Foxygen
We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic

Syd Barrett meets MGMT meets the Velvet Underground meets Tame Impala. This is the first thing that came to mind when listening to the new album by Foxygen.

We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic. A long title that encapsulates the band's deep devotion to the sixties, flowers in the barrels, peace signs, and sandals on their feet. In a word, hippie. A hippie sound updated, however, to our days, to the world of indie music. Released by Jagjaguwar, the album is the perfect example of how in 2013 one can still draw heavily from a bygone era, from a period that many of us have only seen in history books, without ever falling into the already heard.

The songs by the New Zealanders Foxygen are not only fun and brilliant, full of psychedelia and surf rock, but they are above all a breath of fresh air for all those who, like me, are tired of trends, hype, and the plasticity of today's music. The two Foxygen manage to restore good old rock without frills. There's the carefree manner of Mick Jagger in "No Destruction," there's the hoarse and shouted voice of Ray Davies in "On Blue Mountain." In the crazy title track, or in the single "Shuggie," citations from the past are not lacking, but the duo's inspiration is also visible, the desire to show that they are not just kids in love with the sixties. It slows down only at the end, with that "Oh No 2" that resurrects that sacred monster John Lennon.

Foxygen, or how I learned to stop worrying about trends and love rock'n'roll.