Discoverer 44: new indie findings

New Sunday proposals are here for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

The New Tigers. Thanks to the excellent blog The Jangle Box I have another reason to love Finland: this quartet from the ever-pretty city of Turku. Active since late 2008 (seems the origin of the band was a wedding), they released a debut EP in 2010. After many gigs and some studio recordings, their first, self-titled album arrived on September 2011. And now a split single with the Swedish band Top Sound, covering their song "I Have Been Replaced". Using the fuzz as an envelope in which they hide the brightest melodies, or mix the immediacy of lush pop with sparse moments or sonic blasts, the Tigers are shoegazer magicians.

  
The Pear Traps. Among the best bands reaching my inbox lately there's this Chicago group, formed after a Craiglist ad in early 2009. After a self-titled EP in 2011, here comes "The Elsewhere" EP, four haunting tunes that immediately recalls Real Estate's masterpiece album "Days". Laid-back indie-pop/rock where guitars sound shimmery and adventurous, where the storm can be as warm as the sun, and where lo-fi aesthetics moves forward from its "comfort zone", announcing the promise of something very big. A name to follow close.   

Pure Bathing Culture. Let's go to Portland, OR, to meet Daniel Hindman and Sarah Versprille. The duo began writing songs together in 2009. After two years, they moved to "Portlandia", and officially started their music project, quickly getting the attention of multi-instrumentalist/producer Richard Swift. With his help, they released their self-titled debut EP this spring, and what a debut it is! Pure retro-pop gold! Sorry for the excess of exclamation marks, but it's hard to contain my enthusiasm! Can you imagine Beach House leaving the "darkness"? Or Tennis looking to the 80s? Sophisticated, lush, charming. Awww, the joy of great pop music.