Dublin four-piece The Cast of Cheers have an infectious energy with an addicting and lasting quality. Their guitar driven pop is punchy and captivating. With looped riffs, expert layering, and earnest lyrics the tracks are super catchy and just stunning. With sharp guitar work the band truly takes advantage of every second of their debut album Chariot.

Their debut single “Family” was released yesterday along with a video that is given the stop motion treatment, reflective of their choppy, fast paced sound. The video along with Royal Scams’ remix of the track is availible for free download.

We also had the pleasure of speaking with band member Conor Adams on everything from ridiculous gigs to living the ultimate sweetlife:

Kelly: Any crazy concert or fan stories?

Conor: We’ve not been fortunate/unfortunate enough to have CRAZY stories yet but heres hoping! Neil’s guitar was robbed at a gig once and we just found out before we took the stage. The only option he had was to borrow a ridiculously pimped out “flying V” guitar. He wasn’t too happy but it looked hilarious and we broked our shit laughing at it for the whole gig.

K: What’s your song writing process like?

C: I’ll usually come up with the guts of a song on my own using a loop pedal to play various guitar and bass parts. I always record in some dull hits to sound like a constant bass drum to give the tune a feeling of pace. That way the guitars and bass can feel quite exciting when they’re played side by side. I’ll bring it into rehersal and we jam it out, tweaking it where necessary. It’s quite a quick way to get songs down.

K: What do you consider to be major influences to your music?

C: It sounds cheesy to say but absolutely everything we see, hear and experience are influences on our music. If life is built on experience and funnels the way we see the world and live in it, then that applies to what we create. Everything that has made us functional as people has also helped us create the music we do, be it other bands, friends, films, illness, memories of memories…whatever.

K: Is there any particular city or venue that you’re dying to play?

C: There’s not one particular palce. I think we’re happy to play to anyone anywhere. That said, it would be lovely to tour around a warm climate! There’s a certain spark of life the sun brings out in people…actually, The Colosseum.

K: If you had to choose 5 of your favorite tracks of the moment what would they be?

C: Hhhmmmm… It’s always weird to say your top 5 of anyhting, mostly because I’m fickly and it will have changed by the afternoon. But here’s what I’d say, in no particular order right this minute:

She wants- Metronomy
Bodies- The Smashing Pumpkins
Blast off!- River Cuomo
ping island/lightening strike rescue op- Mark Mothersbaugh
Mayday- Thingy

K: You’re probably sick of (and amused by) people trying to define your music by genre but if you had to chose a food that would sum up your music what would it be?

c: Pasta bake! There are so many different kinds, the only constant being the pasta. And we all know pasta is the same as guitar.

K. Sweetlife.is an online site that celebrates the sweetlife: what we refer to as the intersection of music, lifestyle, food, and style. We’re trying to figure out how to define this intersection. How would The Cast of Cheers define the sweetlife?

C: Eating a giant bag of king cheese & onion in the world’s biggest water park listening to Ping Island = the sweetlife

RAC stopped by the sweetgreen University of Maryland store afterhours to play the location’s opening party. With flawlessly mixed indie hits and plenty of bass, the crowd could not stop dancing. The duo took to the salad bar and the space was glowing with hits. Check out the photos below courtesy of Chloe Jones for some of the night’s highlights.

Today, Walk the Moon released its new Anna Sun EP via RCA Records. The  EP features a new recording of the band’s hit single “Anna Sun” as well as a brand new tracks “Next in Line” and “Tightrope”. The album is available through iTunes as well as at their live shows. While Walk the Moon released an album in November of 2010, this EP comes after their signing with RCA records and takes the bands synthy-rock sound to the next level with production by Ben Allen.

