The xx have made their mark!

Until just recently, The xx was a four piece band consisting of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith and keyboardist Baria Qureshi who only just left the band citing exhaustion as the reason for her departure. They formed a band in 2005 in Wandsworth, south west London, when the four met at Elliott School. Romy and Oliver, lead vocalists, have known each other since they were 3-years-old and started creating music together at 15-years-old. The female vocals and guitar are delicately delivered by Romy with Oliver pouring deep vocals and bass in for the balance. Jamie is the master beat maker on the MPC and he is absolutely brilliant to watch live. Some people say beat machines have no soul, but arguably Jamie truly does bring The xx songs to life.

Croft and Sim’s voices are like crushed velvet and cashmere together while they envelope and caress you with each word. And slow driving bass lines that drip into your ears like warm honey. The backbone is in the MPC with the beats cleverly arranged to give a little toe tap. I close my eyes and listen to her and then to him and get a warm fuzzy feeling that pours through my entire body. The breakdowns and the build ups lead into a full sonic island of melodic sound. The lyrics that sound like something Thom Yorke may have written in his journal when he was 19. On the song Crystalised lyrics like “…I’ll forgive and forget before I’m paralyzed…” hook straight into a dark place that exists in all of us. Helping us find and heal some buried hurt from a long lost love ages ago with each tender tone. Each song leads perfectly into the next for a body shaking ear-gasm.



The xx songs are brooding and mellow with some introspective rhythms. There is a modern goth feeling that oozes from this band while they don all black attire and new wave haircuts. If you could imagine New Order and The Pixies having a baby band…this would be it! Their debut album, xx, was released on Young Turks Records on 17 August 2009 and ranked #9 on Rolling Stones “best of the year” list. They have quickly become one of my favorites and I know I’m not the only one who can’t get enough of The xx from the looks of their healthy tour schedule. They will be at Coachella on April 17, 2010 so if you get the chance, catch this British wave of electro-goth goodness.

Who knew Broken Bells could sound so good?

Broken Bells eponymous debut album was released in the U.S. and Canada on March 9, to the delight of many. Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse, and James Mercer of The Shins are the connoisseurs of this fine project. Each man a powerhouse in his own right, they found out that they were fans of each other’s work after a fated meeting at a Danish music festival in 2004. Thus spawn the inception of Broken Bells.

Mercer and Burton began laying the foundation for the album in secret at Burton’s Los Angeles based studio in March of 2008. When asked they described their new material as “melodic, but experimental.” I believe it was early in January when I heard the song “The High Road” played on KCRW and about lost my little mind. Immediately following the song I looked up Broken Bells and was just tickled to find out who was involved. Pretty much anything involving Danger Mouse is going to be at least good…if not mind-blowing!

Listening to a full album is not a common occurrence anymore, but when played from start to finish the album tells a wonderfully melodic and inspired story. Like fine wine, each taste has new notes and slowly developing undertones that resonate within. Broken Bells presents a rich and robust resonance that makes you want to come back for seconds…thirds even! The influence of The Beatles and folk music in general is apparent in their sound, while there is also a deep affection for synth-pop laced throughout the album.



In an interview on KCRW, Danger Mouse mentioned that he drew inspiration from 80’s music in producing this album. This is particularly evident on songs like “The Ghost Inside” and “Trap Doors” where the bond to the beat is in the clapping. In the song “Mongrel Heart” the composition is extremely evocative and when you least expect it, it breaks into this epic lingering spaghetti western type solo that is simply marvelous.

Mercer’s distinct vocals almost serve as an instrument on their own while Danger Mouse’s wealth of knowledge from instrumental to production automatically put this album near top of the pops. The album is masterfully composed and I would expect nothing less from Burton who has worked with artists ranging from Sage Francis, The Black Keys, Beck, and Bright Eyes. You really must check it out!

Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM…scrumptious industrial brainwaves

Anglo-French actress and singer-songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg was born in London on 21 July, 1971 as Charlotte Lucy Gainsburg. She was raised in Paris by her mother British actress and singer Jane Birkin and her father French actor/singer Serge Gainsbourg. In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album 5:55 to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot on the French charts and achieving platinum status in the country. Charlotte Gainsbourg seems to have truly found her individual style in her recently released third studio album IRM.

Gainsbourg claims she handed Beck some sounds of whirring MRIs (the album title is the French term for the machines), and the pop eccentric took care of things from there. Beck is a whiz kid on Production and performs vocals with Gainsbourg on “Heaven Can Wait”. The two of them singing together strikes a palatable dream for fans and followers of Beck, Charlotte, or both. Without much training, Charlotte possesses a whisper of a voice delivered with intent that bathes in the albums extraordinary production. A sonic wonderland created by Beck is the ideal chariot for Gainsbourg’s floating fluttery haunting vocals to resonate from your ears to your belly and right down to your toes.



IRM is largely influenced by her roll in the 2009 horror film “Antichrist” with Willem Dafoe as well as an experience in September 2007 when Gainsbourg was rushed to a Paris hospital where she underwent surgery for a cerebral hemorrhage. She had been experiencing headaches since a minor water skiing accident in the United States several weeks prior.

Big lo-fi booming and gritty distorted guitar are the undertow that sucks you in on the song “Trick Pony”. With a brilliant use of percussion ala stomp in the song “Greenwich Mean Time” enveloping Gainsbourg’s somewhat monotone vocals that sound as if they are being delivered over a loud speaker in your high school cafeteria. It feels as if they channeled Elliot Smith on the song “Heaven Can Wait”. While the song “Voyage” has an evocative tribal feeling with a sub-orchestral string arrangement that peeks in and out between sounds of birds cawing. And if you close your eyes, you can almost imagine yourself on safari.

