mixtape maestro (2.0)

After bringing about more than a few scratched heads over recent track “I Just Love You More”’s polarizing attempt at a punk chick makeover, Kate Nash makes the world right again with the welcomed return-to-(snarky/ perky)form that is new single, “Do Wah Doo”.

Helmed by producer, and former Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler (Duffy, Black Kids), “Do Wah Doo” buzzes with a playful jumbling of familiar ’60’s pop conventions (radiant girl group harmonies, handclaps, zinging surf guitar, blaring horns) all congealed into a thickened Wall of Sound.

Beneath the happy-go-lucky framing, however, things aren’t as sunny, as Kate is heard spewing all type of “hateration” towards a girl hogging the secret object of her affection’s eye. “Everybody thinks that girl’s a lady/ But I don’t, I think that girl’s shady,” Nash pouts on the sidelines, even going so far as to tag the crush-stealing cow a “bitch”.

Interestingly enough, just when you think she’s about to fight for her man “Jerry Springer”-style and get this fizzy pop confection the happy ending conclusion the upbeat arrangement all but demands, Nash opts to give him up, resigning to “read a book instead” because “I can hang out with myself”.

Hmmm…it’s not the most sassiest way to go out, but whatever, jerk’s loss; we’re just happy to have the undeniably catchy nugget-crafting Kate Nash we love back.

From her April-set second LP, My Best Friend Is You.

Uncategorized 60's, bernard butler, girl group, kate nash, my best friend is you, singer-songwriter, UK, uk pop

Previously heralded for sunny, handclap-laden singles that worked a Motown-influenced, ’60’s girl group pop bop angle with bliss-inducing results (“Add Your Light To Mine, Baby”, “Woah Billy”, “White Russian Doll”), Lucky Soul venture a bit darker sonically on new track “A Coming of Age”, the title cut from the British six-piece’s upcoming second set featuring lead singer Ali Howard’s coquettish coos housed within a dramatic display of waltz swing patterns and Bond-esque guitar figures.

The reason for all this grandiose hullabaloo? Some man done done Ali wrong, shattering her young heart and leaving her “cling(ing) to the floor”, fingering the still warm footprints that trace his pathway out of her life. “I thought a friend meant someone to depend on/ Call it a coming of age…come too late,” she sings, the brief pause before those last three words bulging with all kinds of unstated ache and confusion.

Awww. Makes you wanna pull her into a tight embrace and let her know that everything’s gonna be alright.

Pick it up below or as a free download from their website, then proceed to lift your spirits back up with a viewing of their peppy “White Russian Doll” clip.

A Coming of Age, the album, arrives April 19th through Ruffa Lane Records.

DL: “A Coming of Age” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, girl group, indie pop, lucky soul, retro, UK

On “Excuses”, the first single lifted from The Morning Benders‘ sophomore album Big Echo, the Cali indie-pop band (previously given love here for their intimate re-imagining of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”) offer a gorgeously executed riff off of Phil Spector’s oft-referenced “Wall of Sound” studio trickery to support an engrossing play-by-play of young “soulmates” bathed in the euphoric bliss of making love for the first time.

The track, co-produced by lead singer Christopher Chu and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, will initially spellbind you with it’s faux-vinyl haze and a dreamy doo-wop sway divinely seasoned with acoustic guitar strum flickers, rumbling bass drums, shuffling percussion, twinkling piano notes, sorrowful strings and “dah-dah-dum” background vocals seemingly birthed from angels perched atop the clouds above.

But being blessed with such ornate grandeur isn’t “Excuses” only satisfying bid at timeless pop-crafting; it’s lyrics, sweetly brought to life via Chu’s languid croon, prove just as endlessly endearing in their impressive stab at classic romance novel text, whether describing key moments of passion (“When you try to taste me/ And I take my tongue to the Southern tip of your body…”) or dishing out swoon-worthy lines like “I put no one else above us/ We’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust”.

Pick up the studio-version MP3 below, followed by an equally magnificent live take lensed by Yours Truly.

Pre-order Big Echo, due March 9th, here.

DL: “Excuses (Album Version)” (alt)

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders “Excuses” from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Uncategorized 60's, california, indie pop, phil spector, retro, the morning benders

You would think that with Nina Sky covering one of the greatest pop records ever made, the twin sister duo would attempt to make it sound all “brand new” by attaching it’s classic script to some trendy, sub-genre sound (and because this group can virtually do no wrong in our eyes, we would’ve likely responded to such a remake with an overly giddy “THIS IS AWESOME!!!!”).

