GoldenGirls

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/ottawa/story.html?id=109dee8b-58f1-4c7a-ac02-6f44679e03fe

Before taking off to study in Brussels, Matthew Vlahovich decided to clean out his basement.
Having ping-ponged between Ottawa and Toronto, he was on to grad school overseas. Looking for cash and to lighten his load, he posted a few items on Craigslist including a Casio ToneBank CT-670 keyboard for $50.
Bolstered by a retro esthetic that values the cheap chimes of the ToneBank, musicians responded in droves and a virtual bidding war began. "I thought, maybe there's something about this keyboard that I don't know about," Vlahovich says. He fiddled with it and found out how the keyboard could mimic other instruments (albeit in a processed-sounding way). Its portability made it an easy touring instrument.

With that, he launched Golden Girls, performing his dollar-store disco in a leisure suit and wig on the streets of Brussels, prompting one passerby to note his resemblance to Bea Arthur.
He plays a raw pop that, with a bit of finesse, might sound like the marrying of Duran Duran and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. His two new songs are called Do the Criminal and The Asian Kids Are Dancing. They are frothy and fun, set to a fiercely clubby beat and sung in a faux Eurotrashy accent. It's a total departure from his days in Ottawa moody popsters Parlormaid.
When he returned to Toronto, Vlahovich started playing bar parties, inviting along musically inclined pals to places where the hip kids congregated. Word spread quickly and people would show up dressed in gold, and ready to dance.
Vlahovich hopes for the same response when, along with a cast of Toronto electro bands, he brings his party to the basement of the Clocktower Brew Pub.
The location is fitting. It was christened as a party place five years ago by DJs Booth and Chameleonic, who frequently held their Disorganised dance parties there before becoming international touring artists and remixers known as Jokers of the Scene. Another phase of the basement beat begins.
The Golden Girls Dance Party takes place Saturday (10p.m., $5) at the Clocktower Brew Pub, 575 Bank St., with 84.85, TMDP and DJ Barletta. - Fateemy Sayani

It’s common for music critics to describe every electro act’s sound with references to cheap Casio keyboards, but in reality serious attempts at playing a show on that kind of toy are relatively rare. Even if they have some thrift store synths onstage, most bands depend on a laptop for the actual tones.

Not everyone requires pro gear, though, as local one-?man-band Golden Girls proved at the Drake. Performing exclusively on two cheesy toy keyboards, he ignored the magic of MIDI and laptops in favour of the keyboards’ built-?in drum machines and whatever he could actually play with his hands. As you might expect, his sound is very raw and punky, but also quite catchy.

He’s got good stage presence and an ear for primitive pop hooks but at times treads dangerously close to novelty. - Benjamin Boles

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=165794

BY BENJAMIN BOLES
Fri, Oct 24

Hot Stepping

Started out the night at Sneaky Dee’s at the monthly Shit La Merde party, where local one-man band Golden Girls was the special guest. Using only a couple of cheap Casio keyboards, he powered through a short high-energy set of new-wave-inspired synth pop. Still not totally convinced about the faux British accent he adopts while singing, but there’s something charming about these sexually charged teen angst anthems.
- Benjamin Boles

http://rollinandscratchin.com/posts/the-big-league-golden-girls - Rollin n Scratchin

http://thedockingstation.ca/2008/09/25/golden-girls-8485-tmdp-and-dj-barletta/

Hailing from Toronto (but has roots in Ottawa I believe), Golden Girls is a one man pop band whose otherwise known as Mats Vlahovich. He describes his music as “shock-rock disco jock” which is fitting. Mats draws influence heavily from the 1980s using older sounds to create a pop-rock electronic dance party. His voice seems somewhat reminiscent to 80s new wave post-punk such as Robert Smith of The Cure. Simply put, Golden Girls is just great pop music.

- The Docking Station

Neither Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, nor Estelle Getty are involved in GoldenGirls, which as news must come with equal parts disappointment and relief. They're cool ladies and all, but how could they be responsible for "Do the Criminal," this stomping dance-track that balances on the line between A-Ha and The Cure (the latter owed entirely to the distinctive sound of the track's vocals). During the track's three minutes of mindless, thrashing fury, there's never really any indication of what "the criminal" is, but it sounds like a good time.

-Matthew Richardson
Prefix Magazine



- by Matthew Richardson

http://discodust.blogspot.com/2009/04/goldengirls.html

Toronto-based one-man casio power-pop-army GoldenGirls should have been featured on here ages ago but i guess regular readers (and especially those guys who sent me their great tracks) know the deal by now, half of the tracks I want to post never show up here because they get lost somewhere on the way.

I am glad that I didn't sleep this time around because GoldenGirls just dropped his new track 'Do the Criminal' along with remixes by CcenturiesS and Designer Drugs and you can't afford to miss any of the three versions!


I'll make sure to watch goldengirls' every move from now on. And so should you!
-Discodust - Discodust

http://www.thecultureofme.com/culture/2009/03/world-premiere-goldengirls-do-the-criminal-remixes.html


With the first single off an EP called XoXo (set for April release), "Do The Criminal", the Canadian young man who calls himself GoldenGirls creates the sort of hyped up, minimal, pogo-inspiring synthpop that brings out the listener's love of casio hums and the glee of teenage innocence. Combine that with nearly-stock effects and so-repetitious-you-can't-not-find-them-catchy drums, and you get a formula that's so immensely easy to like and terrifyingly hard to be snarky about, your friends here at THE CULTURE OF ME are 100% expecting certain nothing-good-to-say naysayers' imminent head explosions. And to push the lever all the way to overload, here are two similarly infectious, slightly more nuanced remixes: a 4/4 bang version from Mr Vega and what could qualify as the most friendly punk rock treatment ever from Designer Drugs. - The Culture of Me Blog