LONG — FUIMOS ELECTRIC

The hope of warmer days and uncertain love lies in the glittering chimes and laid-back guitar of 'fuimos electric' by New York band long. We start appropriately enough with an audio walk in the park, what with the spring reverb drums and allegretto bass, the sun-summoning bossa-esque guitar chords. Lilting vocals weave themselves in: “Fuimos al parque / para conocernos un poco más...”¹

Lyrically (in Spanish, in case you didn't notice) the lines shift between statement-of-fact and figurative, such as “me mirabas como el río”² — the poetic contents of the heart wrapped in city-flavoured indie pop packaging.

The song grows in vignettes parallel to the love story told by the vocals – meeting each other in the park, sharing a bottle of wine, not knowing what to say. Before long, we are in a triumphal block party crescendo, crashing cymbals and brass breezily lifting us up and out of the park, out of the moment, to look back on all that has been, joy and more joy still in the unknowable tomorrows.

✧

¹ We went to the park to get to know each other a little more
² You looked at me like the river

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• 🔔 You may stream the song 'fuimos electric' by long over on Spotify, if you feel like it. In addition, you may see a video for the demo version of the song on YouTube also.

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☟ long Internet Presence ☟
instagram ⚘ spotify

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ALTOPALO — MUD

⌾ LISTEN TO ALTOPALO, MUD ⌾

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Backdropped by a collage of an instrumental, 'Mud' by New York outfit altopalo spins a story of everyday actions woven through with the turmoil of a mind stuck in the midst of cyclical thoughts. The mundanity is real from the first line: "once a day or almost every day I put my clothes away in drawers, check off a chore." It's already rooted in relatable realness.

It's a song of two parts. Pockmarked by soft ping-pong ball synths in the first parts — the soundtrack to going through the motions — the domesticity of the sound is cut with knives of metallic distortion. The chorus refrain "stuck in the mud all night while the brain rain pours" illuminating the downbeat mood of the track. Scattered drums patter like incessant thoughts.

Broken up by a wordless scrawl of vocordered noises denoted by the lyrics "awf efjjjf iiewl" on their SoundCloud page, the second part soars into a realisation of emotion with trailing guitars and a haze of synth softening proceedings as the lyrics take a decidedly nihilistic tone: "you're stuck in the mud don't fight what's the effort for."

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• 🔔 'Mud' by arrives courtesy of Samedi Records. You can stream or download it from their Bandcamp and listen at your leisure.

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☟ altopalo Internet Presence ☟
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🐣 TOLEDO — BATH

⌾ LISTEN TO TOLEDO, BATH ⌾

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For a song that has a glistening, sunny feel to it, all the deliciously recorded acoustic guitar organic string feeling – so close it's in your ear, played right next to you – the drums gently rapping out a woodshed craft workshop rhythm in trebling splendour and woody leaves-after-rain clarity; for all its harmony, there is disharmony in TOLEDO's 'Bath'. It's much more than typical lo-fi indie pop — for one thing, it's not lo-fi.

The lyrics, sung warm and layered, joyous, tell a different story. The first line raises the curtain: "So / lose my mind and lose my hold / nowhere to run to." There's the refraining imagery of "red in my eyes." And then there is the effectiveness of contrast between the chorus' last line and the second verse's first:

... Such fun to be young and alive

I / saw the doctor when I was nine
For all the anger

The words in speak of losing control, instability – and not just a moment of it, but a history, a tendency – whilst the music itself, with its rose-tinted gleaming guitar, exists as a simultaneous remedy, the feel of a diary entry when something is out of your system maybe: a way to exorcise emotion painting it with this comforting, nostalgic sound. Or else it is the haze of help and healthy thinking in light of looking back on darker days.

And ushering us into and out of the Brooklyn duo's reminiscence is a drum machine; rather than organic, real drums we have this cutesy, childlike detachment, the tumbling of miniature building blocks into painful recollections.

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• 🔔 You may purchase 'Bath' by TOLEDO's for as little as $1 on Bandcamp. You can also stream it there as many times as you like.

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☟ TOLEDO Internet Presence ☟
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🐣 MEN I TRUST — I HOPE TO BE AROUND

Much like the wispy incense smoke of the last time we heard from the Montreal trio, Men I Trust have created a delicate soundtrack to daydreaming in 'I hope to be around'. Key to its success as wonderful song are the four elements that comprise it: the bass plays plasma-textured, deep and modulating, this what is essentially a rock bassline, brooding in pentatonics; its string sister the guitar is an occasional ripple on the surface of a glassy pond, wobbly, cold and clear all at the same time.

