I think it’s pretty safe to say that you won’t be hearing about Zooey from many other music sites. A few weeks ago the band sent out an email blast and they forgot to BCC their mailing list. Ouch! Poor Zooey got an earful about that faux pas. Instead of drinking the Haterade I thought I’d listen in on what Zooey had to offer. I was pleasantly surprised by their semi-easy-listening-electronica. Zooey recently remixed “Change of Destination” by Monade and, if you can imagine, they made it even bubblier than the original. “Little Thunder” is brand new music while “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” and “Rendez-vous” are from their 2005 self-released LP Pique-nique et jeux dans l’eau, which you can download in its entirety. Zooey is sweet, playful, and with the exception of their little “accident,” perfectly charming.
GROK
I hope you don’t like this song very much. Or, better put: I’d advise you not to get too attached to this song, show up at a GROK show, and expect them to recreate this recording live. See, GROK’s got a thing or two to prove, and that thing or two has plenty to do with improvisation. They have no songs (at least not in that written, structured, rehearsed, performed sense of “song”), the songs they do have are performed only once so that every GROK show is a one-of-a-kind, highly unique experience, and audience members act as collaborators by suggesting a theme for a song, playing an instrument, or spinning the Wheel of Chordal Destiny. Their music sounds just as fun and whimsical, as is the case in “Pink Shirt.” Don’t worry if you find yourself listening to “Pink Shirt” more than once. To disagree with GROK is ultimately GROK. Don’t think about it, just listen…
Bell
Is Olga Bell a Bjork sound-a-like? Not exactly. She probably gets asked this a lot, so to combat the similarities between their grand and ethereal Scandinavian voices–she cleverly decided to answer this question by starting with tribute. covering a Bjork track! She’s firmly not-Bjork. Nor is she Bjork-lite. When I first heard Bell, I was so-so on the whole thing. As when smelling a glass of wine, I was getting over-strong notes of the aforementioned Icelandic star and Radiohead. But my friend Seth kept telling me how much he loved her, so I kept listening. Where I ended up with was this: Bell is a singer whose personality comes through in her voice, a love for the staccato beat and someone I have come to really like listening to. I also love that she is Russian born, Alaska-reared and has somehow ended up in my own beloved Brooklyn. She also calls her laptop and instrument. And while I have been a detractor re: “laptops are music!” for ages, I’m kind of willing to buy that in her case.
Two Hours Traffic
There’s something to be said for a 4-40 a.c. song — all four windows down, driving 40 mph — especially in these eco-focused times. Sure, it’s a throw-away song, the music version of IKEA’s disposable furniture, but like those $7 end tables such songs are absolutely necessary. How else to get through humidity higher than my grandpa’s age without sunny pop-rock flowing through the mini van? Two Hours Traffic helps out with “Stuck for the Summer,” off their most recent release Little Jabs, winner of the Best Pop Album in the Canadian East Coast Music Awards. Two Hours Traffic hails from Prince Edward island, a locale in which the 4-40 a.c. plan would likely be grand: windswept maritime scenes, salty breezes, gas prices even higher than here in the States. And so, congrats to the winners and thanks for the needed function of songs like yours. One more thing, for Sean: after your job this year, I bet you and your patient ears recognize where the band gets its name from, eh?
Unicycle Loves You
Alisa makes fun of me when I tell her I wanted to be a magician when I was a boy. She praises me when I make loads of magic fun for our kids’ birthdays though. OK, so I’ve only performed for one birthday. I think it was for Cairo’s sixth birthday. I made him disappear. Sam was my lovely assistant. Back to being made fun of…Alisa also gave be a good jabbing when I showed her my juggling skills (I can’t believe she actually married me when I think about it). Can you see where this is going? Yes, I also used to be a proud owner of a unicycle. Which brings us to the songs for today by Unicycle Loves You. The playful tone of “Hawaii” brings back the simple rushes of thrilling my friends by changing nickels to dimes or bunny-hopping on my unicycle. Yes, I was a royal geek, and thankfully Unicycle Loves You lets me man up and admit it. I mean their singer Jim Carroll still dresses like my mom dressed me in grade school (note the guy in the vest), back when I would steal lunch money to buy my friends ice-cream or Wacky Packages. But that’s a completely different story, one that shares a theme with “Highway Robbery.” And no kids, stealing is not OK.
Cannonball Jane
Whenever I hear the name Jane I can’t help thinking about a high school friend of mine (spelled “Jayne”). She was one of maybe three people from my school I hung out with my senior year. When I attended a reunion recently my wife asked me, not facetiously, “Are you even going to know anyone here?” The only person I could think of was Jayne, but I knew she wouldn’t be there. Like me, Jayne was slightly anti-social. As I expected, no Jayne. But you know how high school reunions put you in that nostalgic mood/mode? Thus affected, I did some internet sleuthing and actually tracked Jayne down, an entire continent away, hoping to say hello and catch up. I left two awkward voice messages (it’s impossible to sound casual, as if I hadn’t talked to her for a week when in fact it had been years). Did Jayne call back? Nope. Made me feel even more awkward, like I was some creepy internet stalker!
