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Words from 88.5 FM Program Director, Randy Wynne

Randy Wynne is still reeling from last night's Woodstock Tribute. "This was one of the best - if not the very best - WMNF events ever. Highlight after highlight, too many to list here but I may do so later, or post them from youtube if they show up there. ...Every band rose to the occasion with truly inspired music and theatrics. I dare say in some cases they surpassed the original Woodstock music.

The spirit of internet collaboration that drives Pocket's Singles Series has produced a complementary video concept: A webcam, a few simple video techniques and a copy of iMovie & voilla! -  Homespun Music Videos! Steve Kilbey of Australian alternative godfathers The Church, performed his part for the video in front of his computer's camera. He then emailed the file to Pocket AKA Richard Jankovich, who spliced them together with footage he shot of the lyrics in a flip book style montage reminiscent of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video as seen through the eyes of Napoleon Dynamite

director Jared Hess.

Here's Steve Kilbey's take on the whole process from his blog, The Time Being:

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.