Heave Media

Takin' You Back

Get the pop out!

I don’t know why indie-pop is not more celebrated these days. It seemed like the wave of the future in the nineties. Of course, most people will lump pop into the indie-rock category – but indie-pop has a specific and separate place under the indie umbrella. Sometimes we just want music that is fun, happy and danceable. What is indie-pop? Keyboards and female band members are a good start. Luckily that was actually a rhetorical question because I have some answers, but none of them are very good. These songs should, at the very least, brighten your day. Don’t worry, there’s no Belle & Sebastian.

The Magic Numbers– Forever Lost – Nothing beats a great sixties throwback sound, and these guys have got it down. Sweet harmonies and two guys and two girls equal a pretty great band. In fact, they are actual two sets of brothers and sisters (what are the chances?). This U.K. band blasts right through the brit-pop genre into the indie-pop genre, whatever that means (it seemed to make sense when I wrote it). Basically, I never would have guessed that this is a British band, which of course is a pretty darn American attitude to have.

Imperial Teen- Lipstick – Known mostly for their hit song “Yoo-Hoo” from the awful movie Jawbreaker (my god was that movie freaking terrible), they are an often overlooked band. I only realized recently that they actually released an album last year on Merge Records. “Lipstick” is taken from their sophomore effort What Is Not to Love. Listen to Imperial Teen because it will make you a cooler person. Seriously.

Barcelona- Robot Trouble – This Washington D.C. based band released some quality pop music in the late nineties until about 2002. You can’t go wrong with the combination of girl/boy vocals, keyboards and songs about robots. Actually, you really can’t go wrong with robots in general. This song was originally released on the full-length album Zero One Infinity.

STREAM: The Magic Numbers – Forever Lost

STREAM: Imperial Teen - Lipstick

STREAM: Barcelona – Robot Trouble

Posted by Greg Herald on Mar 05, 2008 @ 12:00 am