is hard lately.

What is happening with you? You all in hybernation?

Good name for a band, btw; Hyber Nation.

Anyways, both links are to bands/artists close to my heart, follow the links and listen to the stuff they have got up on their MySpace pages and go get hooked!

Beirut; http://prince.org/msg/8/252700
Benny Sings; http://prince.org/msg/8/251988

THe truly funny clip;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dqdjnfmzmYY

Hey, I'm listening to your Benny Sings thing right now,...


Not bad...

wildgoldenhoney said:

Hehehe. The entire album makes me hum and dance. And smile. Wide.

Just downloaded "Let Me In". Nice track. Thanks.
Video is cute, too.

For the moment, I'm enjoying Beirut more than Benny Sings.

anon said:

That song is nice and love the video too... Bobo!

beirut is on my 'to be investigated' list. I noticed that a lot of people in the smog group at last.fm seem to be into beirut as well, which put them firmly on my radar.

damosuzuki said:

WTF is the smog group?

HamsterHuey said:

http://www.last.fm/group/%28smog%29

the last-fm group dedicated to the creepy lo-fi/folk/country/indie-rock performer Smog aka Bill Callahan.

He's kind of an obsession of mine.

damosuzuki said:

Ooh, tell me more! Where did you first hear him and why did his music/voice capture you?

HamsterHuey said:

I first heard of Smog in '95 or so in a brief write-up in the Melody Maker promoting his album Wild Love, which caught my attention for two reasons:

1) he was pictured with a girl who I thought was really cute, and
2) the article mentioned he had a song named 'Prince Alone in the Studio.'

I picked up the album, and found it to be pretty unremarkable indie-rock. The Prince Alone in the Studio track was kinda cute, good for a chuckle, but the rest of it did nothing for me.

I filed it away and didn't give him much thought again, until I joined this board. Very shortly after I signed on (I remember this very distinctly) an orger named thefrog posted a picture of a Smog album titled 'A River Ain't Too Much in Love' - the very next day, I was browsing through the 2nd hand bin at the local indie shop and found a copy of that very record, bought it and fell head over heals. I've gone back and explored a good chunk of his albums and loved almost all of them. So Mr Frog, if you're out there, thank you, because I owe you for being a catalyst, for prompting me to fall for an act that I almost certainly would have overlooked otherwise.

More than any other band I like (except maybe the fall), I like smog because I like the performer's personality. I like him so much that I'll forgive when the music comes up a little short or the lyric falls flat.

His mid-period albums are notable for containing some genuinely creepy lyrics, this one from All Your Women Things being probably the most infamous:

All your bridges and bras
Your cotton
and gauze
All your buckles and straps
Releases and traps
All your screws
and false nails
Oriental winks
and Egyptian veils


Oh all of these things
I gathered them
And I made a dolly
I made a dolly
A spread-eagled dolly
Out of your frilly things

Apparently a live performance of this song prompted a female audience member to jump up on stage and punch him out at an LA show.

Edit - This is as good an opportunity as any for me to learn how to embed youtube videos.



[Edited 11/17/07 14:51pm]

Thanks, mate. Smog's music reminds me of Jens Lekman.