Judging from the way they weave together sounds and styles from various eras into one tuneful, dreamily sweet package on their debut album True Hallucinations, one can only assume the NYC group Ex Cops are head-of-the-class-level students of pop music history. A casual trip through the record’s 11 songs reveals influences taken from some of the most inspired and inspiring music of the past 50 years, from the jaunty punch of the Velvet Underground at their poppiest and the choppy strum of Flying Nun bands like the Bats, to the gauzy haze of '90s shoegaze and synthy atmospheres of Factory Records -- they only borrow from the best. We asked the band's Brian Harding and Amalie Bruun for a short list of some of the things inspire them....
First, here's one of the record's stand out tracks...

And if you want to check out the entire album before buying it, try this link.

Krautrock - The Rebirth of Germany (BBC Documentary)
I was late on the pick up for "Krautrock" (they hate that word) but our producer John Siket got me into the deeper stuff like Faust and Amon Dull and I can't stop listening to it. I really wish Bowie had used Neu! for "Heroes" but I think everyone was just too high to figure out the scheduling. This is a good beginner's documentary and has Werner Herzog and hippie killing sprees in it.

 
Living in Oblivion
I just saw this after Wikipedia-ing James LeGros --don't ask me how I fall in these rabbit holes -- and I had to see it. I really love mid 90's New York, I think it was the last time it was cool (in my middle school opinion) and this has Steve Buscemi, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Keener, Kevin Corrigan, and Peter Dinklage in his first role. Like every 90's movie, this trailer makes it look really dumb, but it's a cool little movie.

 
The Smashing Pumpkins - "Ava Adore"
I wish I had written this song. This is a band who has succeeded big time and you can tell they're at their end game, but it's a really cool self destruction. Dom and Nic directed this and this took forever to shoot because they use sped up and normal motion, but it's all one take. And Billy Corgan is dressed up like Nosferatu.

 
Claude Debussy - "Clair De Lune"
I love 18th/early 19th hundred French composers, in particular impressionists like Debussy. This work, Clair De Lune, is extraordinarily beautiful and continues to inspire me. Still working on learning how to play it on the piano, but unfortunately I can't read notes, so it is a long process and so far it sounds pretty bad when I play it. This video is by Stephen Malinowski, not at all my favorite performance piano wise, but I love the cheesy hypnotizing graphics.

 
Une Femme Est Une Femme
I love Godard movies and I love the sylph-like Dane, Anna Karina. This scene is bewitching and captures sort of a sadness at the same time. She has this brooding look, while still being a classic beauty.


Oh, and here is a cool contemporary version of the song by Alif Tree

Alif Tree- Belle by ptitezizig