Benaki

This is the new wave of interesting “pop” that we keep getting. Restores my hope in humanity and indie rocker/popsters in that its not a regurgitation of the Shins or Death Cab, it actually has unpredictable choruses, hooks and themes, rhythms, but still qualify as pop in the use of melodies and singing. This is the future folks, plain and simple. Guitar bass and drums and vocals. Imagine the Moldy Peaches if they could actually play their instruments and weren’t so burned out on drugs.

BTW: they take their name from the bird that, imho, has the most beautiful call of all birds, besides maybe the Arctic Loon or the wild Swans in Idaho. You can hear them locally in the evening in the redwoods up north and in the Sierra, or in the high mountains of SE Arizona where I first heard them and I literally thought I was having an acid flashback because the call is so trippy, its like a flute full of water recorded through an echoplex. The Hermit Thrush is hands down my favorite bird call. And whats best is that they are pretty non-descript plain grey/brown birds. Very elusive.

1) brief sample
2) upbeat dissonant off key guitar, off time near no wavey
3) lusher, off-kilter, quiets down in the middle then gets dark and introspective with vocals
4) pop, with slight off key’isms but mostly accessible and interesting
5) pounding feel, urgent
6) simple acoustic guitar arpeggio with delicate female/male vocals, very pretty, then midway it gets twangy, off key and off beat, just over all interesting
7) accessible if mathy but a new generation of pop song for sure, play it!
8) acoustic guitar, halting rhythm
9)kind of a “typical” indie rock feel in the end, so play this if you are in the middle of a straight pop set and don’t want to jar it too much
10) environmental samples, simple guitar and submerged female vocals, recorded on the street?
11) off time, tumbling
12) minor feel, crashing and band feeling with some trumpet, dark