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Pop-Punk :: Oxymoron or Out Like Pluto?

alt-rock, alternative, featured artists, indie pop, new release, Out Like Pluto, pop-punk, punk, reviews, Seattle, The James Polk Shuffle Music, videos, Washington No Responses »

Sep 042012

artist: Out Like Pluto | album: Take Cover | genre: pop-punk, alt-rock | label: The James Polk Shuffle Music

The very first line from the bio on their own web sites goes, “Out Like Pluto is not here to revolutionize music, but they do want to make you dance.” And to that I say, “Thank you!” We all know fun music when we hear it. We want to sing along to our music. We want to tap our feet. We DO NOT want to have to think about it to appreciate it. With a couple years of writing music reviews under my belt, I’ve decided that whenever somebody describes their music as “experimental” what they mean to say is, “Here is some crap for you to waste five minutes of your life listening to.” No thank you! Out Like Pluto is NOT experimental. As they self-describe themselves, they deliver on the tried-and-true. It’s foot-tapping, catchy, but super strong alt-rock. From watching some clips on YouTube of them performing live, you can tell they are just having fun, and it’s contagious. And there is nothing wrong with music just being fun. In fact, it’s what makes me like these guys so much.

The latest album Take Cover came out last January from this Seattle five-piece. First formed by Andy (drums) and Kari (vox), the Out Like Pluto lineup is flushed out with Mike and Ben (guitar) and Jeremy (bass). The first single off the album, “Bridge”, is featured in the video above. My other favorites include “Placebo (Turn Me On)” and “Starring John Stamos”. “Papercut” also stands out as it showcases a softer side of Kari’s voice accompanied by strings, and in the process shows just how strong her singing really is. Every track on the album will make you feel good though. So, yeah, it’s nothing earth-shattering, and it’s very nostalgic of alt-rock from the 90′s…. but we all love the alt-rock from the 90′s, and besides, feeling good is exactly what I want in 2012.

- DMitch

Summer Ending Soul

alt-rock, alternative, Attack Ships On Fire, featured artists, hard rock, new release, Oregon, Portland, punk, rock, SquidHat Records No Responses »

Aug 292012

artist: Attack Ships on Fire | album: Vegas Soul | genre: rock, punk | label: SquidHat Records

Attack Ships On Fire :: Vegas Soul

Attack Ships On Fire - Vegas Soul Labour Day is fast approaching likewise, coincidentally, the end of Summer 2012. If they haven’t already done so, young chitlins, angst ridden teens and future college drop outs all around the world will soon be starting their Fall classes and, thus, ending life as they know it. Fortunately for these wayward yutes there is a new album dropping from Oregon’s Attack Ships on Fire that should help in tiding them over until…well…with their limited attention spans Thanksgiving might be a stretch but I think Halloween is in the bag for sure. The (12) tracks that encompass the Pride of Portland’s third album entitled Vegas Soul were actually inspired by a new book from author P Moss called Vegas Knockout that is due to drop on Sept. 6th as is album #3 from the aforementioned ASoF.

We got a sneak peek…err listen…to the album’s title track and it’s delovely. Driven doesn’t even begin to describe it. This one, my friends, comes at you fast and furious with a musical double tap that is true pandalerium. I freaking love it…sounds a bit like Coheed and Cambria meets the Sex Pistols but that’s what I dig about it.

Many thanks to our friends at SquidHat Records for sharing the love. Peace…

- Drago

…follow the beat…follow the drum…follow the sound

alternative, Australia, Circle, electro, featured artists, indie, indie pop, Monday Records, new release, reviews, Sydney, synth pop, videos 35 Responses »

Aug 202012

Circle - Radi Safi, Dan Shaw, Rebecca Shave artist: Circle
album: The Middle
genre: alternative
label: Monday Records

Fashion Me A Drum (Clip)
Half Race Girls (Clip)
Brothers (Clip)

I usually like to compare a band to other, often better known, bands. Doing so for Circle doesn’t seem fair though. Perhaps you will catch a glimpse of something like Death Cab For Cutie in a track or two, then others are reminiscent of Swedish bands The Legends or Acid House Kings. Sometimes the taste was something a bit like The Cocteau Twins. But Circle isn’t really any of those other bands. What they are is yet another brilliant alternative band from Australia delivering some of the best alternative/electro pop/indie rock (or whatever you want to call it) music I’ve heard in awhile. Seriously, what’s in the water there?