The drums tick throughout toeing a line between meticulous drum machine and '60s minimal, thin and precise. And the vocals – wide and whispering and wistful; the Three W's of Wonderful – send this wraith of swirling around your head, the lack of variegation and the lack of range, as well as the repetition, make this a haunting mantra, its gaseous nature slipping into your ears and turning your thoughts to tomorrow and yesterday and nowhere ever all at once—"I dream of my future / Remote from time bounds / Becoming myself / Without any end."

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• 🔔 You may download Men I Trust's lovely, thoughtful track from their bandcamp.
• 🔔 The video for 'I hope to be around' was conceived and directed by the band themselves. "We filmed the music video in Montreal’s beautiful neighbourhoods and landmarks," they explain, "of which many seem to be frozen in time around the end of the 60’s."

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☟ Men I Trust Internet Presence ☟
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JAWS – THINK TOO MUCH, FEEL TOO LITTLE

Where am I? What? Huh? Oh right. It's 2014. May. Tuesday. It has been sunny but it is not sunny today – major bummer. But it's ok. I found something a month or so ago that was on a little list of 'Things To Definitely Keep An Eye On' so I kept my eye on it and nothing happened so I'm just gonna write about their newest song.

Oh I've done it again haven't I? Just carried on without giving a mention to what I was writing about. They never taught me how to do that in journalism school. Actually I never went to journalism school, can you tell? Ha. Ha. Haaa—. Anyway, I'm writing about JAWS, a band from Birmingham (UK not US), and part of the fabricated/joke scene 'B-Town' (incl. Peace & Swim Deep) – though it's always the way that, without approval from artists purportedly "in" the scene, all scenes, all genres, are just fabrications – but I can see how it's a joke: I live near a place called Kingston and we call it K-town, jokingly. Not that I'm in any sort of band or anything.

But with writing about music you kinda have to dig for clues, make connections & assumptions, and come to conclusions – if they're widely accepted enough, they become gospel. For instance, none of these B-town (I even hate writing it, ok?) bands have a very similar sound, yet NME was able to see that the scene "seemed to roll out of bed, insular and uncontrived, smirking at its own in-jokes." Fine. Yet there is a waft of irony in the use of "uncontrived" – finding these differences, purposefully looking for them, is a journalistic contrivance in itself. How we are endlessly at odds with ourselves.

Now, I would like to forget about that and say hello to 'Think Too Much, Feel Too Little' by the eight-legged JAWS.

First thing that struck me was its vague similarity to something else, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it, till I realised it was 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police. It kinda follows the same chord progression and has that same plinky palm-muted pattern, though in the JAWS song its a twining of two guitar patterns that seem to shimmer-glitter in the lightbulb-heavy flavours of a post-party mood. Indeed, the song's lyrics, sung with a nicely reverbing nonchalant lilt, spin a tale of dimly lit dancing interrupted by the end-of-the-night's awakening; a romance dream with splashes of colour and the syncopated bassline oozing groove with the slow-sway fruity drum crunch and blissful anti-triumph in this half-lament of a track – "We get it, we get it, it's over / I'll go back to being alone…" – full-stopped with a crescendo of reality, drowning out the star-dots of hazy memory and love-in-passing.

Lovely stuff. If I'm late on it then pffffffffft whatever, but I'm glad that I found this song, whose title is quite similar to a line from Charlie Chaplin's speech in his film, The Great Dictator.

• Some comments on the song mentioned an album or EP or something soon, but I don't know anything. Best thing is to follow these guys on the links below – if you like what you hear, of course.

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Like JAWS on Facebook
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Visit JAWS official site
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NOLA WREN – SOUL SUCKER

Ha ha! Well. This just flew into my inbox from far across the ocean – the Atlantic ocean btw. It instantly jumped into my ear and started doing cartwheels, carrying out a spot of light raving, and sending basically some really nice soothing sounds. Why did it do that? It did that because it IS really nice, and nice things tend to act upon you instantaneously – it's physiological yo.

I will hark back to a moment I was told about once; a friend told me about a random commenter who said that it was probably "a bad sign" that they liked a piece of music straight away. What sort of garbled tripe-shit nonsense is that? I instantly liked Ace of Base's 'All That She Wants' when I heard it as a child, and when I hear it now, I still like it. I didn't WORK to like it. Anyway. Don't believe the hype: like what you like however you please.

