Tag: features
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29. PLASTISCINES: BACK TO THE START Now a trio, the French group Plastiscines released one of the year’s finest pop rock albums from any country. And you shouldn’t let the French thing keep you away because most of these songs are in English. Plus, these are some of the most well-produced, energetic tunes this year.…
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45. UNWOMAN: CIRCLING I’ve heard Unwoman’s Circling categorized as steampunk music. I’m not sure I understand what that means, but I certainly know that the way she – her real name being Erica Mulkey – married her cello with vivid electronic soundscapes was as enchanting as anything this year. Add to that her spell-binding voice…
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Button:Pusher is the new double album project by Kiran Shahani of Bitter:Sweet and The Supreme Beings of Leisure fame. (The two albums are called Never Look Back and Cross My Heart.) If you’re not familiar with either of those groups, chances are you’ve still heard some of Kiran’s work. For one thing, he’s done the…
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interview by Michael McCarthy Back in July of 2013, I gave a very positive review to the debut album by Starkill, Fires of Life, which was a perfect blend of the death and symphonic metal subgenres. Nightwish as performed by Dimmu Borgir, if you will. Well, those artists continue to be among the band’s influences…
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I was recently introduced to the music of Veiga Sanchez, who goes by the name Salt Ashes, and after listening to just a couple of her songs I already fell head over heels in love with her sound. Like any artist, she has influences and those influences can be heard in her music. But, here’s the thing…
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interview by Michael McCarthy I won’t brag about the volume of music we receive on a daily basis now, but I will say that it’s often overwhelming. And it takes a lot to please me these days. Being good or even great doesn’t necessarily cut it. I have to fall totally in love with an…
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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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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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I’d like to say that I discovered Caught A Ghost through my own music hunting efforts, that there’s some cool backstory about how I came to be aware of their existence. But the truth is simple and probably not very interesting: their publicist contacted me, asked me to review their upcoming show opening for Youngblood…
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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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review by Michael McCarthy all photos by Mary Ouellette In just a short matter of four years Neon Trees has released three superb albums and toured almost constantly, making them one of the hardest working bands in the business by far. Going into their show at the House of Blues in Boston last night, I…
![MICHAEL MCCARTHY’S BEST ALBUMS OF 2014: PART TWO: #29 – #1 [note: two of these album covers are NSFW]](https://loveispop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Best-of-2014-157x157.png)
