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The New School

From garage pop to electro-rock, club rap to neo-soul, today’s scene is a polyphonic affair. W goes on the road with music’s rising stars. Click here to watch interviews with Cults, Plan B and Twin Shadow.

By Karin Nelson and Fan Zhong
Photographs by Theo Wenner

July 2011

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Cults

“There hasn’t been such a fun time to make music since the Sixties,” says Brian Oblivion, who, with his girlfriend, Madeline Follin, formed the Brooklyn indie band Cults last year. The film school dropouts, whose debut LP came out in June, are putting out nostalgic, beatific pop songs that have caught the ear of Lily Allen, who subsequently signed them to her new UK-based label. “Our generation is really optimistic and happy,” says Oblivion, 22. “Everybody loves Top 40 music, these annoyingly infectious songs. We’re trying to subvert that.”

By Fan Zhong
Photographs by Theo Wenner

July 2011

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The New School

From garage pop to electro-rock, club rap to neo-soul, today’s scene is a polyphonic affair. W goes on the road with music’s rising stars. Click here to watch interviews with Cults, Plan B and Twin Shadow.