JIM CARROLL on the sounds of the future.
Passion Pit: songs in the key of love
When it comes to St Valentine’s Day presents for the loves of their lives, most people make do with flowers, chocolates and a nice meal. Not Michael Angelakos. The songwriter from Cambridge, Massachusetts wrote a bunch of songs for his belle as a belated present to mark the day of Hallmark-endorsed schmaltz and romance.
Angelakos had been writing songs for an age, but he realised these ones were simply too good to be put on the shelf with the others. When he stuck them on his MySpace site, his friends at Emerson College in Boston urged him to do something about it. A fired-up Angelakos put together a five-piece band, took the band’s name from a slang term for drive-in movies and went to work.
The band's main strike to date has been the Chunk Of ChangeEP (French Kiss Records) which pushed interest in the band way beyond their college campus. The pick of the songs is Sleepyhead, two minutes and 55 seconds of tropically blissed-out euphoric synth-pop. It combines a snatch of Jack Kerouacfrom a spoken-word album, a couple of dreamy twists and turns, some highly-strung falsetto vocals and – believe it or not – a sample of Mary O'Harasinging Óró Mo Bháidín. The other songs on the EP, particularly Cuddle Fuddle, are also on the money, eliciting comparisons to MGMT(without the pomp) and Randy Newman(with more bells and whistles).
As a result of that release and a series of live shows supporting the likes of Death Cab for Cutieand Girl Talk, Passion Pit have found themselves on many industry radars. They were the talk of the town at last year's CMJ new band beano in New York, turned up on every single list of "bands to watch in 2009" and have been snapped up by Sony's Columbia label, who will be releasing the Chunk Of Change EP over here in March. No pressure then, for the album due out in the next couple of months.
Angelakos has been getting used to the attention. "We never really wanted to be a buzz band," he says. "We wanted to move slowly, work our way up calmly and quietly until we built a steady fanbase through live shows. Now there's all this pressurecoming from so many anonymous sources. It's not so much creepy as frightening.
"But, really, in the end, it's beautiful. It's really wonderful that so many people are embracing the music."
- Passion Pit play Whelan's, Dublin on Sunday, March 1st www.myspace.com/passionpitjams
Kid Cudi: mogul in the makingI
It may be early days, but Cleveland rapper Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi is not wasting any time boosting his CV. With his
Day'n'Nitesingle making waves ahead of his
Man On The Moondebut album, Mescudi has just landed an acting gig. All he needs to do now is start designing T-shirts and perfume and moguldom is his.
Put together by
Mark "Entourage" Wahlberg, the HBO comedy series
How to Make It In Americawill follow the adventures of a bunch of kids hustling for the American Dream in downtown New York, with Mescudi slated to star alongside
Bryan Greenbergand
Victor Rasuk.
By the time the series screens, though, Mescudi may be well be on another plane. Tipped as one to watch since he hooked up with the
Fools Goldpack (A-Trak, Kid Sister, Cool Kids), Cudi attracted the attention of
Kanye Westwho signed him to his Getting Out Our Dreams (GOOD) label and gave him a turn on the
808s & Heartbreakalbum.
Like his mentor, Cudi has the musical smarts to appeal to a wide selection of music fans. As the hugely infectious
Day'n'Niteshows, his sound and style doff the baseball cap to everything from wonky electronica to classic rock.
The former model and film student also has a fairly hot production team to help him sling those beats, with the likes of the
Crookers on the payroll. You'll be hearing from him.