Much to our surprise though, the ladies opt on going the complete opposite route for their rendition of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”, stripping it down to a simple (and very classy) vocals and piano treatment that might have made for a touching lil’ Valentine’s Day hyperlink present to our significant others if A) we had caught onto it earlier and B) actually had significant others.

Oh well…it’s still quite beautiful.

DL: “Be My Baby” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, cover song, girl group, nina sky, the ronettes

The fourth release lifted from The Noisettes‘ excellent (and nowhere near as big as it should be) Wild Young Hearts album, “Every Now & Then” sees the London band staying in line with previous singles “Wild Young Hearts” and “Never Forget You”, doling out another magnificent fusion of ex-lover nostalgia with a ’60’s soul-pop-inspired musical frame.

But whereas those tracks hid frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa’s regrets over past romances behind perky arrangements, illustrating a sensibility that she had for the most part healed with the passing of time, “Every Now & Then” follows an opposite route, finding her still handicapped by an enormous heartache with moody guitar and swirling strings depicting her inner despair with a moving dramatic flair.

“You see we were never through/ I never said I loved you/ Even when we said goodbye/ I never thought it was the last time,” a down-in-the-dumps Shingai recalls, a single moment of solitude or a certain song being played on the radio instantly filling her mind with tearjerking memories of secret kisses in a certain former love’s bedroom and the postcards he would send inked with “stories (that) would excite me”.

With her yearning for a gust of wind to bring him back into her life and light up “this empty room” she dubs her current depressing existence, Shoniwa’s sorrow cuts so deep, you can’t help but be pulled into the doldrums alongside her, especially once the arrival of a stunning Bond theme song-like climax of swollen orchestration and piercing cries of being “down, down, down” come into play.

Catch the song’s music video below, then take a listen to one of our favorite cuts from Mick Boogie and Terry Urban’s must-have Noisettes vs. Kanye West mash-up mixtape Wild Young Heartbreak: “Saturday Night Paranoia”, Chicago production duo Christian Rich’s metallic-sleek marriage of the Noisettes’ revenge fantasy “Saturday Night” with West’s whip-crack heavy, new wave jaunt “Paranoid”.

DL: “Saturday Night Paranoia (Christian Rich Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, christian rich, indie rock, kanye west, london, mick boogie, mixtape, noisettes, retro

Los Angeles-based four-piece King Washington describe their music as “a throwback to when rock and roll was a songwriter’s game” and we couldn’t agree more after investing a few minutes of our time enjoying their pleasant brand of three-part male harmony blessed, ’60’s/ 70’s-influenced pop/ rock.

Locking onto easily accessible melodies and lyricism that will likely inspire many “Beatles-esque”-focused critical write-ups once their debut EP arrives next year, Washington make it seem like the past forty years in music never happened, mastering this sunny simplicity in their sound that comes across as oh-so-refreshing during a time when all new music that arises seem a little too desperate in their attempt to invent their own hyphen-heavy sub-genre.

Below, dig into the loose playfulness of “I Get By” or the sunshiny, doo-wop-like structuring of (our favorite) “Angela” (where lead vocalist/ rhythm guitarist Tyson Ritter’s voice reaches a desperate rasp as he longs for the titular woman to rescue him from the depressingly hum-drum existence he currently calls life), and take note of the feel-good high that washes over you when listening to them.

DL: “I Get By” (alt)

DL: “Angela” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, 70's, king washington, los angeles

We’re still not entirely sure it’s a good idea for Amy Winehouse to be helming a label right now (since A: we’d rather have her focusing all her energy on shaping up and recording another album, and B: well, would you want her as a boss?), but then again, what do we know. Her Lioness Records imprint is set to be launched this Fall and it’s first order of business is in releasing the debut album by her 13-year-old goddaughter Dionne Bromfield.

Somewhat un-surprisingly, the London-born Bromfield has been groomed to be a Winehouse mini-me. She may not be crowned with a ratty, on-the-verge-of-collapsing-at-all-times bee hive or look disturbingly under-fed, but she’s definitely presented as a precocious soundalike to her God-mama, down to the beyond-her-years soul pipes and penchant for remaking old R&B/ girl group material (her premiere long-player, Introducing Dionne Bromfield, is an all covers set featuring takes on “Tell Him”, “He’s So Fine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, amongst other cherished oldies).

