"..Pop music doesn't always have to be about "sunshine & happiness", sometimes you have to except and absorb those darker moments to be truly happy..."
MasquerVigor For The DismalMasquer Bio:
Masquer entwine lonesome, broken guitar lines drowned in chorus with beautiful teen angst vocals and catchy synthesizers backed by lofi drum machines. They remind you of your favorite 80’s mixtape, and it hits you right there, like they’re channeling that poetic pop love from your past. Rough Trade/G-Records will be distributing the self released, long awaited debut album which is out during the fall 2011. The album is produced by mastermind Per Egland and mixed by Björn Hansell (Streetwaves, Fever Ray). The split-singles include remixes by Swedish-German techno act The Field and Swedish electronica artist Andreas Tilliander. The Stockholm located duo has performed frequently the past year and also toured as opening acts for artists like The Field and Asha Ali.
Masquer is Kicki Halmos (vocals/synthesizer/programming) and Pelle Lundqvist (bass/guitar). 
Hello, how are you?
We’re great! On our way to Gothenburg to do a show.
What are you currently listening to?
Kicki: Julianna Barwick, King Krule and Oneohtrix Point Never.
Pelle: Led Er Est, Bon Iver, Neon Indian and Beach House
Whats the story with the band name?
There is no story really. Just a name we took. It always hard to find a decent band name that's not taken. Masquer (a participant in a masquerade) was just something that sounded good and we somehow could
relate to.
Who were/are your biggest influences when it came to sculpting your current sound?
Everything between Madonna, The Cure, Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead and PJ Harvey.
Is there a theme on on your debut LP?
Visually, chopped up body parts. Music wise, we just wrote songs as they arrived in our heads without any set theme, but now when the album is finished I guess you could say a common theme would be darkness.
If you could collaborate with any artist of your choosing to do a completely "different sounding" side project, whom would it be with and what kind of sound would you aim for?
Kicki: I would like to do something with Cylob, something that sounds like his Synclair remix. That would be so awesome!
Pelle: Crystal Castles would be cool, I'm really in to that type of sound for the moment, I love them. Or Aphex Twin, that would be cool too..
Whats next for you guys?
We’re gonna play at the Norwegian festival By:Larm which will be great. Also we’ll do a small tour in France by the end of March and we’re really looking forward to it. And we are working on getting a release outside Scandinavia.
Got any strange/obscure talents?
Kicki: I am very good at walking really fast.
Pelle: I am a slow walker, but I’m somewhat of a computer wiz.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Kicki: This question makes me depressed. I don’t think I can answer it.
Pelle: This would be such a nightmare, I really can't choose... but if I have to choose I think I would say the latest Bon Iver album, even though I would die if that was the only thing I could listen to.
Are you living your dream?
Kicki: By living the dream do you mean making music? It’s not really a dream, more of a necessity. Like breathing. It sounds pretentious, I know, but that’s how it feels.
Pelle: Yeah, In a way I think I am, I mean I love doing music and its always been a dream to make a proper release and that dream is just happening. I have never felt more into music and its just getting better.
Thanx Pelle & Kicki!
Masquer are currently touring Europe, hopefully someday the US will catch on to this band because we owe it to ourselves to witness this act live:)...
"..dabbles in styles that span (almost) the entire musical globe. Really, most of their sounds clash in their ideals, but somehow he pulls them together and makes it work.."
Mount PleasantAggrandized Vanguard Sonancy
Mount Pleasant Bio:
"Mount Pleasant" is the musical solo project of Jonathan Phillips, although he has used the name to represent his music since he was a child. He had access to a cassette recorder, which he used to layer guitar and his own voice. Such recordings are used as source material and as textures in many of Phillips' songs.
There have been six full-length releases by Phillips as Mount Pleasant: Claw Friends and Horseshoe Lake in 2008, Rio Joy in 2009, The Flood in 2010, and The Cold War and The Aztecs in 2011. The lyrics are often autobiographical in nature, introspective and mixed quietly. 
Hello, how are you?
I am okay I guess. Things have been better/worse. Just making my house presentable.
What are you currently listening to?
Currently as in generally; guitar tone on Dire Straits "Sultans Of Swing", Dub jams, and my girlfriend Madeleine has the Madonna Immaculate Compilation on in the car most of the time which is okay by me. But currently, as in specifically, The Knit Separates.
When did you begin writing music?
Writing actual songs when I was about fourteen, mostly onto a cassette and then recording over it by playing it loud in one cassette player with another cassette going. But probably wrote songs when I was younger on the piano, but not memorable songs.
Was there something in particular that prompted you to begin a musical career?
I don't know if I have a musical career, that seems sort of grandiose. I feel it's a career when you are living off it. But probably just narcissism I guess.
