January 2nd, 2014 
Tarynn Law 
Hey there! I hope you had an awesome New Year’s Eve and aren’t feeling it too much today! I’m Tarynn Law, and this is a weekly column I’ll be writing that spotlights some up and coming indie pop/alternative/hipster/hype/buzz bands/you-get-the-idea groups that you should be checking out before they become massive. I mean, we all want to be that person that says “I knew them way back when,” don’t we? I thought so. This week we’ve got the synth-laden band from Louisville, The Pass, Brooklyn’s Little Daylight, Canada’s own flute-toting Hey Ocean!, and the “paranoid electronic pop music duo” Big Data.
Here we go!
If your New Year’s Resolution is to “listen to more new music,” then I’d suggest you start with Louisville, Kentucky’s synth pop kings The Pass. Their sophomore record Melt came out in November of 2012, right before this whole indie craze really took hold, and with it they showed that although they’re lesser-known (for now), they’re years ahead of their contemporaries. Each track is bound to get stuck in your head for days wth its infectious synth lines and super-dancable melodies (seriously, I dare you to not dance when you hear “Halo” or “The Rapture”). Fans of St. Lucia, Smallpools, Passion Pit, or even CHVRCHES to a degree are bound to fall in love with them. The band is starting up a 7″ singles series in the new year, where they’ll premiere a brand new single each month through April. By the time it’s all said and done there’ll be 8 brand new songs for everyone to enjoy, leading up to the release of their third album in the Summer. Pre-order those here if you’d like! They’ve got some tour dates coming up in January in the Midwest, and you can check those out over at the band’s Twitter. Shoot them a ‘like’ on Facebook as well if you feel so inclined, and stream their incredibly catchy single “Halo” below or listen to their whole album Melt (and buy a copy for yourself) at their Bandcamp page.
2013 has been a pretty great year for the New York based outfit Little Daylight. It saw them opening for Bastille’s first ever US tour (with many of those dates sold out), and having their song “Restart” is used in a trailer for Girls Season 3, the release of their debut EP Tunnel Vision, among many other things. Their intimate dance-pop sound is reminiscent of the hyper-popular CHVRCHES or St. Lucia; “Overdose” an ’80s inspired track with bombastic drums and cheery synths that’s got a darker message about being in an unhealthy relationship, but being unable to escape it for whatever reason. They just released a brand new music video for the song, and you can watch it below. The rest of their EP is a little more dream-pop than “Overdose” but the tracks are still incredibly arresting and will make you move. We sat down with the band for an interview this summer, and you can read that here! The only tour dates they have scheduled right now are some shows at SXSW 2014, but I’m sure they’ll be hitting the road before then, so keep your eyes tuned to their Facebook and Twitter pages! They’ll also be releasing their debut full length album on Capitol sometime in the coming year, so we’ll be sure to keep you posted about that.
Hey Ocean are adorable. That’s basically all there is to it. You can tell from the very first track of their album IS, “If I Was A Ship,” that contains the too-cute lyrics “If I were a ship / I’d sail to your shore / just to see my true love / the one I adore” and the theme really just never stops. The record touches on all aspects of love and relationships, from the happier times to the insecure. Ashleigh Ball’s sugary sweet vocals are a perfect match for the band’s indie-pop/folk sound (complete with her on the flute, of course!) that’s reminiscent of a chilled out version of one of my personal favorite bands, The Mowgli’s. They’ve toured throughout their native Canada, played some shows in the states on Warped Tour, and even went over to Germany all in 2013, so there are big things ahead for the band in 2014 I’m sure. The first line of their Facebook “About” section states that “We like to make people feel good,” and they do one hell of a fine job at doing that. Follow the band on Twitter to see what they’re up to!
When I was first introduced to the band Big Data, I did what anyone would do and attempted to find them on Twitter. This proved to be quite difficult, with company after company talking about “unlocking the potential for big data in 2014” and discussing “big data analytics.” Even searching “Big Data band” didn’t help me out too much – the tweets mostly consisted of people pointing out that there is, in fact, a band called Big Data, and how “bands are using buzzwords for their names now.” I finally stumbled upon their YouTube page under the name BigDataBigData, which is also the band’s handle on their Twitter and Facebook accounts (which I’ve linked for you so you don’t have to search as hard as I did). They’ve even acknowledged that their SEO isn’t the best, but they’ve just cracked the top 10 in Google’s search results, putting them right on the first page! Their unique blend of “paranoid electronic pop music” hooked me immediately and the rest of their EP 1.0 is just as great. Fans of bands like InnerPartySystem will absolutely adore them. Alan Wilkis and Daniel Armbuster say their band was formed out of “a mutual distrust for technology and The Cloud, despite a growing dependence on them,” and their music “explores the increasing relationship between man and machine.” A pretty lofty statement, but given the machinic, electronic backbone that their sound has, I’d say it makes sense. I’ve been listening to the EP nonstop for the last few days now, and if you’re interested in hearing the whole thing (and their remix EP 1.5), you can do so over at their Soundcloud.
That’s all for this week! I’ll be back next Thursday, and until then you can follow me on Twitter and let me know who you’ve been listening to lately! Oh, and if you’re wanting to know what my Best of 2013 looked like, you can check that out here!
- White Girl Dance Corner featuring Waters, RAC, Mother, and Wild Ones - March 27, 2014
- White Girl Dance Corner featuring Broods, Eliza and the Bear, Clean Bandit, and Tei Shi - February 20, 2014
- Watch Bruno Major Perform Acoustic Rendition of “The First Thing You See” - February 11, 2014
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