Picopop

2011-09-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Picopop is a Japanese style of music that is characterized by primarily a heavy use of electronic instruments and effects with an often frantic, fun, and often cute pop style. Many of the artists involved were raised on [Genre21220] in the 90's and while many see this scene as logical successor in many way it also has just as much it's own style thanks to the prominent [Genre10041] and occasional [Genre402] elements that form the music. Important artists to the scene would be [Artist41673], [Artist238409], [Artist133032], [Artist133001], [Artist235412].

[http://www.last.fm/tag/picopop,Last FM Tag]
[http://www.last.fm/group/PicoPop!!!,Last FM Group]
[http://www.rightround.com/guides/ken/49/,Article]
[http://voodoovault.blogspot.com/search/label/picopop,Blog]
[http://8tracks.com/mixes/picopop,Some Mixes]
[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCA849F2EA9B2CC5,YouTube Playlist]
http://pachinkooverdrive.blogspot.com/search?q=pico+pop
http://javandalism.blogspot.com/2010/11/macdonald-duck-eclair.html
http://voodoovault.blogspot.com/search/label/picopop
http://liferthereviewroom.blogspot.com/search?q=picopop

With [Artist41673] being in the top 5 of the [Genre21220] and having virtually nothing in common with the 90's incarnation of that music AND with such a unified type of music it looks like this genre really should be added. Many other artists could be included but I highlighted just the leaders of the scene. I'm including [Genre10041] as a dual parent but could take that out if people object strongly but it's an essential component to this music. Electropop is not a required component which is why it is missing.

Untapped Wonky

2010-10-19T08:47:00.001-07:00

SpaceDubDisco 's Wonky Share Folder (slsk)

RYM Ultimate Box Set > Hypnagogic Pop (+ Chillwave)

2010-08-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

(Originally Published in Sep 2009)

"A new set of groups, many with noise backgrounds, are melting lo-fi melodies into abstract sonic ambience. In the August 2009 issue of Wire magazine, David Keenan coined the term "hypnagogic pop" as an umbrella for these various sounds and approaches, citing the outer-space soundtracks of James Ferraro of the Skaters, the muffled tropicalia of Ducktails, and the gothic haze of Zola Jesus. This may be less a movement than a coincidence, but either way it's promising." p4k

"Hypnagogic pop is phenomenon sweeping America's DIY underground, a questing post-Noise network that worships New Age music and uses half-remembered hits as portals to subconscious. Hypnagogic pop is pop music refracted through the memory of a memory. It draws its power from the 1980's pop culture into which many of the genre's players were born, and which is only now being factored into underground music as a spectral influence. Hypnagogic realms are the ones between waking and sleeping, liminal zones where mis-hearings and hallucinations feed into formation of dreams."
wire or pdf

