Super Volcano

Super Volcano is new on the scene in New York. An unknown, garage synth-pop three piece that's ready to climb into the hearts and minds of NYC indie music fans with songs that are equally interesting and head-bop inducing. Based solely upon their four song demo EP, this is a band full of heaping amounts of potential. Hear me out - this music will prove my words to be less than hyperbolic, I promise. There are two sample songs posted below, and another couple worth your time on their MySpace (especially "Firestorm"), so check out each of their songs, and see these guys live, for a complete picture of this band you're bound to love if you ever found The Unicorns appealing. Or, looking even closer to home - consider Super Volcano as a friendly foil to Mancino. Goodness knows how much we all love them... and I don't actually see the two bands fighting for turf here in the crowded landscape of New York up and comers, but rather as two sides of the same coin that is the ever-changing landscape of poppy indie-rock.

(friendly note to reader: you'll see The Unicorns and the word "urgency" mentioned more than once in the sentences below)

"Instant Attraction" is a perfectly messy and raw two minute pop song. It begins harmlessly enough with a toy-organ sounding ditty playing out and evolving into swells of harmony and urgency. It's the kind of song that sounds as if these guys had it building up inside of them and simply had to get it out and on record. A song I'd imagine really cooks live, and a nice lead single to get kids' heads ringing. "Jupiter" is a bit more of an adventure into everything that makes Super Volcano tick. Here they mix in elements of Beatles-esque harmony/arrangements (think of a garage-pop version of XTC) with the urgency, fire, and desperation found in certain songs by The Unicorns or They Might Be Giants. Urgency/Unicorns, urgency/Unicorns - repeat/refrain ad infinitum. I can't help it, that's what comes to mind with Super Volcano.

There's less of an inside joke nature with this band, though, than with the two previously mentioned bands, and thank goodness for that. Super Volcano clearly believes in these songs they've made. Like I said, they had to make this music. And who can argue with them based upon the results? They're scratching so many of my own personal musical itches by blending together their dramatic pop sensibilities with synthesizers and production that's rough around the edges; I'm completely ready to declare them fit for mass consumption. Okay, fit for the quirky, bookworm-smart, indie-pop loving, "I hate my boyfriend's taste in music", set. My kind of people. Super Volcano is my kind of band.

Listen:
"Instant Attraction"
"Jupiter"

See Super Volcano live:

29 August (TONIGHT) @ Crash Mansion - New York, New York
2 September @ Trash Bar - Williamsburg, New York
9 September @ Knitting Factory (Old Office) - New York, New York

Visit Super Volcano on MySpace.