Tesla Boy

Tesla Boy from Russia make really delightful synth pop. Their debut album "Modern Thrills" (2010) is grrreeeeaat and highly recommended by the staff of Ooberus Oblivious. They have just released a new single "Fantasy" which you can listen to over at their Soundcloud page (it sounds great so don't hesitate!). Here are a couple of singles off "Modern Thrills" for your orientation, but mostly for your utter enjoyment!! The video for "Electric Lady" has a nice kinky feel...oh vinyl suits, who doesn't own one nowadays?!

Cocoanut Groove

Cocoanut Groove has returned! Oh thank goodness! "I've Been Following Lonely Roads" is taken from the new EP "Colours" released on Sweden's own Fraction Discs. The video features beautiful, albeit random video footage which suits the song to perfection. Hopefully this is just a taste of what is to come on the sophomore album!

inDIeVA Alert! - Erleen Nada!

Hellllllo! Erleen Nada is awesome! I've only just found out about her from my new RYM friend Gilbert, whose label Destination Pop released one of her singles last year. This song is awesome and I love the attitude and I love the synth pop and I love Erleen Nada! Let's dance!! (you can download a few of her songs FREE over at her soundcloud page!)

Orca Team

One of NYC Popfest's many highlights was Seattle-based Orca Team. They played a super fun, high energy set that had me bopping throughout. Plus, they're not only super cute, but also super friendly. I bought everything they had for sale, including the tote bag & chapstick, 2 cassettes, 2 7" and I think there might even be a demo CD in there! Their debut album "Restraint" is being released on June 14 by the too cute Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records! I've already pre-ordered mine, you must now do the same! Here are a few of their simply cute videos, including "I'm Waiting" which features a little strip-tease!!

The Great Amazing Cupcake Race / Tour - NYC Edition - Part 2

The Great Amazing Cupcake Race was really all about Saturday, May 19, when me and my team of cupcake lovers ventured into the big city in search of great cupcakes! Team ButterCream Dream was lead by myself, and my trusty Sergeants Rockyboo, Boobarella Crys, & Sexy Swiss Mrs. Pilar! We decided to eat brunch at this cute little French spot, Le Barricou, before the Race. This proved most deadly to most of my team by mid-day!

1) After brunch, we ran ourselves over to Grand Central Station for our 1st stop...the very well renowned Magnolia Bakery. They had so many treats to choose from but I forced myself to just ONE small lemon cupcake! It was light, it was airy, easy to devour in milliseconds. Good frosting, good cake...thumbs up! My teammates enjoyed various other varieties, all very happy with our choices! Magnolia, you are good! Needless to say, I will be finding the Los Angeles location so I can devour some of those mini cheesecakes!! Shortly after our Magnolia stop, we had our 1st fallen comrade in Sexy Swiss Mrs. Pilar! Proof that cupcaking is no easy business! While we were sad to see her go, my team and I marched forward!

2) Our next stop, Georgetown Cupcake in SoHo. I ordered the Salted Caramel & Chocolate Ganache. Crystal ordered the Mint Cookies n Creme. I tried Crystal's first, and it was delicious and I don't even like mint/chocolate chippy things! Then, I tried my Salted Caramel. I just about died. I cussed, my head bounced back, I clinched my fists...I buttercreamed myself! It was soooooooooooooooo damn good!! And these next words, I do not type them lightly...
IT WAS THE BEST CUPCAKE I HAVE EVER HAD, EVER!!!! Georgetown Cupcake is opening a Los Angeles location in Fall 2012. I will be there, and it better be a Tuesday or Saturday (the only days they serve Salted Caramel).

3) I could have easily stopped touring after the deliciousness we just consumed, but we continued! Our next stop, Cafe Angelique Express, a quick little street-side stand around the corner from Georgetown. Crys got the Spumoni and I got the Strawberry Alarm Clock. We saved these cupcakes until later as we had just filled up on magic. When we did eat them, they were good, just not magical! They do win the award for best cupcake liners though!

4) Sugar Sweet Sunshine, whose name I could not remember for the life of me, was next. I ordered a Pumpkin Spice which was really good when I finally got around to eating it. Nice frosting. Crystal ordered something I do not remember but she was not impressed. Well!

5) Next, we walked over to Crystal's favourite cupcakery (this may be changing), Butter Lane. A new comrade in the form of MC Maggie joined our crew and we were so glad to have a full team again! At Butter Lane you choose your cupcake base, of which there are three, and then you choose whichever frosting you want, of which there are a plethora! What we ordered: banana / sea salt chocolate; vanilla / cream cheese; vanilla / blueberry; chocolate / caramel. We ate two of those, since Crystal sorta forgot our other 2 at the shop! What!!!??? Well, my vanilla / blueberry was good but I really wanted my chocolate caramel, since Crys says their sea salted frostings are the best! This will have to wait until next time. So, incomplete verdict, Butter Lane is decent.

