Some bands I have been listening to lately

CocoRosie are a French, freak folk sister act. They were born and raised in the States, but their stomping ground is definitively in France. Children’s toys, harps, synth and beat boxers (particularly live) are all at their musical disposal. I found them while Wikipedia hopping other freak folk acts. I am pretty sure I started with Devendra Banhart, and though the musicians are both under the same genre banner, they could not be more different.

The YouTube video I have posted is a live performance by CocoRosie on French television. I recommend skipping the first 38 seconds of dialogue. Their live rendition of “Werewolf” is much more of a rap compared to the studio version, but it is still entertaining. The voice of one of the sisters sounds a lot like a female of version of For He Who Hung the Moon — a local Gainesville folk singer: http://www.myspace.com/forhewhohungthemoon. There is his MySpace if you would like to compare and tell me how wrong I am.

The lead vocals are so harsh and high pitched. The music is essentially a conventional mix of dance beats and punk sensibilities, but it is infectious as hell. I never realized I liked so many French all girl bands. I found them on a friend of a friend’s music blog. I particularly like the chorus of the song “Bloody Bloody Whiffy Scuzzy.” The Decibelles guitarist sounds like a seagull crying at my old Elementary school on free popcorn day while the drummer coos playfully in the background. Warning: if you faint at the sight of blood, particularly fake menstrual blood, do not watch this video.

Waylong Thorton and the Heavy Hands are a husband and wife duo from Gainesville. Waylon plays guitar and contributes yelping garage rock vocals and Meg is the “heavy hands” drummer. It doesn’t get much heavier than this. They can be described as a blend of surf rock, garage rock and just plain rock n’ roll. Throw some punk and folk in there and you have the Heavy Hands. On a side note: they are really nice people as well. Meg is going to have a baby soon. A miniature pair of heavy hands, if you will. They just came out with a new album called “Evil.” It is one of the strongest they have produced. It opens up with a very biblical (the angry old testament mind you), Ennio Morricone flavored rant riff. If you contact them on any one of the many venues they are represented (Facebook, Myspace, etc.), I am sure they would be more than happy to lead you to a copy of the album online somewhere.

My girlfriend told me I would have to live under a rock to not have heard this song by MGMT. I guess I live under a rock. I only discovered this song a few weeks ago. I have known the band for a few years, though it was “Kids” that solidified their status as kings of psychedelic synthpop (a very specific title indeed) in my book. I was introduced to them in a period of time when I would “Tivo” blocks of music videos and rummage through the videos almost daily. “Time to Pretend” was my introduction to MGMT: a video where they jump around a fire on a beach and show trippy images of the repeated images of band members. I felt the song was kind of dull, although it did grow on me. Overall, I felt the duo was trying to be bombastic and bigger than life, but managed only to be a blip on the heart monitor of hippy acid dance music. The Michael Jackson tinged ”Electric Feel” gave me renewed hope in them, although I was not totally convinced of the glory and praise they were receiving from critics. “Kids” is the song that changed my mind. It is a manically happy, yet depressing piece of art. It is a brilliant piece of music, lyrically as well as in its simple, catchy instrumentation. I read somewhere the lyrics in the chorus could refer to “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, which is a perfectly presentable theory and a bonus.

Controversy aside, the music video perfectly portrays a child’s perspective on life: the scary bogey man who lurks around the corner, the fears which are more concrete and ugly at that age. It fits the lyrics like a glove. As a child I always wondered how adults did not fear imaginary monsters. It turns out they just fear different kinds of monsters than kids.

I keep introducing Spark is a Diamond to friends, but so far I am the only one who enjoys them. One friend claimed the music was fine until the vocals came in. I am pretty sure that is most people’s train of thought. I can only imagine what my dad would say after hearing their songs. For the record, I think the exact opposite of everyone else. The expert mash up of  in-your-face dance beats and alternating female/male vocal screams is something the world has never seen. Or has never seen done well. It is a fine line that Spark is a Diamond walks on. I do not believe any other band could mix dance and hardcore punk and achieve anything but trash. This band, however, achieves magic.

Well, that is it for now. From  the looks of the list, I guess I have been in a dance music kind of mood lately. Usually it is predominately punk and folk, so I welcome the change. That is not to say old Sum 41 and the new albums from Andrew Jackson Jihad, Monsters of Folk and The Avett Brothers have not been in heavy rotation as well. I think that last sentence has a double negative. Oh well.

~ by shawp on November 4, 2009.