No Swoon – Again
Genre: Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Dream Pop
No Swoon look to create dreamy, engaging shoegaze music on their single Again.
The problem with the majority of shoegaze bands is that they sound like they’d make great victims. What I mean to say is that they don’t seem like they offer a serial killer much of a struggle. You, naturally, feel sorry when something bad happens to them. But, on the other hand, they always seemed to have it coming.
Shoegaze, at its best, is one of the purest forms of modern music. The genre itself represents a kind of unspoken contract between audience and band, where the artists have permission to whisk the listeners to magical lands on the power of the texture of their music alone.
No Swoon, on the other hand, create shoegaze music that engages the listener directly. This sounds like music made by someone that could have made a few victims on the way to the studio. Its witchy shoegaze made for nights with a full moon when dancing naked in the woods feels only natural.
Laurent Bourque – Une histoire de plage
Genre: Indie Folk
Laurent Bourque covers Brigitte Bardot, seemingly, with the intention to bring 1960 Saint Tropez chic to modern times.
Our understanding of beauty, our tolerance to erotica, and our appreciation of international stars have evolved a lot in recent years. Back in the 1960s, every person and career move made by someone with this kind of reputation was enough to solicit a reaction from nearly every corner of society.
Brigitte Bardot in the 1960s was simultaneously a movie actress, one of the most beautiful women alive, a temptress meant to lead young people into temptation, and a great singer. It just depended on who you asked, and on what day the question was put forward.
Laurent Bourque does an extraordinary job of capturing the composure and allure of the time when Brigitte Bardot made some of her first recordings. This cover version of Une histoire de plage features the singer, perhaps, more heavily engaged than the original performer and looking for eternal summer love.