What is the theme on "The Aztecs"?
I liked the idea of The Aztecs as an album title, so I just sort of ran with writing and compiling songs that would work on the album and had about forty that fit the theme. Some of the songs have vague lyrical associations, but essentially I really enjoy the whole end of the Aztec civilization; this sort of idealization of apocalypse, and more sort of general interest in Aztec society so I let all of that kind of inform the album, but only in as much as watching television or the earthquake or getting dumped influenced the album as well; it works as a signifier for me personally, as a point in time. Musically I wanted to make more sort of focused songs structurally, and sort of outsider pop gesturing.
Do you have any side projects we should know about?
I have been working with Jon Lemmon on this project called Paradise, which sort of sounds like 1982 Prince. Other than that, have a band on hiatus called Canterbury Rams with Sam Ellis and we were pretty good. But yeah, the earthquake sort of ruined that option and now the drummer is in Italy or something, and Sam is living in a different city from me.
Is there another genre/sound you would like to explore that you haven't?
I really like Sade "Smooth Operator" at the moment, it used to be on all the time growing up and I have developed a kind of fondness for it. I wouldn't mind making a sincere attempt at it, but I think it would sound sort of ironic. But genuinely love it; it's got to a point where I am sincerely listening to "One More Night" by Phil Collins and George Michael records and really appreciating them. This sort of relativist stance with music, where "When The Morning Comes" by Hall and Oates is something real valuable and pure; but I don't know. I feel kind of constrained by lack of desire to really commit to recording precise songs and lack of actual ability to ever really attempt to making anything other than what I have already made.
The best time to listen to Mount Pleasant is?
I used to like walking around Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham on frosty mornings listening to it. It seems real bad to listen to your own music, but that's probably the only time I would listen to it.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
That is a pretty bleak concept, probably "Bach Cello Suites".
Are you living your dream?
Sure.
Thanx Jonathan!
Mount Pleasant is always recording and releasing, I suggest you take a moment and get caught up...
"..simplistic beauty and playful banters that put a smile inside my ear every time I listen to them.."
Twin SisterCozy PopTwin Sister Bio:
Long Island, NY-based indie pop quintet Twin Sister make music that is dreamy, yet danceable. The five members of the group -- vocalist Andrea Estella, bassist Gabe D'Amico, drummer Bryan Ujueta, keyboardist Dev “Udbhav” Gupta, and guitarist (sometimes vocalist) Eric Cardona -- crossed paths while playing in their respective bands, ultimately befriending each other and forming Twin Sister in 2008. Their first EP, Vampires with Dreaming Kids, was self-released that year. After their first live show out of town, at SXSW, they toured with tUnE-YarDs and Xiu Xiu before putting the final touches on their second EP, Color Your Life, which followed in 2010. 
Hello, how are you?
Good. A little sweaty. Our practice space has no ventilation or windows.
What are you currently listening to?
A lot of Kraftwerk. Andrea is in an 80's dance pop phase; the first Madonna album, stuff like that. I just found the Teen Dream album "Let's Get Busy" for her. I don't know how good that'll turn out to be. We'll see. Bryan is at the beginning of a quest to get into house music.
Why exactly are you called Twin Sister?
Eric's mom has a twin sister, and Andrea has a twin sister too.
Are you guys officially signed to any label yet?
Yes, we're on Infinite Best Recordings. We couldn't be happier about it.
Have you begun work on your follow up to “Color Your Life”? Is their a tentative release date/title?
We're working through lots of new material, but it takes us a while to figure out where songs and sounds belong. We'll probably let the finished songs dictate what our next release looks like. It could be a single.
I went to your site and downloaded every song you had on there, 90+ songs later I am convinced you guys are amazing. Your style has slowly developed from Indie Rock/Pop into Dream Pop, was that always your intention to go down that route?
It's not our intention to evolve in a specific direction; that would be very hard to do, or maybe just very boring. Also, because we all write material for the band, we're always pulling in multiple directions at once. Hopefully the series genre classifications for our music will become more and more confusing with time.
Out of all the MANY songs on your site that aren‘t on your recent EP, which one(s) do you care for the most? I really like “Ribbon Bow”.
I love that one too! It almost didn't make it; Dev thought he had lost it. That one has a great mix of fidelities. Another one I really love is the extended version of the song "Dry Hump" from our first EP. It's ten minutes long, really good to fall asleep to. The crackly little recording of Eric and Andrea singing "All My Trials" is a good one too.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
The Beach Boys "Today!" First It'd be fun, then It'd make me go crazy.
Are you living your dream?
Sure!
Thanx Hunter & Gabel!
Twin Sister are about to go on tour with Memoryhouse..!
