NYC Popfest spotlight: Dream Diary

Dream Diary

I first heard Dream Diary this past Fall and loved the two Brighter-esque songs they had up on MySpace at that time. Fast forward to now — those still seem to be the only songs they've got in circulation and I still haven't caught wind of any planned releases. As the previous Brighter name-drop may have suggested, the Brooklyn group play twinklingly classic indiepop from the heart! I feel like they should have had something released on Holiday Records by now — seems like the perfect home for them! Anyway, make sure you don't miss them when they play Thursday, May 20 on the opening night of Popfest at the Cake Shop! Until then!

[MP3]: Dream Diary :: Bird In My Garden

Dream Diary on MySpace!
NYC Popfest 2010 on Facebook

Stumble It!

NYC Popfest spotlight: Elephant Parade

Elephant Parade

Playing right after Sweater Girls on the first night of the Popfest, we've got Elephant Parade. Estelle (of the wonderful Brittle Stars) and Ido play sparse, hearfelt pop songs with acoustic guitars and minimal electronics. Their first self-released record, appropriately titled Bedroom Recordings, is sweet and sad and well, mostly its all about love — a reasonable enough subject for boy/girl duo singing like they're whispering into each others ears. They're currently at work on a new record, so keep lookout for that; I'd imagine they'll probably be playing quite a few new ones at the show! For now though, check out "For You" from Bedroom Recordings:

[MP3]: Elephant Parade :: For You

Elephant Parade on MySpace!
NYC Popfest 2010 on Facebook

Stumble It!

NYC Popfest spotlight: Sweater Girls

L.A.'s Sweater Girls (and boys)

Much like I attempted back 2008, I'm am again going to try to highlight as many bands playing the NYC Popfest this year — especially the ones that are new to me — as I can before the Popfest starts! I'll be moving through the lineups chronologically, so first up will be Sweater Girls from Los Angeles, California!

To my slight surprise, Sweater Girls are not all girls and are infact 2/5 boys (one of which is former Siddeley Allan Kingdom!). They play catchy indiepop with nice female vocals and twinkly leads aplenty. The demos on their MySpace page are wonderful and I'd highly recommended listening to them all, perhaps a few times. Indiepages described them as a "full band Softies" a little while back, which not only sounds a bit like a dream, but is also relatively accurate! They'll be heading off the Popfest Thursday, May 20 at the Cake Shop. I would definitely consider them a "don't miss".

Here's a live video of "Pretty When You Smile":



Sweater Girls on MySpace!
NYC Popfest 2010 on Facebook

Stumble It!

OH BOY!

World Atlas

Good morning! While doing my daily MySpace check-in this morning before class I decided to see what World Atlas, whom I've mentioned a couple times in the past, were up to these days. To my extreme delight, it turns out they're up to a lot! They have apparently got a record to be released by Magic Marker at some point — hopefully soon! The more immediate and exciting news however, is that they will be playing the NYC Popfest this year!!! with a string section!!! I couldn't say yay enough to times to truly justify how great I think this will be.

Go Listen to some of their sweet pop tunes on MySpace!

In other almost-equally-exciting news, the new Sad Day For Puppets 7" on Cloudberry is almost out!!! It'll be available February 10th and you're definitely going to want to be grabbing one. I've been listening to "Again" since Roque first put it up and it still sounds like gold!

[MP3]: Sad Day For Puppets :: Again (Hiiighly Recommended!!!)

Stumble It!