6) While we were certain our cupcaking had concluded, MC Maggie tipped us off to one final destination that was on our way home, Dessert Club Chikalicious! This was a tiny little shop with tiny little cupcakes! Rocky had a mini-Green Tea which he liked, even though he lost the middle of it. Crystal quite enjoyed her mini-Lychee cupcake. I got a S'mores cupcake which was rather difficult to eat by that time but I did. The marshmallow frosting was too thick and tough to eat. The cake wasn't very yummy, but the chocolate in the middle made up for that (a bit).

We left our final cupcakery, stuffed, exhausted, but very happy! Memories of my salted caramel from Georgetown Cupcake kept me walking on sunshine throughout the rest of the day, and trip for that matter!
Georgetown Cupcake Salted Caramel, I love you!!

Stay tuned for The Great Amazing Cupcake Race - LA Edition!
I am accepting new teammate applications, always!

Bodebrixen - Ghost

Here's the newest single from Danish pop band Bodebrixen. Sounds great, a little darker than the super sweet pop of their 1st two releases. The new album "Out of Options" is due out in September!

Henric de la Cour

Not sure exactly what to say about this, other than I really love the song. The video is pretty sad, given the beach volleyball theme! Oh wait, he's all gothed out! No wonder it's sad! This really is nice.
I present, Henric de la Cour's "Grenade":

The Great Amazing Cupcake Race / Tour - NYC Edition - Part 1

I don't believe I have ever posted something non-music related on Ooberus Oblivious. Today, that all changes! Last week, Rockyboo and I ventured to the busy & smelly city of New York to visit my sissypoo & friends AND for NYC Popfest 2012! Oooh, it was fun! During the course of the trip, I made it one of our goals to eat as many cupcakes as possible! This is the documentation & review of our cupcake (and dessert) adventures, so when you next visit the city, you know where to cupcake!

Day 1 led us first to Champs Family Bakery, which is not only all-vegan and a bakery, but also a full-service restaurant with tons of vegan deliciousness to eat!!! I ate a vegan burger, and only that so I could save room for the treats that were staring at us the entire time we were there! I was having trouble deciding what to get, as they had A LOT of options. We ended up going with the peanut butter/chocolate cupcake, a chocolate/chocolate brownie, a black & white cookie, and peanut butter cups! Well, the cupcake was a bit dry (I blame the refrigeration) but the peanut butter fluff that sat atop the cake with choco ganache, was super decadent! I didn't eat the cookie or brownie myself (or they just didn't share!), but was told they were nothin' special. We completed our dessert with the peanut butter cups, and BAMBAM, sooooooooo gooooood!!!! Little tiny deliciousness bites of yummy scrumptiousness!! Yesss!! Get them!!

Winner: Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

After shopping for MUSIC (I can still squeeze it in), we got lost and ventured through an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. That was interesting. Well, after eventually finding a familiar corner, I turned around and noticed Brooklyn Cupcake in the distance, to which we immediately scurried over! Greeted by smiles and a super high temperature, we quickly asked for recommendations. Once they started informing us, our jaws dropped and we dove right in to our order. Tres Leches! Coquito (Coconut infused with Rumpope)! Strawberry Cheesecake (to which they informed us this was only called cheesecake thanks to the cream cheese frosting!)! Flan!! French Toast!! We ordered all of those, plus a simple Oreo Cupcake. We shared these all in one sitting at Duck Duck Bar, and everyone was in love!!

Our favourite...the Coquito followed very closely by the Tres Leches!!! Awesome and extremely helpful owner/staff, awesome cupcakes...they just need to look into an air conditioner, cos child, it was hot up in there!!

Winner: The Coquito cupcake (and the owner/staff!)

The next stop on our Cupcake Tour led us to another Brooklyn cupcakery by the name of Cupcakeland! Here, we tried the Banana Nutella (it was ok!), the Chocolate Ganache (it was ok! The chocolate potato chip looking thingy on top was the best part!), and the Peanut Butter (it was ok!) Rocks also got a vegan oatmeal raisin cookie, which was good as far as vegan cookies are concerned, but nothing to go back for. So the cupcakes were pretty standard, nothing too superb, BUT what they did have that knocked my socks off is their Strawberry Basil Lemonade!! Ooooh child, on a hot summer day, sitting on my porch, I could easily drink two gallons of that lemonade! It was gooooooooooood! Too small though!

