Three Imaginary Girls - Cats on Fire

Imaginary Mixtape: NYC and SF Popfest edition {May 2010}

imaginary liz — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:29:59 +0000

May is a magical month here in Seattle. We've got spots of sun teasing us with summer promises, Sasquatch anticipation running rampant, and the warm glows of SIFF oozing with the best international indie films. There's only one reason we'd ever want to leave our emerald city bubble during this sweet spot of the year... a good ole fashioned PopFest!

This year, the month of May brought with it two very enticing reasons to head elsewhere: The New York City Popfest {May 20-23, 2010} and the San Francisco Popfest {May 27-30, 2010}. To mark these special events, we've gathered up some of our favorite songs by folks playing these festivals which includes a couple cover songs, a not-yet-released Math & Physics Club song and some rarities to up the popfest ante. If you were one of the lucky folks that caught any of the NYC or SF Popfest shows, let us know how it went!

***Listen to the Imaginary Popfest Podcast MP3***
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Last night I saw my new favorite band - A NYC Popfest wrap up teaser

imaginary keenan — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:57:34 +0000

NYC Popfest 2009 was a whirlwind of crazy awesome pop shows, and I was lucky enough to be there! I am way too exhausted to process all my photos and properly express how amazing the bands were, and how fun it was, and now I just need to get my ass on a plane and get home. But, I managed to find a few videos of some of my highlights of the fest, courtesy of SoundbitesNYC!

One of the greatest bands I saw was a band from LA called The Tartans (who are also playing SF Popfest next weekend!), who played Friday night of the fest. This song, "Cats of Cameford" has pretty much been stuck in my head for months, and it was really fun to actually get to see them play it live!

Best of 2007: Erik G's favorite albums

Erik Gonzalez — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:12:43 +0000

Sometimes I think it takes me waaay too long to come up with my Top 20 albums of a given year. There are a lot of internal debates and arguments that really have no right answer. Really, you reach a point where all the albums are good but how to rank them gets to be quite the challenge. This year was chock full of good music (not matter what the naysayers might groan). I counted something like 175+ albums worth mentioning in 2007, and that is only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything that was released in the year. However, I did whittle it down to 20... well, 22 if you count my 2 EP exception (EP's don't count as real albums).

If you're interested in some sub-lists, like my albums "with apologizes" (albums I didn't hear but should have) or "best imports" or "most disappointing" (hint, the band who made it rhymes with Milo Biley), check it out here.

So, here we go:

#21 The EP's - Two EP's made me happy this year, and really, they would be in the top 20, but it seems unfair to me to include EP's versus albums. They're both UK pop, and they're both brilliant in their own cute way.

Los Campesinos! Sticking Fingers Into Sockets (Thanks to igLiz for this band!)

The Province Complains

Erik Gonzalez — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:13:49 +0000

8.8

http://www.indiepages.com/shop/shop.html?query=Cats%20On%20Fire&area=us&search=artist&limit=25

province.jpg

If you’re wondering which Scandinavian city might be the home of next modern rock explosion, I point you no further than the hallowed streets of Helsinki. Not only is the capitol of Finland like a European Seattle, right down to the abundant ferries and fish, but also it harbors a healthy rock scene that extends well beyond the novelty status of Lordi or the Leningrad Cowboys. If you wanted to pick a band that could be the vanguard of the Helsinki scene, it would have to be Cats on Fire (although, technically they’re from nearby Turku, Finland). Their debut album The Province Complains is a wonderful gem of pop rock, borrowing bits and pieces from the Smiths, Jens Lekman, and Belle & Sebastian to create the sunniest album you could imagine from a country that takes you north of the Arctic Circle.

If you’re a fan of the dream pop that has been so adeptly revived by Math & Physics Club or the aforementioned Jens Lekman, you’re going to love The Province Complains. The first proper album of the Finnish foursome is beautifully produced, with a full, rich sound (OK, now I’m making it sound like something from the Food Network. Sorry.) It's one of those albums where you know you're in for a treat from the moment you hear the guitars and organ from the opening track “I am the White Mantled King.” The song jangles and dances like the long-lost son of the Smiths or a more melodic version of the La’s.

Lead singer Mattias Björkas’ voice falls somewhere between Robert Smith and Morrissey, if you can imagine that, where he jumps back and forth from a deep, rich quality to a falsetto but with a few less affectations than usually follow Morrissey. This is especially evident with one of the highlights of the album, “The Sharp of End of the Season,” a remarkable piece of pop confection, with drifting harmonies and beautiful guitar (thanks to Ville Hopponen). “Astray” is more playful, like a more cheerful Tilly & the Wall that runs into Dexy’s Midnight Runners, while “Higher Grounds” could have easily fit on Louder the Bombs. You can get more of the feel of the 60’s pop revival on “Born Again Christian” and “Mesmer and Reason,” songs filled with Kinks’ rhythm and Beatles’ melody. “The Smell of the Artist” becomes a hybrid of the Smiths and the Animals without sounding like a copy of either, creating a song that is dynamic and captivating. The gentle “If You Must Tell Him” is much more stripped down with more like Belle & Sebastian as the song builds into a Nick Drake tale of lost love. This is balanced by a barn-burner like “Draw in the Reins,” which compared to the rest of The Province Complains is like a Formula One racer in a bike festival.

Cats on Fire sound remarkably polished for a band coming off their debut album. If anything, The Province Complains sounds like what I wished from the Voxtrot debut: an album filled wall-to-wall with irresistible melodies that are unabashed pop. Cats on Fire will also not be the last band to come out of Finland to make us shriek in pop delight; instead they are the flag-bearer for healthy rock scene of Helsinki. Sure, right now people think of “Rock and Roll Hallelujah” when they think of Finnish music, but when Cats of Fire finally make it stateside, I’m sure there will be a feeding frenzy for their attentions.

Cats on Fire sound remarkably polished for a band coming off their debut album.

Two Scandinavian bands I'm sure you'll love

Erik Gonzalez — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:57:36 +0000

Those French surrender monkeys did not add to my trip. However, two bands I discovered did, and you should discover them too: