Tag Archives: Pop

Highly Fascinated with Motorama

31 Jul

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Readers of the Music Court might remember me writing about a young band named High Fascination a few years ago. Well, I like keeping track of the young bands I write about a few years after their incipient posts, and this is a good time to update you a bit on the maturation of a band I called “crisp” and “perspicacious” a few years back. Has High Fascination maintained its perspicaciousness? Oh yeah. If anything, the last two years has made the band’s musical adroitness even more defined, and I am happy to present High Fascination’s new album – released today – called Miss Motorama.

Just a little review, for those who have not heard of this NYC Indie/Rock band. The band was founded as a solo project from Andrew Weiss, a Long Islander with a penchant for melodic tunes and inspiration from all the right bands. Since its inception, the band has now released five albums: Objections To Reality (April 2011), Sudden Movements (September 2011), A Time And Place (June 2013), How Do You Do? (February 2014), and now Miss Motorama. In 2012 the solo project developed into a band; Weiss added bassist Dan Hemerlein and drummer/vocalist Noah Rauchwerk to his coterie, and since then the band has combined to create a sound that is both mellifluous and adept.

“Queen Anne” features a staccato guitar and rhythms that remind me so much of the British Pop/Rock that was engendered by the Beatles and perpetuated by bands like Oasis. The song has a wonderful chorus with horns and catchy vocals. It is blithe and bright, a good summer track that sounds like it should be listened to at a park with a summer shandy near by. It’s an album staple, for sure.

“Change My Mind” takes a different approach, trading bubbly pop for a more reserved piano approach. The song reminds me a bit of Augustana. It features elegant call and response melodies with a nice lead vocal. The song’s calm melody is not so much mournful; it rather powers through with a soft strength that is quite refreshing.

All in all, great release by High Fascination. The band has matured over two years, and it is so exciting to track its progress; keep an eye out for even more great releases in the future!

Check out more information about High Fascination on its Facebook andTwitter.

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Earworm for Wednesday – Saint Motel “My Type”

29 Apr

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The four dapper looking fellows in the photograph above represent the eclectic pop quartet called Saint Motel, a musical variety act, fit with catchy pop of undefinable delineations. Try to evince the band’s genre. It’s difficult. The band goes from funky, horn-blazoned Mad Men-inspired pop/rock to more Walk The Moon-style alternative rock. That is diversity. And, the best part of it all is that the band is clearly enjoying the fruits of its talents, performing this past Coachella on the main stage and making its rounds on Jimmy Kimmel. The band, which signed to Elektra records in 2014 and released its fourth EP in August of that year, has also toured with super-acts like Imagine Dragons and the Arctic Monkeys. Put simply, St. Motel is one of the next big things of pop music, and its extraordinary throwback to upbeat jazz bars with the finest whisky sensibilities – “My Type – is a testament to the band’s emergence as cool and fun.

“My Type” starts with a tremendous horn riff that falls into a disco-like beat straight out of the Tramps’ disco inferno, fit with a range of percussion instruments. The vocal is such a spot-on throwback to everything good with disco/jazz/soul music that one cannot help but smile. The song has a movie quality to it. It sounds straight out of the pictures; it is almost like it was particularly made for it, and the music video suggests something similar. The song is just “my type” and it strikes me as the type of many others. On a completely different musical note, check out “Cold, Cold Man” which is more true Indie/pop with dreamy keys.

You can find out more about the band on its website

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Shake Your Bones

7 Apr

Trails and Ways (David Wallace)California is in the middle of a historic drought, with new water restrictions making national headlines. I bring this up because I live in California currently, and I am very nervous about how little water we really do have left. Water and energy conservation has never become quite so dire, and beautiful people like Trails and Ways want to help save our planet. They are proud supporters of Our Power Campaign, a noble organization that aims to fight the climate crisis while providing good jobs in vulnerable communities; learn more here.

Feeling like a sonic lollipop, “Skeletons” will instantly brighten your day. The song reminds me immensely of Cub Sport, particularly “Pool!” with those unmistakable falsetto hooks. Bourne of a dream, “Skeletons” describes the experience of dancing in a club only to have time fast forward to hundreds of years from now, showing a glimpse of the ruinous state the planet will be in due to the crises we currently face. Trails and Ways make impending doom fun, but ‘fun’ in the sense that feeling proud of yourself for helping to save the planet that we are still hoping to use for the next eternity is fun. Donate today.

“Skeletons” will appear on Trails and Ways’ upcoming album, Pathologies, due out 6/2 via Barsuk Records. You can pre-order it here. For more information on Trails and Ways, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

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In The Jester’s Ear – Say It Mowgli

19 Jan

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Rudyard Kipling, the author of the Jungle Book series and creator of Mowgli, the feral child protagonist of the novel and namesake for the California-based alt/rock band, once said, “I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.” Before I even get to the song that is currently in my ear, I want to focus on Kipling’s quotation and the purpose of me placing it in the post. The 7-member Mowgli’s pair their wall-of-sound blend of Indie/Pop with a campaign to “Be a Mowgli” and do good deeds for other individuals – a social network of kindness. The Mowgli’s truly believe the best of everybody. The band also creates some tremendous tunes.

A few years old and only growing in popularity, The Mowgli’s employ a Grouplove-like Los Angeles sound that combines melodies and vocals together into incredible amalgamations of sound. “Say It, Just Say It” is a quintessential example of the band’s draw. The song begins with a chorus of voices – much in the same vein of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – over a smiling guitar riff. The band plays an infectious type of power indie/pop that bands like American Authors and Young Rising Sons has found recent success with. The Mowgli’s, though, just have so much people power, and it has developed such tremendous unity, almost like Polyphonic Spree. It’s like a family band. And the music is awesome. I love listening to it, and it is currently in my ear (and will be for a while).

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GRRL PAL releases second installment of their song-a-month project for 2015

12 Jan

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Vowel-averse GRRL PAL has embarked on a year-long mission to release a new song every month. Their most recent installment is NGHT, an in-your-face romp that at times sounds like it is imploding. The accompanying video watches the duo recline and dance intermittently as the sun sets.

Short licks of high vocals ring throughout the intro, and follow well into chorus, along with many other quirky noises that GRRL PAL has molded into a song. There are distinct similarities between this and Purity Ring, if Purity Ring inhaled a little helium. There is also a very subtle, yet handsome bass line that holds everything together with grace. And for these reasons this hyper-sweet jam is irresistible. Even if you’re not the type to spontaneously start dancing, “NGHT” will make you want to frolic with GRRL PAL in your front yard in the dusk.

Download “NGHT” for free on GRRL PAL’s Soundcloud page, where you will also find its predecessor, “Paradise,” also available for download. For more info on GRRL PAL, visit their tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.

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