Still Parade

The mysterious project Still Parade premiered on, may 20, 2013 using the release from the track “Actors” over the indie blog Earmilk. Featuring an arpeggiated electric guitar hook worth José González, pedal metal, falsetto vocals, synth pads, and a minor drum loop, the melody acquired a lush, intimate, summery, vintage vibe that mixed ’70s folk and AM pop tropes with a far more modern chillwave sensibility, and instantly became a viral strike. As fascination with and speculation about the artist’s identification grew, further tracks — “Wellness,” “Areas,” “Reunion,” and “Hunter” — gradually leaked out, each channeling the spirits of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac pc, and Todd Rundgren. Still Parade was ultimately exposed as the one-man music group of Berliner Niklas Kramer, a multi-instrumentalist and studio room wunderkind who created and played all the tools himself. Several remixes had been released on Soundcloud, and Serve & Volley Information released a 7″ of “Stars,” before Kramer released the Areas EP, which gathered the titular monitor and three others. In 2014, Kramer’s dad made him something special of the multi-track tape recorder, which terminated his fascination with home documenting. He mainly ditched the organic experience of his previously work for an extremely synthesized, faintly psychedelic audio, while keeping the lush pop songwriting. This fresh style could possibly be noticed on his debut recording, Concrete Vision, that was released in 2016 by U.K. indie Heist or Strike.