noise pop

The Rational Academy are a noise/pop band based in Brisbane, Australia active since 2004. After a slew of 7" vinyl EP's and compilation appearances they released their debut album in 2008 to international acclaim. Produced by Lawrence English, "A Heart Against Your Own" married the Academy's pop leanings and guitar heavy approach with avante garde and experimental interests. In 2009 they released their sophomore effort "Swans"...

Horrible Present is based in Brooklyn, New York, and is the solo project of italian-born Nicola Dona. http://horriblepresent.com

The Smith Westerns are from Chicago, and as far as we can tell are either named after a tourist trinket manufacturer in Tacoma or a chain of honkytonk restaurants in south England. Maybe both. Imagine being on family vacation somewhere kind of corny and sucky but running into a girl or boy who is also on family vacation in the same corny, sucky place. You guys buy each other pins from the gift shop at the foot of a rollercoaster, maybe they're little cowboy hats. You throw some skeeball.

There are at least two bands called Vivian Girls; 1) Disbanded Australian punk band from the 90s featuring Kody Abrams (Flesh Vs Venom, Bakelite, etc) and Sean Bailey (Lakes, etc) 2) Although only a band for a little more than a year, the Vivian Girls charms have already worked their magic on their short road to "out of nowhere" status. With their irresistable mix of 60's girl-group sounds, punk, post-punk and shoegaze, the 'Girls have mastered blurring the lines of genres and coming up with something aggressive yet beautiful; simple, gutsy music with a lot of class and melody.