Best of Myspace Music
Ah…so tired. After a long rambunctious weekend roadtrip with Gina, José, and Cinchel to see Devotchka in Madison and then last night here again, I’m having one of those lazy Sundays where you lounge around in gasp sweat pants and shun the modern world (and with it, the 15 degree max temperatures) I just spoke with a friend who tried to insist I should leave my apartment for coffee because it wasn’t that cold. No…I think I’m much more comfortable indoors.
Enough rambling. I’ve spent much of this day working on my Devotchka pictures so you can look forward to them this week. I have several shows I have been meaning to blog about from the last two weeks that I keep getting sidetracked on. Here’s best of myspace for this week:
My friend Thierry always tells me about some great new French Canadian band he’ll know I’ll like just when I think that I have discovered all of them. Then I realize that you just can’t discover all of them. It’s literally impossible. It’s like trying to figure out how many people in Brooklyn are in a band. What would you do, look at census data and calculate about 80% of the population? Well anyways, Call Me Poupée reminds me a little bit of the electropop quirkiness of Stereo Totale and also a little bit of the random but fun Les Georges Leningrad who I will be seeing this Thursday (don’t you know how psyched I am) Best yet, both bands have lyrics in French.
If I wasn’t so exhausted, I truly would be going to see Cake on Cake from Sweden fronted by soft singing Swedish Helena Sundin who my Chicago friend Matthew told me about. This is really sweet melodic stuff with quite a few different instruments to make it interesting. My recommendation is on “Francoise.” Really nice soprano vocals. It’s a little magical and soothing and maybe something you could sway back and forth to rather easily. In the end, you think how lovely it was like a perfect little moment.
Cake on Cake at myspaceAh, France. You knew I could not forget you on my best of myspace this week, right? This is actually a myspace page for a label in France that helps independent musicians according to my friend Rémi. All I have to say is listen to the super melodic, harmonious choral and sad sounds of the desolate top track “Our Weight in Oil” by Matt Elliott. For some more on the end of hip hop flavor, listen to the last song “Spade Archer Highway.”
Friends with Kyle Andrews, Chicago based Horse in the Sea has a folky melodic sound whose musical melodies make you smile and and stay stuck inside your brain like jelly on top tracks like “I Order the Sun” while tracks like “Abraham Lincoln” make drifting around aimlessly seem totally worthwhile (which is obviously the kind of mood I’m in on hopelessly freezing days like today) They will be playing a show on December 30th at Uncommon Ground in Chicago so if you’re around here for the holidays, go and see them!
Horse in the Sea on myspaceThis subdued electro two piece from LA sent me a myspace request and I liked their slightly echoey goodies…plus, they cover “Waterloo Sunset” by my personal favorites The Kinks. I also really like the alternating male/female vocals on songs like “Peach and Hate.” Also listen to their cutesy cover version of “Little Boxes.” They unfortunately don’t list influences on their myspace page but I did enjoy reading their about:
Blake is a girl from the cold state of Vermont. John was raised in the hot arid sands of Dubai. They met in Boston and made a record of Blake’s songs. They then travelled near and far to play John’s songs, and then Blake’s again. At last the two moved out west to seek adventure, but sadly parted on a bleak November day. They wrote songs, each in their own place, about their dismay and unhappiness without the other. Their songs said things they hadn’t said in person, and when they heard them—together—it all made sense. In fact, life made more sense together. After a while, and having realized this, they became The Submarines. Here is the record they wrote to each other, before during and after the sad days apart.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Hi I came across this posting after googling for myspace music. Thanks for the interesting read. I have often thought about Best of Myspace Music too. Thanks for sharing. On Wednesday I will have time to look into it more.