Im hungover today. Again. Last night was a friend's birthday. Well, it was her birthday last week, but you make the good times roll as far as they can. We hit a karaoke bar. I had been out drinking on my own for a couple hours beforehand - pints of ale, watching sports and the fireworks that marks the Brisbane Riverfire Festival. The karaoke bar was shithouse. Songs were pretty bad. But I still got to bust out some Breaking Bad-worthy moves, and that is all you can really ask. Plus I did sing 'Heart Of Gold' - that was my song. Add that to 'Born In The USA' and 'Unchained Melody' - for better or for worse, that is my triumvirate of singalong torture. karaoke is cool, when you are doing it. When you are listening, sometimes it isn't.
Anyway, here are six acts that do it a little more often than me. Sing, that is. Doesn't mean they are any better than me, of course...
Hello, Nallo from Minneapolis. You have a 7" out, I see? Submarines. That's a nice name! Let me hold it - ooh, new wax smell, isn't it lovely? Such a beautiful thing too, isn't it? Lot of fun playing this one. So cute, playful and irreverent! Oh, I can have one for free? Don't mind if I do! See you round soon I hope?
Nallo - Submarines
Nallo - Moth
I have had this floating around in my inbox for some time, and it's such a gem that Id be remiss if I didnt allow you all to bask in its leftfield-folk glory. Akin to Antiques' JWNS album that I showcased in HFTB last week, New York's The Miami, in their EP I’ll Be Who You Want Me To Be, have taken folk and rustic pop and skewed it - in The Miami's case, by exploring traditional American lyrical poetry, mainly African-American (slave songs, gospel hymns, spirituals) from their own white/middle-class/secular experiential viewpoints. It's a lovely album, and you can grab it all for free below.
Sydney's Melodie Nelson is launching her stunning debut album Meditations On The Sun, a dreamy, intimate and delicate record that is as honest as it is warm. The face behind the solo project, Lia Tsamoglou, has been enchanting audiences for years via both the Sydney experimental drone duo Moonmilk as well as the alt-folk group Rand and Holland. Meditations On The Sun is psychedelic and composed, hopeful and melancholy. Expect to hear more about this lass...
Melodie Nelson - Orpheus, She's Gone
NYC's Mirror Mirror is a strange, hypnotic pop act that swings their sonic trajectory from TV On The Radio-esque grandiosity to beat-heavy glam abandon without batting an eyelid. Their new album Interiors came out last week, and the below two tracks are on it. Conventional they are most certainly not - but a lot of fun.
Mirror Mirror - Interiors
Mirror Mirror - Sick City
Fiore is a Los Angeles collective who create soaring folk-soaked numbers that evoke pastoral psych in their languid, reverb-tinged meanderings. The self-titled LP (which you can get for free here) takes a while to warm up, but by the time 'Sincerely, New york' kicks in, you'll understand why the journey is deemed necessary. Good stuff.
Fiore - Sincerely, New York
Fiore - No Pity
Two Minneapolis bands in one HFTB! These guys call themselves Gospel Gossip, and revel in the shoegaze, wall-of-sound aesthetic. The below track oozes class - those Galaxie 500 references aren't flippant - and apparently is a taste of an upcoming LP that should see the light of day early 2012. I for one cannot wait.
Gospel Gossip - Dream Awake
Happy Sunday!
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