Author: BoxSpeaker

“Dear Santa” by Mr. Little Jeans

Just in time for the Holidays, Mr. Little Jeans released “Dear Santa” – a 1950s style Christmas track.

The cheery-sounding track has the twist of Mr. Little Jeans lamenting how amid all the festivities “on Christmas day, I’ll be the loneliest girl” due to a long-distance relationship (“A kiss on the phone won’t make up for being alone”). Reminds me of Figurine’s “IMpossible” and the line “These instant message conversations are filled with empty explanations. 12-point text cannot replace five minutes with you face-to-fact…”

[VIDEO] “Sea Otter Cottage” by Kramies (feat. Jason Lytle)

New release of the day: The video for “Sea Otter Cottage” by Kramies (featuring Jason Lytle).

Colorado-based Kramies stands on the shoulders of indie rock giants Guided by Voices and Grandady, with tracks like “Sea Otter Cottage” that mixes a beginning of eerie synths with 2007-indie-esque dragged out strums and a slow march of piano notes and percussions that build up. The type of sad song Sofia Coppola would use if she and Wes Anderson collaborated on a dark drama with grey washed out skies.

“Stone Fox” by Hunter as a Horse

“Stone Fox” by Hunter as a Horse is a trip through music history – a mix of Moon Pix era Cat Power vocals with nu-disco synths at the 1:26 mark, fun roller disco style of variety of instruments (metal tin beats?) and percussions, then moves to a dream pop style overture and breathy vocals at the 2:43, finishing off with library cosmic synths at the 3:26 mark that then slows down to a more typical dream pop. Finally finishing off at 5:17 with dark wave synths building on top of the dream pop breathy vocals.

Guilty Pleas EP by Night Terrors of 1927

Rilo Kiley alum Blake Sennett started a new band last year – Night Terrors of 1927. Today, they released their EP “Guilty Pleas” in a self-categorized “Dark Pop” genre.
“Fall into You”

Possibly the “dark” and sad counterpart to dream pop, Night Terrors of 1927 has a definite dark wave feel, especially with the beginning loops of “Fall into You.” However, the “pop” aspect of “dark pop,” fits in with tracks such as “Dust and Bone,” which has a happier, electropop sound – particularly at the 0:22 mark – almost a CHVRCHES “oohhh ohhh ahh ahhh” vocals-turned-to-electrobeats effect. While depressing in terms of lyrics, the crescendo of choir “ohh ohhh ahhh ohh” vocalizations and the female harmonizing of the ending chorus in “Dust and Bone” builds it into a more hopeful sounding track – like a dark Polyphonic Spree.

“Dust and Bone”

You can buy the EP on iTunes: http://atlr.ec/1iS1WkK

“Color Theory” by Tea Leigh

This post is about a year late, but it still needs to get out to feature one of BoxSpeaker’s favorite dream pop acts – Tea Leigh:

Some tracks such as “Color Theory” (above) and “Do You Sleep” are epitomic of dream pop – with their beachy Fender Telecaster riffs and breathy vocals.

Then there are songs like “Rushing In” that fall in what Tea Leigh coins “dream folk” – the same vocals but without the breathy sustained effects (like The Knife without the electrobeats) and with an acoustic guitar instead of the Telecaster.

[VIDEO:] “Lies” by CHVRCHES

Today, CHVRCHES announced the music video for the first track they released – “Lies”:

Following a similar formula as their music video for “The Mother We Share,” this video focuses on a grey and black color pallette and stars a main character followed by/chased by a mysterious entity, electric clouds, CHVRCHES’s signature light displays, and allusions to a conspiracy.

I always thought that “Lies” was about someone bragging about lying to the person they’re romantically involved with (“I can sell you lies. You can’t get enough. Make a true believer of anyone.”) and being proud of stringing that person along, having power over them (“I can call you up when I feel alone. I can feed your dirty mind like I know I know that you want.”).

However, the music video’s dark theme of mind-control conspiracies makes me wonder if “Lies” was actually meant as a commentary on the world of marketing. With the men in suits and the Matrix-like headgear and that Emma Stone doppleganger with the Rosemary’s Baby clothing and scheming stare.

“GIRLS” by Rainer

“GIRLS” is a track by Rainer – a “future pop” project by London’s Rebekah Raa and Casually Here.

Rebekah Raa’s voice is much like that of the pre-emminent PBR&B singers George Maple and BANKS but where the PBR&B musicians focus on heavy bass beats, Rainer focus on the sound in the range of drumsticks on the metal rims of drums, muted bass beats, and cosmic loops, a bit like “Gabriel” by Valentina but with softer, breathy Say Lou Lou vocals.