Sorry. What was I saying? YES these are the sounds of New York City resident, musicmaker and self-confessed "nocturnal creature", Nola Wren (real name Kara Francavillo). In her most recent track, 'Soul Sucker', she evinces a certain pop nostalgia in a cradle of comforting sounds, a mix of organic and electronic stuffed full of vocal hooks and a driving beat.

Founded on a clattering acoustic guitar (which minutely reminded me of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in a good way ofc) with glistenings of electronic scatter-beeps decorating like glitter, the song shoots along with emotive intent, totally encased in pop trimmings, Nola Wren's supersweet voice crooning out the melody amidst light synth chords and harshening for the rapid-fire "Soul sucker, soul sucker, you'll n-n-n-n-n-n-never get my…" in each freshly reverbing chorus as distortion juts upward against the thumping beat.

All in all, it's a treat for the ears, an unabashed pop song that holds no pretence, injecting at the same time a particular marginal attitude – an essence, at least, of punk (perhaps) – into the music at the same time; no mean feat. Honestly I think this is a very good song, how can I stress that any further? And it's only a demo!! But it sounds great!

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Like Nola Wren on Facebook
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ELEN NEVER SLEEPS RUM EP

This is a treat. I remember reading something about Tokyo based indie singer/musician Elen Never Sleeps' SoundCloud page about his song 'Rum' being part of an EP of the same name, but I never knew when this would surface. About a month ago, ENS (as it is conveniently shortened) emailed me himself with a link to his EP - probably because I had written about the song 'Rum' a while ago. Mainly, I feel terrible that it's taken me this long to get around to writing about it. However, there is a decidedly positive undertone in my spirit as I'm listening to the Rum EP: it's really gorgeous.

Awash with nostalgia, the EP is a knowing throwback to sounds of the New Romantics, yet having been created this year, it is also dreamily modern. 'Emerald' is a good example; with glassy synth chords as a constant gentle foundation to it all, ascending bass notes and super-reverbed clean guitar twiddling in the shade, it's driven by a house beat to the very end of the song. Added to this is the distinctive voice of Kaji (the only name I can attribute to the man behind the music), a crooning style that sometimes - especially in the chorus of 'Emerald' - is overcome by wild surges of emotion, trembling yelps that perfectly evoke feeling and, in its tones, inspire a nostalgic mood.

Likewise, the minimalist retro drum machine beat of 'Saudade' (a title that shares its name with an untranslatable Portuguese word that is the state of feeling deep nostalgia for something/someone that you love) has a modern lilt to it. The wide synths here float over a sparse yet slow-funk bassline. Here, the vocals drift occasionally into falsetto as taiko drums boom with incidental, tropical drops of marimba loveliness now and again; this sound that leans towards feelings of melancholy in a supposed paradise (i.e. "The City") is conjured throughout.

No better is this demonstrated than in the pathetic fallacy of EP closer, 'The Dark Star' – backdropped with the sound of a menacing storm complete with crashes of thunder, a drum machine beat frazzles over subdued yet disco style bassline as the vocals croon a song of loneliness. Most of the song is delightfully simple, leaving the sounds to speak for themselves, making the loudly reverb-laden chorus with its dreary storm samples rather powerful. Opener and the eponymous 'Rum' (covered in more detail here) is a great start; with its jazzy, late-night feel and catchy vocal pattern, it's certainly my favourite – the muted guitar chords, the seagull-esque sounds: all perfect.

Like no other song on the EP, bouncy track 'Skyline' stays true to its title and conjures a glittering montage of a city at night: lights blinking, cars whooshing below skyscrapers. It's an upbeat 80s-indie-style tune that should inspire at least a little wiggle of your toes. The vocal harmonies in the chorus here are lovely, rich and warm, which, combined with its pop doo-doo-ing and join-in claps towards the end, makes for arguably the "happiest" song on the EP. But all in all, it's fitting that an EP about nostalgia, loneliness and love should start with rum and end in the middle of some dreadful weather. Slotting into the retroactive concept of drowning one's sorrows before taking a long walk at night, the Rum EP shines with minimalist elegance, with Elen Never Sleeps re-using some retro styles in his own unique depiction of nostalgia.

Grab the EP on a name-your-price basis over at Elen Never Sleeps' Bandcamp.

