Twin Sister :: "Bad Street"

The break for Twin Sister - and here I don't mean publicity-driven Top 40 radio, but rather something stylistic - was 2010's "All Around And Away We Go". It was the position from which they launched themselves out of a lo-fi haze (and obviously, the forecast was a still a little hazy) and into a more spacious, almost disco-infused landscape. On recent single, "Bad Street", the band continues this trajectory away from home-recorded, cold-medicine jams and into substantially funkier (if "funkier" can be used as a critical and analytical term) territory. "Bad Street" climbs to an apex around the lyric, "I want it bad, I want it bad", though leaving it abundantly unclear whether this is qualitative statement or an expression of supreme desire. Either way, Twin Sister have moved expertly from making pleasantly drowned lo-fi, to upbeat summery disco pop. And they've done it all, as they would tell you with pride, without a publicist.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "Bad Street"

Top 50 Songs of 2010 :: 30-21 [Are you the one I've been waitin' for?]

30. Wolf Parade - "Ghost Pressure"

Wolf Parade released perhaps their last and perhaps their best record, 2010's Expo 86. Lovers of the Apologies-era Wolf Parade found something in this smoother, darker version of the band. On "Ghost Pressure," haunting, frozen synths dance around the ceiling like spectres before a playful, upstroke chorus implies that this paranormal activity might not be all bad, "Little vision come shake me up, shake me up." Dan Boeckner spends the song's final two minutes in a direct conversation with these chilly keyboards, barking about swarms of bees and this imminently altering vision.

29. Tanlines - "Real Life"

Uber-pretentious Brooklyn duo, Tanlines forecast a world in which we are perpetually promising to begin anew. It seemed that this urban-tribal pop was all the rage in 2010 and no one did it better than the two-some with the bad habit of saying about New York, "Um, yeah, we're from here." Despite their weak stage banter, the band proved a winner with "Real Life," and its concurrent assurance, "It was a passed life thing, it was a passed life thing." For New York kids with a ton to work on, it wasn't a flawed promise. For a song with nothing but sweetness in its borders, it wasn't anything at all.

28. Various Cruelties - "If It Wasn't For You"




A slice of throwback pop and a conditional message about love, Various Cruelties delivered one of the catchiest singles of the year with "If It Wasn't For You." The backing swells with some well-intentioned keys playing the role of strings. We can't promise this band will explode in 2011, but with a one-off this good, it would be an absolute shame if they didn't.

27. Mr. Little Jeans - "Rescue Song" [RAC Remix]

In the 2008 version of this list, we listed Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" in the 20s. There was no clear sense that the song was not only the song of that year, but, in all probability, one of the best rock songs of the last ten years. On Mr. Little Jeans' "Rescue Song," we can't be certain of a similar explosion of this one song, but what is certainly true is that this girl is a comer, destined to invade your 2011 in a bizarre combination of Lykke Li and Feist. Put simply, if you're not ready, be ready.

26. Oberhofer - "I Could Go"



If repetition is the soul of pop music - and those songs we take most seriously to heart, those we hear most serially - then Brad Oberhofer is the dealer of this new brand. On "I Could Go," one of the most unbelievably catchy songs of 2010, Oberhofer utters twinkling keys behind a motivated rock arrangement that finally explodes into a million little pieces. It was the most explosive, true indie rock of the year and for that there are no apologies or explanations.

25. Bad Books - "You Wouldn't Have To Ask"

The mixture of Andy Hull and Kevin Devine didn't result in a fantastic record, but it generated a stunning and erupting single from Bad Books. The initial acoustic underpinnings hide all of the final thrashing aesthetic of the chorus and its singular message about things being either so good or so bad that you, well, shouldn't have to ask. An attention span under two minutes doesn't stop "You Wouldn't Have To Ask" from being one of the best rock songs of 2010.

24. The New Pornographers - "We End Up Together"



In all probability the New Pornographers made 2010's best song to characterize a fracturing and faithful American landscape. We are both certain that we are screwed, and for the damage that will necessarily ensue, and yet we are unavoidably in favor of our own co-dependence. Yes, we are for damage, sweet damage, and yet, in the midst of what might be our favorite but not best song of the year, we will all be in the same boat as we fly over the top of the falls.

