Sounds Of Hopscotch 2013 #19: Estrangers

Hard as it may be to believe, it's once again time for Hopscotch. One of my favorite festival happenings, Hopscotch is a mere hop, skip, and a jump or two from the DC metro in lovely Raleigh, North Carolina. For the past few years they've been reeling in some seriously impressive lineups, and this year looks to be no different. Thanks to scheduling conflicts, I won't be heading down for this year's sonic extravaganza, but (not at all surprisingly) I've got recommendations on who to check out if you're heading to the fest.

I love it when bands don't take themselves too seriously. When I hear Estrangers, I hear just a touch of camp, and when you add that to the overall solidness of their songs, you get a band that makes yours truly very happy indeed. There's definitely a retro slant here, take your pick from several decades past. The end result combines girl group shimmy and fuzzy production married with 80s synth pop energy...along with good old fashioned Carolina cooing. A winning combination of the highest order indeed.