Have you noticed that lately the good people of France have graciously offered to entertain us through song? That recent Phoenix album is awesome enough, but if you’re looking for something lighter and possibly relaxing, there’s a pair of Juliens ready to fill your DAP, a duo known as Hey Hey My My.
Listening to a few of their songs it’s easy to understand why they chose such a name. Though they don’t really sound like Neil Young, they do share a love for well-placed harmonica and hats from the old west. To be precise, Hey Hey My My sound very much like European cowboys, especially on their single “Too Much Space”. Hear that spaghetti western harmonica? See the name of the other song below? But I think the other songs on their websites sound more like Kings of Convenience harmonies laid over Beatles folk. That’s a great combo in my book. Really, what could be more pleasant?
They don’t have an album, yet; I think they’re still working on a 7″; but add the tracks below to your mix, check out their MySpace page, and keep them in mind.
- Listen to “Too Much Space“
- Listen to “Morricone“
You know how they say “ain’t no party like a Minnesota party, ’cause a Minnesota party don’t stop”? Well, they do. At least, I’ve heard some Minnesota transplants who say it when we compare notes. And if you can get Beight to play at your party, you’d hope the party would never stop. At least until you get hungry for some lutefisk and gravy fries.
Beight is Minneapolis area singer-songwriter Brad Senne, though it looks like he’s got a full band now, too. His music has that lovingly crafted, personal sound that Elliot Smith was so good at. Beight’s debut album File in Rhythm (2005) covers much of the best of pop: slightly dark-sounding pop gems, soaring poppy little brothers of anthems, loping ’60s era pop tunes, and tender shy-shy-shy-shy-shy pop-folk.
I bought this album for one of my favorite reasons: I had to. “Parallels” had been playing in my shuffle and I just had to find a way to send Brad some money to continue making music.
- Listen to “Parallels“
- Listen to “Junior High Smiles“
Send Brad some money through CDBaby, please?
I‘m not sure how to lead this news item: the coolest news yet about Finland? Or how badly does Rob Zombie wish he was Finnish?
Over the weekend, a band of Finnish monsters won the annual Eurovision Song Award, over protests from weird religious types, nabbing their country’s first win for this award.
Here’s the video for the song that won:
Oo, oo, how about Prepare ye the way of the Arockapylpse! That would have been better.
Baby Dayliner is the other artist I’ve been listening to lately who makes rap music as if restructured by whitey (see Honky Rap, Part 1). What differentiates Baby D from The Fiery Furnaces, and from the average hip-hop artist, though, is really just his taste.
When he sings, he doesn’t find enough notes to really qualify as singing, not that he’s missing any notes. He kinda talks with a bit of melody, which is why I call it rap, and yet he also kinda croons. On “Whodunit?” he concludes the bridge with whoa whoa shoobadoo-badoo/yeah yeah shoobadoo-ba hey/whu’ whu’. CD Baby refers to him as a 21st century Sinatra. But he may just as well be an early 20th century Jay-Z.
If you're someone who finds the boat ride in the original Willy Wonka movie to be the most comforting scene, then the Fiery Furnaces will sound very comfortable.
Read More