Episode 32: The Pocket Gods Futuristic Indie Pop

Today on the podcast we are featuring the St Albans, England group The Pocket Gods. Learn more about them and listen to their track “Living in the Meta Verse.”

Show Notes and Full Show Transcript

Hey everyone welcome to the Eat Sleep Breathe Music podcast. I am your host Jeanette Kimszal. For those of you just joining us this is the podcast where I talk about different musicians how their music affects me and then play there track for you to listen to. 

So you can check it out and form your own opinion as well. And you can tell us as well if you’re so inclined.

So today I am talking about the St. Albans, England group The Pocket Gods.

So The Pocket Gods Have been around for awhile. They’ve been playing music all the back to their inception in 1997 and was founded by lead songwriter Mark Christopher Lee. 

The group was actually discovered by the late legendary DJ John Peel and even get name-checked in his auto-biography “Margrave Of The Marshes” which was pretty cool.

Yeah, so they were together back in 1998 and I think there have been some different line up changes over the years.  

And this song I’m going to be playing you today is actually off their 77th album so it’s amazing these guys have put out over the last couple years. 

In terms of the genre the band is described they have been kind of referred to as a cult lo fi indie group and they also have been championed by a lot of BBC radio people. 

Huw Stephens from BBC Radio 1, British punk rock singer Tom Robinson, and also Steve Lamacq a BBC Radio 6 Music DJ.

So you know they’ve had a lot of uhm music they put out for a long time. They are the ultimate hard working band. They have been struggling and they have been trying to make a name for themselves.

They’ve been playing for a really long time. They have so much music they have even been put into the 

Guinness World Record for the most tracks recorded on one album. 

They put out. I think it was earlier this year. They had a “1000X30 Nobody Makes Money Anymore” and it contained 1,000 30-second songs.

So like, could you just wrap your head around that. Like making 1,000 songs? It’s just…its just so cool of them that they did this.

And it was also written in protest against lack of fair royalties for artists on streaming.

So the band was kind of protesting Spotify because they weren’t given them enough royalties so the band created 1,000 second songs and its really kind of catapalted them like into the mainstream and a lot of news outlets and a lot of music outlets had picked up the story.

So it kind of really was a great thing for them because I they are getting fans worldwide and they’re  also getting all this press for it.

And it’s really great because they are not only doing something that is meaningful to them and to so many artists but they are also making a statement saying we won’t stand for this. We need to get paid what we feel we are worth.

It shows the testament of the band and they were even able to get a meeting with the head of music at Spotify who made a concession to allowed 30 second songs to be part of a playlist and would pass the price rises to artists. 

So it’s awesome that this band is challenging the streaming platforms and trying to get better. It shows the power of the pen and music. It’s just need.

And if you’re looking for some good music check out their album. They have such musical depth. All these songs are so different but they are so like really great. They are entertaining and something to check out.

It’s amazing how much of an impact a 30 second song can have. I would definately recommend taking a listen and I’ll leave a link in the show notes where you can find that album “1000X30 Nobody Makes Money Anymore.” 

That album also illustrates their varied musical abilities and creativity and genius of this band. So it’s a really neat thing to check. 

Before coming out with this album the also released a bunch of music during the pandemic as a way to deal with like anxiety and mental issues the lead singer Mark Lee was going through.

And it was good. I had listened to it back in 2021 and we had featured a couple songs and they even had a Christmas song last year.

There was one funny one he was sick of watching box sets (laughing).  And he wrote a song about “Something Wrong with the Phalange” based on the FRIENDS episode. I think it was the last episode where Rachel was on the plane and Pheobe was trying to get her off the plane saying there was something wrong with the phlange.

 It’s got a funny song and it’s got a great beat and it’s interesting how much the music varied just between that and this new song I’m going to play for you today. 

They have a lot ot offer for a lot of different people depending on what your interests are and what you’re into.

So, so, today the track that I’m plaing is going to be off their upcoming new album called “Bitcoins In The Fountain.”and that is  due out June 2nd.

They say it will be an “indie future pop” album. It’s gonna be a concept pop album on life in 2022 and the technology driven future that awaits us.

This song it’s called “Living in the Meta Verse” and it’s got a repititous chorus and its got that indie vibe guitars. 

And the lead singer has a very unique and distinct voice which is interesting and fun to listen to. But uh yeah, I…I really like this band.

I think they have a lot ot offer a lot of people. And If you’re interested in learning more about the band they have a book called “Weird: The Life and Times of a Pocket Guide” as well as a documentary of the same name. This was nominated for a 2020 Jean Luc Goddard award.

The documentary explores their 21 years of indie non-existence and the history of their 30 second song idea! The film also explores frontman Mark Christopher Lee’s battle with mental health issues culminating in a suicide attempt.

You know this music can also help people on an emotional level. Its interesting because they talk about a lot of issues people are dealing with its just very real emotional music and its also fun and its got a really great beat and this song is a little bit more futurisitic.

It seems to bring in more other musical insturments than I’ve heard in other songs.

It sounds like there are piano keys and techno. Not techno beats but there is that futuristic music feel to it. 

It also seems to revolve around this one distinct and repettive keyboard melody. At least to me it sounds like a keyboard I don’t know if I’m conmpletly right.

But I feel like that definately creatues this earwormy feel were you can’t shake it and there are these furturistic melodies with these zipher sounds. 

I don’t know if its coming from the guitar or another instrument but it’s a really cool culmination of uhm the music and Mark Lee’s voice, his distinct voice flows perfeclty with that futuristic sounds of the tracks.

So you know I think it’s defnatlye differnt from other stuff I’ve heard but I really like the mix they put together on this track 

It seems that there is going to be more of a musical variation on the new album. Just from what I’ve read. There going to have some, some more…they will have some indie tracks and what they normally put out.

But it seems there will be a little bit of pop influence and differnet things. It seems from the tracks they have been putting out they are definately different.

But they definately great. And yea so. And just going back to their book and documentary if you are interested I will put 

And if you are interested in their book and documentary I will put links in the show notes. I don’t know if the documentary is available in the US.

According to IMDB.com it can be viewed on Plex TV and Amazon. Though when I checked Amazon it said it was not available in my area so I am not sure if that is all of the US or just NJ. 

I am gonna check out that Plex TV and see if I can get it on there. Also, if you are into reading you can also get the book on Amazon.

But I’ve feel like i’ve been chatting for awhile and I don’t want to take up too much of your time so now without further ado now I will play you “Living in the Meta Verse” by the Pocket Gods.

We would love to know what you think about The Pocket Gods and their latest track “Living in the Meta Verse.” You can tell us in a comment on the podcast webpage.

You can also leave an audio comment at link in the episode summary.

For more information on The Pocket God you can like them on Facebook at handle The Pocket Gods. You can also follow them on Twitter at The Pocket God singular.

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Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode!

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