"I'll Make You a Mixtape..": To Wear Polka Dots With

by B Condon 8:54 PM

If anyone knows me very well, everyone knows that I am obsessed with retro-sounding music. Doesn't matter what the lyrics are, as long as you can dance like a 60s girl group in polka dots (see my inspiration in a few scrolls) whether in real life or in your head (that would be what I do all day).

 You Don't Like Rock-n-Roll 

Hunx and his Punx

VIDEO CONTAINS EPIC EXPLICITNESS. 
YOU  HAVE BEEN WARNED. 
What's boy-on-boy-loving, polka dot inducing and black leather all over? Mostly inspired from the 60s Ramones-style for their latest EP "Too Young to be in Love," Seth Bogart and his girly crew are back with a new sound. While Gay Singles was more on a power-punk pop and a few electrical licks leftover from Bogart's days of Gravy Train, they have fashioned a new sound and the images are... yeah... wow.

One Kiss Don't Make a Summer 

Lucky Soul

 Somewhere between champagne and bubblegum is where Ali Howard, Andrew Laidlaw, Ivor Sims, Russell Grooms, Paul Atkins and new addition Art Terry lie. Based out of South London and as an opener for The Pipettes back in 2009, Lucky Soul jumps between as a new Pink Martini of lounge music and early sixties revival.

Love in a Trash Can

The Raveonettes

The Raveonettes lack the ability to suck, especially early Raveonettes where everything is more garage inspired and the sound is like something out of Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" slightly goth yet bubblegum at the same time. The new album, "Raven in the Grave" has been released April 4th.

Sadness is a Blessing 

Lykke Li

While a little more subtle with the famous Ronettes beat backing Lykke's signature electronic sound, "Sadness is a Blessing" is a little more sad than the rest of the music on this list, "These scars of mine make wounded rhymes tonight I dream of times when you were mine so I can keep it like a haunting" Li sings, admitting that sometimes sadness is a necessary, but somewhat of a positive attribute could come from it.

Release Me 

The Like

This is one of the most addicting and dance-able songs to ever grace my ears. Like Hunx and his Punx, they shifted sounds (and the line-up) with their latest LP, 2010's "Release Me" which have become an improvement for the future of "The Like 2.0" from classic California alternative-rock. Their videos, like "Wishing He Was Dead", is jammed pack with 60s inspired fashion and not just in their music. They're 100 % into it and the love is noticeable.

Double Knots 

The Living Sisters

Inara George is just one of those women who is truly immortal through both music (Merrick, The Bird and the Bee, as well as solo projects) and looks. The woman doesn't age, and as one third of The Living Sisters, she shows that she fits perfectly in a vintage frock assisted with her guitar alongside Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark (the voice of Lavender Diamond, The Decemberists) singing perfect and tight melodies. 

Pull Shapes 

The Pipettes

Video inspired from 60stastic "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and a gift of witty writing through retro melodies has made me absolutely obsessed with the Pipettes... or at least their (rare) first and second line-ups of Rose, RiotBecki and Gwenno. Forget who they are now (Gwenno and sister, Ani) and even better, forget their early manifesto as wiping the Beatles off of the musical radar and focus on the right now of what they used to be.

I was Made For You 

She and Him

It wouldn't be a retro play list without at least one song from Zooey Deschanel and guitar bad-ass M. Ward. Zooey as a mod hipster dream sings this surprisingly original song, written in 2008 that makes you need to google-search to make sure that this isn't a cover. Really! It isn't. It's THAT good.