The last three or four years have seen a veritable explosion in New Wave- and ’80s-influenced bands. A few of these groups have found ways to take their influences and move their music forward (The Killers, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Strays), while most of the rest remain captive to the sounds of the bands they so clearly love.

But damn, some of the latter crowd are so good at it that I hardly mind how derivative they are. I mean, fantastic takes on things I’ve heard before are better than uninspired new efforts, right?

I recently tripped across one such example, Sweden’s The Mary Onettes. They can’t seem to make up their minds whether they want to be The Church, Echo & the Bunnymen, or maybe something along the Joy Division/New Order continuum. That hasn’t stopped them from producing an absolutely beautiful album, though – their new self-titled CD has been stuck in my brain for three weeks now, and I may never get tired of hearing “Void.”

So, in case you’re looking for some old/new sounds on a slow Thursday afternoon, here’s The Mary Onettes performing “Pleasure Songs.”

1. 30-Day Song Challenge, day 12: a song that’s a guilty pleasure
2. The mother of all bad songs: 30-Day Song Challenge, the Sequel, day 2 – a song you hate from a band you love
3. 30-Day Song Challenge, day 25: a song that makes me laugh (okay, several songs that make me laugh)
4. Sports and songs: a combination that unites and inspires
5. TunesDay: obscurity and influence

1 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

5 Comments

Leave a comment