Category: Interviews

  • When we last interviewed the UK’s critically acclaimed Bat and Ball they were promoting their glorious second single, “Stops My Mouth,” which blended an easy breezy pop melody with poignant lyrics and haunting vocals courtesy of Abi Sinclair, one of the band’s two lead singers.  (The other vocalist is her brother Chris.)  The same description could…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy You know how they say there’s a first time for everything? Well, here’s a first for Love is Pop – an interview with a black metal band. Wiki’s definition of black metal: “Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted…

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  • I recently had the opportunity to hear Brother, the stunning debut EP of newcomers Mighty Oaks, who stand out from the ever-growing folk crowd by writing wonderful songs with big, catchy choruses, the sort that just sweep you away in their emotion and infectiousness.  Although, to be fair, it might not be entirely accurate to…

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  • There was a time, not so long ago, when any mention of “Youngblood Hawke” would have made me think of the book Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk.  To tell you the truth, I’ve never read it, but it’s on the list of books that I intend to read in the not so distant future, largely…

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  • As you probably know, I recently reviewed Youngblood Hawke’s August 6th, 2014 show at Brighton Music Hall in Boston.  My review was wholly positive and I feel the same way about their debut album, Wake Up, which is, in fact, crammed with plenty of gorgeous anthems to rouse you.  Each of its songs are stimulating…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Recently Century Media Records sent me Otherwise’s new record, Peace At All Costs. As I listened to it, loving every minute of it, I could not figure out just what genre or sub-genre of metal they were. I remember going to bed thinking I’d just call them post nu metal in…

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  • Interview by Michael McCarthy Recently, I was introduced to the music of Monuments, a genre-defying band who are often mislabeled as various genres and subgenres, as you’re about to read below.  Their music was like a sonic equivalent of a rich, complex roast of coffee…  Sometimes I daydream about Starbucks using their Italian roast to…

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  • Chances are you’ve just read the above subject line and thought, “Who the hell is Klangkarussell?” That’s what I thought when their publicist first contacted me about them. But their publicist usually sends me great stuff, so I checked out the Austrian duo’s album and immediately fell in love with it. Typically, when I encounter…

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  • You may recall our interview with Turkish singer/songwriter Emine Sari from last year.  Well, she’s once again popped up on our radar, this time with a set of highly addictive remixes of her hit song “Who Are You,” the original version of which spawned a viral video.  Written by Emine and produced by Dreambox, “Who…

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  • I Heart Sharks first broke onto the scene — the blogosphere, especially — with their much-praised 2011 album Summer, which featured such sun-kissed, blissed-out pop rock gems as “Animals,” “Neuzeit” and the super infectious title track, “Summer.”  Now they’re primed to garner even more worldwide buzz with the release of their first EP, To Be…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Recently, one of the publicists who consistently sends me great music — James at I.M.P. — sent me a press release about Juliette Jules, a young Parisian singer who was celebrating her 16th birthday by giving away her first EP, Black Crow.  Being a big  fan of French music, I immediately…

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  • Last Monday’s #songoftheday was a track called “Pefect Vision” by a new five piece band from Philadelphia called Cheerleader. In our write up about the song, we remarked that it was one of those rare songs that’s so mind-blowingly good that we’re tempted to make it not merely our #songoftheday but a #songoftheweek. Now that…

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  • The UK’s Bat and Ball are an immensely-talented outfit with co-lead vocalists Abi and Chris Sinclair hailing from West Country. While the two began writing and performing with various bands in their early teens, they never actually played in a band together until they both moved to London to study at Goldsmiths College, at which…

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  • We’ve been fascinated by Petite Meller ever since she left a link to her “Backpack” video on our Facebook page last September.  If you watched the video when we posted it, then chances are you remember it.  It was the gorgeous homage to vintage French cinema shot on the French Riviera.  Meller herself describes it…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy If there’s ever been someone we’ve interviewed here on Love is Pop who needs no introduction it’s Nina Persson. But, just in case her name doesn’t ring a bell, Nina is the beloved vocalist of The Cardigans. In most of the world, they’ve had roughly two dozen big hit singles, their…

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