Brooklyn Magnolia

Band to Listen to: Die Jungen

If this band’s sounds were the weather, it would be much like today—cloudy overtones, with a touch of sunshine shimmering through. In otherwords, there’s the lo-fi nature of it coupled with catchy beats that make you want to dance in a 1950’s sock-hop sort of way. The influences are clearly a mixture of mid-twentieth century pop and Dirty Beaches.

In a way, it reminds me of another band I’ve featured, Jason the Swamp. Both hail from the blatantly DIY camp of musicians (thanks, chillwave!), but are less scuzzy and more—I’m having trouble coming with the word to best describe it, but perhaps downbeat is it. But then there’s a majorly poppy aspect to it, and that juxtaposition is what I love.

You can find the newest album, At Breath’s End—a lovely album with a lovely name—on Spotify and Bandcamp, but the early stuff is just as good, so don’t neglect to mine the archives.

The Brit behind these catchy tunes is also sometimes caught recording under The KVB, which derives from his (quite epic and I assume real) name Klaus von Barrel, and which you should also check out.