Ballet School - Heartbeat Overdrive

Berlin new kids on the synth-block Ballet School manage to merge a spectrum of (predominantly 80s) influences on their debut single "Heartbeat Overdrive". The result is a triumphant and glorious track that sounds delirious and atmospheric enough to please shoegazers and funky and danceable enough to please synthpoppers. Singer Rosie Blair's confident, hiccuping voice sounds like Grimes after rehab, or Alison Goldfrapp just before.

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An Interview with SAN CISCO.

San Cisco are an indiepop band from Victoria, Australia. Best known for their teenage obsession anthem “Awkward”, the band are currently supporting the equally chirpy Darwin Deez on his European and UK tour. Fans of colourful, multi-instrumental indie rock bands like Stornoway and The Coral would be doing themselves a disservice not to check the band out.

This has not been the best couple of days for the Aussie indiepoppers. They found their van, er, vandalized the morning of their Darwin Deez support slot at London's Shepherds Bush Academy on Thursday night. Nevertheless, the band gave an energetic, joyous warm-up for Darwin Deez, and I caught up with lead singer and guitarist Jordi, drummer and singer Scarlett and guitarist/keyboardist Josh the morning after (bassist and keyboardist Nick was running late), hoping to catch them in a better mood.

First of all, sorry to hear about your Van yesterday? I don't suppose you fancy reiterating the story for me...?

Jordi: Tell it Scarlett.

Scarlett: We got up for our 9am lobby call, walked to the car, and saw that we'd been broken into and there was shit everywhere.

Was anything stolen?

Scarlett: Just the GPS. Somehow we worked out that the guy must've got stuck in the boot, tried to cut his way out with a knife he found in Jordi's guitar case, bled everywhere...

Jordi: Obviously I keep knives in my guitar case.

Scarlett: Police said it was the easiest crime scene they'd had in ages.

On to happier things, how did you guys all meet and eventually form the band?

Scarlett: (gesturing Josh and Jordi) These guys met in school, but I knew Jordi from when we were quite young.

What's the story behind the name? I'm guessing it's got something to do with San FRANCisco...

Jordi: No, it's got nothing to do with San Francisco. We actually got it from a Ouija board.

Josh: Did we?

Do you guys believe in all that stuff?

Scarlett: I'm probably more prone to believe it than these guys.

Do you think whoever it was you'd reach was probably trying to say "San Francisco", but didn't have enough time?

All: Yes!

Scarlett: We were asking where someone's school teacher had died.

Well that's a lot more morbid than your music lets on! After you formed, how quickly did you start touring?

Scarlett: Not very. We played our first show at the beginning of 2009, but we didn't do a proper tour until the end of 2011. It hasn't been an immediate success story.

Well, it's certainly turning into one now. You've supported the Vaccines in America, and now Darwin Deez in Europe and the UK. How have the two band's fans been with you outside of Australia? I caught your set last night, and the crowd certainly seemed very enthusiastic.

Jordi: We've got very similar fans I think. At the Vaccines show there were lots of people that knew us, which was really cool.

Scarlett: We haven't had a tour yet where we haven't gelled with the other band.

You have a very British indie sound to my ears. Is UK indie rock something you take a lot of influence from, or is there a big scene in Australia?

Jordi:  I really like the Arctic Monkeys and Alex Turner.

Scarlett: I would've thought we were more influenced by American bands like MGMT. That kind of pop, psychedelic sound. The last MGMT album, "Congratulations", was pretty influential.

Jordi: Some people knock it, but I really like that album.

Josh: It's got that beach vibe.

Do you listen to much 60s pop music?

Scarlett: Yeah definitely. The Mamas and The Papas!

Josh, you and Nick seem to jump from instrument to instrument on stage, do you plan to incorporate even more eclectic instruments in the future?

Josh: I would love a mellotron.

Scarlett: There's just so many constraints on what you can bring on tour.

Would you take extra instrumentalists on tour with you if you could?

Scarlett: I think you ruin the synergy by bringing in another member who hasn't been there from the beginning. We had another guy playing with us once but...

Jordi: ...but he was a druggie.

Scarlett: I think it works for you if you're this massive band and you've got an amazing repertoire.

You've released a fair few EPs over the last couple of years, do you have a full length record coming out soon?

Jordi: We've released one in Australia, but it'll be out here over summer, though there's no set date just yet.

Your singles are all quite colourful, quite indie pop. Are there going to be any surprises on the album?

Jordi: I think there's a few darker tunes. I think that's something we wanted to do with the album, to show a deeper side to our songwriting. So there's some quieter tunes, some darker tunes...The album's a bit more of a mixed bag to what the singles are.

When you started writing, did you just want to write two minute ditties?

Jordi: No, the other way round.

