The Sifting Pan

Helping you find those Indie Gems!

Tag Archives: Indie Pop


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Song of the Day! Hellogoodbye – When We First Met

Hellogoodbye first met in Huntington Beach, CA

Who ever said good indie music had to be new needs to loosen up and shut it. Example? When We First Met of course! The song was released late 2009 on an EP of the same name and then later released on Hellogoodbye’s second LP Would It Kill You?. When We First Met is sheer indie power pop bliss and can easily stand its ground as a track of artistic and instrumental beauty. You may be asking yourself what makes this track so special and why care about it now? The answer to the first question lies within the song itself and a good listen (or three) might help you understand. Now the answer to the second question is that music like this is never dated and I could share this track in 2012 and it should have the same effect as it did the very day it came out in 2009. Good music has no expiration date and it’s sad to see so many great songs and artist get swallowed by the vast and never ending streamline known as time. Someone’s got to remember the good ones, the great finds, the indie gems.


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Song of the Day! Elephanz – Stereo

Elephanz should be blasting through your stereo from Nantes, France

Elephanz honestly could not have picked a better name for themselves. They have an indie pop sound that’s as a big as an elephant and the perfect replacement of the letter ‘t’ with a ‘z’ so you can pronounce it like they the do in their home country of France. This French four-piece really makes a great first impression on me with their song Stereo. Right out of the gate this one grabs ahold with its wide and catchy array of sounds. I think Elephanz has done something very correct here and should defiantly keep at the game. If the band ever puts out a full debut I’d truly love to give it a listen. So far the band has only released a five track EP called Ideal Roomates and two new singles. One of those singles is Stereo and the other being a new version of their old song Do You Like My Song?. I’ll be nice enough to tell you to take a deep breath before listening to Do You Like My Song as the contents are rather intense.

Head on over to Elephanz Facebook page and give them a like and a listen!

 


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Song of the Day! Darwin Deez – Radar Detector

Darwin Deez is detected on my radar from New York City

Music Video: Darwin Deez – Radar Detector

The vibrent and lively indie pop of American indie band Darwin Deez has been a long time coming to The Sifting Pan. Well you see, Radar Detector was my summer jam of 2010 so I guess its only natural for me to revisit this amazing song to share with you all for the summer of 2011. Radar Detector is a track that just seems to have everything in the right place at the right time and I really couldn’t of gone any farther into the year with out sharing this personal favorite of mine. Pretty much perfect borderline spoken word lyrics, but still enough vocal variation to be considered singing, and that fast and never ceasing percussion put this song into a league of its own. This nothing short of amazing factor continues on into the band’s self titled debut LP Darwin Deez. I suggest you give Darwin Deez a chance and the band’s other singles a listen, like his cosmic hit Constellations or the surprisingly happy Bad Day. I’d also like to note that even though Darwin Deez is an American indie band they’ve found much of their success in the UK. They released their debut LP in the UK in May of 2010, but did not put it out in the US until February of 2011. This kind of boogles my brain because Darwin Deez have the perfect sound to blow up in the modern American indie world, yet somehow still remain hidden in plain sight.


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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