Go Listen: Sex Sux

Sex Sux is a two-piece indie pop/shoegaze act from Bogor, Indonesia. Heavily influenced by The Vaselines (Sex Sux itself is a Vaselines song title, by the way), Sonic Youth, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, their offer enjoyable melodies accompanied with warm guitar distortions and tapping drum machines.

Bringing back the good ol' indie pop from the 80's is apparently a good idea, as a lot of bands nowadays seem to be disoriented with their roots. Sex Sux has released a 10-track debut album entitled 'Sing Along with Bananas!'. 'I Got Bones (in the Kitchen)' has post-punk-ish, flat tones, but actually it is quite a melodic track. The female vocalist's vocal may sound too hazy just for the sake of being as lo-fi as possible. Meanwhile, 'Coffee and Cigarette' is a song to introspect to. The distorted guitar sounds strumming along with the acoustic tunes remind me a lot of My Bloody Valentine.

Being pop is sometimes hard, because pop itself varies in several ways. Sex Sux has nothing but noice (nice noise, FYI) and its spontaneity is the highlight.

Go Listen: Musique Le Pop

When you combine the words 'pop' and 'Norway', what would you get? Kings of Convenience? Sondre Lerche? Meet Musique Le Pop, a three-piece indie pop  act coming all the way from Norway. When we first had a listen to them, all the 90's electropop goodness suddenly popped out as a picture of Saint Etienne gets projected. And it's not only because they consist of two boys and one lady, by the way.

'Turn to Sand' is their latest single, which was just released a couple of days ago on Norway-based indie label Café Superstar. With a vocalist that sounds like a twee version of Victoria Legrand (Beach House), somehow it sounds a bit comfortably begging, crafted in glimmering, emotional synths. Stream the music below.

Go Listen: Blac Hollywood

Blac Hollywood is a Canadian new-comer that dabbles in hip-hop and electronic. His sounds echo between glitch-hop, experimental, and the so-called dubstep, bwah-wah-wah-style. A 5-track EP, Kids with Crowns, is available to download below. Go listen for some quick runaway from Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, or even The Weeknd.