So, I was gonna post this great bit about an amazing artist I've been discovering... but wouldn't you know it, I have no time to expound...  here's something fun and random...

...and...

...and most definitely...

...

More of this... my apologies....(ha ha ha)

Hey, I don't think I've done 2 consecutive posts with the same artist in mind, but whatever... I'm holed up after a small medical procedure, got some pain meds, and I'm just following youtube videos from one to the other... so far today I've watched the movie "joysticks" as part of a retro 80's video game binge brought on by the dungeons and dragons module "Tomb of Horrors...". Gamers will appreciate that... The movie sucked, but brought me to some other period gems....
What does this have to do with my last post? Balls if I know, other than that I got bored and started watching a Grimes video that came up under a search for something obscure (totally can't remember now what I may have been looking for...), and at the end of that video (I'll do a post on Grimes soon enough), one of the suggestions was for the Charli xcx video "You (ha ha ha)".
Last post I had mentioned that I was gonna go over to her site, Charlixcxmusic.com, and download the free mixtapes. I did, and there are some interesting tracks there, but none I was going to post about.... This You video is the main content on her site at the moment, and I hadn't watched it the time I downloaded the mixes. I admit that it may be the painkillers, but it's been stuck in my head since I watched it a few hours ago.
This is a great track for a few reasons. First, it is so different from the other track that I had enjoyed so much... that's important because I love artists who can change their stripes fast and give us more than 1 trick.  Second, I dig the "evil offspring of the spice girls and pink" type of product Charli's selling. It kind of reminds me of the electro scene a few years back giving us greats like Robyn and Ms. Kitten, but jazzed back up again.  Third, the sound is very pop, but noisy and avant-garde and even epic all at the same time. Like a mix of Portishead, MIA, and Depeche Mode. Maybe just a sprinkling of Bjork.

Anyway, check out the video. What do you think? Semi agressive styled, strong-female, party type of music. Stylized video with a fun aesthetic. Energetic but emotive, clearly not unintelligent by nature. Personally, I would rather see more pop of this variety rather than a bunch of divas with songs featuring r&b and rap stars talking about their phones and other similar fluffy content... this has been currency in the pop world too long. I'll be mentioning the better stuff as I see it come out.

pop gets better... I'm astonished...

So I was looking over a list of "the best" new material of the year over at one of my very favorite blogs... Popdose... (incidentally, do check this out... always on top of damn near everything...) when I came upon something that has just dominated my day...

Charli xcx is some kind of English synth pop artist... I really haven't been able to pigeonhole her yet, to my delight. Most pop artists show their hand right off... they're the strong type. They're the weepy type. They're the party type. They're the retro type. They'rhe the avant-garde type. They're the giggly-empty-headed type. They're the hook driven rock type. They're the warbling crooning type. They're the... you get the point.

This track, Valentine, started... well, to be honest, I thought the opening was a bit weak at first... clunky and overly simplistic... but her vocals leap in and change that fast... tumbling over each other like she's rushing to get them all out... she's got a fantastic way of singing that is reminiscent of Robert Smith at his best. It's sweet, warm, genuine, modest... but purposeful and fierce in its own way... It evokes a sort of feeling of the best of the 80's brat pack era, but remade for today in a way that blows me away. If Molly Ringwald starred in a movie today, you could put this in it.

I haven't yet explored her other stuff, but notice that at her website charlixcxmusic.com you can register to download a mix tape... I'm headed there in just a second...

They're not as fuzzy as you might think...

sheep.
I owe anyone paying attention something fantastic.
Every few months I lose track of this blog and have to reconnect with something that's got
a lot of "wow" with really aggressive jazz hands.
so.... sheep.
yup.

I'm gonna start off with a single by Rabia Sorda, the side project of Hoccico collaborator Erik Aicrag. This is a sort of electro clash, poppy electro punk thing... It's kind of reminiscent of later Apoptygma Berzerk, MGMT with more balls... that type of thing.

anyway. This is Eye m the black sheep. Fun track....



Moveing on.... a little band called swichblade symphony... very defunct... very cool in their day.
Dark, electronic... darkwave, I think.   Cult following, fell apart after only three studio albums and some random bullshit. They went on to produce separate acts, some hippy-type stuff, and some more dark, though vastly inferior, material.

This is "sheep", from their second album "bread and jam for francis."




Lastly.....

and WAY more obscure....

Think Tree, from boston ma... and I'm kinda dating myself a bit here...
these guys were almost big for like a year in my circle and area back in the early 90's (as their wiki says, the song "hire a bird" was included in WFNX's 500 greatest songs of all time)...
This wasn't really a big song... but I think it deserves a listen... you might check out the
fantastic "Hire a bird" as well...

This band is a bit out there, but give a listen... All We Like Sheep...

I'll try not to lose track for so long in the future...