The Sifting Pan

Helping you find those Indie Gems!

Author Archives: TheSiftingPan


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Song of the Day! Kaiser Chiefs – Little Shocks

Kaiser Chiefs give us Little Shocks from their hometown of Leeds

EDIT: Seems the Kaiser Chiefs have pulled down Little Shocks from Soundcloud. You can still scroll down and check out the video though.

You know what’s more then a little shock? The fact that this band just released the new song and video overnight. Without warning to pretty much the general public + everyone else. I love this sudden drop from a band that has always delivered in the past and the Kaiser Chiefs have a long history of delivering. In fact this band is really far from a rare indie gem because everyone else will soon hear this one throughout the land. The song Little Shocks is just too damn good not to share!

You got to love the sense that somethings off but in an edgy and danceable way all the same. Those intro bells and on going pino riff add the right amount of classiness needed for these Brit Rockers to stay in line with their inde genre and fans. I’m not saying this song is too different from songs past, but its just simply showing the band has come a long way from their debut album Employment released a good 6 years ago. If you follow the way the band has changed over the years it does seem only right for them to reach this sound. You have to stand out somehow to get some attention these days, or at least be signed with a good record company. I wish I knew more about when the next Kaiser Chief LP is set to come out but no such news yet. I feel that they will be releasing some info soon, but only after the storm of people swarming to listen and catch up with the band due to their 2 and a half year absence since the release of their third and latest LP Off With Their Heads in 2008.

I just had to bite on this one. So I also decided to post the new music video for Little Shocks as well for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!


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Song of the Day! This Year’s Model – We Walk Like Ghost

This Year's Model walk like ghost in Sweden

I have no choice but to be straight forward about the wonderfully haunting indie pop that is We Walk Like Ghost. Between those throw back guitar riffs and leader singer Niklas Gustafsson’s unique vocals, I can’t decide which appeals to me more. Perhaps it is the combination of everything that makes Swedish pop act This Year’s Model stand out from the normal bubbly and sunshine indie pop crowd we see far too often coming out of Sweden’s music scene these days. I can accept edgy and somewhat gloomy guitar based pop, because we don’t always need smiles and kisses to make us want to dance and sing along.

This Year’s Model are by no means a new band, having released an EP and two LPs since their formation in 2005. Their latest release We Walk Like Ghost, which came out February of 2011, not only contains the obviously awesome title track We Walk Like Ghost but also plethora of elegant and well crafted pop tunes that echos back to the more somber side of the genre. I suggest you head over to This Year’s Model website to check out more on these criminally underrated Swedes, they have loads of info about themselves and are even offering the song No Miracles off their latest album for free.


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Song of The Day! Floraline – Eighty One

You best believe the shock I received when I discovered the year Floraline released the track Eighty One. Apparently Floraline has released one album, and one album only, and that would be the band’s self-titled debut Floraline which was release waaaaay back in the year 1999. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that a tune like this could possibly be 12 years old. The pleasant electronic beat and laid back guitar seems like they’d fit in so well in today’s modern indie pop music, not the new wave movement of the late 90’s/early 00’s. They other interesting fact about Floraline is that they make seemingly euro-pop music from Atlanta, Georgia. I never would have been able to guess that a southern indie band in the year 1999 would’ve crept its way into my Itunes and into my heart. Everytime I had listened to Eighty One, up until this day, I had been lying to myself and convinced that this five-piece outfit was just another indie act on the verge of breaking out. I now find they existed in a magical time before before Myspace, Facebook, and all other forms of social media so information on Floraline is very limited. This is somewhat disheartening because I now find the sad truth that I will never get to see new material from this hidden gem of the nineties. I guess I have no choice now but to pick up Floraline on Amazon and see what other untold gems are in store for my listening pleasure.

This is the only image in existence on the internet of the Atlanta based Floraline


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Song of the Day! The Pass – Vultures

The Pass make elegant electronic enjoyables from Louisville, KY

Hop on this merry-go-round of indietronic sounds and let the groove of the beat envelop and surround you in Vultures. Heavy on the synth, but not over done and add that dance floor calling beat for the perfect combination and result. Songs with this youthful vigor are the norm on the band’s well crafted debut LP BURST, which saw a release back in September of 2010. I would attempt to describe what The Pass is all about but they’ve already done such a good job at describing themselves-

“We currently spend endless nights toying around with synthesizer loops, crafting haunting melodies, and writing deep passionate lyrics that recall long lost loves and hookups on the dance floor. With a basement sound lab that lends itself as much to electric ladyland as it does a preschool nursery there is a neverending quest for a balanced perfection of synthesizer pop and dancefloor psychedelia. Our live show is somewhere between the final act of a three ring circus and a rave in prague.”

 


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Song of the Day! Moving Units – Until She Says

Moving units are part of the dance-punk revival in LA, California

Why does the name David Bowie come to my mind within the first 5 seconds of listening to Until She Says? I don’t even think that question needs a response because the answer lies somewhere in Moving Units dance-punk and electronic infused indie rock. I would’ve hoped a band that spans nearly a decade of formation would have their own unique sound but taking a few pointers from the dance-rock man himself is never a bad thing. Maybe I haven’t exposed myself  to enough Moving Units for this to be a fair statement and might need to go back a few years to an earlier album to truly get a feel for what this LA outfit has to fully offer.

You can catch Until She Says on Moving Units latest EP Tension War which was self-released back in February of this year.