Moonbabies, indie starlets from Malmö, have (surprisingly) had a bit of staying power with me... to the extent that I may just buy their CD one day! Their winning formula is their male/female vocal interplay and their ability to write a catchy tune - a product of the ten year union of Carina Johansson and Ola Frick.
Described as dream-pop, primarily I suppose because of their use of “moody” electronics and the way the vocals seem to hover on top of the “expansive” instrumentation, Moonbabies offer up some fairly straight forward tunes that seem to give off just enough quirk to make them intriguing.
"War on Sound" features solid drumming, some nifty bass and Grandaddy-type synths that pop up at the end. The video, complete with weightless ping-ponging and accidental floating in space (never a good thing), is as non-cheesy as a space-themed mini-flick-on-a-budget can be these days.
"If you were a pill/ I'd take a handful at my will And I'd knock you back with something sweet and strong Plenty of times you wake up/ In February make-up Like a fool and the morning star you're gone"
Today is Morrissey CD Release Day. Yes, the Pope of Mope has released a Best Of album... during Valentine’s week!?! Yet another Best Of album that is. This one prominently features his "uninspired" years. Yet he remains a God - go figure?
So don't buy this (cause you already own all the songs). Celebrate the day, instead, with a former band member who still makes Relevant. Music. Shocking!?!
Modest Mouse, featuring ex-Smith Johnny Marr, make great videos and "Invisible" is a sure-fire keeper. And when the video's star, glistening-with-sweat boy, finally drops his little hacky sack... flabby-abed footie wannabes the world over punch their fists in the air with glee (like me!).
I'll never admit to getting into Death Cab For Cutie from watching The O.C... but damn that Seth knew his music!
Despite that I prefer Death Cab offshoot The Postal Service to Death Cab themselves, any link to this band can only be a good thing. Video filmed in Portland and Seattle, audio recorded in Vancouver and Victoria, this is Death Cab's Chris Walla (and friends) doing his best Steve Zissou impersonation in the straight forward single, "Sing Again"...
I've been lifting quotes from Mozzer for years... only for his words of supreme wisdom to perpetually fall on deaf ears. Well hear you have it then... proof that "the sun shines out of our behinds". From no less an authority on the matter than them cheery green-vested fellers with the clipboards.
Finally, I got to watch a Super Bowl south of the border. It is a Canadian's dream come true - getting to watch Super Bowl commercials (its a sheltered existence). Up here, the commercials are, for the most part, blacked out and replaced by more pedestrian (to say the least) offerings. Such as, no joke, this Hinterland Who's Who classic from my youth:
I love the balloons and I love the footie, but in a recent FA cup game, balloons and soccer became inextricably linked. Its not unusual for players to be forced to dodge items thrown from the stands: pennies, flares, bags of urine... and often reams of toilet paper or streamers can impede play to some extent. But this might be a first: balloons tossed by Manchester City fans contributed significantly to a goal against their beloved side. The defender did not know which orb to swing his boot at!
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Here's a young 'un with a whole heap o talent:Adele (Hometown Glory). Even if she does allow her handlers to plunk her on a London rooftop on a frigid day.
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Some nifty family photos with even niftier colour commentary (the rest of this blogsite is worth the trip too).
From Boston (America) would you welcome please... The Young Republic (they've been around a while)... featuring country-tinged indie pop (though a little more violin than fiddle).
The stop-motion video for "Modern Plays" got one member of this household chalk-full of artistic ideas... and luckily we just happen to have, no lie, 12,468 pipe cleaners in our crawl space:
Academy Award Nominated (Best Picture!!!) "Juno", The-Best-Movie-I-Have-Yet-To-Actually--You-Know--Like--See, has unearthed to the masses the awesomeness that is Washington State's antifolk hero, Kimya Dawson...
Song :: You Cream My Pants by Strip Squad A pretty good, though obviously ludicrous, song that one shouldn't google when in the office environment. Moves from ludicrous to absurd when the chorus kicks in and you find that you can't help but sing "you cream my pants" along with these crazy Swedes. Reminds me of mid-80's Canadian punk heros The Dik Van Dykes (listen to the classic "Curling" here).
