Pop Music has always had a shapeshifter like quality to it. There's the timeless, insanely awesome harmonies of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or Big Star's Radio City. Punk, generally associated with the uber-snotty side of rock, has proven to have a knack for hook-filled tunes starting at almost at day 1 with the Buzzcocks and continuing to this day with bands like Bad Religion and Green Day. As with all things, you must take good with the bad. That's no different with Pop as proven with over-produced sludge like Katy Perry that has all the depth of a piece of notebook paper. On the really good side, a couple of recent releases have stoked the pop flames in a huge way.
New York's Phantogram just released a new EP called Nightlife that runs the spectrum of electro-pop. It's lead-off track "16 Years" reminds me a bit of School of Seven Bells with it's swirling style guitar and processed beats with Sarah Barthel's dreamy vocals pulling it all together. Don't Move - the lead off single, has a Portishead feel to it with a variety of little sounds coming in and out. The second half of the EP also features vocals from guitarist Josh Carter. This one - two punch culminates in the final track "A Dark Tunnel" that intertwines a harder head section driven by his vocals with a dreamy bridge and chorus from Barthel whose vocals sound just a bit like the Cocteau Twin's Elizabeth Fraser on this one.
The flip side of Phantogram, Brooklyn's Real Estate taken a much more low key approach with their second, very addictive album "Days". It's a mix of loose, very dreamy guitars that occasionally bring back memories of REM's "Reckoning" with soft, airy vocals that drift along with the song. Two out of the first three songs "Easy" and "It's Real" are pop classics in the making. "It's Real" in particular has a slightly up-tempo power pop with great loose sounding guitar parts and a simple but addictive chorus. The rest of the album features really solid, totally dreamy pop that brings back memories of Luna, the Posies, and tons of other great dream pop bands.
Despite their different approaches, both of these albums are doing quite the job fulfilling my pop fix. Who knows what's next on Norwegian Black Metal maybe?? It's anyone's guess but for now - Viva Le Pop
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