NEW! Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides - Podcast Part 2 "Happy Haunting Ground"

The Lisbon girls were 13, Cecilia, 14, Lux, 15, Bonnie, 16, Mary, and 17, Therese. This is the second installment of our ongoing Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides series of podcasts. "Happy Haunting Ground" tells a different story. All songs here have a central focus on the original main theme song from the movie, "Playground Love" by Air with vocals by Gordon Tracks, better known as Thomas Mars, lead singer of Phoenix. Unlike our first in the series, this isn't so much a ghostly reminder of the original, but more a story of "...what the girls listened to", while still retaining the "Playground Love" theme just below its' surface. The songs, like the girls, are different in attitude and style, hopefully reflecting their different personalities. The ghosts of the Lisbon girls make their presence known once again for another haunting collection of songs. We hope you will like this! Download the entire podcast featuring Go-yo, Broken Bells, Sacred Animals, Joy Zipper, The Swerve and several other bands and hard-to-find tracks below.

- Michael Fierce

Download Happy Haunting Ground Podcast From iTunes

Download Happy Haunting Ground Directly From Our Server

Electronic / Shoegaze / Chillwave Gem - PALLERS "The Sea Of Memories" (2011)

Pallers are Henrik Mårtensson and Johan Angergård from Sweden, on Labrador. Both have worked together under Johan's previous moniker, The Legends. However, while their previous work was notable and had memorable moments, when they officially became a full-fledged band as Pallers, their new band added elements and a production sound that enhanced everything they do to a higher level. This is their debut album. For me, from beginning to end, this is a mesmerizing, emotionally complex, original, instant classic.  Well, I should say, with the exception of #9, "Wicked", every song is incredible. "Wicked", isn't a bad song, just abruptly too upbeat, and being the one song sung by a girl, feels out of place. The album is a mixture of warm and cold. Like snow-covered fields on a sunny day. Like hot blood running through you as you make your way under a cold, grey sky. Like a warm night with an unexpected eclipse of the moon breaking through the clouds above. Together, Johan's voice and heart-breaking lyrics, are a thing of beauty. The Pallers music is sometimes subtle and sometimes epic but not with any of the usual forced epicness many bands seem to be at fault for. It has elements of synthpop, chillwave, shoegaze, electro pop and electronica but is seamless in it's weave of perfection. Standout tracks are "Come Rain, Come Sunshine", "Years Go, Days Pass", "The Kiss", "Wired" and my favorite, the closing song, "Nights". If you haven't heard this yet you are really missing out. This is our first recommendation in a wave of albums, and EP's I will be reviewing in our new feature, spotlighting "gems" and "diamonds in the rough" you need to know about and might have missed out on dating from 1997 to the present. Pallers, "Sea Of Memories" is my highest recommendation of 2011!!!

- Michael Fierce

Dark Side of Pop Compilation featuring Port Royal, Sleep Party People, Saskatchewan, Electric Fitness and The Swerve

We here at Musica Phenomena have been on a short hiatus for the holidays but we're back and have a plethora of amazing music and music related reviews, articles and podcasts to bring you in 2012, so stay tuned.

We're going to start the year off right by bringing you a free download of an absolutely amazing new indie electronic compilation called "Dark Side of Pop" which features some "A" lister up and coming indie electronic artists from around the world that you absolutely have to hear. This excellent compilation is the work of a small label out of Poland called Cowshed records and judging from this release this is a label worth watching. The first 200 people can download this release for FREE with the link below, after that the compilation becomes 1 euro or about $1.32 US. Still an amazing deal for this 18 song album. We'll be posting a full review of the compilation coming soon but we felt we needed to get this link to you right away. Enjoy!

- M Pereira

Dark Side of Pop - Free Download

Free Download of Ladytron's "White Elephant"

The English electro pop sensation Ladytron celebrate their new album, Gravity The Seducer which was released September 13th on Nettwerk, with a free download of the song "White Elephant" courtesy of Amoeba Records. This is an amazing track and video.

- M Pereira

Click here to download White Elephant

Soundtrack - "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" by French Electronica Band AIR

Air is a music duo from Versailles, France, consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. They are also the composers of the soundtrack for the film "The Virgin Suicides" which was the subject of our very first blog post and podcast. They could easily be considered the quintessential french pop or electronica act of our generation.

Air has recently started taking pre orders for an unusual soundtrack / film project entitled "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" which we find to be one of the most exciting projects Air has been involved in since their soundtrack for the film "The Virgin Suicides."

For those that aren't familiar, Le Voyage dans la lune is a 1902 French black-and-white silent science fiction film. It is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon.



The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. The film runs 14 minutes if projected at 16 frames per second, which was the standard frame rate at the time the film was produced. A Trip to the Moon is the first science fiction film, and uses innovative animation and special effects, including the well-known image of the spaceship landing in the Moon's eye.

After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lots of money. Unfortunately, Thomas A. Edison's film technicians had already secretly made copies of the film, which was showed across the USA within weeks. Melies never made any money from the film's American showings, and went broke several years later (while Edison made a fortune on the film.)

In 2002, a print of the film was discovered in a barn in France. It was amazing in that not only is it the most complete cut of the film (16 minutes long), but it was entirely hand-colored. The film was restored and premiered at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival the following year.

After creating the soundtrack to the recently discovered colorized (and highly psychedelic) version of the film, Air decided to create an entire album inspired by the film. Air's Nicolas Godin said of the album: "A Trip to the Moon' is undoubtedly more organic than most of our past projects. We wanted it to sound 'handmade and knocked together', a bit like Méliès' special effects. Everything is played live..."