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OLDTIMER [オールドタイマー] CANARIA [LIVE]

I've been meaning to write about this for a long time but I just haven't gotten round to it. Why is that? Something you feel like you want to do sometimes turns into something you have to do, and I don't work well under obligations, even if they are self-made. It's weird isn't it. A choir of weird. But that's neither here nor there is it now. We can breathe and move on. Time has ticked and that is that.

I first wrote about OLDTIMER at the beginning-ish of this year, after (and about) the release of their My Girl EP. They actually took the time to send me a package with a cute note and a few copies of the CD - all of which were hand-illustrated. Naturally I have a lot of time for them. I heard them first on a live recording of their stuff, which had plenty of energy and noise to it, and this latest song goes in much the same way: energetic and noisy.

What are they? They're a self-described "indie rock band" from Tokyo, but I'd say they're like a shoegazing indie pop rock band. Not much difference I suppose except my definition is more specific. Now, if you can accept that, let's have a listen shall we?

Straight away you're thrown headlong into a high-energy fast-paced belter of a track. The drums gallop ahead, dragging everything behind it, with singer Lilia Masami's pretty vocals floating in the ocean of noise. The guitar has a fantastic sound - this is what I first noticed. It screeches along bending out of tune and creating a sound that is quite gloriously unsettling. Gives it a bizarre alternate-reality surf-rock vibe. Listen to it though. Great guitar, really. Leaves you reeling in the spaciest of ways.

The bassline is pretty magnificent, too, let's be honest. Against the noisy screams of the guitar, its smooth sound and complex notes give the song a jolly upbeat background. A piece of pop against a noise-art installation or something. The "doo-doo-do-do" vocals do something similar as well, as do the vocals in general, giving the song a pop feeling and contrasting with the un-pop guitar. Lovely. I had a feeling that they'd get even better, and they have.

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TENDERFIST POSTCARDS

Here's something really nice. It's totally pop indie / indie pop all the way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - a band, a quite up-and-coming band - as far as I understand it - around the SEA (that's South East Asia to all those not familiar with the term) area, called Tenderfist. I think there are two or three of them but I don't know.

This particular track is called 'Postcards' and is NOT, as the SoundCloud title says, 'Social Club' - one commenter on the song (see: this is why the internet can be so good) said, "The first (opening) track is called "Rob That Social Club" and the second is "Postcards". I have their CD with me." Can't argue with that, can ya?

But aside from naming mishaps and whatever, this song is like, so totally nice. It has an inescapable groove that I suppose you could attribute first off the bat to the strong piano with some classy accompanying clicks, and secondly to the four-on-the-floor house beat coupled with that kick-matching bass. That piano actually sounds a little housey if you get what I mean. In those lovely almost pummelled-down chords there is a great progression up and down the keyboard. Later on, it becomes more of a constant riff.

The vocals are crystal clear and charming, sounding as well-established and quietly confident as any well-established and quietly confident lead vocalist of a well-established (American) band. What does that voice remind me of? Or rather: who? There's something really familiar about this guy's voice and it only works in their favour.

That up-and-down chord progression is then followed by a light electric guitar, higher octave piano, and decorated around halfway through with a cutesy synth melody, and even later on with some emotive strings whilst the vocals repeat the refrain, "When will I see you again?" The snare rolls in towards the end and everything comes together in a medley of positive sound. The guitar's distortion hangs in the air with sequential chords (imagine them played Pete Townshend/whirlwind style) and fist-pumping rave-like whoops of "Woo!" join the party.

Cute lyrics too. This ain't a lyrics site so you're gonna have to listen to it yourself to hear those. But it's basically about missing someone. If you have a heart, then I'm sure you've probably experienced this before. And what a wonderful illustration of that feeling - the kinda sad but mainly completely infatuated longing and excitement for your crush/lover/partner/friend/girlfriend/boyfriend's return. Very lovely. On their Facebook page, however, they are endearingly modest, saying under Description: "don't worry. just songs by awkward people." <3

This came or comes from Tenderfist's album Tourist Car.

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CHILDHOOD SEMESTER

If there's like, nothing out there about a band or artist - as in, they don't have a Facebook page or Twitter account - then the only way to find out information is to google 'em (it's the verb so I ain't capitalising anything). However, with an ungoogleable name like Childhood, that could be pretty tricky. A lot of people now are taking the one-everyday-word-is-all-I/we-need stance when it comes to band names and aliases. Which I don't mind at all. I actually quite like it. What I don't like is being unable to find out anything. Luckily, Childhood are on FB and twitz so it's ok, don't worry. Just sayin' was all.

