Ponte Pilas – Be Your Girl
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: The Libertines, Wet Leg, The Reytons
Ever since people started building record collections, their collective thought turned towards The Music of the Future. What was it? Who was going to make it? Would it change the world in the same manner that the tunes made before it did?
Nobody knew. Everyone thought that they had an idea. Surely, most assumed, it would involve some kind of fancy electronics. Probably, people opined, it would be made by some musical visionary imbued with charisma and intelligence. Surely, everyone agreed, the world would all acknowledge it and shower the songwriter in praises and riches.
Just like the greatest of pop revolutionaries, Ponte Pilas’ Be Your Girl take a step firmly in the past. Just like The White Stripes, The Libertines, or Wet Leg, they don’t sound like the future. They very much sound like the past. Ponte Pilas sounds like rock music broken down and reconstructed all while smiling deliriously. Rock is still the music of the future. It just needs to be designed appropriately.
SoSo! – Big Bang
Genre: Indietronica, Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Similar artists: MGMT, Empire Of The Sun, Tame Impala, Dayglow
What did bands like MGMT or Empire Of The Sun really do in their pursuit of success? Certainly, they wrote some nifty songs. Without a doubt, their best-known ones contain great hooks. There is no way of denying that they also serviced plenty of imitators.
But, really, at the heart of it, what they did was make druggy psychedelic music a modern commodity. No easy feat either. This was music that sounded like the Grateful Dead discovering synths and going pop. It was music that sounded as if it was made by someone obsessed with Carlos Castaneda and with turning common household objects into bongs. It was pop music though.
SoSo! are really convincing at creating their pop meets psychedelic journey on Big Bang. This sounds like cult music made to accompany a computer commercial. It would make Osho strike his bear knowingly, as well as the Starbucks barista. It’s a clever trick that requires an intimate knowledge of your synth as well as your audience’s psychology.