I think if Jayne’s personality were more like Cannonball Jane’s music we would’ve had a nice conversation, shared a few good laughs, and traded our latest listens and reads. See, Cannonball Jane is playful, colourful (Jayne was from England—she made me use British spellings), and obviously up for some fun. By day Cannonball Jane teaches elementary school. By night Jane, aka Sharon Hagopian, fires up the beatbox, guitars, synths and gadgets and records a groovin’ pastiche of hip hop, new wave, and sixties pop. A mix of Soul Coughing and Luscious Jackson, Mary Tyler Moore and Solex. This is the kind of woman I’d trust to educate my children and school me in the ways of beats and breaks and dance party extravaganzas. Hey, sounds a lot like Alisa, the woman I married. Who, by the way, tracked down one of her old high school friends during a reunion year. And he called her back! Who wouldn’t? She’s fun like that.
Electric President
My promo copy of Electric President’s new album Sleep Well is practically worn out already, but luckily, the release date for the new disc is just a few days away. Dreamy like the last one, but dark and brooding too, Ben Cooper and Alex Kane are still rocking the electrorganic (it does work, Sam) in the available-for-free-download, opening track “Monster,” as well as a bunch of other great spins on the disc. Check out the tinkly little piano in this song, the falsetto vocals in “We will Walk through Walls,” and the oh-so-true chorus of “It’s an Ugly Life,” all of these backed by occasional boops and bips and computer scratches.
Monsters [MP3, 7.8MB, 128kbps]
Sam’s original post: 01/21/06
Jacksonville, Florida’s Ben Cooper and Alex Kane had been collaborating as Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer for a couple years, when they mercifully decided to change their name to Electric President. They put together a five-song EP called You Have the Right to Remain Awesome which found its way to the Morr Music offices in Berlin. Morr now brings us their debut long-player which is nothing short of dreamy. Electric President’s electrorganic (just made that term up) pop fits right alongside labelmates Lali Puna, Styrofoam, b.fleischmann, and Mum. Ben also records solo as Radical Face (hence the duo’s original moniker) and should have an album out (also on Morr) later this year. He also makes really nice paintings. And he’s only 23. Yeah, I know…showoff.
Insomnia [MP3, 9.9MB, 320kbps]
Good Morning, Hypocrite [MP3, 7.4MB, 192kbps]
Label My Mind: Blown [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
Tender Forever
Melanie, my favorite French street-artist-turned-K-Records-stalwart, has released her second LP Wider. Her live show that I caught several years is one of my favorite live shows of the past ten years. To quote myself in our Junk Drawer: “Holy moly, Melanie was incredible, part musician/poet/child/dancer/manipulator/artist/provacateur/comic/songwriter. And her voice live is so loud, so strong, so filling.” She set up on the floor in front of the stage for maximum audience interaction, which involved her punching me in the stomach, taking and wearing my wife’s coat, and rifling through the pockets of my friend Vince. With her new album, she continues to craft her electronic performance-pop, with sweet melodies and varying tempos, harmonizing with herself about love and life.
Original post 10/12/2005:
As previously mentioned, my personal goal of attending all shows by 3hive bands in my hometown has been quite a failure, coming in right now at about 3 out of who knows…10? 20? 30? That’s gonna improve slightly when Tender Forever comes to town on November 6 with His Royal Highness of Indiedom Calvin Johnson. A musical journey from Bordeaux, France, to Olympia, Washington, can only mean one thing: exquisite Franco-American pop. Melanie Valera and friends, see you soon.
The Hectors
Sean’s in L.A., so maybe he knows about The Hectors. I’m in Michigan, and all I know about is the Red Wings, the Pistons, and Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s text messages. Therefore, this old-school SoCal indie pop-rock sounds fresh to me, like Pavement meets a girl who can sing. But back to this whole regional thing… Sean, a Lakers-Pistons is possible, especially if the Celtics’ airplane gets lost and flies around over Canada for a few days. The Stanley Cup’s in the bag. Maybe check out The Hectors in San Diego in June? I’ve never been there….
Daniel Ahearn
While Daniel Ahearn’s group project, Ill Lit, was one of our earliest posts, they never really enjoyed proper coverage on this site. Now’s the time to make up for such an oversight. Ahearn emerges with a solo EP almost two years after Ill Lit’s self-released album, Tom Cruise. To be honest, it’s not much different from Ill Lit’s electro-tinged americana sound. That’s a good thing. The difference is Ahearn wrote the songs on Pray for Me By Name so that he felt comfortable playing them alone with an acoustic guitar. Rather than painting himself into a corner, this restraint, this simplification allows Ahearn to create a small masterpiece in “Down for the Count.” A gritty keyboard groove opens the song with a bounce, then smoothes out giving way to a soft, sweet, soaring chorus. Don’t let the gentle tone fool you. Ahearn couches both the ups and downs, the sunshine and the Santa Anas, of West Coast living in one friendly tune.