Today’s Track of the Day actually gets you 3 (or 4) for the price of one.  I have been receiving an absurd amount of singles in my email lately and was sifting through them to find what gem I could post today.  I prefer to put some more obscure singles out there, but most importantly, music I really like.  In an effort of journalism (and elitism), I’ll even occasionally list a track that I really don’t like, just so I can review it and tell you to steer clear of all of the muck on other music blogs.

One such band has to be Pin Me Down.  Pin Me Down has all of the traditional marketing of a blockbuster side project for Russell Lissack, lead guitarist of Bloc Party.  A boy/girl duo, Pin Me Down features Lissack pumping out astoundingly annoying and grating pop beats, probably found on Garage Band, with Milena Mepris giving a throaty croon over the rampant electronica.  The duo has an entire marketing campaign worked out to make them into the next big thing:  glitzy staged photographs, interviews with NME, and appearances throughout the UK just to blast teenagers heads into an epileptic coma.  To be completely honest (and Simon Cowell-like), this track sounds fit for a teenager’s karaoke machine.  I could see this track doing well for about a week at the local food court.  If you really want to download the single, you can do it here, at NME.

Sometimes though, the classic marketing scheme doesn’t guarantee you’ll have a quality product.  We all know that when something good comes along, all it takes is some word-of-mouth to make the product a household names.  There’s another boy/girl duo out there with so little known about their band that they could be almost anyone.  Even a giant like Pitchfork has uncovered nothing more than the fact that they’re “a boy/girl duo” and “film students from New York”.  The band has an “ungoogleable” name and no profiles on any social networking pages.  This band named Cults could have music marketers everywhere rewriting their strategy books.  Seeing through the cloud of mystery, Cults has released a 7″ on their bandcamp page, scheduled for release on December 23, 2012, and for free, no less.  No photos, band bios, or reviews . . . just the above black-and-white, stock photo of a dancing duo.  The astounding part?  The music is ridiculously good.  Retro-soul that is infectious with a very eerie, southern baptist vibe to it that makes you wonder exactly how it was produced.  Somewhere, there’s a couple of film students very proud of themselves, wanting to keep their little secret all to themselves and proving that bands don’t necessarily need a fully-flared Myspace page, Facebook Fanpage or glitzy press kit to make it big.

MP3: “The Curse” – Cults
MP3: “Go Outside” – Cults
MP3: “Most Wanted” – Cults

Related posts:

1. [Music Video] Cults – “Go Outside”
2. Track of the day: Blood Red Shoes – "Light it up"
3. Track of the day: The Decemberists – "Valerie Plame"