	hyp-na-go-gic "relating to, or occurring in the period of drowsiness immediately preceding sleep"
	Disc 1 Duration 79:27
	Lo-fi Drones and Soundscapes Dominated by The Skaters many side-projects. The oldest example of the concept as it was written in the Wire's Article.
	Lamborghini Crystal Dial: 747 Creepozoid (2007) "Suicide Hotline" (3:00) "Lamborghini Crystal is one of the million side-projects associated with the experimental group The Skaters, which I've avoided for a long time because I'm already obsessed with enough groups with huge discographies. But good music has won out and now I can't stop. Great lo-fi ambient with a lot of weird samples and 8-bit textures and soundtrack kitsch."psky
	Vodka Soap Un chand pyramidelier (2006) "Un Chand Pyramidelier 2" (2:23) "For the past week or so I’ve been falling to sleep to the sounds of James Ferraro and Spencer Clarke, most well known from a band called The Skaters. Vodka Soap is a side project of Spencer Clarke. This is really hard music to listen to but it’s incredible, maybe that’s an oxymoron for some. The Skaters are their main alias but there are many different side projects that all have the same sound. Each album consists of relentless drone/bell/wood nymph twittering that is so encompassing that everything around is muted and dimmed." de
	James Ferraro Clear (2008) "Untitled 3" (5:54) "I was hesitant to start listening to this guy after my long love affair with Crystal Lamborghini, but when i was back home last month i picked up Clear on vinyl and it's been slowly creeping up on me until now when i cant take it. Swirly tropical boom box jams. 8 bit meets tropicala on 3 long wonderful summertime songs." a&a orcs
	Pocahaunted Island Diamonds (2008) "Ashes Is White" (7:46) "For over two years now, we've been captivated by Los Angeles duo Pocahaunted's knack for breathing new life into the heady, elusive genre of improv psych. The prolific team of Bethany Cosentino and Amanda Brown (co-head of noise/drone/psych label Not Not Fun) have already out-released most masturbatory psych-rock lifers, with over twenty limited cassettes, CD-Rs, and records to their credit on esteemed underground labels like Brooklyn's Fuck It Tapes and Iowa City's Night People. Thanks to a wildly-fluctuating stream of musical obsessions ranging from Double Leopards to the Beach Boys to Tom Tom Club. sin am
	Robedoor & Pocahaunted Hunted Gathering (2007) Robedoor - "Ancestress Moon " (4:36) "Robedoor being Not Not Fun head honcho Britt Brown, basically running things in their native California and far from jumping on the weirdy beardy bubbly noise bandwagon they're prepared to do things differently. With an arsenal of tapes, limited vinyl and hand-drawn pieces of scrap paper they've made a big difference in a tiny world and this latest double cd from the ever-lovely Digitalis label is a testament to their awesome power. dsfd
	Ducktails Ducktails (2009) "Surf Point Pleasant" (4:58) "I've only listened to this once, and I can already tell Ducktails' self-titled is definitely the best album to listen to while laying on a beach towel during the best summer day you've ever had. A lot of the tracks from this release, however, are also from previous Ducktails seven inches, EP's, tapes, etc." om l
	Sun Araw Beach Head (2008) "Thoughts are Bells" (9:26) "Sun Araw belongs to the Not Not Fun Records family, and plays guitar in the band Magic Lantern. "Beach Head's" Strung out jungle drones, minimal tribal drumming, and Cameron's reverb drenched vocals project jungle scenery into the listener's head, while setting a relaxing meditative atmosphere. auth
	Psychedelic Throwbacks Forget the 80's, these were pure 60's and 70's flashbacks in style.
	Wet Hair Dream (2009) "Radio Machines, Gold Chains" (8:45) "One of my favorite lps of the year. It feels like Spacemen 3 and Suicide having a stillborn child." nnfnn
	Vibes You God It (2009) [EP] "Honeycomb" (2:54) "Vibes are the beautiful progeny of bands such as Pocahaunted, Sun Araw, Robedoor, and et cetera (it’s quite difficile to get any info on the wayward band at present, but what IS known is that many, if not the entire kip of them are from the Not Not Fun recording label, so we will look on the bards as enigmas, existing in between reality and assumptions." kr
	Predator Vision II (2008) "Eyes of the Demon" (11:56) "Matthew Mondanile (from Ducktails) was influenced by watching the movie Predator while listening to soft rock records of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, and Todd Rundgren. This documents an acid- drenched jam recorded in the basement of Skylight Horizon Studio in Northampton, MA. Featuring Matt Mondanile and Ben Daly on guitars and Etienne Duguay on drums. Mixture of Neil Young amped guitar lines with krauty Guru Guru progressive feel." bbbb
	Magic Lantern High Beams (2008) "Feasting on Energy" (7:50) "Very delicious psychedelic / space / nu-krautrock stuff in the vein of Amon Düül II, Hawkwind, and Loop. Very cosmic, hypnotic and noisy, if any of the bands I named interests you or you want to hear trippy music this is a must have." kttk
	Gothic Pop These guys don't really fit any better description. Nice dark pop ditties.
