MONDAY MAY 07, 2018
529 Presents:
529 & Irrelevant Music Present:
Fantasy Guys
Berndsen | Hermigervill | Raindeer | True Blossom
Fantasy Guys
"After listening the new Fantasy Guys album for the first time, I could only think of one thing: damn I wish I owned a pool. It’s not that I’m not content to be sitting at my desk, headphones on, sorting through my notes and thoughts about the album. It’s just that it occurs to me how this music is perfect for certain contexts. Here is a non-exhaustive list of situations for which the new record is an ideal soundtrack: floating around a pool, swinging in a hammock, driving the A1A with the windows down, smoking weed on the beach, playing Donkey Kong Country, grilling hamburgers. You get the idea. Fantasy Guys’ Inyo Galatea, Maddy Davis, and Mitchell Hardage really just want you to relax and have a good time. Following last year’s Surfin on a Wave of Juice and the follow-up instrumental EP, Dreamin’ of the Sea, On Poppy Island arrives just in time for the summer, and with it they have harnessed the power of sun and Sega. The LP is a shimmering mix of cheeky island pop, R&B-inflected loungers, and chill video game vibes. Across 13 tracks they expertly mesh keyboard beats, sunny guitars, and ethereal falsetto vocals with jazzy flute, funky bass licks, and vibraphone and synth textures. And despite that reverse engineered list of sounds, the result is greater than the sum of its parts; it’s a unique and cohesive record that is quite unlike any other music being made in Atlanta right now. To the uninitiated, it would be easy to dismiss Fantasy Guys as comedy or satire at first listen. With an album cover that looks akin to an SNES title screen, and songs with emoji-culture titles such as “Bae Caught Me Vapin’,” “420 Tho,” and “Aloha BB Girl,” you can practically see the band members winking at you as you consider whether or not to dive in. But there is an earnestness in their meticulous craft. The laid-back vibes and playful accessibility of the music somewhat mask just how precise the album is in its construction — never quite basic, but also never full-on proggy or complicated. That is a fine line to walk, and Fantasy Guys walk it deftly. On Poppy Island is bursting with sun and sand, and manages to showcase a little bit of everything. There’s an intro track. There are pun-y song titles. There are flute solos. There are upbeat songs and slow songs. There are instrumentals that sound like the beach courses in Mario Kart. But the true testament to the album’s utility and creativity is that you really want to listen to it over and over in spite of its mostly subtle cheekiness. Whereas you might hear “Jazz” by Tenacious D, laugh heartily, but never really need to hear it again, with Fantasy Guys you get music that is fun but also has a shelf life. This isn’t the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” or Weird Al style parody, this is an honest, earnest, fun exercise in genre where the players are genuinely committed to what they’re creating, even if they can’t perform without acknowledging the weed session joke that led to the band’s creation. I asked the group where Poppy Island is and if it’s a real place. Their answer was succinct, and a perfect indicator of exactly what you’re getting into with this record. “Poppy Island is everywhere you want to be,” they tell me. “It is the sweet cosmic Pangaea of each of your happy places.”Fantasy Guys live in the sweet spot, and they want you to come chill with them. On Poppy Island is the soundtrack, and it’s on repeat. Come on in, the water’s fine." -Immersive Atlanta
"After listening the new Fantasy Guys album for the first time, I could only think of one thing: damn I wish I owned a pool. It’s not that I’m not content to be sitting at my desk, headphones on, sorting through my notes and thoughts about the album. It’s just that it occurs to me how this music is perfect for certain contexts. Here is a non-exhaustive list of situations for which the new record is an ideal soundtrack: floating around a pool, swinging in a hammock, driving the A1A with the windows down, smoking weed on the beach, playing Donkey Kong Country, grilling hamburgers. You get the idea. Fantasy Guys’ Inyo Galatea, Maddy Davis, and Mitchell Hardage really just want you to relax and have a good time. Following last year’s Surfin on a Wave of Juice and the follow-up instrumental EP, Dreamin’ of the Sea, On Poppy Island arrives just in time for the summer, and with it they have harnessed the power of sun and Sega. The LP is a shimmering mix of cheeky island pop, R&B-inflected loungers, and chill video game vibes. Across 13 tracks they expertly mesh keyboard beats, sunny guitars, and ethereal falsetto vocals with jazzy flute, funky bass licks, and vibraphone and synth textures. And despite that reverse engineered list of sounds, the result is greater than the sum of its parts; it’s a unique and cohesive record that is quite unlike any other music being made in Atlanta right now. To the uninitiated, it would be easy to dismiss Fantasy Guys as comedy or satire at first listen. With an album cover that looks akin to an SNES title screen, and songs with emoji-culture titles such as “Bae Caught Me Vapin’,” “420 Tho,” and “Aloha BB Girl,” you can practically see the band members winking at you as you consider whether or not to dive in. But there is an earnestness in their meticulous craft. The laid-back vibes and playful accessibility of the music somewhat mask just how precise the album is in its construction — never quite basic, but also never full-on proggy or complicated. That is a fine line to walk, and Fantasy Guys walk it deftly. On Poppy Island is bursting with sun and sand, and manages to showcase a little bit of everything. There’s an intro track. There are pun-y song titles. There are flute solos. There are upbeat songs and slow songs. There are instrumentals that sound like the beach courses in Mario Kart. But the true testament to the album’s utility and creativity is that you really want to listen to it over and over in spite of its mostly subtle cheekiness. Whereas you might hear “Jazz” by Tenacious D, laugh heartily, but never really need to hear it again, with Fantasy Guys you get music that is fun but also has a shelf life. This isn’t the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” or Weird Al style parody, this is an honest, earnest, fun exercise in genre where the players are genuinely committed to what they’re creating, even if they can’t perform without acknowledging the weed session joke that led to the band’s creation. I asked the group where Poppy Island is and if it’s a real place. Their answer was succinct, and a perfect indicator of exactly what you’re getting into with this record. “Poppy Island is everywhere you want to be,” they tell me. “It is the sweet cosmic Pangaea of each of your happy places.”Fantasy Guys live in the sweet spot, and they want you to come chill with them. On Poppy Island is the soundtrack, and it’s on repeat. Come on in, the water’s fine." -Immersive Atlanta
Berndsen
A man whose love of the 80’s is at his very core, David Berndsen is a bearded iconic pop figure in Iceland, famous for his sound and various videos that recreate an era and a distinct moment in time when music (and the costumes and aesthetics) from groups such as Soft Cell, OMD, Yazoo, Visage, the Human League and Ultravox triumphed worldwide.