They will be opening for Kaiser Chiefs at the 9:30 club in DC on March 9. Sweetlife Festival and Session vets, Walk the Moon put on an extremely energetic and interactive live show, definitely a must see. The release of their Anna Sun EP is in anticipation of their full length album which will be released in May. Produced by the amazing Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, MIA, Matt & Kim, Bombay Bicycle Club, Reptar…), this album is sure to bring some more of their signature energy inducing dance pop. Make sure you see them live and check out their EP on tuesday.

Strokes’ frontman and solo artist Julian Casablancas had the unique opportunity of chatting with Doors members Robby Rieger (guitar) and Ray Manzarek (organist/keys) for the upcoming documentary Mojo Risin: The Making of L.A. Woman. Casablancas cites The Doors as the reason he chose music as his life path. Their unique and masterful music as well as the atmosphere and intensity they created had a tremendous impact on Casablancas growing up. Due to the gravity of the situation he said that his interview style was Chris Farley-like- basically over-excited to hear them talk about anything. Below is an exerpt from their conversation, the full interview can be found at complex.

Julian Casablancas: I’ve always loved the song “Universal Mind”. Did you guys ever record an album version of that song or is that just something you did live?

Robby Krieger: I think we (originally) did it as part of “Celebration of Lizard”, is that right Ray?

Ray Manzarek: Fuck, I don’t know man. I don’t remember that stuff. How obscure…

RK: No, we recorded it for an album but it never made it on an album. Why does it sound like a live cut rather than an album cut?

JC: Yeah, it’s live. I just always thought it was a really wonderful song.

RK: It really wasn’t a finished song so we [tried to] put it into a larger piece, “Celebration of a Lizard”. But I agree, it’s a good song, coulda been a hit single…

RM: Noooo! [Laughs] You can’t say “Universal Mind” on American Radio! That would be blasphemy. Although I must say my mother, a good Catholic girl, loved that song. That was like one of her favorite Doors songs. She’d sing it to me on the phone. Here’s what she would do: “I was doing time in the Universal Mind, I was feeling…all right!” that was her little twist…

JC: I thought you couldn’t remember! That’s awesome

RM: Remember the words….I can remember all the words as a kind of memory test?

JC: I don’t even know the words to my songs

RM: In the Doors, we knew all the words. This is a band that wasn’t just playing chord changes, we were listening to Jim. I was listening to Robbie, and feeling John, and then listening to Jim’s words. We all knew when it was an improvisation and when it wasn’t. Nobody was just blasting; we were always listening to each other. Perhapse that’s one of the secrets of The Doors, I don’t know. We always knew what everyone else was doing.

JC: Would there ever be times when, with chords underneath, you’d suggest a certain note for Jim to sing here and there?

RK: It was pretty hard to tell Jim what to sing, man. He knew what he wanted to sing. Our job was to make the music fit what he sang- which wasn’t always that easy.

RM: He had a great sense of measure, you know, how many measures to allow to go by before he would come back in singing again. Allowing space for music to be played, for a little line to be played on the guitar or on the keyboard, then he would come back in where he was supposed to come back in.
RK: And on some of the songs that I wrote I would sing it to him and tell him how to sing it. And he would never do it how I told him, but it would always come out better.

JC: That’s nice of you to say

RK: Do you play guitar or what?

JC: Yeah, and I play piano probably as good as Jim Morrison did

RK: How old were you when you heard the Doors?

JC: I was fourteen. My stepdad gave me a tape of The Best of The Doors, back when there were still cassette tapes happening, and that was the first music that I heard where I felt like I could decipher all the intertwining parts clearly. And that’s when I wanted to play music. I read a book about The Doors, and knew every song and all that-I don’t want to bore you with my fandom.

RK: that’s cool

RM: What’s great is that in music each new generation comes along and draws from the past. Robbie was listening to a lot of country blues and I grew up in Chicago so I was influenced by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reid and John Lee Hooker. I heard the Bo Diddley beat on the radio in Chicago and I thought Holy Christ, what tribe is this? Right here in Chicago playing that incredible beat. That’s all I wanted to do. I heard that and I was hooked.

