Teen Daze’s electronic pop bridges the nostalgic and the forward-thinking at Milk; Shannon and the Clams are one of many highlights of the Total Trash Fest; Grand Lake carry the torch for atmospheric art-rock with their latest album, Blood Sea Dream.
I sort of hate terms like “chillwave” and “glo-fi,” alleged microgenres built out of half-clever wordplay that were seemingly invented by and for rock critics writing trend pieces about recent developments in pop music. But while these hollow terms might imply connections between bands that aren’t related, it’s difficult not to marvel at the wealth of interesting projects utilizing nostalgic synths to compose inventive electro-pop songs. Vancouver’s Teen Daze is one of the most exciting artists in this non-genre, rising above the wealth of bedroom laptop acts with songs that feel warmly West Coast-inspired while utilizing the crisp techniques of modern electronic production. There are no ten-minute build/decay/rebuild tracks on Teen Daze’s new Four More Years EP, which instead strikes at both the gut and the heart with a touching sense of melancholy. Teen Daze, Gobble Gobble, Blackbird Blackbird, Kites Sail High, and Fiveng perform at Milk Bar August 12, 2010.
Ben Van Houten is the Programming Director for The Bay Bridged.