indie pop | Musicosity

indie pop

The Ruby Suns

'Fight Softly' is the third album by New Zealand's pop masters The Ruby Suns. Ryan McPhun (their prime mover) has the kind of voracious musical mind that cites as equal influences '80s/'90s New Jack Swing and modern Angolan kuduro, Fleetwood Mac and Britney Spears, Brazilian tropicalia and Argentinean cumbia. He's the kind of diligent, meticulous soul that spends days hunched over a laptop in a tiny rented studio in Auckland, NZ just to perfect a sequenced drum track (mission accomplished).

The Guild League

Led by Lucksmiths lead mouth Tali White the Melbourne (Australia) based 6 piece line up is its most rockin' incarnation yet featuring lead-cellist/bassist Cressida Griffith, Sax Prodigy Gus Rigby, drummer about town Phil Collings, trumpet from Roger the tall man Clark and guitar magic from Basic Shapes Gerry Eeman. The favourite band you may not have known you had, the Guild League make music that you'll want to hug hard.

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The Lovetones

The Lovetones is led by Matthew J. Tow (acoustic & electric guitars / sitar / autoharp / vocals), formerly of Drop City, Colorsound and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, along with Matt Sigley (bass / keyboards / vocals) and Chris Cobb (drums / percussion). The Lovetones released their debut album, Be What You Want in 2002 through Bomp! Records, creating a palpable buzz amongst critics from the likes of Creem and Rolling Stone magazine. The latter hailed mainman Matthew J Tow's songwriting worthy of Ray Davies, Bowie, Lennon and McCartney: a bold statement, yet in his case, completely justified.

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Rush In Attack

Rush In Attack are a four piece melodic Indie Rock band based in Melbourne, Victoria. In the past year they have been tearing up Melbourne venues such as The Espy, The Arthouse, Pony, IDGAFF, Pogo and Noise Bar with their extremely catchy Pop Rock tunes. Ask them about their influences and you’ll get a wide variety of bands from early 90’s Britpop to Twitchy Electro to Melodic Hardcore. That’s the beauty of Rush In Attack, their sound can only be described as a modern mash up of the last 70 years of popular music in one explosive live set like an 8-Bit assault on the senses.

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tailor made for a small room

Tailor Made for a Small Room are a Tokyo-based duo who specialize in lo-fi electronica, not dissimilar in style to the likes of Lullatone and 4 Bonjour's Parties. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that one half of TMFASR also belongs to 4 Bon, while the other half is the singer for Lost in Found, winners of Japanzine's Gaijin Sounds 2008 competition. Both members are Japanese, though much of their work is sung in English.

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Ben Kweller

Ben Kweller was born in San Francisco, CA in 1981. In 1982 his family relocated to Emory, TX where his father Howard Kweller became the town's first doctor. In 1986, The Kwellers moved to a much larger city, Greenville, TX. Ben was exposed to music at a very early age. Howard taught Ben how to play the drums when he was 7 years old. For the next year, the father and son would jam together almost every night after Howard got home from work.

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Dean & Britta

Dean & Britta is a musical duo consisting of Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, both former members of Luna. Wareham had formed Luna in 1992 after leaving his first band, Galaxie 500. Phillips joined Luna in 2000, replacing bassist Justin Harwood. Their first album started out as a Wareham solo project, but when he heard Phillips' demos, he asked her to join him. After Luna broke up in 2005, Dean & Britta spent the next year working on film scores (most notably Noah Baumbach's movie, The Squid and the Whale), and promoting the documentary film of Luna's farewell tour Tell Me Do You Miss Me.

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Sounds Like Sunset

Sounds Like Sunset's music is a mix of simple songs taken on sort of a wild ride - freely moving in directions led by huge guitars and feedback, and drawing on influences such as BailterSpace, The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and the gloomier side of The Beach Boys in equal measure. The band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1997 with David Challinor (vocals, guitar), David Hobson (bass) and Rohan Geddes (drums).

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Tegan and Sara

Tegan Quin and Sara Quin (born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on September 19, 1980) are identical twins and Canadian singer-songwriters, performing as Tegan and Sara. They initially played as Plunk in 1995, and lacked a drummer and bass player. In 1997, they used their school’s recording studio to record two demo albums: "Who's in Your Band?" and "Play Day". In 1998, they made an early breakthrough by winning Garage Warz Battle of the Bands, a local music competition in Calgary.

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Ninetynine

Ninetynine is an indie band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded by Laura Macfarlane, who played drums in Sleater-Kinney, in 1996 as a solo project. The first album, 99, was recorded with her playing all the instruments. Not long after she assembled a band with Cameron Potts and Rhonda Simmonds - who has since left the group and now plays in Origami. Other former members of the band are Iain McIntyre (who played with Laura in several earlier bands) and Amy Clarke (formerly of The Vivian Girls). Meg Butler joined in 2006.

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