DREAMCAR

One Liner: I'm stuck in a rut of 80's music on the poster.  "Supergroup" of sorts with No Doubt and AFI members combining for maximum 80's homage.
Wikipedia Genre: New wave, alternative rock
Spotify Says Similar To: Gone is Gone and Shiny Toy Guns (I'm starting to think that Spotify just makes up band names for these "Related Artist" pages)
Home: Los Angeles, CA

Poster Position: 11
Slot: ?

Thoughts: As is obvious from my One Liner above, I need a break from the derivative works of groups that are copying the 80's new wave sound as though it were fresh today. That nostalgic stuff is clever for a few artists to go to, but when it is the go-to move for many bands in a row, it gets real old real fast.  We left that era in music for a reason.

But, this is a "supergroup" of sorts, with the lead singer from AFI - pop punk guys who came to ACL in 2014 - and the band from No Doubt - minus that kind of famous lead singer. Joined together, the guys have apparently decided that their prime influence was New Order or The Cure, and they've cranked out some power pop of 1983 for you to jam.  The top track by a ways is "Kill for Candy," with 570k streams.

Its that bass - sounds so very much like old-school New Order or The Cure, I just can't get it out of my brain.  Well, and then the frenetic synth during the breakdown.  Interestingly, the second most listened to track on their single album (2017's DREAMCAR) isn't the first song on the album, it is the third.  But that is also the song directly after "Kill for Candy," so maybe this is a case where people come for the hit, make it through one more track, and then move on.  The album opener has only 24k streams.  That second-most-listened-to track is called "Born to Lie," and guess what I think about its influences?

As much as I'm bagging on the 80's thing, the lyrics are actually pretty well done and I like that song - who never needed a good unrequited love song for themselves back in the 80's? Complete with a sick guitar solo ready for air guitaring along to in your bedroom?  Oh, and Duran Duran love makes a cameo in some of these songs too - check the album opener. And the intro to "All of the Dead Girls" makes me think of Icicle Works' "Whisper to a Scream" and Adam Ant.  So much derivation.
This album has actually grown on me over the day as I have listened to it more.  I still kind of doubt that I'd go see them play, but the music is pretty good.

Will I Go See them Play?  Probably not.