There is a simplicity in listening to Little Boots. ‘Meddle‘ jumps in with drums and a synth line that creeps into the verse so that you’re surprised by how catchy it is. ‘Stuck on Repeat‘ starts so simply and builds up so well that your mind has no choice but to follow. In between, you can sense that behind every electronic note is a human hand. It’s not often that you hear a song where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts while still being ‘electropop’.
-Erick
So really quickly, my friend Kyle sent me this link to Emilie Simon doing a cover of Nirvana’s Come As You Are. I did a previous post mentioning Emilie Simon, so I’ll just reiterate that she is incredibly talented as a songwriter and singer as well as incredibly cute! As a whole, they use strings, piano and percussion unlike anything I’ve heard. I say this about few bands but I would buy any of her albums. Check out her myspace for her new song “Space Oddity”.
MP3 (low quality)| Come as You Are (Nirvana Cover ) – Emilie Simon
MP3| Desert - Emilie Simon
MP3| Le Vieil Amant – Emilie Simon
MP3|Fleur de Saison – Emilie Simon
-Erick
Consisting of three keyboards and a drum machine, Au Revoir Simone seem to make something so ethereal and I want to say….elegant. Simply made of three females, their songs are very unique, almost like a whirlpool of keyboards and vocals with light beats on top. Each sound seems to be delicately recorded allows the listener to get lost in so many aspects of each song. They have a new album out called The Bird of Music but I personally love their album Verses Of Comfort, Assurance, and Salvation.
Ok. Ok. I just think they’re really original and can’t quite think of a band that comes similar to them. Anyway, follow the links and fall in love.
MP3| Au Revoir Simone – Through The Backyards Of Our Neighbors
MP3| Au Revoir Simone – Hurricanes
-Erick
Here’s a cool interview you can download, with some live performances, link here. It’s in quicktime format so just right-click and save-as.
Can you speak and/or understand Spanish? Doesn’t matter, I think you’ll absolutely love Julieta Venegas. She’s a Spanish “singer-songwriter” who plays several instruments including acoustic guitar, accordion, and keyboard. She grew up in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and began studying music at the age of 8 and has gone on to win several Grammy Awards.
Maybe it’s just me but I think Spanish is a language that is beautifully sung. Here she is singing “Me Voy” which roughly translates to “I’m leaving”.
Another song you should listen to is Limón y Sal, which translates to “Lemon and Salt”. The video is shot to look like a silent film and goes on to show a very interesting story.
She’s available on iTunes
-Erick
“A terrible accident, but compellingly beautiful, like a nun-packed bus crashing headlong into a truck full of scalpels made of gold.”
Ok…I think the only way to describe Crystal Castles is to imagine that you are back in the 80’s( yes, I know many are trying to forget) and computers are alive and have been programmed to make dance music, full of rising/falling 8-bit synth lines. An unconventional analogy, yes, but it should prepare you for this video.
While some may be turned off by that sound, I find it spontaneous, innovative and full of energy like your computer may explode, though a bit “out there” I agree. Their remixes are more accessible, if you don’t like their original stuff.
MP3| Lovers Who Uncover(Crystal Castles Remix) -The Little Ones – This may make you LOVE Crystal Castles…be careful.
MP3| Trash the Rental (Crystal Castles Remix) – Soho Doll
Myspace – stream some original stuff here – Listen to “Alice Practice” it has an interesting story about the band.
But how are they live?
-Erick
One my guilty pleasures in a song is a great bass line and the use of a hi-hat. So I thought I’d make a post about songs that have just that. This is sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so we’ll see how this works, if it does at all.
First is the song that made me think of this idea. Lousy Reputation by We Are Scientists. A three piece rock suit that delivers rock with no filler. Stream their full album here.
Then there is Giddy Stratospheres by The Long Blondes. A really good English indie rock band, also could be called glamour punk, whatever that means. Buy the album (really worth it) or song here.
(And I Was A) Boy From School by Hot Chip has a bit of disco/dance vibe to it. The whole album is actually worth checking out and buying. This too comes along with a cool video.
Moving along, this remix of Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. by Mstrkrft is simply killer. Personally, I like it more than the original song. I’m still not sure as to what I think of Justice though. I actually found this one via Kidz by Colette.
You’ll probably recognize this by Daft Punk. It’s recorded on a handheld so it has bad sound quality and isn’t the full thing but you’ll get the mp3 further down it’s simply but a taste of hi-hat goodness. Alex actually told me about them, so long ago.
Frase+Bri is a duo from New Zealand, creating what I’ve read as rave-pop. 8hr Crush will get anyone moving. You can stream it here.
Émilie Simon is an incredibly talented French singer. She released a US album at the end of last year but has several others. Not only can she compose and play several instruments, she’s also kinda cute and by “kind of cute”, I mean very cute. Watch and listen to some interviews with her here. Most importantly though watch this and then watch her live here.
“On the other Side” by the Strokes is quite a contender. To be quite honest, I was very impressed with their third album First Impressions of Earth. I just found their first two albums to be sort of the same and didn’t think they many distinct songs. That’s just me though.
Finally, I’ll end on a jazzy note, click on this link but don’t watch the video, you’ll just go “wtf.” Don’t watch, just listen to it. That my friends is “Dance Me To The End Of Love” by Madeline Peyroux, her voice is reminiscent of Billie Holiday… Buy the album here, or at least the song.
Download the whole shabang here (90mb), plus a few extra songs. This is the first in many playlist posts, we’re in the works of integrating some more stuff to make it everything better but the music cannot wait!