We Found Love (Star Slinger Refix) – Rihanna

Crew Love (MeLo-X Remix) – Drake (ft. The Weeknd)

Breakin’ The Chains of Love (Keenhouse Remix) – Fitz & The Tantrums

You’ve Got The Love (The xx Remix) – Florence & The Machine

Playground Love (originally by Air) – Phoenix

Show Me Love (Bootleg Version) – Robin S

Punch Drunk Love – Teams vs. Star Slinger

Click HERE to download.

The collaboration of Channy Leaneagh (Roma di Luna) and Ryan Olson (GAYNGS) decided to move away from their classic sounds into a georgeous electronic experiment. What results is light and airy electro sounds underwritten by a soulful folk background. Poliça is full of opposition and plays with the ideas of dark and light. Needless to say the tracks are full of intrigue. The experimental use of autotune adds a starry, delicate, heartfelt electrovibe to the tracks. Did you love Bon Iver’s track “Woods”? Imagine that idea expanded on for an entire album. Channy Leaneagh uses the distortion to her advantage, manipulating it like an instrument to create swirling melodies that unravel beautifully. Poliça also features contributions from Mike Noyce (Bon Iver) and was mixed by Jim Eno of Spoon. Their debut album Give You the Ghost will be released on February 14. Also be sure to catch them at the Red Palace in DC on March 23 & Kung Fu Necktie in Philly on March 24. Channy took the time to answer some of our questions on their new supergroup venture:

KC: How did the formation of Poliça come about?

Poliça came out of me singing back-ups in Gayngs and spending too much time with Ryan. I sent him a few songs I had written and asked if he’d work with me and he said yep. It turned out that the two of us work pretty well together.

KC: What drove the decision to use autotune and at what part of the music making process did the decision come into play?

Affected vocals were a part of the “Poliça Policy” from the very begining. Poliça is r&b to me (or atleast I wish it was) and what would “I Wanna Be Your Man” be without vocal fx? I’m addicted to affected vocals and I ain’t going back.

KC: How would you describe the mood of Give You the Ghost?

The mood is lonely, lust and strange inside a smoke filled room steaming with summer heat; writing sessions going till 6am, manic delirium, self-hatred at it’s finest, paranoia and thrashing away at love and happiness.

KC: What do you consider to be major influences to your music?

Other performers and vocalist like Aliyah, Amel Larieux, Sam Cooke, Cat Power. I am most influenced by the people I write with, my perosnal history, present drama and my pitiful search for meaning.

KC: with so many effects and experimentations with electronic sounds do you find it difficult to translate your music to a live performance?

I don’t find it difficult; I find it the best use of my time next to writing songs. Me and Ryan (especially Ryan) think about performing the songs live from the start of the songwriting process.

KC: sweetlife.is is a site that celebrates the sweetlife: what we refer to as the intersection of music, lifestyle, food and style. We’re trying to figure our how to define this intersection. How would Poliça define the sweetlife?

I would add art and film to that list and then you would have something like “necessary relief for surviving a depressing and cruel world”.

Theres an exciting new project in the pipeline for 2012. XL Records founder Richard Russell announced that he’s currently working on a project with Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn and soul legend Bobby Womack. Also, Lana Del Rey has contributed to one of the tracks from the album which is set to drop later this year. Neadless to say, theres going to be some pretty serious vocals on this album. This sort of cross-genre collaboration appears to be a trend for XL as evidenced by the previously released Jamie XX / Gil Scott-Heron album and Russell’s most recent project DRC Music. Russell remarked that is is a natural grouping as Womback contributed to the Gorillaz’s track “Stylo” and Russell and Damon worked on DRC Music together. In an interview with Billboard Richard Russell explained the mashup:

“I think it sounds like a very modern soul record, really. His voice is amazing and I think if people have been listening to things like Frank Ocean and the Weeknd then they’ll like it. I think those artists are very influenced by Bobby and you can join a lot of the dots.”

Gorillaz- Stylo