Anyway, they are a four-piece/quartet/four-person-band from London. Made up of Ben Romans Hopcraft, Leo Dobsen, Daniel Salamons and Jonny Williams, they describe themselves as a "hot boyband" - you be the judge of that. They're pretty handsome, I'll say that much. But I'm not here to judge looks. This ain't a beauty contest yo. This is a music contest. Minus the contest part.

So anyway, this song is called 'Semester' and it's a wonderfully distorted number that has a really nicely produced bass, a real low-low gravelly sound, something you often don't get with this brand of lo-fi indie pop, which is quite refreshing.

The vocals, with a similar yet Southern-accented yearning and confidence displayed in the past by Alex Turner, are backed up by "ooo-ooo"s that give it a nice pop hook - something retro about that too. There's a grey sky feel to the song, something distinctly English in the sound. The guitars jangle with light distortion in the verses, scream away completely overdriven in the chorus sections, and later on in the bridge get completely shoegazey with heavy doses of flanger - that's whilst the drums go intermittently go mental with a lot cymbal bashing.

It's a nice sound overall - decidedly raw, especially the drums, which sound as if I could be hearing them from next-door, and slightly bleak yet with the friendly jangle and catchiness of pop that will make Childhood a quite-sure hit, if they aren't already. This is the AA-side (what? I thought it was "B-side"?) from a single with another song of theirs, 'Solemn Skies'. You can buy that here.

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NICK HESSLER (CATWALK) CAN'T LET GO

Sometimes it is really quite a mystery when you investigate the depths of SoundCloud and the internet in general, especially when you're in search of solving a mystery in the first place. The different threads that sometimes lead to a tangle, sometimes nothing more than the other end of a rather unconnected thread, sometimes to a network of threads - a garment, basically - are sometimes too much to handle. Information here there and everywhere from so many different sources - some from years ago - which gives the temporariness of the internet a rather permanent edge. You can search for anything. Sorry about all of this.

Anyway, I was directed to this guy's SoundCloud page a week or so ago and only just now went through the motions of trying to figure out who he was. Obviously he is called Nick Hessler but from whence he came I didn't know until I went through the process above (and actually it really wasn't as hard as I made out) and a good ol' search is satisfying when it finishes successfully innit.

He has been making music since he was 14 under the moniker Catwalk, solo to begin with but this soon fleshed out into a fully-functioning band, which is - as far as I can gather - still operational. However, what is more recently operational is Nick Hessler's SoundCloud itself. It could be a place to post new material before it becomes Catwalk stuff (think so cause one of the song's tags is "catwalk"), or it could just be a solo outlet. I could also be completely wrong and this is not the Nick Hessler I think it is.

Whatever. Here is the song, 'Can't Let Go'.

Demo or not, this is a sunny jangly song that has a really nice rich sound - yep, though lo-fi in nature it is fleshed out to the edges, that's for sure. It harks back to 80s guitar riffs from bands like The Smiths, but has instead a very coastal pop kind of sound - not surprising given that Mr Hessler and his band are based in Los Angeles. In the twinkling melodies and slightly distorted vocal melodies there is a whole background of memories of the sea, love and longing, endless sandy romances and blazing cloudless summers.

Plus it's catchy enough to give it a wonderful pop edge. Really nice sound, it's a great style I think. I am looking forward to a more centralised effort from Nick Hessler or Catwalk or whatever moniker the next slice of California indie pop will fall under. Maybe I'm just tired.

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KWES. ROLLERBLADES

There's not much of this around, touching and understated pop songs. Not as far as I have heard anyway. If you've heard 'em, send 'em, and I'll listen to 'em. But for the moment, we have Kwes. (yes, with the full-stop apparently) with a lovely new song called 'Rollerblades'.

You heard of Kwes. before? No, neither have I. Let's discover him together. He comes originally from South East London, gaining an interest in music - and sound recording particularly - at an early age. He also has colour synesthesia, which means he sees colours when listening to music, which are associated to certain notes. Sounds cool to me, but he plays it down, saying: "it doesn't annoy me, or it doesn't amuse me, or it doesn't make me feel good, it's a normal occurrence to me." There you go.