A man whose love of the 80’s is at his very core, David Berndsen is a bearded iconic pop figure in Iceland, famous for his sound and various videos that recreate an era and a distinct moment in time when music (and the costumes and aesthetics) from groups such as Soft Cell, OMD, Yazoo, Visage, the Human League and Ultravox triumphed worldwide.
Hermigervill
“Do you know the song ‘One Note Samba?’ This track is called ‘Brown Note Samba,’” says Sveinbjörn Thorarensen, known professionally as Hermigervill. He’s referencing the hypothetical infrasonic frequency that would make people lose control of their bowels due to resonance. “There are theories, but we don’t know if it’s possible,” he says. “The frequencies are somewhere below 20hz, so humans can’t hear them.” This tongue-in-cheek nerdiness is part of what has made Sveinbjörn such a popular fixture of the Icelandic music scene. We sit down in the hip Kreuzberg neighbourhood of Berlin, the city where he spends as much time as possible. All smiles, two red braids cascading down from under his baseball cap, he recounts last night’s escapades at notorious club institution Berghain. “Berlin’s techno scene fascinates me,” he says. “All my life I’ve tried to make techno and failed. Everything I make is just too jolly, I guess.”
“Do you know the song ‘One Note Samba?’ This track is called ‘Brown Note Samba,’” says Sveinbjörn Thorarensen, known professionally as Hermigervill. He’s referencing the hypothetical infrasonic frequency that would make people lose control of their bowels due to resonance. “There are theories, but we don’t know if it’s possible,” he says. “The frequencies are somewhere below 20hz, so humans can’t hear them.” This tongue-in-cheek nerdiness is part of what has made Sveinbjörn such a popular fixture of the Icelandic music scene. We sit down in the hip Kreuzberg neighbourhood of Berlin, the city where he spends as much time as possible. All smiles, two red braids cascading down from under his baseball cap, he recounts last night’s escapades at notorious club institution Berghain. “Berlin’s techno scene fascinates me,” he says. “All my life I’ve tried to make techno and failed. Everything I make is just too jolly, I guess.”
True Blossom
True Blossom formed in 2017 from the thriving Atlanta underground synth-pop scene. The band released their debut album Heater, a sweet and strange collection of disco, city-pop, and classic indie, last year on Citrus City Records. They followed that with a series of tours up and down the east coast.
Their second album, In Bliss, arrives October 23rd, again on Citrus City. Its surface is all sophistication and light - red lipstick, brushed steel, and lace, but an eerie sadness hangs over the whole affair. Though bits of new wave synth and disco percussion shimmer and glow with warmth, the gloom never quite lifts.
In Bliss was recorded in Atlanta by Damon Moon at Standard Electric Recording Co. Founding members Sophie Cox, Nadav Flax, Adam Weisberg, Jamison Murphy, and Chandler Kelley tracked most of the instruments before Jamison left to attend graduate school in Maryland. Newest member Bonnie Hardie joined the band during the sessions, and her vocal harmonies can be heard throughout.
True Blossom formed in 2017 from the thriving Atlanta underground synth-pop scene. The band released their debut album Heater, a sweet and strange collection of disco, city-pop, and classic indie, last year on Citrus City Records. They followed that with a series of tours up and down the east coast.
Their second album, In Bliss, arrives October 23rd, again on Citrus City. Its surface is all sophistication and light - red lipstick, brushed steel, and lace, but an eerie sadness hangs over the whole affair. Though bits of new wave synth and disco percussion shimmer and glow with warmth, the gloom never quite lifts.
In Bliss was recorded in Atlanta by Damon Moon at Standard Electric Recording Co. Founding members Sophie Cox, Nadav Flax, Adam Weisberg, Jamison Murphy, and Chandler Kelley tracked most of the instruments before Jamison left to attend graduate school in Maryland. Newest member Bonnie Hardie joined the band during the sessions, and her vocal harmonies can be heard throughout.