The album is due out February 7th 2009 and you can preview a clip from the actual film with one of the songs from Air's forthcoming album below. This music video of sorts is quite a treat to watch, we here at Musica Phenomena were mesmerized by the new colorized imagery set to Air's music. It's a must watch and a must own in our opinion (both the colorized version of the film and the upcoming album by Air).

- M Pereira

David Bowie - "Low Broken Radio" Podcast

David Bowie is a an artist known the world over. Not just a rock star but a rock icon, idol, and living legend. Not only one of the most prolific musician / songwriter / singers, but one who has put out handfuls of classic, memorable, influential albums and songs in many genres; a one-man evolutionary chameleon, as his song "Changes" can be seen to suggest. Unlike other big artists, when asking a fan their favorite Bowie album or song, the answer would nearly never be the same. Best known for his earlier work as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, or his later pop song period starting with the "Scary Monsters" album with hits, "Fashion" and "Ashes To Ashes", and progressing to his biggest splash on the pop charts with, "China Girl", "Let's Dance" and "Modern Love" from the "Let's Dance" album, it is, at first, easy to overlook some of his best work. That is where "Low" comes in. With it's subtle appeal, it takes its' time to work itself permanently into your body and soul. "Low" was the beginning of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, which, interestingly, actually began in Paris, France, and was produced, mixed and finished in Berlin, Germany. It was during this time of his Berlin Period that Bowie was kicking his cocaine addiction and had asked Brian Eno to join him, along with a select group of classically trained musician-friends. Brian Eno, you should know, is the synthesizer-songwriter extraordinaire, who began with Roxy Music, went solo and then moved his way through amazing collaborations with David Byrne of Talking Heads, U2, more recently, Coldplay, and is now solo again with his new release with legendary label, Warp Records. Brian Eno, who we will talk about in later posts evolved indie and electronic music with his amazing synthesizer work and has influenced many great artists we are big fans of. "Low" can be defined as an art-rock album combining avant-garde songwriting with groundbreaking soundscape synthesizers that carved a path for electronic minimalism many years before those words would be common in today's cutting-edge music. "Low" is divided into two parts, a vocal side A, and a (mostly) instrumental side B. Although I can almost guarantee the original album will eventually work it's magic on you, it may take repeat listens before you fully succumb to it's inevitable spell. It has grasped many listeners of many music styles and as an example of it's charm, is considered Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Moby's favorite album of all time, both, of whom, have given an homage to it in their own songs. It has been a big influence on me for a project of mine named Of The Arcane that I will post a few songs from sometime this year. This podcast / mixtape here is "Low Broken Radio", a compilation album of selected songs by artists all over the world, with the theme being that "You are stranded in your car with only your radio working, with every song a song from "Low", and each song a different genre, by a different artist, in the order of the original album". I should say that although it has an indie and electronic focus, don't be surprised to find gems, you will surprise yourself you like, touched by dubstep, rock, pop, experimental, jazz, and there's even a hymn of "Warszawa", my favorite song from the original. I believe it is a must-have for David Bowie fans and an interest for anyone trying to find really cool artists they weren't aware of, and for anyone who likes thematic tributes. And for those David Bowie collector's, I can assure you that many of the tracks on this podcast are exclusive and cannot be found on any other cd compilation or release. The Swerve, as well as Chairlift, Matthew Dear and many others we think you will like are featured on this podcast. I even got to vocal coach one of the contributions. After downloading, please email us if you'd like a Playlist. Enjoy!

- Michael Fierce

Download the podcast on iTunes FREE by clicking here!

And for those that don't use iTunes you can download the podcast by clicking here!

Class Actress - Weekend (Casa del Mirto Remix)

As I'm sure know by now, Class Actress are one of the great up and coming indie, electro pop acts hailing from the US. Fronted by Elizabeth Harper who's shimmering 80's influenced pop vocals and impeccable sense of style harken back to fond memories of Yaz and Human League while still managing to stay relevant.




Recently Italian producers Casa del Mirto did a stylish reworking of Class Actress' latest single "Weekend" which we felt was well worth a listen. Check it out below.

- M Pereira


Class Actress - Weekend (Casa del Mirto Remix) by Carpark Records

Download 16 Years by Phantogram on iTunes Free!

For those of you who are not familiar with Phantogram, Phantogram is an American electronic rock duo comprised of Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards) and Josh Carter (vocals, guitars), from Saratoga Springs New York. They're Wiki page describes their sound as "street beat, psych pop", but I'd be more apt to call what they do a mixture of Inditronica and Shoegaze. In any case this duo is definitely worth checking out and for a limited time iTunes has their new song 16 Years available as a free download, just click here.

I recently got a chance to see the duo live at The Fillmore in San Francisco and was taken by their mesmerizing and emotional collage of lights and sound. Phantogram give me hope for the future of pop music in a time when we are inundated with a sea of commercial mediocrity coming at us from all sides. It just goes to show you that eventually the cream does rise to the top. And so you know, Phantogram, is one of the seventeen artists featured on our first podcast, "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides", avaiable to download for free further down this page.

For those that don't have itunes you can check out this awesome clip of them performing the song live at "The Moog Sound Lab" below.

- M Pereira

Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides - Podcast Part 1 "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides"

The Virgin Suicides, both as a movie and as a soundtrack has been hugely influential on the artists of today. Hundreds of bands, maybe without even fully realizing it have woven some of it's magic into their projects. The Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides can be interpreted as an homage to the original movie soundtrack by Air and to the film itself by Sophia Coppola, or as a sequel of sorts. I think of it as both. The Lisbon girls and their story will continue to do their hauntings in many different forms and hopefully you will enjoy this one.

- Michael Fierce

Download our "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides" Podcast episode free.
For those of you who don't use iTunes here is a direct download link to this Podcast episode. "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides" Direct Download Link