The Vanguard is a Top 15 Indie Pop band – The Deli Magazine

RethinkPopMusic’s artist The Vanguard are listed in the Top 20 indie pop bands by Deli Magazine. They are in good company with artists such as Santigold, Islands, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Chairlift and Ra Ra Riot. Check out the full list here: The Deli on the left side of the page.

Catch the Vanguard on Sept 17th at the RethinkPopMusic Launch at Crash Mansion: RSVP at http://RPM-RSVP.com

About the Vanguard:
In order to create the Vanguard, Zeus pinned a gigantic map of the world to the wall in his office. He picked up four golden darts. Blindfolded, he reached for the first dart, drew his hand back and flung it to the map. “Ah I see, the singer shall be from the mountains of Virginia,” and so, Aaron Barr was born. Flying through the air, the second dart dropped down in Przemysl, Poland. “How cute, a potato baby will be the guitarist.” The next was raised and thrown, descending upon the spot of earth called Serbia. “This little guy will witness the partition of his country. This will make him very good on the keys and bass guitar.” The creator reached for the final dart, but stopped before throwing it.” I need someone steady and dependable, unlike those other kookie kids. A drummer to hold the beat to the music.” He let it fly and it touched down in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Young man you will be the drummer,” the creator told the tango baby who had yet to be born. And, my friends, the rest is history. Since then, The Vanguard was featured on Matt Pinfield’s Morning Show on 101.9 RXP. The boys also just returned from playing five shows in four days at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas. SPIN.com named them a buzzworthy up-and-coming band because of their “bubbling melting pot of sounds, influences, and ethnic backgrounds.” They have pre-released two songs off their forthcoming LP to be fully released later this year. Make sure to look out for their music video directed by Patryk Rebisz for their song “Rio.” – Maria Clark

mtvU Woodie Awards

In Preview of mtvU’s Woodie Awards show which was taped Wednesday and airs November 19th – I award a few of my own Woodies:

Lykke Li played 2 and half songs including a cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” with mister Q Tip in the flesh.  The first song “Dance, Dance, Dance” which gets the “most likely to be cut from the actual program, but probably performed because it’s her next single Woodie Award”, was one of the best of the night even though we were standing in front of the monitors.

Santogold (can I call you Santi?) who is often compared to MIA, performed a good short set including “LES Artists”.  However, unlike MIA, she preformed live and received less of a response for her performance than the MIA’s “Paper Planes” video on the award show big screen. (“Best live music video Woodie goes to MIA”).

Finally, when we heard Chromeo was performing with Vampire Weekend, we thought “Oh God, this could potentially be cool, but it will most likely be horrifying.  “Well, it was neither.  Chromeo might as well have not even been there.  During VW’s “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance,” P – Thugg stood behind his legged lamp keyboard and Dave 1 played the guitar.  After playing back up to VW, they left their lit – up – half – body on stage – the only evidence that they performed.

Chromeo (no, not the leggy keyboard) get “Best Stage Prop Woodie Award”.

Maybe Walter Meego can stand in the background during Chairlift’s set next year.

The Kids Really Don’t Stand a Chance

Vampire Weekend will be joined by king’s of cheese Chromeo to play VW’s “The Kid’s Don’t Stand a Chance” at the mtvU Woodie Awards.   This odd collaboration could be really scary ,or it could potentially just appear that way.

The 2008 Woodie Awards air on mtvU November 19th.