Sounds of LA: Kid Cadaver

Every year, new artists emerge, ready to be Los Angeles’ next great musical discovery, making their rounds through small club tours across the city. Inspired by the hippie enclaves of Topanga, the backyard punk scene of East Los Angeles or the coastal grunge of Venice Beach, each act has its own distinct sound. This week, A&E columnist Kristy Pirone discusses Kid Cadaver, a pop-rock trio from the San Fernando Valley.

In an era when musicians like Bjork and Lorde are considered bastions of pop music, it can be difficult to define what pop music is.

To me, most music is pop music. Either it’s pop because it’s popular, the original meaning of the term, or it’s pop because of an almost obsessive emphasis on repeated, melodic hooks. The latter is a part of a musical formula that has proven itself to be successful and has been integrated into most of the music we listen to, whether it’s classified as straight-up bubblegum pop or one of its distant cousins like pop-rock, indie-pop or synthpop.

Despite its varied meanings and pop’s long history of borrowing from other genres, pop music has a bad reputation. The genre has been classified as shallow and generic, and its artists are looked down upon for not writing their own music or for sustaining a system that stifles lyrical and melodic creativity. It has become cool to hate pop music, and there are people out there that would write me off if I told them that my favorite singer is Taylor Swift. That’s unfortunate because pop music serves its purpose by being entertaining, and people shouldn’t be so caught up in their own pretensions that they judge others for enjoying it.

Although the members of San Fernando Valley trio Kid Cadaver characterize themselves as indie rockers who borrow from pop music, listening to their 2013 self-titled EP, it’s clear that the group is a pop-rock band, whether it likes it or not. Kid Cadaver will open for Conway at The Satellite in Silver Lake on March 9.

Maybe Kid Cadaver shies away from labeling itself as pop music because of the negative connotations associated with the genre. Maybe the group actually doesn’t realize that with influences like Los Angeles electro-pop outfit The Postal Service and British indie-pop singer Kate Nash and hook-driven songs that sound ready for a Josh Boone movie, pop music is ingrained into the band’s DNA. But regardless of how much reverb it puts over its vocals, Kid Cadaver is a pop band, and a good one at that.

Kid Cadaver sings about themes that are pretty common in pop music, such as youth or love, that will remind any kid from the Valley what it’s like to be a teenager in Los Angeles’ suburbs. Songs like “Stick Around” in which vocalist Ray Venta sings “I know your transit beats the L.A. freeway/ And your wavy mane is at its best when it’s windy” remind me of long drives through the Sepulveda Basin and late nights growing up in the Valley.

The band’s repetitive lyrics aren’t anything revelatory. They aren’t bad, but they’re not about to be compared to any poet laureates either. The band’s popular single “Teach You the Tongue” is filled largely by its repeated refrain “I won’t leave you swooning (swooning)/ I’ll just bring you through me” and bridge. The group’s newest single “New Friends” falls into the same patterns of repeating its chorus enough times that the last minute of the song is just a repeated refrain of the same four lines. But the music is catchy, energetic and fun, which is all good pop music needs to be.

Pop music doesn’t need to be a revelation or an inventive work of art to be great. It uses a formula that works, and if it’s made well, it’s fun without being grating or taxing. It’s enjoyable to listen to, it puts you in a good mood, and that’s all it needs to do. Basically, people need to be less pretentious and embrace pop music. Put a little fun in your lives.