Rocketship - A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness (1995)

Rocketship is an indie pop band formed in Sacramento, California in 1993. Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Dustin Reske with bassist Verna Brock, keyboardist Heidi Barney and drummer Jim Rivas, the group released the single "Hey, Hey, Girl" in 1994 and the album A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness in 1996. After the album's release, the original line-up dissolved and Reske continued Rocketship essentially as a solo project, releasing the singles "Honey, I Need You" and "Get on the Floor (And Move It)" in 1997 and the albums Garden of Delights in 1999 and Here Comes... Rocketship in 2006.

It's easy to write off indie-pop as an insular scene plagued by cutsiness, but then an album like Rocketship's reminds us what the genre can do. A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness takes sweet '60s-style pop (somewhat precious and cute, of course), and layers it with droning analog organs and waves of ringing guitars; Rocketship sounds nothing like Stereolab or My Bloody Valentine, but the feelings they evoke are similar. The album is one of the finest pieces of "bedroom music" to come from its scene, thanks to its bright, intensely happy sound and the great songwriting which works perfectly with it.

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A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness (1995) 128 Kbps