The Bad Years - Common Mistake

Such beautifully innocent vocals, such easy indie-disco beats and distant guitars, and such dark, dark images to go with it. Such twisted wonder.

The Bad Years are Sami Akbari and Aaron Mort. the duo are based in Los Angeles, CA. Of their debut single Common Mistake, Akbari says:

For us it’s about being hopelessly in love but going through a period of frustration and doubt. You crave change but you’re just not feeling satisfied with the time it’s taking to get there, feelings of anxiousness, fear, and love combining…the eternal relationship struggle.

https://www.badyears.com

https://www.facebook.com/thebadyears

https://www.twitter.com/thebadyears

https://www.soundcloud.com/thebadyears

Brika - Moon

Girls sings over stately electronic beats is not a radical new thing, but hey - when it’s good, it’s good.

This is good.

Moon is taken from Brika’s debut album Voice Memos; the album’s title comes from over two thousand voice memos she recorded over a period of three years.

https://brikamusic.com/

https://twitter.com/brikamusic

https://www.facebook.com/brikamusic

The First Part - The First Part

Power pop, part un.

The First Part are a power pop / indie rock band from San Angelo who cite a range of influences that includes Elvis Costello, The Jam, Bob Mould, Superchunk, and The Wedding Present. You can grab their excellently punchy self-titled EP from Bandcamp right now. Or after you’ve finished reading the rest of this page; I’m cool either way.

https://facebook.com/thefirstpart

https://twitter.com/thefirstpart

The Shopengauers - Start Again

So when was the last time you were offered “Fresh pop from Tatarstan”? Judging by Start Again, it’s a rare but tasty treat. They call it nostalgic, and Start Again does indeed conjure up a certain 90s sound that makes me feel about as old as, well, as old as I actually am, in fact. I’m getting Robyn S, but you might hear other flavours. Suck it and see, as they say.

https://www.facebook.com/shopengauers

Skeeter - Possibly The Only

Power pop, part deux.

Ten years on from Skeeter’s debut album Possibly The Only… a track of the same name has found its way onto the new EP The Lightning Hasn’t Led You Out to Sea. And it is, along with the other tracks on the EP, crunchy power pop of the highest order.

https://SkeeterMusic.com

The Unthanks - Flutter

Although these roundups have so far included only (as far as I can remember) artists who have contacted me directly, there’s no hard and fast rule that says I can’t include something I find lying around in the vast aural spaces of the internet. And when it’s something sigh-makingly beautiful from a woefully underappreciated act like The Unthanks, I’m more or less obliged to slide it in and hope it piques your curiosity while you’re here.

_Flutter _is the second single taken from the album Mount The Air, which will be released on The Unthanks’ own label, RabbleRouser Music, on February 9th.

Here endeth the round-up.