I just listened to Meanwhile (aka multi-instrumentalist/singer Tom Andrews) on The Guardian. I gotta say, although he sounds a lot like Prince, I’m digging his music! It’s upbeat, which is imperative as the days grow shorter in NYC.
If Llana Del Rey is the Queen of Darkness and Robyn is the European Queen of Ice, Lights is the Princess of Day! As soon as Lights was onstage at Hard Rock Cafe (I didn’t realize they had a nice stage) it was “Muscle Memory” and we got energized. Next, there was “Running with the Boys” and right after Lights told us “That’s the first time I’ve heard people singing along to one of my songs.” I can see why they’re doing it. Her music is bubbly synth dance pop that makes you feel good. It’s like a happy combination of Llana Del Rey, Robyn, Ellie Goulding and cool synth pop/rock with a touch of M83. Lights’ wide toothy smile, while reminding me of a Disney TV star, is also… well, friendly and charming. And her performance tonight was done with love. And that always means something. You can’t help but like her.
*Be sure to check out my photos at the end of the review…
I just found out that M83, Com Truise, College and the soundtrack to 2011’s movie Drive, isn’t the only dreamy retro 80s sythpop around! There’s a whole new genre out that’s sprung up! This relatively new genre of music is called, as far as I can tell, “80s New Wave Revival” or “80s SynthPop” or “80s Revival”. I just made the realization about this musical movement whilst exploring youtube (or course!) and ended up discovering NewRetroWave. It’s a youtube channel that hosts all these “Retro New Wave” bands.
I heard this electro band BIG DATA this past week and dig them. I’m guessing the band’s name is a nod to gigantic data sets (Big Data). Cool. There are four tracks on their debut EP and the vocals are fun, sung with relish by Daniel Armbruster (JOYWAVE) on the track “Dangerous”. “Dangerous” sounds like a bass slapping convergence of Peter Gabriel, MGMT, and Discovery. By the way, I dig the fact that BIG DATA is from Brooklyn (where I live). And from what I understand, the band is the brainchild of producer Alan Wilkis.
The track “Big Dater” adds MUSE’s sound and a touch of 90s boyband aesthetic. Dig that old school modem near the middle. Nice touch.
Next, in “The Stroke of Return” the MUSE influence is present as well as GIORGIO MORODER’s sound – an interesting combination. It’s like the Neverending Story soundtrack meets MUSE!?! And the lyrics explore how we’re all giving our personal data up willy nilly to the cloud. And that is not good. Pretty relevant paranoia!
Shoot, they just played last night at the Brooklyn Bowl! Looks like this band is starting to get big, check out their debut EP ‘1.0’ released by Wilcassettes LLC on 19 August 2013.
Big Data – “Dangerous (feat. Joywave):
Big Data – “Big Dater”
Big Data – “The Stroke of Return”
The BIG DATA Facebook page
I worked hard this week to submit a treatment I’m pitching to a band; It’s a music video for one of their songs. And I learned some cool stuff in the process, using the link below as reference.
Putting it together was fun, since I used photos to lay out the mood of the entire video. Basically, the photos are like a storyboard, which is helpful since I wouldn’t be able to draw that much detail! After I found the photos, I wrote the story out. I wrote the story around the photos, which were paired with each standza of the lyrics. It was a fun process, and I’m definitely going to use the technique again for the next music video treatment I submit!
How to Pitch Better Music Video Treatments – Radar Music Videos Blog
– The Wandering Humorist
Electric Six is a rockingly cool and funny band. When my pal Andy introduced me to their music about three years ago, I became a fan. For those of you wondering, they’re best known for their hit “Danger! High Voltage” featuring Jack White. However, they have other really funny songs too. And singer Dick Valentine is incredible! He is intelligent, witty and completely silly and absurd.
Today, I’m going to share the video for their song “Synthesizer”:
This music video is awesome in so many ways, from the great retro aesthetic (thanks to Director Chris Chambless), to the absurdly funny lyrics. And of course, the incredible performance by lead actor Guy Perry. So weird, odd and funny. I had to leave a comment. And I can’t believe that he wrote me back. What a nice guy:
Long live Electric Six and Guy Perry!
– The Wandering Humorist