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by Allen Cooley

It seems inevitable that music would eventually find its way back to electronic pop.  Electronic music was the vehicle from which some of the best pop music ever written came forth.  Yes, I’m talking about the 80s, which in this writer’s humble opinion, was the golden age of pop music.  But it was never fully explored.  It’s time was cut short by the hair metal of the 80s where artists forsook electronic experimentation for big stars and guitar solos. Electronic pop was thrown to the wayside for the exciting new sound. That is, until recently.  You could say it was Radiohead, you could say it was LCD Soundsystem, you could even say it was Kanye West but whoever started it, the most exciting music being made these days is in electronic pop.  Bands like Hot Chip and MGMT are two examples of rising stars in this new/old genre and both of them made some of my favorite albums last year.  Now comes Kites With Lights, a new band from Florida that seems to continue this trend.

Gang of Four bassist and indie tastemaker Dave Allen featured Pocket's latest single "Hear In Noiseville featuring Steve Kilbey" on his Pampelmoose New Music Hour.  Listen to the show here.

A POSITIVE RESPONSE FROM DRYVETYME ONLYNE'S ADAM P. NEWTON

In case you’ve never figured it out from reading these reviews of mine, I’m a big sucker for bright, up-tempo indie-pop, especially the kind that revels in its liberal use of piano riffs and harmony vocals. Thus, I have immediately fallen in love with XOXO, as this band from the Sunshine State makes brilliant sunshine music. C’est La Vie follows in the footsteps of Superdrag and early Weezer (complete with hefty nods to Matt Sharp’s work in The Rentals), but XOXO manages to defy easy genre classification, much like Florida compatriots Look Mexico or Houston, TX residents Spain Colored Orange.

Simply put, this music compels you to dance, jump, pogo, and/or bounce about with gleeful abandon. The guitars crunch along with a garage/punk-like intensity, but the banged-out chord progressions on the piano and Moog-y synth lines, when merged with the clear, fresh-faced vocal work, give this band quite the cheery personality. Using “Fly, Superman, Fly,” “Life… In General,” and “Merry Times” as key examples, the songs of C’est La Vie are rather charming, without being saccharine, as the band gives off a winsome, knowing smirk and smile.

This album finds a band reaching for the stars with wide eyes and big smiles, but with its collective feet planted firmly on the ground. The big indie-pop textures at play here manage to sound fresh, hip, and relevant without coming across with any flavor-of-the-month aftertaste – XOXO is not taking its cues from Portland or Brooklyn. Kind of like a musical Goldilocks, C’est La Vie has the right amount of ambition, style, and swagger the sort that should carry this band further on and higher up in the musical landscape.

"XOXO is my band of the summer, and I can’t seem to take C’est la Vie off of my Itunes" - Jordan Greve

Typically when you hear the words XOXO you think of cuddly animals and hugs from your grandmother – or the first week of dating your officially unofficial girlfriend. These are the typical paths your brain takes when these words are displayed before your eyes. Well, for a second don’t let your eyes make the proverbial decision of what XOXO means to you. For once in your life let your ears do the work. Don’t get me wrong the cover art for C’est la Vie is great, and will make your eyes happy. But our eyes are selfish it’s time to show some love to our ears.

Give your ears the hug and kiss they deserve with the Florida natives XOXO’s newest record. With a Get Up Kids strong impression you will think it’s 2001 all over again while listening to C’est la Vie. Trust me you will hear this impression on all of their tracks, but it’s most prominent on the second track of the record “Done and Done”. This is the record that will make you want to smoke in the boys room, but after such debauchery you will end up dancing to keep your Jiminy Cricket esque conscience clean.

There is a great Ying-Yang relationship with this band, one in which you only really get if you stop and look at their album cover. Sported directly on the front of the case is an open coffin with a rainbow pouring out of it. You’re not really sure how you should feel about this image, but damn it you like it. I have this sinking suspicion that when you see XOXO live it’s going to be a combination of both The Wiggles and Marilyn Manson. Only it won’t suck. They will keep you on your toes through their entire set. As someone whom has never seen them live, I can just make this assumption based on my interpretation of C’est la Vie.

The only real problem with this record is its length. All of the songs are great, and they all have a different sound. I just wish that this record was longer, so I could continue experiencing a fresh sound. Something the music industry really needs right now. Fresh squeezed orange juice (or an original band).

Bottom line is these guys have deep roots with independent music before it was independent music. XOXO is my band of the summer, and I can’t seem to take C’est la Vie off of my Itunes. Their music is brand new but it’s already timeless. Energy, Originality, and Poetic Lyrics. This is what the music industry has been missing. Well, that is until C’est la Vie graced our presence.

Richard Jankovich has achieved that most mythical of rock-star statuses: He’s big in Japan.

Cue the Pulse to Begin, a song Jankovich recorded with his band The Burnside Project, was the theme to Showtime’s Queer as Folk. But it also became a Top 40 hit in the far east.

“Probably the only real rock-star experience I’ve had was in Japan,” Jankovich laughed. “We literally got picked up in a limo from the airport — not even like a Lincoln Town Car, a full-on limousine. The moment we got off the plane, we knew it was going to be a different experience.”

He’s in the middle of another new experience. Jankovich — an indie DJ/producer who, under the name Pocket, has remixed artists like Beck, Radiohead and Cat Power — is the newest signee to Tampa record label 24 Hour Service Station, the home of artists like Geri X., the Beauvilles and Win Win Winter.

Pocket isn’t a household name stateside. But attracting an artist with any sort of national profile was a coup for the small Tampa outfit.