Miike Snow

Another album that was on a few top 10 lists for 2009 that I decided to check out was Miike Snow's self-titled debut. Though it wasn't one of my personal favorites, it's been growing on me the more I listen to it (since I'm trying out this new thing where I actually try to listen to albums and get to know them better before I dump them off into my iTunes to be next played god-knows-when.)

Sometimes the vocals sound a bit like Passion Pit, sometimes they're a bit like the Scissor Sisters with a bit of the Postal Service sprinkled on top, and frequently the vocal quality is evocative of even Marvin Gaye (particularly "What's Goin' On".)

I've chosen two songs from the album. This one might be my favorite: it's got a heavy downbeat, which I tend to enjoy, and I like the old-school sounding video game riff that kind of runs through it, lending some lightness to what's otherwise a dark and murky sounding song (which I also tend to like.)



The other is a solid song off the album that gives a good idea of a different kind of musical sound that appears on the album. This is the song that particularly reminds me of Passion Pit - it's got a dance pop affect, with tight production (which actually characterizes the entire album) and dreamy vocals. It's fun.



Again, I don't really know what genre I would per se categorize Miike Snow as, but they're probably indie, definitely with an electronic influence... I think "dance pop" as mentioned above might as good as any, but it's clearly not bubblegum radio pop.

I'd really love to know where to find this kind of stuff during the year, not at the end of it by reading about it on some kind of top ten list. I'm pretty tapped into the electronic dance music scene and have pretty good ways of finding new stuff there if I desire (which I actually haven't done lately, as 2009 wasn't a great year for trance and house in my opinion), but I really don't know what some good resources are for finding more stuff like this or Florence and the Machine. Pitchfork is too hipster and snobby for me, and I don't really know of a lot of other indie rags. Does anyone have any suggestions?