sssiv – memory boy Similar artists: Yo La Tengo, Cocteau Twins, Silversun Pickups, The Breeders, Stereolab Genre: Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock Depending on where you live, there aren’t a lot of places for dreamers to go. And, regardless of where you reside or what you do for a living, there’s nothing a lot of time, it seems, to dream. In fact, if anyone catches you doing it, you might just be ought of a job, or your reputation could take a tumble. People around you want to see you actively fight against the vicissitudes of life.  Music of a certain kind becomes then invaluable. W ..read more

Bus People – Skaters Similar artists: Pixies, Beach House, Portishead Genre: Pop Punk I was recently stuck in a hotel room for a couple of days, and there was not much to entertain myself with other than a Netflix subscription. It was during those couple of days that I watched hundreds of movie starts and flicked through hundreds of others. The biggest surprise for novices of movie streaming sites is just how few surprises there are or how deep you have to go to find them.  The fact is that most of us can predict how most movies are going to go. It’s not just because we are smart but also ..read more

Big Dopes – Moon Car Similar artists: Harvey Danger, They Might Be Giants, Violent Femmes, CAKE, Motion City Soundtrack Genre: 90s Rock, Indie Rock, Indie Pop Utter the words “pop music” nowadays to anyone with a record collection, and they’ll consider slapping you over the ear. Those are dirty words, you see, and they conjure up terrible images and sonic illusions. Furthermore, they make you think of sweaty managers auditioning teenagers in their basement and later robbing them blind should they be single, actually making it big in Germany or Japan.  Pop music has acquired this reputatio ..read more

Strange Souvenirs – DMH Similar artists: The National, Okkervil River, The Walkmen Genre: Alternative Rock What are the most common dreams? Flying, winning the lottery, playing with your pet puppy? Well, one of the most common ones is killing another person. According to studies, nearly 19% of adults have dreamt this recently. Researchers are split on what that means. The ones who love sticking to obvious theories believe that the dreamers are angry in the waking hours.  But the researchers who are more prone to reading poetry, taking long walks on the beach and contemplating the meaning ..read more

Pressyes – Radio 5 (feat. Nature Swim) Similar artists: Khruangbin, Jungle, Unknown Mortal Orchestra Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Dream Pop The things that really make you want to go out into the world and start searching, don’t really exist. The girls you see in the beer ads don’t exist. Highly touristic sights never look the same nce you get to see them in person. And, seeking out prophets out in the vast corners of the world is only bound to disappoint your truth seeking self.  But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go looking. No, by all means, do your very best to see those places f ..read more

Nicolai Dunger – To Be Tough Similar artists: Van Morrison, Calexico, John Craigie, Rufus Wainwright Genre: Americana The future of music may well sound very retro. But don’t stop and worry about that. It’s always been this way. Ever since Bob Dylan or Van Morrison stopped appealing mainly to teenagers, record companies have sought to replace them. Don’t think that they’re doing it out of a desire to keep music pure and true. More than anything, it’s a desire to fulfil the public’s expectations.  By now, we’re talking about a great tradition that involves rootsy pop-rock music blended wit ..read more

The world’s changing as we speak. Thank God! Everything that’s cool today won’t be as cool tomorrow, and nobody, not even the greatest in a particular field, will ever be able to live on past glories. Why stop and cry about it when you could as well get on with life? Forever changes, as Arthur Lee informed back in the times of ’60s psychedelia.  Cutting all ties to the past, however, is unnecessary and even hurtful. Take music as an example. Naturally, we demand new sounds and brand-new ways of doing things. But, often, when you listen to the great blues and soul singers of old and then l ..read more

hlnhu – Arnold Similar artists: ||||||||||||||||||||, Tycho, Emancipator, Maribou State, Ratatat Genre: Indietronica, Dream Pop Picasso bragged about how much he stole from other artists and particularly about how nobody was ever going to be able to detect it unless he confessed to the crime. Once he’d taken something, he said, the act of choosing it made it his own and distinguished it from the original source. Having heard so much music over the years, I tend to feel he was right.  And you don’t need to be a world-renowned painter to have someone be inspired by you. Certainly, in this d ..read more

CHARLESCANTBREATHE – Gin & Tonic Similar artists: Dream Wife, Sunflower Bean, Goat Girl Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop Most of the great songs or stories about drinking are written by old men with not a lot of steam left and few new tales on the horizon. That’s how they trick us into thinking that what they’re doing is courageous or exciting. But the truth is that most of your Bukowskis and Kerouacs had no place left to go by the time their tall glasses intersected with their writing desks.  And, of course, as rock n’ roll tends to do, these stories are usually exaggerated. The old man ..read more

Hanemoon – Why Don’t You Walk Away Similar artists: The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness, Guided By Voices, Teenage Fanclub, The Lemonheads, Ducks Ltd. Genre: Jangle Pop, Indie Rock There are now a few university courses on how to write and play rock music. Boy, that must be an easy subject to pass. You’d imagine that after the first few 2-3 lessons, the rest of the semester can just be spent drinking black cofee and listening to music on your headphones. At least, that’s what most of the people being studied in those classes did, when they weren’t pouring something harder into their glass ..read more