BKLYN Song of the Day

2009-11-05T17:26:00.004+05:00

Mixing it Up
Brash and exuberantly, epically pop, VV Brown is from Northampton, England. A successful songwriter under the pseudonym "Geeki," VV is now stepping forward with a fantastic new album "Traveling Like Light" which was released here last Friday. Channelling a big '60s-ish funk soul sound, she is the current remixers delight.

Shark in the Water -- Zombie Disco Squad remix

Shark in the Water (Acoustic Live)

Her Website

Buy VV Brown at Amazon

2009-11-04T17:14:00.002+05:00

Brrrrrrr!
Timber Timbre is from somewhere quite near the North Pole. Which somehow makes it seem redundant that they were nominated for the Polaris Music Prize (some Canadian thing--I had never heard of it either). Simple and quiet, somewhat haunting, the songs have that poised on the edge of havoc feel that Cris Whitley used to capture so well.

They play at Joe's Pub on the 20th.

Demon Host

Live at the Stone House Festival

Their Website
and MySpace

Buy the mp3s at Amazon

2009-11-03T05:25:00.003+05:00

Breaking Out
The polyglot, omnivorous talents of Florence + the Machine are perhaps frighteningly amazing. You might hear a few gazillion echos: Siouxie, Lydia Lunch, Deborah Iyall, Chrissie Hynde, Polly Jean (oops going to give up my age with that list I think). Alluringly epic, with outsize irony (though in a charming way utterly sincere), Florence Welch spans genres effortlessly. She has already broken huge in England, and was just on Letterman. So anyway, I like her quite a bit--hope I've been clear on that.

Ghosts (Demo)

The Drumming Song (Live)

Her Website
and MySpace

Buy Florence + the Machine at Amazon

2009-10-31T17:57:00.002+05:00

Vive!
I'm not sure if he is the French Tom Waits, or the French Tom Jones, but Bénabar has some ineffable larger than life resonance, or a history of Galoises. Plus also, he had a cool name that sounds like Babar... If I were to explain the intricacies of guinche and chansons, I would be making it up. (Oh okay! I looked it up. A guinche is a seedy hang out. The tradition that Bénabar comes out of, the bals-musette, is dance hall music that developed in the 1880s and does, like Tom Waits, often have an accordion and an exaggerated sense of lyrical play).

Quatre Murs et un Mot

Infrequentable

Buy Bénebar at Amazon

2009-10-20T16:54:00.011+05:00

Skeptical

Assumptions are made to be broken I guess (or are they made to be dashed? I forget). I had thought that "megaplatinum" and "country" were disqualifying words, but then I saw Taylor Swift on Oprah and she was so genuinely genuine and generously charming with the 11 year old who interviewed her. Plus also, really striking songwriting actually and a voice of startling clarity and poise.

Just Forever

Megan and Liz sing Taylor Swift's White Horse

Buy Taylor Swift at Amazon

2009-10-11T23:01:00.003+05:00

Misreading
I admit to having thought that Okkervil River was a death metal band, then I thought that Conor Oberst was the guy from the Decemberists, then I heard them and thought that Gus Black was having a really bad day, and then I fell asleep. While I was sleeping, I had this horrible dream of being in Des Moines, trying to choose between an Okkervil River show at the State Fair and Sufjan Stevens taping a show for NPR at the local high school with everyone dressed up in angel wings. To try to say something nice, am I the only one who hears something from Blondie in the middle of this song?

Westfall

A Stone (Live in Milwaukee)

Their MySpace

Buy Okkervill River at Amazon

2009-10-06T05:37:00.007+05:00

Crossed Paths
So what to say about Manu Chao? And more importantly, what language to say it in? An anarcho-syndicalist (or perhaps former), Chao is Basque and sings in French, Spanish, English, Arabic, and occasionally Wolof. If you just remember him from the Clash-inspired '80s Rockabilly group Hot Pants, you are excused a little disorientation. He also produced the stunning "Sénégal Fast Food" by the blind Malian duo Amadou and Miriam.

Le Vent Nous Portera

Live in Brooklyn

His MySpace

Buy Manu Chao at Amazon

2009-08-30T18:36:00.003+05:00

Overwhelming
Quirky and yelping, Pree crafts little gems of catchy magic. Lead singer May Tabol is formerly of the DC band Le Loup where she got a bit overwhelmed by the ghost of Ladytron. Here however, she does the overwhelming and thwacks you pretty severely with evocative phrasing and mysterious images.

In the Parlor

Heaven Is A Drag

Their MySpace

Buy Pree at Amazon

2009-07-26T21:00:00.002+05:00

More from Mali
Not to be confused with Mohammad Doumbia, Nahawa Doumbia is from South Mali. Singing Didadi songs which are a kind of musical contest practiced at parties and festivals in the Wassoulou region near the border with Cote d'Ivoire, her voice soars over a mix of traditional instruments though she has experimented by working with techno rhythms and DJs from the African diaspora in France.

