You might also recognize him as, "Oh that guy! Yeah, I've seen him before... I can't remember where, but I've definitely seen him in something before." And though MANic Monday isn't for another six days, here's a nice shirtless shot to tide you over:
ZEXI! I like a guy with a few miles on him. You know modern construction is so shoddy!Ahem, anyway, on to the real topic at hand, my theme for today is Tune In Tuesday, meaning it's all about music! If I were just a hair more tech savvy, I could share actual tracks with you all... like everytime I made a mix cd, everyone could have one. But alas, I am not that tech savvy, so Cathy gets the only one. Also, I'm not really dying to get into music piracy. Sharing my love of great music, yes. Possible jail time, not so much.
Coincidentally (or is it?), two of my favorite bands released new albums today, The Bird & The Bee and She & Him.
The Bird & The Bee
She & HimAlso coincidentally (or is it?), they are both male/female duos, where the girl is decidedly quirky and their sound is retro. Huh... so are two other bands I wanted to highlight, Pomplamoose and Nikki & Rich. Enjoy the co-ed magic!
The Bird & The Bee's new album is called Interpreting the Masters (A Tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates). As you can probably infer from the parenthetical addendum, this is... a tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates. WHY did DH&JO switch to that mouthful instead of just good ol' succinct "Hall & Oates?" Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure all the songs on this album are from the "Hall & Oates" period, not the later "Darryl Hall & John Oates" phase.
I love the quirkiness of The Bird & The Bee. And with covers, you either get slavish recreations or quirky reinterpretations, the latter of which, are usually slightly tongue-in-cheek, which is how this album comes across at first, but after three songs, I was kinda like, "A whole album of this? Really?" One "Hall & Oates" cover really would have been enough. But, it isn't as if it isn't enjoyable. The first and last songs on the album are H&O songs I've never heard before, "Heard It On The Radio" and "4th of July." They did not cover my favorite slightly obscure early hit "Did It In A Minute" or my all-time favorite "Out of Touch." Here is a trailer for this album's release, but be warned that despite how it seems, the actual album is a studio album, not a live performance.
The Bird & The Bee's new album is called Interpreting the Masters (A Tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates). As you can probably infer from the parenthetical addendum, this is... a tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates. WHY did DH&JO switch to that mouthful instead of just good ol' succinct "Hall & Oates?" Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure all the songs on this album are from the "Hall & Oates" period, not the later "Darryl Hall & John Oates" phase.
I love the quirkiness of The Bird & The Bee. And with covers, you either get slavish recreations or quirky reinterpretations, the latter of which, are usually slightly tongue-in-cheek, which is how this album comes across at first, but after three songs, I was kinda like, "A whole album of this? Really?" One "Hall & Oates" cover really would have been enough. But, it isn't as if it isn't enjoyable. The first and last songs on the album are H&O songs I've never heard before, "Heard It On The Radio" and "4th of July." They did not cover my favorite slightly obscure early hit "Did It In A Minute" or my all-time favorite "Out of Touch." Here is a trailer for this album's release, but be warned that despite how it seems, the actual album is a studio album, not a live performance.
Also, The Bird & The Bee did a cover of "Material Girl" that Cathy and I enjoyed while shopping at Bath & Body Works a while ago, but thus far, I have been unable to obtain it, so if anyone can help a brutha out, it would be appreciated!
Speaking of covers, check out Pomplamoose's cover of Lady Gaga's "Telephone":
The video is DELIGHTFULLY low-tech, versus shiteously low-tech like so many Youtube videos. They also cover one of my all-time faves, from when I was like FOUR, "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire! WAIT 'TIL YOU GET TO 1:09!!! YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!:
SO much fun! Is that really a TOY xylophone?! I am definitely PRO toy xylophone... or xylophone period! And toy period! BLISS!
And now, a non-cover album... which I like to refer to as "an album," She & Him's Volume Two. She & Him are singer/songwriter M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel, who you know as "that quirky girl" in movies like Elf, Yes Man and (500) Days of Summer. Or you may also know her as "that girl that looks like Katy Perry." I quite enjoy their music. I love her voice... which if you haven't heard She & Him, you've at least heard her in that commercial where she sings about the wonders of cotton panties. I particularly enjoyed listening to the album, because it was all-original and after the novelty of covers wears off, it's nice to switch gears. This is the ADORABLE video for the first single from the new album, "In The Sun." (The hula hoops at 2:07 are gratuitous cuteness!):
J'Adorable! (Four years of French really pays off sometimes.) Why is it every time I try and break into a dance routine in the halls of a high school, the police show up and I have to answer uncomfortable questions? No fair. Best hallway dance since "Baby, One More Time," wouldn't you say?
And finally, my HANDS DOWN favorite new group, Nikki & Rich! Here is a live performance of their hit "Cat and Mouse":
And here is a "video" (not a music video per se) featuring the lyrics to their second single "Next Best Thing.":
Woah, hold up a second! Rich looks pretty effen HOT! Oh my... another reason to love this band! (Kinda like The Ting Tings... love their music... hot drummer guy doesn't hurt!)
So there ya go! Hope you enjoyed and possibly found some new artists that you might be interested in getting to know better. If so, all this music is available on iTunes so get to downloading!
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