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Brent Rademaker is quite the musical neophyte, but don't think for a second that he's a big poseur. He just happens to have a really big record collection. After piddling around various southern California indie rock bands, Rademaker cut his teeth in a Dinosaur Jr.-inspired band called Further, who were one of three bands from the United States signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records. Following the demise of Further, he helped form the cosmic American musical phenomenon called Beachwood Sparks. After the psychedelic country rock fad died down, he joined his brother Darren's band, the Tyde, a Rough Trade-signed outfit that dares to successfully fuse 1960s-inspired surf pop with influences ranging from Felt to Lloyd Cole. But sadly, Rademaker felt like he never got to cut the album that was in his head. He grew up in the '80s listening to moody dark wave and cold electro-pop, so it sounded quite natural (more natural than country rockers Convoy morphing into the faux Brit accented Louis XIV, anyway) when he and his girlfriend Michelle Loiselle formed Frausdots, the fashion conscious band that sound more '80s than the even the '80s sounded. With a penchant for confectionary pop melodies and dark romantic ditties about drug addiction, Frausdots were immediately signed to Sub Pop who released their debut Couture, Couture, Couture in late 2004. With guest spots from members of the Cure, Psychedelic Furs, Rooney, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Warlocks and vocalist Mia Doi Todd, the album is lip-glossed over with a Patrick Nagel perfection. But unlike the aforementioned Convoy/Louis XIV, Rademaker has hardly sold out to another musical trend. Anyone with a sense of popular musical history will immediately notice the clever nod to America's "Horse With No Name" on "Dead Wrong," which recalls the 70s band's heavy influence of his former outfit, the aforementioned Beachwood Sparks. Rademaker proves that he can transcend musical genres and timelines with the one thing that matters most in this realm; the talent for writing flawless pop songs.
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