Sifolo

Le Rhythme de la Parole - Kunto Ko

Buy Nahawa Doumbia at Amazon

2009-07-25T18:39:00.003+05:00

Boiled Frogs
Somewhere in that whole discussion of boiling frogs, which somehow related to the Health Care Bill (or perhaps it was to the GM bailout), someone mentioned that in the part of Holland closest to England they speak Dutch that sounds like someone speaking English with a frog in their mouth. I suspect that is where Princeton is from, though they claim to be from Eagle Rock, California where I used to go bowling as a kid. Theoretically they are singing about "the detritus of love," but it is quite easy to think that they're complaining about the frogs. They play at Union Hall on September 9th.

Calypso Gold

Live at SXSW 2009

Their MySpace

Buy Princeton at Amazon

2009-07-25T18:16:00.003+05:00

CORRECTION
Well as hard as I try to always maintain the highest standards of blogging accuracy, sometimes an inadvertent error may creep into a post. As the artist herself pointed out, Nica Brooke is not, in fact, Lithuanian. She is a native Californian and therefore did not learn English from an old cassette tape left over from the war. Other than that, I think the post was right on the money.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Her MySpace
and website

Buy Nica Brooke at Amazon

2009-07-02T06:20:00.002+05:00

Fluttering and captivation
Ellie Goulding has something almost classically antique in her voice. Others see something Bjork-y or Roisin-ish, and yes, that makes sense in a way, but I would say she soars freely like Sinéad Lohan or Kate Bush and the misty repetitive electronica is incidental. She also appears to be half of the duo Goldsmith and from South London. But really shockingly lovely. Startling. Really. Really.

Guns + Horses

Swimming Pool--Goldsmith

Her MySpace

2009-06-21T18:48:00.004+05:00

Hyperbole
As uncomfortable as I am totally gushing over a song (far easier to be subtly (or unsubtly) mocking), I just have to do one of those Mary Murphy-ish screams over this one. Moussa Doumbia is a saxophonist from Mali who spent much of his career in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The influence of James Brown and other sources of deep funk is thrillingly apparent.

Keleya

Buy Moussa Doumbia at Amazon

2009-06-15T05:42:00.005+05:00

Breathing New
If you only know Swedish-Norwegian-British-New Yorker Leona Naess from her cranky, dyspeptic debut album Comatised, you may be caught off guard by her bouncy and fun new album Thirteen. Her voice has grown, with suddenly more of the vibrant urgency of Leslie Fiest without dissappearing under the same weight of hiccupping affectation and her songwriting has gotten looser and looks out as well as in. Plus also, it is now almost unconscionably catchy. She's playing July 1st at Le Poisson Rouge.

Leave Your Boyfriends Behind

Ballerina (Live)

Her MySpace
and website

Buy Leona Naess at Amazon

2009-06-12T05:58:00.005+05:00

Two men with remarkably black hair
To be a little topical, I thought I would touch on current events--it is my friend Meg's birthday!!! And, although I am not sure she likes being reminded, I do associate her with a certain iconic New Jerseyan. So to circle the metaphorical square I am setting up (topical, New Jersey, Meg, and ummm.... something else), Mohammed Hassan is one of the most popular musicians in Libya (which is apprently rare because their pop scene tends to be dominated by their neighbor Egypt) and Elisa was discovered by one of Whitney Houston's producers after singing the Italian National Anthem at the Olympics. Here she sings a duet with Luciano Ligabue (which if you haven't made the connection already makes him essentially the equivalent of Bruce Springsteen).

Gawali Ainy

Gli Stacoli Del Cuore

Ysallem Alek (Live)

Elisa (Live at the Vatican)

Buy Elisa at Amazon

2009-06-10T05:48:00.004+05:00

Sparkly Happy Danes
Aren't they all? Well not so much actually unless biker gangs make you happy. There are clearly some though, like Efterklang. They bang on old tin toys like Psapp, yet also at times drift small and introspective (or as small and introspective as you can be when you make records with 28 instruments and 3 choirs). They grew up on a tiny island near Germany where they avoided all musical influences besides sea shanties and of course the Raveonettes.

Swarming

EFTERKLANG - CHAPTER 6 (Live @ Knitting Factory)

Their MySpace
and website

Buy Efterklang at Amazon

2009-06-07T23:29:00.007+05:00

In honor of my friend Liz/Whose birthday it is/I have decided to rhyme. Just kidding...
But anyway I know she loves Melissa Ferrick. Or to be more precise, I think she's said she has a love/hate relationship with Melissa Ferrick--which may or may not be the same thing. For those of you who don't know, Melissa Ferrick is outrageously prolific, as well as busy, playing around 150 shows a year. She has one of those nicely linear -- she writes, she plays, she sings -- processes.

