Walking On A Dream

1987 marked the year that the Steven Spielberg directed "Empire of the Sun" was released. If you're unfamiliar with the film, I highly recommend you see it. It's been years since I last saw it but I still remember it being quite inspiring. Fast forward 21 years later. An Australian pop-duo by the same name is formed. The band's reference to the movie is likely no coincidence: the guys recently filmed a video for the title track from their first record in Shanghai, China. Disregard the fact that the "Empire of the Sun" refers to the Japanese and not the Chinese; I guess you can't win 'em all.

By the looks of it, the "Walking On A Dream" video will probably be a contender for one of the best of the year. It's photography and production are top notch, though I may be a bit biased considering that the city in which its filmed is where my dad has lived for the past decade. Whatever the case, I haven't been able to get enough of the video ever since I first saw it a few hours ago. Three minutes just isn't enough!

"we are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
on and on and on we are calling out and out again
never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me"

Music trends come and go. For the past few years, established folk and indie artists like Broken Social Scene, Sufjan Stevens, and Iron & Wine have all been hugely influential, setting trends, and paving the way for contemporaries of theirs. This year, however, we've seen the MGMT's and the JUSTICE's of the world transform the music industry into one which revolves around substantially less. These artists, with the help of a few djs and a seemingly out-of-nowhere culture accompanying them, have made electronic music, disco, and stripped down pop music almost as popular today as it was during the late 70s and 80s. While pop music has certainly been a staple of American music culture for the better half of the past century, it was only recently that the world of independent music became more and more acceptant of it.

Empire of the Sun have the potential to succeed in both independent and mainstream circles, though it wont be too long before they are embraced by much larger audiences if they keep making music like this. They bring to mind Tegan & Sara-esque vocals, David Bowie style face-paint and eyeliner sported by frontman Luke Steele, and the musicianship of the immensely popular twosomes, MGMT and Ghostland Observatory, as well as Melbourne, Australia's infamous Cut Copy. I'm thinking that these characteristics can be attributed either to heavy doses of drugs or something in the water in Australia. Or both. If all the above sounds a bit strange, you're right: it definitely is. But it's good-strange. I promise. And if you've got a second, I also recommend checking out Nick Littlemore's (one-half of Empire of the Sun) other project, Pnau.