John's New Music Blog

If John's New Music Blog had a house band, it would be Cults in a rotation with Best Coast, The New Division and Tennis (Allo Darlin' and The Standard Fare on alternate Tuesdays and Thursdays). The only reason why we don't have a house band is lack of space and budget (plus the neighbors might have something to say about indie bands playing in the basement).




In honor of Record Store Day, Cults released a limited edition vinyl 7" single of "Abducted" and, thanks to Weekly Tape Deck, here's the song set to the 1967 French film Anna with Marianne Faithful and Anna Karina, created by director George Tanasie.



Cults - Abducted from George Tanasie on Vimeo.

If you didn't pick up your copy of "Abducted," you're out of luck, but Cults' album will be available on May 30th in the UK and June 7th in the US on Columbia Records (Amazon pre-order here, CD/vinyl).

The fine people at Gorilla vs. Bear have the new single from Seattle-based Seapony (one of the first bands featured by John's New Music Blog). The single, "Blue Star" is taken from their upcoming Hardly Art debut album, Go With Me. If you're a fan of fuzzy indie dream pop, you'll want to check out the new single. It has the sunny feeling of Tennis (compare for yourself here and here) and you can't help but have a smile on your face when you listen to it.


Blue Star by Seapony

Here's their last release, Dreaming:



Seapony - Dreaming from Double Denim Records on Vimeo.

Seapony's debut album, Go With It, will be hitting stores on May 31st and you can pre-order it from Hardly Art. There's a pre-release single with a track that won't be available on the album which is available from iTunes and Amazon.

I'm featuring a few bands today, the next one is Brooklyn's Vivian Girls, a surf pop trio consisting of Cassie Ramone on lead guitar and vocals, Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman on bass and vocals and Fiona Campbell on the drums. The band formed back in 2007 and has released three studio albums and a handful of 7" singles and EP's since then. The first single from their upcoming new album, Share the Joy, is "I Heard You Say," a bouncing surf pop number that if you listen closely, you'll notice that it's a rather bitter breakup song. Some compare the band to Best Coast (here and here), but Vivian Girls have their own sound and keep with the lo-fi ethos of fuzzy pop played loud. Yes, Vivian Girls did lose their second drummer to Best Coast, but I think it shows that Vivian Girls has the sound that Best Coast was looking for, not the other way around. "I Heard You Say" is a much more polished single compared to their prior releases, but it shows a maturing sound and not an effort to try to copy the style and subsequent success of their friends. Take a listen, listen takers and judge for yourself.

Vivian Girls are currently on tour and will be at The Trocodero in Philadelphia on April 9th, supporting the Black Lips. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Share the Joy drops on April 1 at Polyvinyl Records and April 12th at Amazon. You can also order their previous albums at Amazon. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the new album when it's released.

I came across the latest from Southern California indie summer rockers and cat lovers Best Coast over at Pitchfork. It's titled "Sunny Adventure," a fuzzed out retro '60's track that's warmer than a summer day at the beach. The track is available as split 7" with JEFF The Brotherhood from Volcom.

Greetings from Wyoming! Yes, I'm in Wyoming and while it might be Christmas week, the music doesn't stop so I've picked a few traditional Christmas songs that have been given the Indie Rock treatment and a few original songs that are unlike the usual Christmas songs.

The first track is Oxnard, California-based Catwalk's version of The Chipmunk's 1959 classic, "Christmas Don't Be Late." Fresno's contribution to pop culture is successfully given the Indie treatment.

Today's featured band is Seattle's Seapony, a lo-fi trio that specializes in sun drenched songs that will have you asking "Are you sure Seapony is from Seattle? I don't hear any grungy guitars and I don't want to kill myself after listening to it." Yes, they are from Seattle and there's more to the Seattle indie scene than Nirvana tribute bands and flannel shirts. The song, "Dreaming," is their new single from Double Denim Records, is upbeat and has a retro feel that is becoming more prevalent in indie rock. Some might even call Seapony a twee band in the style of Belle and Sebastian and last week's featured band, Allo Darlin', but I would put them into the retro category and include them with Best Coast and other surf pop bands like San Francisco's Girls (a surf pop band who's songs are emo versions of the Beach Boys). I'm looking forward to hearing the EP and hopefully seeing them when they make it to the East Coast.

Seapony - Dreaming from Double Denim Records on Vimeo.

The EP is out as a free downloand from Bandcamp and Dreaming is available as a limited edition 7" from Double Denim Records (order now, only 700 will be pressed).

Today's featured band is Best Coast, a surf pop band from (are you ready for this) Los Angeles. The band, Bethany Cosentino on vocals and Bobb Bruno on guitar, released their first album this summer, Crazy for You on Mexican Summer Records. The featured track (not available on the 12" vinyl), "When I'm With You", is a fuzzed out summer classic that will stick in your head, but in a good way. The video features a character similar to one from a major hamburger chain and in a most ironic (and very Southern California) scene, this very similar marketing character comes out of an In-n-Out Burger and hands the bag to Bethany.

The rest of the is a summertime classic that will feel right at home and if you play it during the depths of winter, you'll have an instant summer day coming out of your speakers.