23. Twin Sister - "All Around And Away We Go"

It was club music for the kids partying at the bottom of the local swimming pool. Twin Sister was cold medicine techno for kids with down-stroke sensibility and affection for a laissez-faire female vocalist only matched by Victoria Legrand. The bass line was out to lunch and the guitars were only built to shuffle feet. The sea sick vocals and Dramamine synths were what made this unique, one of the few songs to encourage and demand our attention from a New York band with nothing but future in front of them.

22. Lord Huron - "Mighty"

Opening with the persistent rain that colors none of the rest of "Mighty," Lord Huron, LA's answer the Vampire Weekend problem so aptly posed by the band of the same name in 2007, offered nothing but sunshine on their most stunning single of 2010. "Mighty" was to indie rock what the Lion King was to the world of animated movies in the mid-1990s. Certainly it was full to brim, and unapologetically so, but it was the pop swell of the chorus that stuck well beyond the pop of the moment.

21. Stornoway - "I Saw You Blink"



Stornoway produced not only one of the great folk records of 2010, but two of the great singles, "Zorbing" and "I Saw You Blink." After weeks of internal debate and much fuss, we decided that "I Saw You Blink" was the superior of the two, leaving "Zorbing" out in the cold with its artistic integrity and pop-hooks as its only sustenance. Well, we have no such grandiose vision. "I Saw You Blink" is one of the best singles of the year. Beyond that - Lucy, whoever you are - we refuse to provide answers to the band's central question. We assume "the one," is in all of us and out there somewhere for everyone.

Twin Sister :: "Meet The Frownies"

"Meet The Frownies" is the first song Brooklyn's Twin Sister have ever recorded in a real life studio. In this case, through the power of non-profit Weathervane Music, the band took their brand of distant, underwater dream pop to an actual recording studio for a series entitled Shaking Through. The band still features the most crushing chord resolutions imaginable, sung over withering lyrics like, "I spoke with you 'cause you told me to/to pass the time in your living room." The aesthetic is a delicate, prescient fragility; and if it took the control and freedom of a studio setting to get this brittle, so be it.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "Meet The Frownies"

[Video] Twin Sister :: "All Around And Away We Go"

Brooklyn's Twin Sister, one of our favorites, recorded live on a rooftop, sounding stunning in the glowing darkness. At the very least this gives Vinny Moon a run for his money, sinking to the bottom of the top of the borough.



Listen :: Twin Sister - "All Around And Away We Go"

Twin Sister :: "Lady Daydream"

As we mentioned a few weeks back, Twin Sister are out with their second EP, Color Your Life. Not only does the band display a remarkable sense of humor (exhibit A, exhibit B) but the seriousness with which they approach their music astounds in equal and opposite measure. On the EP's second track, "Lady Daydream," the band returns to carry listeners through mushy reverberations and trustworthy lyrics, like a cold medicine edict from a pretty female vocalist. It is at once familiar and distant. Unlike other bands trafficking in similar waters, Twin Sister boasts singable melodies and hidden hooks. A comparison worth making, like Beach House, the washed out production isn't hiding a lack of substance; it's hiding something worth diving to the bottom of the pool for. The gurgling waters at the end of the track encourage the listener to sink to the bottom and look for the glittering American currency you left down there yesterday afternoon.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "Lady Daydream"

Twin Sister :: "All Around and Away We Go"

You would be hard pressed to find a better title for the first song leaking off your first proper full-length album than "All Around and Away We Go." Like a whispering disco-joint, Twin Sister issue a vague statement of purpose, with rippling guitars and shimmering sonics. A saucy bass-line rules whole portions of the arrangement in between echoing, carefree vocals. It sounds like Studio 54 sunk to the bottom of a swimming pool, glam and disco floating past each other with bemused, magic-realist expressions on their faces. They wave to each other, genres supplanted and sunk in the hands of 21st century kids who had the gall to play games with them in the backyard. Like most of Twin Sister's previous material, it is catchy but just as you grasp hold, it sinks to bottom like a bunch of breath-holding children.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "All Around and Away We Go"

Interview :: Twin Sister [2.9.10]

Twin Sister are one of these cold medicine lo-fi bands from New York but, they're also the best, with a flair for bombast. The music is dripping in reverb and calls out from far away and they're about to be written up all over the place. We'd love to say we told you so. Their new EP comes out in March and here, they wax philosophical about Pitchfork, in-band-debt, and what the hell "Ginger" was about anyways.