	Zola Jesus The Spoils (2009) "Clay Bodies" (4:58) "Even though she just turned 20, Nika Danilova's one-woman band Zola Jesus has released two 7"'s and a debut LP on Sacred Bones called The Spoils. I can't blame you for being apprehensive about donating your time to what appears to be just another Midwestern no-fi bedroom act, but "Clay Bodies" contains richer, more compelling elements than your average four-track dabbler would be interested in. Danilova's voice is magnetic, as unsettlingly emotive and enchanting as any chanteuse we've heard from lately. There's a lot of crackle worked into the mix, but someone made a wise decision to leave the vocals undistorted (though there's enough reverb on them to counter), allowing Danilova to shuffle and soar as the mood fits." p4k
	Salem "Brustreet" (5:02) "So this is pretty much a cover of Bruce Springsteen "Streets of Philadelphia". Which came out on the Philadelphia soundtrack. The darkness gets stretched to limit in this version and its done perfectly." gvb pfm
	Disc 2 Duration 79:34
	New Age Worshippers Krautrock/Progressive Electronic/New Age/Ambient..... these guys revive the 70's style so very well.
	Emeralds Emeralds (2009) "Geode" (6:05) "The work of Emeralds is not all that far removed from the psychedelic experimentations of Tangerine Dream or Ash Ra Tempel. Granted, moods and techniques have evolved across four decades of music, but the heart of adventure is still the same bloody red effigy it was during the era of love children, flower power, and third eye spirituality. Without sounding grandiose or absorbent, Emeralds tap into those past fetishes with a degree of precession that surgeons dare to dream." AA WT
	Super Minerals The Pelagics (2008) "Bathyal" (8:47) "I think that this cover is very fitting, because while this is a nominally ambient record, there is quite a lot of activity to be had here. Indeed, the sounds evolve throughout, you'll hear themes expanded upon, often until they dominate the scene, only to be subsumed by tiny sounds that were developing off-stage for part of the time. Each point of the pieces is different from the previous one, yet there seems to be a seamless transition from moment to moment." kic
	Dolphins Into the Future ...On Seafaring Isolation (2009) "Last Voyager" (9:03) "Calm electronic ambient which sounds like something taken from the kosmische musik era. With some occasional field recordings (water splashing, waves crashing, birds singing etc.). Released on Not Not Fun. Quality! "wt
	Brother Raven Diving into the Pineapple Portal (2009) "Diving Into the Pineapple Portal" (12:09) "Brother Raven strive for cosmic consciousness-raising, like many a highly evolved synth-sorcerer before them. Their cassettes Diving into the Pineapple Portal and A Sound Like Wailing Winds Is Heard (Gift Tapes) are primo chill-out soma, beatless balm that avoids crystal-clutching triteness and achieves a Zenlike state of calm."db+gt
	Ducktails Landscapes (2009) "On The Boardwalk" (4:20) "Matthew Mondanile has been creating utopias for people's ears for about a year or so now, and he has recently released a new LP entitled Landscapes. His music can be best compared to the music of The Skaters member James Ferraro. If you don't know what either Ducktails or James Ferraro's music is like, then you're lost. Ducktails is a little more user-friendly, unlike James Ferraro who is known for making drone music. Mondanile doesn't sound like he's very fond of drone. His sound is more layback and dancey. Ducktails' sound is becoming even more mellow at the moment, minus the prog-rock quickie "Landrunner". Some of the songs have no drums and are just guitar ambiences." om
	Surf Pop The current California scene with music consisting of the simple forumula of hand-me down surf pop, endless songs about beaches and summer, and of course lo-fi. Surf Pop merges nicely with Glo-Fi as well, did i mention?
	Best Coast Best Coast (2009) [Single] "Sun Was High (So Was I)" (2:32) Bethany Cosentino, aka Best Coast (from Pocahaunted) has announced a new self-titled 7" (pictured) featuring one of our favorite songs of 2009, "Sun Was High (So Was I)" gvsb
	Real Estate Fake Blues / Pool Swimmers (2009) [Single] "Pool Swimmers" (2:52) "Real Estate is Martin Courtney, Etienne Duguay (of Predator Vision), Alex Bleeker, and Matt Mondanile (aka Ducktails). Not unlike Ducktails, Real Estate makes vaguely tropical lo-fi beach pop that reinforces my disdain for winter. A little more straightforward/less droning than Ducktails' stuff, for sure, but just as warm and sunny." from and
	Wavves "Cool Jumper" (5:52) "That upward curve seems to be continued with Cool Jumper, which is easily one of his best tracks yet, which is saying something considering that the album is one of my picks of 2009. Clocking in at six minutes it’s pretty long by Wavves standards, but it loses none of that trademark aggression or immediacy in doing so. Same old fuzzed out, lo-fi guitars, relentless percussion – made particularly relentless by a guest appearance by Zach Hill – and surf-rock style ‘woo-hoo’ vocals.""(m)sm
	Chillwave / Glo-Fi Chillwave (also known as Glo-Fi in some circles) for all intents and puroses is a subgenre of Hypnagogic Pop in taking a more direct capture of 80's pop and wave by capturing not a current polished sound (like M83's and Cut Copy's recent contributions) but a hazier and more lo-fi approach yet still being upbeat eternal Summer music. In many way Glo-fi is a more direct retelling of Keenan's hypnagogic pop article but without the drone, ambient, and psychedelic elements in bands he pointed to and more of the warm memories of lost youth and worshipping of 80's pop culture through viewing old vcr tapes that was mentioned throughout his article. And it's got a dance beat too..... More Genre Name Debating for "Glo-fi"
	Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Can't Hear My Eyes / Evolution's A Lie (2008) [Single] "Can't Hear My Eyes" (3:12) "His new Ariel Pink single is easily one of the best things he's ever done, and it's been on repeat all night. The guy is on some eerily legit adult contemporary/lite FM smooth jams steez with this one, and I'm not fully convinced this isn't something my parents were listening to in 1982" gvsb
	Neon Indian Psychic Chasms (2009) "Dead Beat Summer" (4:03) "More nostalgia-laced, psychedelic "dream-wave" from secretive Austin/Brooklyn duo." gvsb
	Washed Out Life of Leisure (2009) [EP] "Feel It All Around" (3:15) "More woozy, lo-fi bedroom dance pop from Columbia, South Carolina, courtesy of Ernest Greene, aka Washed Out. Bask in the warm, inviting glow of (possibly borrowed) nostalgia cast by the excellent "Feel it All Around," which somehow manages to feel both distant and fully engaging" gvsb
	Toro Y Moi Blessa (2009) [Single] "Blessa" (2:34) "When exploring Toro Y Moi's blogged world of reportage Polaroids, collages, and extraneous side-projects (house music producer Les Sins, remixing, for example) it's clear this South Carolinian artist/musician/creator is obsessed on capturing every nuance or spark of inspiration that ignites in his sun-baked mind. So then, expectedly, his lo-fi tunes are a varied assortment of ideas, meandering between funk bass slapped grooves and slowed-down synth pop. "Blessa" is the latter and feels much like a summer's slumber, with its natural instrumentation and swelling vocal patterns beautifully warping like a weak radio transmission." p4k n
	Small Black "Despicable Dogs" (Washed Out Remix) "The glo-fi genre holds as much promise as it does confusion. Warm synth-lines, echoing and fuzzy vocals - it doesn't seem definite enough to be promising. But Small Black made their way into our summer as the soundtrack to a departure from Los Angeles. Washed Out's take on "Despicable Dogs" is quite simply the most beautiful song I've heard this year. With a wall-of-sound loop and a "We can dance if we want to" allusion, Washed Out have pumped up the Small Black original into something that is as head-nodding as it is completely perfect."remix or get it straight
	Teengirl Fantasy EP (2009) [EP] "Floor to Floor" "This free floating EP has been floating freely in digital circles all summer. The 4 tracks are blissed beyond electronic classification. It's hard not to be swayed by the way these two Ohio guys present their art. Obviously it's a visual package, but do some fishing around and tell me they haven't just completely got 'it' down" sns
	Memory Tapes Seek Magic (2009) "Bicycle" (5:19) "The mysterious forces behind Weird Tapes + Memory Cassette -- which may or may not have been the same person all along (they are) -- have "merged" to form Memory Tapes, and will be releasing a new full-length this fall. "Bicycle" is the dreamy lead single from the new album, and will be released on 12" in August in the UK on Loog Records." gvsb or see p4k
	So let's review....what is.... Hypnagogic Pop?
	It's Lo-Fi One of the most over-riding characteristics of it.
	It's DIY / Cassette Culture / Limited Runs Many of these have home-made artwork for the casette and lp's and very limited runs.
	It's a Community So many of these bands have members and side projects in others bands. Labels like Not Not Fun are also focal points for the sound as are locations like California.
	It's a copy of a copy While the 80's pop culture has a a lot of mentions in David Keenan's article, 60's and 70's Psychedelia, Krautrock, Progressive Electronic, and New Age also get plenty of nods and channeling.
	It's half-remembered memories There's a reason why it sounds hazy and half-awake. It's part of the overall vibe and part of the reason for the flashback in sound
	It's sweeping the blogs and the underground Pitchfork, Gorilla vs Bear, Wire, Blogs a plenty (and linked here) are featuring these guys and yet its still incredibly underground scene and not one to go overground anytime soon.
	I wish I could hear this stuff instead of just reading about it um you can, check the links bro
	It's a great current scene of music based on a bad article and a terrible name David Keenan is a writer who picked a rather terrible genre title (that's up there with IDM) and made it a rather bad article to boot. Now that said he did pick up on a scene, with shared characteristics, it is interesting conceptually and musically, and people have been discussing his article since its been published. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if it's new to you as its still just leaking out by loads of word of mouth but zero radio play.
	It's currently happening The article that "tied" these together is only a few months old and the bands discussed in it are only from 2008 and 2009. This list is trying to make sense of what is currently unfolding at this moment. Most blogs that were discussing these terms were tacking on different bands of the moment that fit and many that did not. I tried to make the list as definitive and coherent as it could be.
	Thanks to... (sources) Atease Discussion & Uploads and on Glo-fi specifically. SOMB Discussion LastFM entry Blog Mixtape Terminal Boredom Critical Discussion