Although the band has been playing in some form since 2005, The Middle is first studio album from Circle. The wait is worth it though because Radi Safi, Dan Shaw, and Rebecca Shave surely have created a masterpiece here. It’s not often I listen to a brand new album on my morning commute and then find myself throughout the day singing to myself multiple tunes off of it. The album really kicks off, for me, with track two’s “Fashion Me a Drum”. The pulsating beating intro, layered a moment later with synth chords, then finally the slightly airy but understated Radi vocals draw you into the song immediately. The sucking in continues when Rebecca joins in on the chorus, but the coup de grâce is when Rebecca’s solo kicks in. When I find myself singing along “I will follow the beat, I will follow the drum, I will follow the sound… the sound that made me love you”, I really really mean it.

Other tracks along the lines of “Fashion Me A Drum” are “Half Race Girls” and “Brothers”. Both are incredibly accessible, having all the hooks you’d ever want and will have you singing along in no time at all. (I hear my 4 year old son singing the melody of the “ooooh ooooh ooooh”s from “Half Race Girls” all the time.) The tracks “Gorgeous”, “All The People”, and “Hold” are what gave me the glimpses of The Sundays and The Cocteau Twins I mentioned earlier. Ephemeral, melodic, hypnotic…brilliant.

- DMitch

P.S. Tell me this video isn’t the most hipster thing you’ve ever seen…

Wheel Workers on Vinyl

alternative, featured artists, folk, Houston, indie, indie pop, new release, rock, Texas, The Wheel Workers, ZenHill Records No Responses »

Jun 262012

What are you doing this Friday? If you happen to find yourself in Houston, TX then I highly recommend you check out The Wheel Workers Vinyl Release Party. The release features two(2) re-imagined and re-mixed tracks off their Unite album. (By the way, you can read my original review of the album if you want.) I have to say, I originally didn’t see “Right Way To Go” and “Spidermazes” as album standouts, but these new remixes are incredible. My previous favorite track from Unite, “Stereomad”, now has a serious competitor with the now more amped up “Spidermazes”. I’m adding both tracks to The Big Mix, so you can check them out here or grab the vinyl (or CD) from the release party. Or find the original album versions on iTunes.

- DMitch

Good News for Goodbyemotel

alternative, Australia, featured artists, goodbyemotel, indie, indie pop, Melbourne, nicebike records No Responses »

May 012012

2011 was indeed a good year for Australia’s up and coming indie rockers Goodbyemotel. Not only were they nominated as finalists in this year’s Music Oz Awards…but so was their video (above) for the title track of their 2011 EP Wish Your Way. Naturally, this comes as no surprise to your friends here at Froglix as we predicted back in October that big things were expected from these cats and, true to form, it is all coming to fruition. Cheers mates! Job well done…

- Drago

Sick Of It All? Try Going To Venus

alt-rock, alternative, Citation Records, featured artists, Hickory, indie, Leaving Venus, new release, North Carolina, reviews, rock 1 Response »

Apr 052012

“Sick Of It All”, the title track from Leaving Venus’s most recent EP made me smile right from the get go. You know the moment in the movies when a fledgling band in the late 1950′s excitedly listens to their song on the radio for the first time… and then it quickly cuts mid-stream to them playing it live? Well yeah, that’s the exact vibe you get at the 30 second mark. And the style of music in this track fits the image as well… a rockabilly styled tune, simple chord changes, but catchy and lyrically clever. Then right at the 1:20 mark you get a refreshing 10 second change in tone that brings to mind something you’d hear from The Connells, maybe like from the “All Sinks In” track off of One Simple Word. In fact it’s a glimpse of what the other tracks on the EP are like.

I had a hard time choosing which other track from the EP to add to the broadcast. Ultimately I chose
“Comfortably”, mostly because it had me tapping my foot halfway through my first listen, and had me wanting to sing along by the second. I suppose that’s as good of a test as any. “Comfortably” probably also does the best job in showcasing Michael Miller’s mellifluous voice. Sometimes I do wish he’d do just a bit more vocally, but in this track it feels just right, well “comfortable” actually.

- DMitch

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