32feet: Top 5 Desert Island records?

Twin Sister: We each did one:

Andrea: T-Rex - The Slider
Bryan: Can - Future Days - "Never gets old"
Eric: Björk - Vespertine
Gabel: Van Dyke Parks - Discover America - "It'd make things pleasant on an average afternoon on the island."
Udbhav: Tom Zé - Todos os Olhos - "I feel like it'd be pretty good beach music"

You guys recently got written up favorably by Pitchfork. Talk about the "Pfork Effect." Did things change? Were you irritated they discovered Vampires With Dreaming Kids so late? Are you allowed to say anything negative about them or will they blacklist you like indie-rock's Joe McCarthy? This question is 75% serious.

We really loved that they used the picture of Luna, Andrea's cat strutting around in the backyard. It brought a lot of people to our website and music for the first time, so there's definitely nothing negative to say about it. We don't mind that Pitchfork was late to the party, they have to cover a lot of bands, all of whom have something we've never had, publicists. We're still broke, trying to figure out how to quit our day jobs and do this music thing for real. We've been contacted by a handful of labels we've always thought were pretty cool but it's a little early in the game for things like that right now. They probably know that too. We're just trying to get this new EP out, pronto.

Your band is being ship-wrecked and help will not arrive in time. There is one life jacket. Who gets it and why?

Eric says: "Dev's computer, we could still somewhat perform if that computer survives."
Udbhav says: "First off, Andrea hates boats, so I don't think she'd even be on the ship, which leaves 4 of us. Second, we'd probably give the lifejacket to Eric's Silvertone guitar and Gabe's bass, they're irreplaceable!"
Bryan says: "I say we'd all let Dev live because we owe him some money. It would only be fair. Although Andrea is deathly afraid of water, so who knows. Wouldn't be me, that's for sure."
Gabel says: "Bryan"
Dre didn't say anything cause she knows better than to be on that boat.

Can you let us in on your plans for 2010?

First and foremost, release Color Your Life. We've been working so hard on it for so long and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. After that we should be touring quite a bit, trying to get out there and see the world and learning how to sing together. Maybe even a summer 7" if all goes well. Also, we want to conceive of and release a song that becomes popular among infants.

What is the one thing people should absolutely remember about Twin Sister that they have no clue about?

Two equally important things. Ginger is a song about baby ginger roots, not redheads. Andrea's dog Amelia (a puggle) has a rhinestone cowboy hat.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "Ginger"
Bonus :: Twin Sister - "Ribbon Bow"

Twin Sister - "Ginger"

Twin Sister has a cool-looking website with almost no information to speak of. This, I like. It says, "we are aesthetically pleasing but that doesn't mean you get our life-story." They are a pretty girl who won't give you their phone number. This, somehow, makes them more attractive.

"Ginger" sounds a little like a slowed-down Stereolab or like some of the Holly Miranda material that's been coming out in the last month or so: Deliberate, almost hungover, and certainly pretty. It has a certain pace to it, a head-nodding bass line and a pendulum-swing of an arrangement. The melody is two parts seductive and one part mournful. The whole thing is fuzzy at the edges and takes an expectant, if lazy, flop into the wordless chorus.

It's contradictions. It's a dream sequence in fast motion; real life but slowed down. It's the water-borne dream of life and death. It's the overstatement of exaggeration mixed with the understatement of modesty. It's controlled excitement and unrestrained boredom. It is aesthetics with no content. Or the other way around.

Listen :: Twin Sister - "Ginger"
Bonus :: Twin Sister - "I Want A House"