The project’s first single is a remake of The Shirelles’ 1963 Top Ten hit “Foolish Little Girl” and, as is the case with a majority of Winehouse’s stuff, it’s impossible not to appreciate. Yeah, it makes for an odd fit as a solo performance (part of the campy charm of the original was the way it was set of as a conversation between friends, the different members of the Shirelles’ trading off leads to play both the song’s jealous ex-girlfriend main role and that character’s well-meaning pals), but that can be overlooked with Bromfield having such sturdy, self-assured vocals and the track rocking this adorable lil’ reggae-for-beginners trot we could listen to over and over for hours.

It’s a decent jump-off for the Lioness label (maybe Amy knows what she’s doing after all!!!), but we gotta admit, we’re more interested in hearing what original stuff Bromfield will be serving up for the follow-up album.

Introducing Dionne Bromfield is due October 12th in the UK.

Uncategorized 60's, amy winehouse, bubblegum, dionne bromfield, girl group, retro, the shirelles, UK soul

Coming across like a long-forgotten 60’s/ 70’s-based treasure one discovers when curiously rummaging through their parents’ vinyl collection, Olympia, Washington-birthed act LAKE have spent the past four years slowly winning over fans with an addicting brew of gorgeously constructed unisex vocal interchanges and a hazed-over and charmingly child-like lo-fi twee-pop sound that, when leaving the speakers, seems to instantly dissipate into an air-sweetening mist.

And going by the two early leaked previews of their forthcoming third full length Let’s Build A Roof, the follow-up to last year’s much-acclaimed K Records debut Oh The Places We’ll Go, we’re betting that that audience will only continue to expand further.

“Don’t Give Up”, the most recent of the two leaks, arises as an immediate favorite with it’s happy-go-lucky, Fleetwood Mac-ish swing and female vocals that cleverly disguise the lyrics’ adult-age concerns with some lightly-toned perkiness. But it’s the mid-summer-unleashed “Madagascar” that’ll really slay you, thanks to the hypnotizing magic of it’s sluggish, blue-eyed dub-funk and the group’s playful vocal arrangement on the hook.

Let’s Build A Roof arrives October 6th.

DL: “Don’t Give Up” (alt)

DL: “Madagascar” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, 70's, indie pop, LAKE, retro, twee, washington

How much of a bummer is it to know that Summer has already reached it’s mid-way point? We know, we know, we shouldn’t even dare speak of such depressing things, but HEY!!, at least we got the new single from psych-pop British band The Clientele to help perfectly soundtrack the month and change that’s left of this warm season.

Drifting along a breezy sea of dreamy jazz and bossa nova flourishes and “bah-bah-bah”’s that pierce the air with such sweetness they threaten to give our ears cavities, the group’s latest ’60’s-hugging nugget “I Wonder Who We Are” is so sunny, it’s virtually impossible not to have a smile draped across your face when immersed in it’s aural pleasantries.

It’s the first single from their upcoming fifth long-player Bonfires on the Heath, due in October.

DL: “I Wonder Who We Are” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, indie pop, summertime, the clientele, UK

The Noisettes so nail the 60’s girl group/ Phil Spector sound on the divine “Never Forget You”, that more than once, one is forced to remind themselves that this isn’t some cover of some four decade old song. Hell, if it weren’t so crispily produced and given a modern zing by the occasional guitar-charged underlining, you could almost mistake it for actually being a recently-unearthed-from-the-vaults old vinyl gem.

Like previous single “Wild Young Hearts”, “Never Forget You” meshes the band’s well-educated grasping of yesteryear pop with a light dollop of Broadway glee, conjuring up a carefree effervescence that could put an instant halt to the most sourest of moods. Even better, it puts a different spin on the fluffy puppy love scenario these things typically produce lyrics-wise, instead of scripting one’s giddiness while immersed in the delightful throes of young romance, nicely using it as a past-tense point of reference during a long-broken-up couple’s reunion at the local pub.

“What you drinkin’/…Rum or whiskey?” singer Shingai Shinowa opens, armed with apologies based on her late arrival and inability to return her ex’ phone calls. And almost instantly, the duo realize that their at-once great chemistry hasn’t at all been lost in the passing of time, as shared giggles over her retained lack of promptness lead the way to fond recollections of their dating heyday (“We were mischievous/ You were always wearing black…”) and teary-eyed assurances (“We just got swallowed up/ You know I didn’t forget you”).

Bathed in an expert use of twinkling slow moments, dramatic orchestra swells, and backing vox chirps of “Always remember me” that seem to be birthed from the clouds-perched angels above, to not be left a bit verklempt by “Never Forget You”’s fade-out would mean that you have no soul.

From the excellent album, Wild Young Hearts.

DL: “Never Forget You” (alt)

Uncategorized 60's, girl group, noisettes, retro, UK, UK soul