Scarlett: From the start, we've always wrote deep meaningful songs, and then "Awkward" just sort of came round in the middle of our career and shook things up. People think that it’s definitive of our career, when it's not really.

Jordi and Scarlett, you share most vocal duties, do you also share writing duties?

Scarlett: No, that's these two. (gestures to Josh and Jordi)

Are all your lyrics written from personal experiences?

Jordi: Half the time they are, the other half it's from observing others, or even just making some up.

Obviously "Awkward" is about a boy who can't take the hint...

Scarlett: (Interrupts gleefully) Yes! You get it! Everything thinks it's about me and Jordi dating!

What's the dog about in the video by the way? About halfway though there's a split second shot of a dog...with an erection?

(Whole band groans.)

Jordi: That's Scarlett's Dad's* fault. He's in love with that dog, he just wanted to put it in the video for no point at all.

Scarlett: We were gonna have a horse in there, we were going to have loads of animals...

Jordi: ...but the horse got scared.

(*Scarlett's Dad is the band's manager)

So what else does 2013 have in store for San Cisco?

Jordi: We have an Australian tour when we go home, then we'll have 3 weeks off, which will be the longest time we've had off this year, then we're off to America and Europe again! After that I'm not sure exactly what we're doing, but just lots of touring and not much time off, although hopefully we're doing a few Australian festivals.

Are you playing any festivals outside of Australia?

Jordi: We're playing Lollapalooza in Chicago.

Scarlett: There might be one in, ummm... (trails off, then whispers) ...it's top secret!

Did you play any festivals last year?

Jordi: We did a few in Australia.

Scarlett: We played Groove In The Moon, that was awesome, Fool's Fest... We also played in a nature park outside of Amsterdam!

Did you have animals invading the stage? In fact, did you have that dog onstage?

Scarlett: If our manager was here, he'd be like "That's a great idea! Get the dog onstage!"

So I left having solved the mystery of the randy dog in the “Awkward” video, and thoroughly charmed by the laid back aussies. And if last night’s set is anything to go by, there will be nothing awkward about San Cisco’s success story from here on out. Check out the band’s latest single “Fred Astaire” below, and keep an eye on the band’s Official Website for upcoming details on tour dates and their debut album.

- Interview by Joe Copplestone

Chloe Howl - No Strings

17 year old Chloe Howl is the latest feisty teen girl popstar, with the chirp and adorability of Pixie Lott, but the sharp tongue and dry lyrics of Kate Nash. The warm and fuzzy indie-synthpop of "No Strings" mimics the bassline from "Pumped Up Kicks" but brings it to a teenage house party, where she tells of a typical 17 year old's battle between lust and love. Her voice shimmers with vulnerability but her words hit hard, with lines like "you don't even know if I'm the right sex do you?" and "let's put this to bed without crawling in your bed" taunting and raising many a suggestive eyebrow.

FOR FANS OF:  Pixie Lott, (old) Kate Nash, Foster The People

Haim - Don't Save Me

Compared to their chirpy Forever EP, "Don't Save Me" is a step in a more emotionally charged direction. Channeling Stevie Nicks and even Debbie Harry, the girls give us an unptempo, synth bass led number with less focus on twee and cute and more on sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves singalong, with a gutsy chorus to belt out in stadiums. Fingers crossed.

FOR FANS OF: Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, The Pierces

MØ - Pilgrim & Maiden

In the sea of wannabe cult-indiepop female singers in 2012, it's rare you find a quality song in the mire of fashionably vague videos and slicks electro-R&B beats. But Danish singer MØ's "Pilgrim" combines jaunty brass hooks with a powerhouse of a chorus and a Purity Ring-esque thud and clatter beat. There's a hint of personality and energy in her vocal when she singer "all the time I just want to fuck it up", and it's refreshing to hear a female indiepop singer do something other than deadpan in 2012. Not that the track will displease any fans of deadpan.

Check out her first single "Maiden" too,  a slightly eerier number that has european singer/songwriter written all over it, and features a gorgeous post-chorus guitar hook and the seductive lyric "my desire is ravaging me..."

FOR FANS OF: Purity Ring, Wild Belle, Charli XCX

Mausi - Sol

Now a year old, Mausi's sunny indiepop gem "Sol" is finally receiving airplay on Radio 1. Its piano-house-flecked vibes and infectious vocal hook are summery, carefree and uplifting, as all pop music should be; think the younger sister of 2003 house gem, Milky's "Just The Way You Are". Singing of "losing track of time as we dance in the summer haze", the song somehow gives the illusion that the bleak summer of 2012 was one of the hottest, most joyous in recent memory. There's no discouraging some people.

FOR FANS OF: Haim, The Pipettes, Foster The People