MM

2010-04-14T21:09:00.001-07:00

Disco Discharge - Gay Disco & Hi NRG

2010-03-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Disco Discharge - Euro Disco

2010-03-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

Disco Discharge - Disco Ladies

2010-03-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

Disco Discharge - Classic

2010-03-31T21:51:00.001-07:00

Progressive House

2010-02-26T05:17:00.001-08:00

RYM Box Set Draft

Picopop

Iroke Kayokyoku

Untapped Wonky

RYM Ultimate Box Set > Hypnagogic Pop (+ Chillwave)

Dial: 747 Creepozoid (2007)

Un chand pyramidelier (2006)

Clear (2008)

Island Diamonds (2008)

Hunted Gathering (2007)

Ducktails (2009)

Beach Head (2008)

Dream (2009)

You God It (2009) [EP]

II (2008)

High Beams (2008)

The Spoils (2009)

Emeralds (2009)

The Pelagics (2008)

...On Seafaring Isolation (2009)

Diving into the Pineapple Portal (2009)

Landscapes (2009)

Best Coast (2009) [Single]

Fake Blues / Pool Swimmers (2009) [Single]

Can't Hear My Eyes / Evolution's A Lie (2008) [Single]

Psychic Chasms (2009)

Life of Leisure (2009) [EP]

Blessa (2009) [Single]

EP (2009) [EP]

Seek Magic (2009)

Progressive Garage / Tribal House

MM

Disco Discharge - Gay Disco & Hi NRG

Disco Discharge - Euro Disco

Disco Discharge - Disco Ladies

Disco Discharge - Classic

Progressive House