Death Metal are really only two guys: Palm Desert rocker Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss fame. Despite the name, they are not a death metal band. They have a very tongue-in-cheek classic rock sound, they are more or less a parody of popular garage-influenced 70s rock like Canned Heat, Mountain, Iggy and the Stooges, etc.
Their first album, ‘Peace, Love, Death Metal’ was sort of a sleeper hit; they did not become a huge success but gained a cult following and the songs from this album are very often favored for movie soundtracks and commercials. The subsequent album, ‘Death By Sexy’ was still solid but not quite as good as the first, and they are working on a new album called ‘Heart on’.
Dredg are the modern masters of cathartic, atmospheric rock. Their debut concept album, ‘Leitmotif’ has grown on me over the years and I would consider it to be one of my top ten albums. ‘Same Ol’ Road’ is from their follow-up, ‘El Cielo’ which is another great release, although a little mellower than the first. I wouldn’t bother with their third studio album, ‘Catch Without Arms’ as they have gone in more of a pop direction and the music is far less interesting. They are from San Jose and thankfully they sometimes play shows around here where they feature their older catalog.
The music video matches the creativity of the music; I really like this stop-motion animation. I have to add that Dredg is a difficult band to consume in snippets, if you like this song I recommend listening to the album start-to-finish.
[youtube YxUBWyUQuDo] Although I have lived most of my life in the states, originally I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bersuit Vergarabat, or just ‘Bersuit’ as they are more commonly known, are a very popular alternative rock band in Argentina. They are kind of like the Radiohead of Argentina.
They are very different from Radiohead though in that their music completely embodies counter-culture, identifying with the misfits and outcasts of society, their music and performances carry strong themes of madness and psychosis, in fact they often perform wearing clinical pajamas to show their solidarity with individuals who are marginalized by society’s view of ‘madness.’ Unlike a lot of more escapist pop music that comes out of South America, their songs also tackle the issues of poverty, corruption, and general social unrest that plague Argentina and much of South America.
This song, ‘En La Ribera’ (roughly translates to: ‘On the Riverbank’) from their ‘Testosterona’ album, is about the impoverished riverbank communities on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Anyone who’s spent some time in Buenos Aires would know exactly what I am talking about, as these communities are numerous and many of them are visible from major highways. These are ‘tinsel towns’, houses built from aluminum siding, adobe, garbage, whatever people can get their hands on and provide very limited access to plumbing and electricity. The unemployment and economic problems that plague Argentina are vast and there are thousands in these communities.
This video really reminds me of home and I really like the way the video (much like the song) at first shows the riverbank as only a place of poverty and misery, but goes on to show that the people living in these communities live rich, fulfilling, very social lives that perhaps result in more happiness than the quiet isolation of those who work in offices all day.