Right next store to Cupcakeland is Momofuku Milk Bar, which initially distracted us and peaked Rocky's interest thanks to his never-ending need for milk with his cupcakes! So we go in, expecting to find an expansive menu of milk, but instead are greeted by sweet smells of yummy and a menu that has only TWO milk options (Cereal Milk & Pretzel Milk) and a whole array of other yummy yummies, like milkshakes (some with alcohol), pie, cake, cookies and truffles!! This was meant to be, and I quickly scooted over to Rocky as he ordered the Cereal MilkShake and snuck in an order for THREE cookies and THREE cake truffles! I did notice their tempting pie slices, but we avoided those (until our last day in the city).
So, Rocky's Cereal MilkShake tasted weird to me, but he really liked it and eventually got another one days later when we popped out of a subway only to be greeted by another Milk Bar!
My cookies (blueberry & cream / corn / cornflake marshmallow) were all delicious, but especially the CORN cookie! That thing is amazing. On our 2nd visit to a Milk Shop, I picked up some Corn cookie mix!!
The cake truffles (we got strawberry lemon cake) were divine little fluffy love bites!
We were scolded for not getting any pie our first time around, so we made sure to get some Crack Pie on our 2nd visit and ooooooh child, that was some sweet, rich gooooooooooood gooey deliciousness maximus!

So, all the baked goods we tried at Momofuku Milk Bar are pretty damn amazing, but my standout all-star, Best in Show is the Corn Cookie! Get it!!

Winners: Cupcakeland's Strawberry Basil Lemonade / Momofuku Milk Bar's Corn Cookie

to be continued....

iamamiwhoami - kill

I have been away in NY, but have returned to this insanely mesmerizing welcome back video by iamamiwhoami. I could not look away! The supposed last "single" from "kin" even though there is a reported final song on the album. A very beautiful and fitting conclusion to the video series, but something tells me we'll have something else soon...

Quick!

This just came out this week! I just found out! It's cute!! Garbage can love!! Oh yes, it's The Magnetic Fields!!!

Death in the Afternoon - John Who

Here's a very cute little song/video from Death in the Afternoon, who hail from Sweden! Yay! The song is taken from their just released EP "Singles & B-Sides" which I have only heard briefly, but it sounds synth-tastic!!!

Momus - Bibliotek

Here's a beautifully shot video for the new song "Bibliotek" from the album of the same name by the ever lovely Momus. "Bibliotek" is due June 5 on his own American Patchwork label. Buy it from one of my favourite online record shops, Darla! yay!

iamamiwhoami - rascal

Moody beauty from iamamiwhoami...album of the year seems to be inevitable...

Paris

It's been 5 years since we've heard any new music from Paris. That's too long! "Say It" is the lead track from their upcoming EP (due May 30th) entitled "From Paris to Pluto"! And for those of you who don't know, Ooberus-inDIeVA Emmon is a member of Paris which makes them that much more awesome!!

Geoffrey O'Connor - Proud / So Sorry

Here's the latest video from Geoffrey O'Connor's awesome debut album, "Vanity Is Forever", (under his own name)...



Might as well post this too...which is the 2nd video from the same album. I posted the first many moons ago!

Light Asylum

Light Asylum's self-titled debut was just released this past Tuesday. I'm excited to hear it, even though the awesomeness below isn't on it. Anywho...say three Hail Mary's, turn around, pray about it! Woooooooo!!

Hecuba

Ooooh Hecuba! We are going to see them next week! It's free! It's at the Echo! It's the record release show for their new album "Modern" out on Germ! Come on everybody! Woooooooot!!
Love the ending of this video...

The School

Keeping with today's now-theme of super cute girl-fronted indie pop released by Elefant Records, I present The School's newest, "Never Thought I'd See the Day"! The song is featured on the EP of the same name released in March and will also be on their 2nd album "Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything" which comes out May 14th! Yay! Super cute video alert! Claw machines & bowling...Cudddddles!!!

The Primitives

The Primitives are back in full force! After breaking up in the early 90's, they decided to reunite for some shows in 2010 & released the lovely little "Never Kill a Secret EP" last year. Now, they have a new album out called "Echoes and Rhymes" on Elefant. It is all covers of obscure female-fronted groups from the 60s! Yummmm!!! Here is the 1st video off that album and it's a good one!

Candy

Cola Jet Set are from Spain and they are coming to NYC Popfest later this month! I am so excited!! This is their cover of the great Magnetic Fields song "Candy"! The video features cupcakes, cute girls, & pinball!! wow!!


This song was released on their 7" EP "Listen & Repeat" (2011) by the always lovely Elefant Records. YAY!