Media-shy Morganza To The Gulf are set to release “hope your guardian genius” on Seattle's 2nd Best Coffee label. Although no one has ever heard their music, this emo band’s debut is surely bound to please. After all, they describe themselves as mixing witty, razor-sharp lyrics with masterfully precise emocore notes - all wrapped up in a zydeco-infused sensibility that does not betray their Louisiana roots. Plus, they are said to wear furry costumes like, 24-7!
Catch them on tour now in the Outer Hebrides. And look for them performing in May at LifeisGoodapalooza with fellow emo darlings Nitzana, grunge rockers Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant, art-house minimalists La Vie en Rose, industrial krautrockers (via Pakistan!) Moder Gorob and zany alt-punk-metal dudes Buff-headed Coucal. These bands rule the (un)school.
No MP3s are currently available but here’s a lyric sampler from the titular track…
“Plastic signs Sorting times Blinds are boxing up the lines hope your guardian genius
Mixing must Eternal rust Flailing pixies in the dust hope your guardian genius
We betray! Hope your guardian genius We delay! Hope your guardian genius”
The Polyphonic Spree have just released a video for the excellent "we crawl"... a splendid stroll through the lives of this 20 plus member band and their families.
Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before
Here's a classic example of a young band trying a little too hard. Jerky body movements, over-the-top fringe and related hair stylings, "ironic" mustache and, worse of all, overused high-torso guitar positioning (don't these boys know that that will cause all sorts of long-term tendon damage by the time they're 40!?!). The song is kinda catchy though not that original these days (but worth the effort) and at least the flapper girls make some interesting birdies with their hands... but that's about it.
Foals could really learn a thing or two from Scandinavia. Here's the simple beauty (audio and visual) of Iron and Rust by Sweden's Pinto... featuring handclaps.. which, though soon to be relegated to the "overused" bin, are not only integral but hugely appropriate given the finger-context of the video.
Melbourne’s Hunters & Collectors, arguably one of Australia’s finest exports, were at their prime in the mid to late 1980’s and finally called it a day - after a few waning years of unfocused mediocrity - in 1998. Their best single was certainly “throw your arms around me”, but here’s a video for a song that’s perhaps a bit more indicative of what they were all about… “say goodbye” has all the horns, semi-shouty vocals, prominent bass lines and cutting guitars of a classic H&C tune. Plus, singer Mark Seymour channels The Fonz in the video!
“Throw your arms around me” and “say goodbye” form part of Hunters & Collectors’ cache of great relationship-based tunes. However, they were also political, and though perhaps not as up-for-it as fellow Aussies and part-time travel mates Midnight Oil, H&C did do their share of ranting (by the way, Peter Garrett, the baldy/ gargantuan former front-man of the Oils, was recently appointed Australian Environment Minister following his party’s November election victory. A bit of a departure from the days of those wildly flailing hands and on-stage scaffold jumping - or not?).
Recently I noticed that Mark Seymour has himself a sustainable solo career and, upon initial review, he sounds pretty good. Though, with song titles like “Jerusalem”, “Hell broke free” and “Feel the Lord” it would appear he’s had a “visitor”!?!
The top-five-Australian-bands-from-a-bygone-era-compiled-by-someone-who-has-never-been-to-Australia are… 1. Hunters & Collectors 2. The Church 3. Midnight Oil 4. Hoodoo Gurus 5. The Go-Betweens
Of course, Australia has had its less-than-stellar moments, having foisted both Air Supply and Men at Work upon the world-wide masses. But who am I to complain? I stood by idly as Canada unleashed, on an unsuspecting world, the likes of Gino Vannelli, Platinum Blonde, that guy who “wore his sunglasses at night”, Headpins (actually, I liked them - Darby Mills rocks!) and, most recently, Nickelback. Sad, sad, sad.
For Hunters and Collectors, their music stands the time better than most - Human Frailty (1986) and Ghost Nation (1989) being two essential albums.
Moonbabies, indie starlets from Malmö, have (surprisingly) had a bit of staying power with me... to the extent that I may just buy their CD one day! Their winning formula is their male/female vocal interplay and their ability to write a catchy tune - a product of the ten year union of Carina Johansson and Ola Frick.