Everything I Need (Live in Dayton Ohio)

Melissa Ferrick and Ani DiFranco Live

Her MySpace

Buy Melissa Ferrick at Amazon

2009-06-05T23:34:00.003+05:00

90210
Named after the legendary Beverly Hills shake shop, Passion Pit make twinkly soft electropop. After winning the British equivalent of "American Idol" last year and having a song featured on the new TheWB online series " Rockville," the band just released their first record on May 19th--timed of course to coincide with the birthdays of Joey Ramone, Malcom X, Ho Chi Minh, and other revolutionary figures born on that propitious day.

Smile Upon Me

I've Got Your Number (Live)

Their MySpace
and website

Buy Passion Pit at Amazon

2009-06-03T05:39:00.004+05:00

East of Eden
Nica Brooke is impossibly smooth. A Lithuanian DJ, she apparently learned to sing along to an old half broken cassette player left over from the war. She's been touring lately across Georgia and Eurasia. Sonically she brings to mind the Dutch Producer/DJ Solex as well as having the aching vocal edge of Alice Russell or Morcheeba.

Get Back

Her MySpace
and website

Buy Nica Brooke at Amazon

2009-05-31T18:25:00.003+05:00

Recitation
While I think not technically a "song," the declamatory tajwid (Qur'anic recitation) of Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad is startlingly musical. Born in Southern Egypt in 1927, he is said to have memorized the Qur'an by the time he was 10. Although based in Cairo, he traveled the world reciting and was particularly known for his rendering of the seven verses of the Sura al-fatiha. It's interesting to hear the differences from a recitation in Urdu, like the one below by Sadaqat Ali, having (to my ear at least) more similarities to the rhythm and tone of Qawwali singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Ahlul Bayt

Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad recites Surah Balad

Sadaqat Ali recites Surah Fatiha

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan -- Jhoole Jhoole Lal

2009-05-31T00:18:00.003+05:00

Scratchy
Weary voiced singer/songwriter Meg Hutchinson drags her words out lusciously and bumpily. Not that she's not happily melodic, but like Chris Pureka or Sarah Bettens there's a sharp intersection where the story of the song grabs you as well as the sound of the song (I hope that makes some small bit of sense. It is what I meant to say. If it's confusing, go listen to "Burning Bridges" (esp. the part about the glasses) or "Come Over Here" to see what I mean). She's playing tonight if you happen to be in Massachusetts.

Ready

Home (live)

Chris Pureka -- Burning Bridges (Live)

Sarah Bettens -- Come Over Here (Live)

Her MySpace
and website

Buy Meg Hutchinson at Amazon

2009-05-29T16:48:00.004+05:00

Well this will wake you up...
I'm not quite sure, but the Fairline Parkway may be already defunct. The problem clearly was a lack of caffeine. And they seem to have a problem counting as well, claiming to be the duo of childhood friends Zachary Okun and Raj Gadhia (though yes there are clearly four people in that picture.) Making gentle meandering music that reminds me quite a bit of Neal Halstead, they were from Austin and played around in West Texas for a while before going their separate ways recently.

Robbed Blind

Live at the Black Cat Washington DC

Their MySpace

Buy Fairline Parkway at Amazon

2009-05-25T19:38:00.002+05:00

Northerly
The opening of many of her songs lead you to expect it to be bhangra, but Hasna is a Moroccan singer now based in Paris. She has an intriguing tone to her voice -- almost scolding at times -- while her lyrics actually are quite swirling and poetic with lovely imagery. She also has done some beautiful collaborations with Flamenco musicians.

Shofo Shofo

Marsoul El Hob (Music Video)

Buy Hasna at Amazon

2009-04-12T19:27:00.002+05:00

Down to the River
Floating above twanging country guitars, Samantha Crain warbles and yelps away crankily. She (more than her band the Midnight Shivers) has an un-country edge though, pressing towards an early Jeffrey Lee Pierce southern gothic. I'm quite loving it, though maybe that's not at all what she meant to do.

Songs in the Night

Gun Club -- My Dreams 1984

The River (Live)

Her MySpace
And website

Buy Samantha Crain on Amazon

2009-04-05T01:11:00.003+05:00

Elven
As far as I can tell, Bjorn Kleinhenz grew up in the deep forests of Germany. His music certainly has some elven characteristics, as well as being quite catchy, tuneful, and walking that fine line of embarrassing. He reminds me a bit of Play Radio Play though substantially more folky.

Lust and Greed

Live in Hannover

His MySpace

Buy Bjorn Kleinhenz at Amazon