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Ok, though their name may make them sound like a wedding cover band, at least there's little irony in it; DC-based The Dance Party crafts serious hook-heavy power zingers, unabashedly inspired by late night sing-along Journey songs, 80s glam rock and Bloc Party-esque builds. The catchy "Sasha Don't Sleep" is product of their collaboration with NY producer/engineer Andros Rodriguez (who also boasts Justin Timberlake and Ludacris on his resume.) Meanwhile, live, the band has the power hooks, looks, charisma, (not to mention fake-baked Brit-esque accent?) that could easily pack stadiums and get the kids to jump around. They ain't Fugazi, but DC represent.
Sounds Like: Journey, Def Leppard, Tears For Fears, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand
The Dance Party - Sasha Don't Sleep
The Dance Party's RCRD LBL Page
(Photo : Brett Arthur Donnar)
Add The Downtown Fiction to the growing list of young, whimsical pop rock bands that have garnered rabid attention via Myspace and are now fast on track to becoming common (radio and blog friendly) names. These guys definitely fall in the happy-go-lucky power pop category; if they weren't so young and innocent, we'd ream them for sounding just that. But the poppy beat whips away any of the melancholy that is clogging your head these days and wistfully reminds you of what it was like to be a teenager, like feeling brokenhearted and defeated while eating stale fries in the cafeteria. Awww...
Sounds Like: The Hit, The Prayers, The Spinto Band, This Century
The Downtown Fiction - Living Proof
The Downtown Fiction's RCRD LBL Page
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These young Bostonian-Americans make pop music, for sure, but it's a particular sort of twisted nervo-pop that references while it rearranges. Their record Get Young is out now on Sub Pop's new Hardly Art imprint, and the average song is about two and a half minutes long, which happens to be the exact attention span of Generation X-Box. "Tora Tora Tora" slices and dices its way through four decades of synth/guitar/bass/drum racket in two minutes flat, before the dust has time to settle anywhere.
Sounds Like: Maximo Park, Art Brut, The Prayers
Download: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora
Pretty & Nice's RCRD LBL page
What about Spinto Band is so enticing? Their noble limbs and steely jaws in the photo above? Perhaps. It's more that the boys-turned-men are supremely exhuberant when the six of them bound and beast out onstage. So we're psyched they're touring now (i.e. this little thing called SXSW next week.) Meanwhile, we thought we'd refresh your memory with some favorites: "Oh Mandy" kicks off sounding like a space-ship descending and then coils into a blissed out love song. "Brown Bags” is about breaking up- accompanied by wheezing, devilish kazoos. But how the hell do they stay so *&@(D#! god-damn positive while singing about unrequited love, dull box-cutters, and desecrated hearts?
Download: The Spinto Band- Brown Boxes
Download: The Spinto Band- Oh Mandy
The Spinto Band Website
The Spinto Band at Myspace
As you may have read, everything's been evening out these days. So, to even out the fact that today is my birthday, I give you The Death Set. And to even out my overwhelmingly positive attitude, the song of choice will be "Negative Thinking."
But e-goddamned-nough about me! The Death Set! In case you've been taking a nap in the bathtub, The Death Set is two skinny young punks with dopey hair who set up shop in the middles of basements and living rooms around the country, throw down their gloves and just go totally batshit mental, taking every living thing in earshot, eyeshot and noseshot with them. And it's not that angry-dudes-in-black-on-black-hats noise either. It's sugar. CANDY. Sisters. Brothers. Sisters! It's just plain berserk. The stuff of madman foamy-smile seizures. How can you not pump your arms until somebody gets hurt?!?! Remember that Mae Shi jam from a few weeks back? Remember Bert Hammond's old band the whatevers? Dudes. Same wave of raucous and ridiculous. I'm shimmying so hard, even now, as I type. Download, crank and ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh stroke the fuck out.
DOWNLOAD: The Death Set - Negative Thinking
We here at RCRD LBL are proud to introduce you guys to CoCo B’s, the newest addition to the roster! We decided to sign CoCo B’s after they floored us with the two songs we’re about to give you: “Modern Lover” and “Bluebird”. So it’s not just us: the ‘90s are officially back, right? “Modern Lover” is like Nada Surf and Superdrag penning super self-deprecating power pop, and our RCRD LBL exclusive “Bluebird” is a soft, acoustic flipside of the same coin. It feels good to have a burst of sunshine in the dead of winter, no?
Since CoCo B’s are our newest signing, we’ll be premiering new songs from the band all throughout the next two months, so be sure to check back and cop more tunes from the foursome.
Download: CoCo B's - Bluebird
Download: CoCo B's - Modern Lover
Stephin Merritt suffers from a hearing problem called hyperacusis, a condition that causes any sound that’s louder than normal to feedback in his head, volume increasing in steps. The Magnetic Fields lynchpin presumably drew on his experience of this when writing and recording new album Distortion, submerged as it is by a wet weight of white noise.
Still though, one thing you can bank on with Merritt is a melody, a tune to whistle or hum, and that remains the case here. The rather brilliant follow-up to 2004’s i is out through Nonesuch Records on the 14th of January, here’s a sample from it.
‘Too Drunk to Dream’ is, as you might imagine, a teetering, merry mess of a song that finds Merritt “shitfaced, now and forever!” as he bids to escape memories of an old flame. It’s the melody, though, that might take longer to leave you than than both those memories or the hangover.
Download: The Magnetic Fields - 'Too Drunk to Dream'
Magnetic Fields online
- Kev Kharas
We here at RCRD LBL are stoked to be featuring downloads from The Prayers, a San Diego power pop band from ex-Plot to Blow Up The Eiffel Tower front man Brandon Welchez. The Prayers' debut EP, God Save The Prayers is power pop deluxe, reminding us of a harder, edgier version of bands like the Nerves, the db's, or even the Cars, with a dollop of post-Libertines guitar angst for good measure. The two tracks in question here, the rollicking "Clandestino" and the more mid-tempo "Loose Lips", are true slices of west coast Americana, and while die-hard Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower fans might find The Prayers a little soft for their hardcore leanings, the rest of us thoroughly enjoy the band's more poppy moments. Both tracks are up for download below, so make sure to check it out.
The Prayers - Clandestino
The Prayers - Loose Lips
The Prayers' RCRD LBL Page
