Pop Revival

Pop Revival is a fairly new genre, but it's very quickly becoming the sound of The New Tens.

Its a subgenre of Indie Rock that rose out of mid-2000s New Wave revival, Power Pop, Indie Pop and the twee bands of the late 80's/early 90's (namely Beat Happening, Belle and Sebastian and the Sarah Records bands). Pop Revival incorporates elements of Rockabilly, Soul, Surf Rock, Punk Rock, Shoegaze and Lo-Fi. The result is something that sounds old, but isn't easily comparable to earlier music. The popularity of Pop Revival coincides with a sudden pervasive and unexplained interest in 1960s clothing, music and design. The genre is based mainly in Los Angeles, especially Sunset Boulevard and the East Side.

Though many of the genre's pioneers were male, Girl Groups dominate, as well as many one-off side projects. Several older bands such as Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, and MGMT have also begun dabbling in the style. Overlaps with Soul Revival.

Early Adopters:

• The Format (2001-2008), cultishly admired Power Pop band who made just two albums before breaking up. While predating the Pop Revival genre, they had major influence on many of the bands who would later inhabit the genre.
• The Fratellis (2005-2010), the Trope Makers; though their status as a pop revival band is debatable due to Early Installment Weirdness.
• The Kooks (2002-present)
• The Like (2001-present), originally a Los Angeles-based New Wave group who finally achieved success with Release Me.
• Los Campesinos (2006 - present), originally a twee-influenced band and an early pioneer of the pop revival genre, they've long since left the genre behind as their music became darker, noisier and wittier.
• She and Him (2006-present)
• The Shins (1996-present), An older band whose indie-pop sound and relative success in the world of indie rock led to them being a massive influence on the sound of later Pop Revival bands, who have in turn influenced the Shins' more recent recordings.
• Vampire Weekend (2006-present), critical darlings who were also the first band in the genre to make any sort of headway in the mainstream.
• Vivian Girls (2007-present), the Trope Codifier for their use of harmonies, echo-y effects, and sixties-throwback aesthetics.

Notable Later Artists:

• The Babies (a Vivian Girls side project)
• Best Coast
• Dum Dum Girls
• The Fling, very nearly the Trope Namer for actually explaining the genre.
• Foster the People, who are by now probably the most successful artist of the genre, in terms of mainstream pop radio success.
• Fun, which features former Format (ibid.) singer Nate Ruess.
• Gotye
• The Last Shadow Puppets (side-project of Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner)
• La Sera (another Vivian Girls side project)
• Veronica Falls
• Warpaint
• Wavves