The rising L.A. synth duo Imperial Mammoth prep for LP Gold Confetti with the release of a puppet-aided video for single “”Fifty-Five Fires”. The track itself a sort of blend between the boy-girl call-to-arms pop of Matt & Kim and the more artful reaches of the CHVRCHES sound is well complemented by the cool Matt Glass-director film noir w/ puppets clip. Give “Fifty-Five Fires” your eyes and ears below.
Imperial Mammoth 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.6
Indie journeyman Dan Snaith readies Our Love his sixth record under the name Caribou. The LP, the follow-up to 2010’s Swim, has a great lead single in the instantly infectious and danceable “Do Without You”. Our Love is out October 6 in the UK on City Slang and on October 7 in the US via Merge.
Caribou 
(Official)
Rating 8.4
The terrible twosome of Lido and Cosmo’s Midnight spin a tinkling pianos-aided bit of 2014 electronic music around AlunaGeorge’s track for “Superstar”. The spread between Cosmo’s trop-style rhythms and Lido’s more counter-melodic instrumental technique creates for a very cool dynamic. Do listen.
Cosmo’s Midnight
(Label)
Lido 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.7
Over Sands are a new London-based (via Somerset) duo specializing in cinematic psychedelia-tinged songs with a found-sound/inventive-type percussion element. Aptly, the twosome take on the dramatic sweep of “Falling”, the theme from the David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks on this excellent new cover. The original having the appropriate swirl and space to give Over Sands the right latitude in shaping “Falling” to their taste, it makes for an excellent source material choice. Sample the B3 Premiere of Over Sands’ cover of the Twin Peaks theme “Falling” below.
Over Sands 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.4
Sample below “Never Work For Free”, the summery new indie pop single from Tennis. From the band’s forthcoming sophomore LP on the brilliant Communion Music Ritual in Repeat, “Never Work For Free” finds Tennis in a bit more finely honed and compact arrangement-wise as the single has an immediacy of pop sensibility that is a level up from LP #1. September 9th is the date to know for the release of Ritual in Repeat.
Tennis 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.3
A brilliant interpolation of Ghost Town DJs “My Boo” highlights M-Phazes superb new mix for Kimbra’s new Warner Bros. single “90’s Music”. Listen. (KKS)
M-Phazes (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
Female is an AU-based producer dabbling in the vibe-y pitch-shifted trend current in indie house. Here, Female takes on Cosmic Quest’s already very good “Water Winds” and applies that lush chilled sound to excellent effect.
Female (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
UK house producer Fort Romeau headlines a new mix for Jacques Greene’s upcoming remix set for his Phantom Vibrate EP release. The remix EP also features tracks from Yung Gud, Kit Grill and Area Forty One and is out tomorrow (May 30th) on Lucky Me.
Fort Romeau (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.4
Swedish band Movienite merge 90’s disto-rock with modern melodic & rhythm structures and do so well on new one “Yippie!” while not coming off hokey/nostalgic by maintaining the rudder of strong and focused pop writing. A++.
Movienite 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.4
Amber Run’s Spark EP is a delicate discourse on thisNottingham bands’ aching pop and rock sensibilities. Having seemed to learned a few tricks from bands like Arcade Fire, Amber Run also manage to pull in a few edgy lyrics from the relevancy popular culture. The band tread ‘familiar’ sonic territory on lead track “Sparks”, while still managing an uplifting piece of emotive currency. The following track “Heaven” rides a more diversified groove with a heavy hand on the hi-hat. The mid-section “Chamber” is a lovely tune that rises above a dusty guitar arpeggio into a cacophony of synths.
Things seem to mellow out as the epic closer “Hide & Seek” takes hold for almost five minutes. It’s here that Amber Run seem to find a striking and authentic stride, particularly it’s the airy auto-tuned vocals that bloom as the instrumentation drops in and out. If their dream was to achieve a radio ready single, the boys are golden with “Sparks”, but it’s the artistic possibilities that bubble up later in the EP which are particularly noteworthy. There is something here… hinting that this five piece could become much more than another Britpop powerhouse singing falsetto “ooohs” over massive drums.
Spark was released on the 20th of April on RCA. Purchase here: smarturl.it/AR_Spark_iTunes Reviewed by Mike Olinger
Amber Run (Facebook)
Rating: 8.4
German band Claire check-in with return single “My Audacity”. “Audacity” is an ambitious but still neatly formed bit of genre-jumping indie pop that can hold weight in quality with many of the genre’s biggest hitters.
Claire 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.4
Team Carousel return maybe their strongest track to date on the A+ synth pop of “New Friend”. “New Friend” is particularly strong in the exactness/wholeness of its construction; as seemingly no bit of rhythm track or vocal or keyboard flourish is out of place and each of the song’s constituent elements are perfectly harmonious in their synchronicity.
Carousel 
(Facebook)
Rating: 8.2
