The New Music

Recorded initially as a belated Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend, Michael Angelakos and crew have crafted an electro-pop explosion of hooky riffs and booming dance beats. I envision spinning strobes on a black and white dance floor, I see spilt drinks, new love interests…this is feel good music; picture the french band Phoenix just younger and instead of drinking martini’s their drinking Labatt 50. I recommend giving their song SLEEPYHEAD (www.myspace.com/passionpitjams) a listen. I caught up with Passion Pit to get what music has been spinning in their heads;

Jeff Apruzzese
Beach House-Devotion
Even though this record came out roughly a year ago, I am personally
starting to get really into it. Its really an album that i find myself
putting on the moment i wake up and putting on once again as i’m
getting ready to go to sleep.Victoria Legrand’s voice sucks you in
sits as it lays in beautiful pocket of casio-tone drum beats and
reverb. The type of minimalism that is achieved in the writing and
production of this record is something that I personally try to mimic.
My favorite track on the album would definitely have to be GIla.

Nate Donmoyer
Phoenix “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”
I admit i stole this CD from a label’s desk while they were looking for a new label right when we were finishing our album and i kinda wish i found it sooner so we knew what we were up against haha. It sounds like they have crystallized into the perfect form of Phoenix. Every song, the whole album, just puts me in such a great mood and it’s not a cheap high either, it’s elegant and mature and i can’t stop listening to it when i’m traveling or waking up or anything really. I wish we made this album. Now i just can’t wait to see them live. It makes sense that Laurent Brancowitz was in a band that spawned Daft Punk, this is his/their ‘Discovery’.

Nate Donmoyer
Micachu “Jewellry”
I have been a fan of Mica since she put “Golden Phone” on her myspace. This album is brave but it’s masked by her young voice and sound that you almost forget how ballsy it is. Her self-made instruments are reflected in her self-made arrangement style that give it probably the most unique pop sound i have ever heard. Im still pissed i missed her at CMJ and SXSW. One day i’ll catch her band live but until then this album keeps me going.

Ian Hultquist
Harlem Shakes: Techincolor Health
I hate to admit that I didn’t hear about this band until we started working with (producer) Chris Zane. However, I’ve been infatuated with their music ever since. I think that their new record really establishes them as an immense pop band. You can hear a lot of influences in their music, however the collection of artists and songwriters is so vast, that they form their own sound. It gives a lot of the same feeling that Wilco did for me with “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, a record with mystery in it’s mix. I love listening to albums over a hundred times, and always hearing something new hiding in the music. 

Ian Hultquist
Grizzly Bear: Friend EP
I’ve known about this band for a long time, but I’ve been falling hard for them for the past month. This is a strange album, is it an EP, an LP or a remix album? It’s almost entirely made up of the band covering other band’s songs, alternate versions, and of course other bands covering Grizzly Bear songs. To be honest, I was just happy to have a recorded electric version of “Little Brother”, that song is epic.