NYC | BoxSpeaker Music Blog

“Ride or Die” LP by Heartsrevolution

Finally coming out of hibernation to announce that HEARTSREVOLUTION is releasing their single “Kiss” next week just in time for Valentine’s Day and their debut album “Ride or Die” on April 15!

It’s not a track that will be on the album, but “Pop Heart” from the “REVOLUTION RISING (SING-A-LONG) MIXTAPE” is definitely a favorite HEARTREVOLUTION track.

The dance punk band combines shrill but playful vocals with a fun punk-inspired beat and lyrics rife with social commentary – like the breakdown of romance through technological advances in communication via “Pop Heart.”

“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.

“Girls” by The 1975 (Remixed by The Knocks)

The Knocks remixed “Girls” by The 1975! Check it out:

“Indigo” by Frida Sundemo

Frida Sundemo‘s sound is a mix of Robyn’s smooth, calm vocals and MNDR’s beats but all faster and happier while mix.

In fact, the 0:48 mark of “Indigo” somewhat matches the style of the 0:38 mark of MNDR’s “Jump In” but smoother and slower.

“I Need a Star” by Clintongore

Clintongore is a “cosmic synth pop” duo separated by the wide expanse of the United States – singer Sierra Frost is based in San Francisco and drummer/synth player Chris Crawford is based in Brooklyn.

While Clintongore’s single “I Need a Star” is more upbeat and higher-pitched (and even has some overdriven guitar riffs behind the distorted vocals in the chorus), tracks like “Keep in Mind” and “Homesick” really embody the “cosmic” portion of their self-described genre – producing styles similar to electroclash heard in Adult. tracks mixed with the space-y, 80s feel of music from Liquid Sky.

<a href="http://clintongore.bandcamp.com/album/clintongore">clintongore by clintongore</a>

“Chamakay” by Blood Orange

Blood Orange‘s Dev Hynes released a new track this week – “Chamakay,” which features Caroline Polachek of Chairlift.

The epitome of cool and suave, Blood Orange mixes his vocals with his female duet partner to use his voice to give the track a soft but deep foundation of vocals that then is juxtaposed by Caroline Polachek’s breathy higher pitch.

[NEW:] “I Was Right” by Black Light Dinner Party

BoxSpeaker favorites Black Light Dinner Party just released a new track called “I Was Right”!

Tribal Beats – International Roundup

I’ve been really into bands that integrate a “tribal drumming” sound into their music, so here’s a roundup of some bands around the world with tribal beats:

“Big Heat” by THUMPERS (London, England)

THUMPERS considers themselves “co-ed alt. pop” amongst other mashups of music styles. They use their tribal drumming beats to create a very Jamaican-influenced offshoot of dreampop. That combination with quick high-hats make you mistake guitars and synths for steel drums in the background.