In The Pharmacy #8 – May 2012 by Nickpeters on Mixcloud

The 12 best songs I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks featuring songs that sound like:
• The Beta Band gone country
• (early) The Cure
• Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra gone electronica
• the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie
Plus the best pop song I’ve heard so far this year and new tracks from Spiritualized, The Walkmen, Silversun Pickups and more.

AlunaGeorge ‘Just A Touch’
UK duo with 90s R n B influences. The best pop song I’ve heard so far this year.
[Aluna George]

Spiritualized ‘Too Late’
My favourite track on the brilliant Sweet Heart, Sweet Light album. Half yearning / half resignation. A song about love, rather than a lovesong.
[Spiritualized]

Silversun Pickups ‘Gun-Shy Sunshine’
An early favourite off forthcoming album number three ‘Neck of the Woods’. The whole album is streaming over on Soundcloud.
[Soundcloud] [Silversun Pickups]

The Walkmen ‘Heartbreaker’
Second track to be aired from the forthcoming album ‘heaven’ I would have opened with this if I hadn’t already started the last cloudcast with the title track.
[The Walkmen]

DIIV ‘Doused’
Previously called Dive, the side project of Beach Fossils’ Zachary Cole. This is clearly indebted to The Cure’s early years without being a carbon copy.
[DIIV]

Purity Ring ‘Obedear’
Signed to 4AD, this electropop duo from Canada create a sweet but slightly creepy atmosphere which makes for beguiling tunes like this one. Download it for free on the website:
[Purity Ring]

Eternal Summers ‘ Millions’
Bright indiepop from Virginia. Short and sweet.
[Eternal Summers]

Twin Shadow ‘Five Seconds’
Twin Shadow is one of those artists who seems to yearn for an 80s that he was too young to experience. Like the best work of M83 and Ariel Pink, this sounds like it could have come straight off the soundtrack to a John Hughes film.
[Twin Shadow]

Au Palais ‘Some Velvet Morning’
I’ve lost track of the number of covers of this Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra classic. They never seem to diverge that far from the original. Here though, the Anglo Canadian electro goth pop drag it out of the 60s and if they don’t quite bring it up to date, they do make it as far as the 80s.
[Au Palais]

Sonny and the Sunsets ‘Pretend You Love Me’
This Bay Area band usually deal in lo-fi 60s influenced indie rock but this is from their forthcoming country album ‘Longtime Companion’. But while there’s some plaintive slide guitar and the title and lyrics are very much classic tropes, this isn’t straight country. There’s a loping bassline and some playful flute and the whole thing comes across a bit like the Beta Band if they were from Tennessee.
[Sonny and the Sunsets]

Field Report ‘Taking Alcatraz’
Wisconsin’s Chris Porterfield is a longtime buddy and collaborator of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. This is an unmastered version of a track from his forthcoming album.
[Field Report]

One Little Plane ‘Hold You Down’
Kathryn Bint, Chicagoan Four Tet collaborator with chilled out, gentle folk.
[One Little Plane]