Artist Of The Day: Televisions

Despite the rush to improve musical quality through things like lossless audio and high-quality studio tech, lo-fi still has an enormous place in indie music culture. Take Televisions, for example. It's a solo project of a fellow named Nicholas Rattigan, and the quality of his music echoes a 1960's radio broadcast, with a nostalgic lens of fuzz overlaying every song. A listen to the most recent effort, Neon Gold, will take you to a place that doesn't exist anymore save in dreams, feeling simple and elegant in good taste. "She's Dreaming" leaves a taste of slow M83 songs in your mouth, while "I'm Free" is faster, and definitely hints at surf-rock, all in that filter of a past era of music. It's a refined and wonderfully elegant sound, leaving you wanting much more than just 10 easy minutes of music.

And you can have more! Kindly Mr. Rattigan has all of his recorded material available on his Bandcamp for free! Stream and download as much as you would like, and be sure to watch for updates on his Facebook page.

Artist of the Day: Stars

If there's one thing to take away from Stars' new album, The North, it's that there is no predicting just what a band is capable of delivering.  The Five Ghosts was a solid enough debut indie album, showing definite potential, but for no discernible reason, it didn't seem to have much repeat value.  But all of that's changed on The North.  With the simple addition of 80's-style synthesizers, Stars has managed to truly solidify their sound, creating an album that is incredibly relaxing, with subtle leanings in a more indie/pop direction.  Even the harmonized vocals hold more weight than before, accentuating the dynamics of each song perfectly.  So if anyone who has yet to listen Stars, or has been hesitant to give them a real chance, now is the time to do so.  If they continue to progress this way with future release, there's no telling what they're capable of delivering. 

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Artist Of The Day: The Early November

With the end of an "indefinite hiatus" behind them, a signing with the slightly-too-scene Rise Records, and a new album due towards the beginning of next week, I figured it would be a good time to feature The Early November. I know, if you've followed my posts, you know this is a very strong deviation from the material I normally feature. However, The Early November has some really homespun roots, and I think that attribute plays into their music being simplistic and true, instead of excessive and gaudy like a lot of pop-punk and alt rock is in the present day and age. The sound that the band lends to the music industry is much closer to indie pop, despite the similarities in instrument tone, vocal timbre, or facile song structure.

Album Review: Big Deal - Lights Out

Album Rating: B+

It's been nearly thirty-five years since Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta graced listeners and viewers alike with their silver-screen performance of 'You're the One That I Want' on the 1978 film version of Grease; and while the overabundance of black spandex and flagrant expressions of desire seem more than a little cheesy in a modern viewing of the scene, the cutesy duet is wholly iconic in its own right.  This isn't to say that these tinsel-town lovebirds were the first to cash in on on the poppy pastiche afforded by the boy/girl combo; the jig is as old as pop music itself, they just so happened to make a statement of it.  Hence, it's pretty easy to see why so many couples have tried to follow in their wake since, ranging from Ross and Richie's 'Endless Love' to Jay-Z and Beyonce's relationship in general; and, on a lesser-known scale, manifest in such modern groups as Lemuria or appropriately-named She & Him.  Point is, if you're going to play the indie girl / melancholic boy card in 2012, you damn well better do it right.