Mod-A-Day: Baskervilles

Out of New York comes one of the best indie pop bands on the scene today, the Baskervilles. The band shows glimmers of all sorts of influences from artists as diverse as Abba to the Beach Boys to the Bangles. Underneath it all is a great love and adherence to pop music, power pop to be sure.

The band has been playing music for years, about 16 to be exact. The current, and sharpest line up has been together since the late 90s and began recording in 2000 what would become their debute. In 2004 the Baskervilles teamed with famed power pop producer Mitch Easter of Let's Active to turn those self-released songs into their full-lenght, self-titled first album. It was a delicious, jangly power pop gem.

Then in 2008 they built on that for a second, poppier and yet lusher and more orchestrated album, Twilight. Where the first album was at times a diamond in the rough, Twilight was polished to a bright, sunny shine. The music was summery and bright, with some harmonized vocals, a few hints of disco, lots of strings, some well placed horns, all giving it a surprsingly simple and sophisticated sound.

The song here, "Everybody Looks Not Everybody Finds" is one of the band's finest. The arrangement is full of indie swagger, yet with overtones of tight, sharp Britpop that drive the song along.

Baskervilles -- Everybody Looks Not Everybody Finds