With all the recent focus on the Mexican border we’ve taken our eyes off the one above us. We shouldn’t let aliens like this in unnoticed. There’s great energy in their sing-along melodies and deceptive naiveté. And now for a totally random metaphor: you know how when you’re steaming vegetables and you keep the steam on too long and the brocolli gets all soggy and mushy? Well Pony Up! isn’t like that at all. They’re perfectly past that raw point to keep things crisp and snappy.
Bloc Party
Bloc Party churn out quirky, spastic post-punk curiosities that you can imagine were recorded in a bitter cold South London practice space around 1982 — only half of which could be true. Their debut LP drops September 14; the major label bidding war should start shortly thereafter (if it hasn’t already).
Libretto
Libretto’s thundering, street-savvy flow trades blows with gritty funk breaks — similar to the Lifesavas (whose Jumbo the Garbageman guests on “Volume”) or Michael Franti on some gangsta shhh…