Believe it or not, he's been quite active in the field of producing, having done work with The Xx and Micachu in the past. But, above all, he's a solo artist in his own right, and an interesting one at that, as this song 'Rollerblades' quite nicely illustrates.

It comes from the EP he released earlier in spring of this year, Meantime. But what exactly is it? It's kinda an experimental indie pop sound, but with hooks and progressions in the melody that are more pop pop than anything else. It's an altogether sparse sound, which is, the more you listen to it, actually more interesting than it first seems - there are little percussive sounds that dot the beat like simple little decorations, the bassline is on the surface quite simple but is doing a few more forward rolls and arab springs than you think, the glitchy blips that do zip in and out of earshot, and the lyrics as well are beautifully mundane (about how somebody's hair looks, going out for dinner, and above all - rollerblading).

The last minute or so of this pretty ditty are turned into an atonal mash of electro sounds and pinging percussion vague beats and only a hint of stability. This is quite exciting because it means that, alongside singing in is plaintive voice about going rollerblading set to catchy beats and melodious hooks, he can also lay down some truly experimental sounds, electric in nature and style. Good job Kwes.!

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Kwes. on Facebook
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PEACE WRAITH

Something nice and easy for this morning. Something by a band with a name that corresponds to many a person's wish for the world: Peace. You won't exactly get peace by listening to Peace, but you will get a taster of a happier life where people party nicely with each other and where everybody is fashionable, but not so fashionable as to cause fallings-out between the cuttingly fashionable and the pinprickingly stylish. Everyone's as they are and everything's how it should be.

Got carried away, sorry.

Here is Peace with new single 'Wraith'. Despite the name, there is actually nothing wraith-ful nor phantom-like nor ghost-esque about this song. There's a great number of merits to this song, which shows itself instantly as a pop-fuelled indie-type maraca-shaking offbeat-guitar hook kind of a song, with vocals that perform some level of acrobatics against that backdrop. The chorus is delightfully infectious and it has been cycling, wrapped in tiki lights, around my head for most of the morning. Right away, you could make a comparison between that descending guitar lick that is like the song's frontispiece and the kinds of melodies you find in songs by the likes of Foals, and other tempo-bending acts that I can't list right now.

However, the overall pop of 'Wraith' is very much different to a band such as Foals, taking Peace across a threshold that marks a transition between unknown and soon-to-be-known - thanks, in part I suppose, to a record deal with Columbia Records. Good on them!

Utterly inoffensive, though at the same time not something that I am wetting myself about, this band certainly has the potential to conquer the indie-pop palaces of the world and win over many a heart and mind. And let them - they are good enough to deserve any success that comes their way.

Their Delicious EP is out now.
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Peace on Facebook
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Peace on SoundCloud
Peace on YouTube
Peace's official site

FI/SHE/S KAVINSKY NIGHTCALL COVER

We discovered this song a few days ago but we've been unfortunately diverted by other, more immediately affecting circumstances. C'est la vie! Anyway, we're proud to have come across this, seeing as the original was such a great song, and seeing as this cover by FI/SHE/S (winners of the Le Prix SFR Jeunes Talents Musique 2012) of Kavinsky's 'Nightcall' is not so bad either. Not bad at all.

Of course, it's always a little bit risky covering a song that made such a splash when it first appeared (and which is inextricably connected to Drive, one of the more memorable cinematic experiences of last year). The paradox is, however, that songs are often only covered because they are such loved songs in either huge pop circles, or by an equally massive cult following. A good cover is more often than not the product of covering a very, very well-known song, but the risk of it not being so good increases directly with how well-loved the original is.

In the case of FI/SHE/S cover of 'Nightcall', it's a bit of both - it has neither drastically affected my view of the original (à la Jimi Hendrix's 'All Along The Watchtower'), nor has it offensively and ineffectually flopped like a fish out of water (conscious pun). Listen/watch and see what I mean:

Essentially, this an indie-pop reworking of the original with a much more ambient, chilled-out feel. As such, it exudes a vibe that the original could not, i.e. that of a live band who play instruments and not a man who sits at a computer making music. That's the main difference. That, and the newly done dubstep beat - always more favourable on live drums. As such it sounds like basically a different song, the only thing that's the same is the lyrics, which are to be fair treated very well with some luscious vocal harmonies that seem to be second-nature to the band, having listened to a few of their other songs on their SoundCloud page (try 'Bien' and 'Quiet Is The Monster' to get a good idea of the spectrum of their sound).

You can actually get this song for free if you follow this link.

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