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Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 04:39 pm
Stylo by Gorillaz cover art


There's a really nice groove to this song that just pulls you in and transports you to this other reality. Somewhere chill and yet alien. The lyrics are a good mix of repetition and narrative. The different voices singing really adds some dimensionality to the song. And the music is this interesting mixture of retro and futuristic. Really well done.

The only radio-type thing I listen to is Music Choice. The Alternative Channel starting playing the hell out of Stylo and I was quickly hooked. The comic characters in the artwork confused me at first, since I had never heard of the band prior to this. But I looked them up, and it's actually kind of interesting:


Gorillaz (which originally was to be called Gorilla) is a British virtual band formed in 1998 by a collaboration between Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. They had the idea to create the band while watching MTV in their London flat.

The band is comprised of four fictional band members: 2-D (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitar, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). These characters only appear in animated form and are not alter-egos of real people, as is often mistakenly assumed.

There is an extensive fictional back-story behind these band members, written by Albarn and Hewlett, which is described in the albums produced by the band as well as several videos and their autobiographical book Rise Of The Ogre. Damon Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor to the band, which is a collaboration between various musicians. Their style is broad, with a large number of alternative influences including rock, hip-hop and electronica.

-source


You can pay $1.29 for Stylo on iTunes or you can buy Stylo on AmazonMP3 for only $0.99 (assuming your country has access).

I did give the whole album a few listens, but Stylo was the only song that really fit me. That happens from time to time with a band/album. It's not that the other songs are bad, it's that my tastes and the band's only intersect on one song. That's why we're doing these Single Recommendations.

Links:
Official Site
MySpace
Lyrics for Stylo
Stylo Music Video on YouTube
Stylo Music Video on Vimeo
(PS: the video is SO FUCKING COOL!)
Saturday, May 1st, 2010 01:14 pm
Meet Snowsera.


(Hi, Snowsera!)


They're an unsigned rock band from Chicago, a city that apparently has a magic music potion in the water. They've been together since 2006 and they have a fairly diverse list of influences: Michael Jackson, Nirvana, the Beatles, to name only a few. Because of this, they're not one of those bands whose songs all blend together.

I found them in 2008, right after someone in the band MySpace spammed me. Normally I click 'Decline' and don't bother to listen to the music. This time, however, I clicked the link and was pleasantly surprised. Their EP Fictions had just come out and I downloaded it right away. The songs have a great, polished quality to them that you don't often see with unsigned bands. It's a pretty good way to get into unsigned bands, because the sound isn't all that different than what a radio-listener is used to.

There are three other EPs, all of which are available free of charge on their website. Push&Pull came after Fictions. The two songs there (Push&Pull and Sun Meets the Sea) are rougher, not as polished, but no less interesting. With a bit of studio glitz, they, too, would be as strong as the Fictions EP. The other two-song EP contains the songs Chase the Rabbit and Stop, Listen, both of which are favourites of mine.

Things get a little tighter each time with respect to instrumentation, though I do wish the singer's voice didn't sometimes get a little drowned out. That's due to recording issues, though, so I'm doing my best to be patient.

For earlier Snowsera stuff, download the Snowsera EP, which includes the demos of two songs from Fictions - TwentyFour (24) and So Subtle.

Is this band perfect? Of course not. No one is. Are they a little rough? Definitely, but that's not a bad thing. They're certainly a band to keep an eye on because there's real potential there. That's pretty exciting.

Photos:
-*- Live
-*- Recording
-*- Promo

Other links:
-*- Official Site
-*- MySpace
-*- LastFM (And what's that I see? I'm the Top Listener? Shock me, shock me!)
-*- Pure Volume