IRM is a modern pop-folk dream with an alternative influence and sprinkled elements of shaved industrial lo-fi sound that are surely the influence of Beck himself. I tip my hat to Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck on a wonderfully composed album that seems to take folk in 2010 in high form. Well done!

Keep it simple...and dirty!

I had heard the name before, but never bothered to listen to anything by them for some unknown reason. Yesterday I was guided by a force to listen to The Black Keys. After discovering their recent project with hip hop veteran Damon Dash called Blakroc which features The Black Keys, Mos Def, Q-tip, RZA, Jim Jones, Raekwon, Pharoahe Monch, Nicole Wray, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and several others seamlessly combining rap and rocky blues. I felt like a kid on Christmas when you get that one gift that makes you so happy you could just cry.



A two piece band comprised of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001 and masterfully shaped 5 albums to date with the latest album Attack & Release produced by Danger Mouse and put out in 2009. The band released their debut album, The Big Come Up, in 2002, followed by Thickfreakness in 2003, Rubber Factory in 2004, and in 2006 they released their fourth album, Magic Potion. With many of their songs appearing in popular TV shows and commercials, you may have heard The Black Keys before and not even known it.



Their sound is raw and pure as if they connect you straight to the earth with each rugged riff and thunderous beat. If they were fresh produce, they would surely be the homegrown organic variety. Every line delivered by Dan Auerbach’s wonderfully soulful voice reaches right into your chest, grabs your core, and shakes it with the truth. A dash of Jimmy Hendrix, a cube of Vanilla Fudge, a pinch of Zeppelin, and just a drop of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins will bring you close to the recipe for a mouth-watering taste, The Black Keys. Stripped down and gritty, the production style makes each album seem like an old time rockin’ blues treasure uncovered from your grandfather’s closet. The Black Keys could very well be the incarnation of many great music Gods.



After listening to all 5 albums and some tracks off their EP’s, I am madly in love with The Black Keys. I’ve got it bad and all I want to do is share it with the world. Each song seeped into my skin and slowly made a footprint on my heart that I hope never disappears. Next on my list of things to do before I die: See The Black Keys LIVE!!!

Check’em out:

POS - Audition & Never Better...like finding treasure!

POS – Pissed Off Stef or Stefon Alexander. A Minneapolis native with musical roots planted in punk rock. After an initial hostility towards hip-hop, Stefon quickly graduated to rap as a musical expression and outlet. Now he is a member of the Rhymesayers family for life!

The gift of POS – Never Better, released February 2009, was bestowed upon me a couple weeks ago by a dear friend. And a week later I received the preceding album, Audition which came out January 2006. It’s clear in both albums that POS has an alternative approach to hip hop music. Sampling punk rock bands and drum & bass loops masterfully mixed into diverse beats with luscious lyrics laid on thick.

Audition serves as a wonderful stepping stone from the first album to the third. Lyrically Audition is on point, honest, and truthfully raw. Speaking to the little punk rocker and the wanna-be thug b-girl in me all at once. Each song laced with beats that serve as an homage to the hip-hop songs I grew up with from A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, and De La Soul. The basic bouncy beat on the song “De La Souls” is driven by 3 deep cello notes reminiscent of early 90’s De La Soul songs. The 3 deep cello notes cut like a knife directly to the heart of the listener. “A Teddy Bear and a Tazer” serves as the birth place of this brilliant mixed big band sound that is almost James Bond like with POS speakin on freedom and independence. Jazzy beats moving slow like molasses and some gritty tribal rhythms on other songs carry through an extremely eclectic collection of stories on this album.


Never Better and the albums title could not ring more true for this artist. I experienced this album before listening to Audition and I about lost my little mind. Having grown up with a particular affection for drum & bass beats, the album Never Better spoke straight to my soul. The beats are not traditional at all and innovative in a way I’ve never heard or seen before. Illustrated particularly well in the song “Purexed” with the hook “try to find the beauty in your face, try to find the beauty in the baseline”. The song starts with a slow magical ambient sound that builds up to a light break beat and then bursts into a magnificent drum & bass explosion. The tone of POS’s voice in this song is radiant and strikes the perfect balance of chill evoking composition. A treasure trove is discovered in the album Never Better with succulent layers of gold buried in each song creating a compulsion to listen to every track over and over to find new sparkling bits and pieces within the whole.

POS is a true crossover artist, perfectly illustrated by both Audition and Never Better. There is a little something for everybody and I would be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t at least enjoy if not fall in love with POS. I really can’t wait to hear more from this artist and see what direction he goes in next.

Felt lost its warm & fuzzy feeling :o(

I could feel my heart flutter a little as soon as I heard that the new “Felt Vol. 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez” was set to drop on November 17th. Having been a big fan of what Slug and MURS have done separately and their work together on the first 2 Felt albums, I was eager to get my mitts on Vol. 3. As soon as it became available I grabbed it on iTunes. For those of you who don’t know, Felt is a collaborative project between Slug of Atmosphere and MURS from the Living Legends. Featuring The Grouch of Living Legends (Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci) and Anthony Davis (Ant) of Atmosphere (Felt Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet) on production.

Aesop Rock was chosen as the maestro on production of “Felt Vol. 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez” with a signature style of dark and gritty garage beats to bring to the table. Aesop has a very distinct manner of rappin and luminous beats to match that signature style. I can appreciate Aesop Rock as an individual artist, but I have to admit that I was skeptical of him on production and after listening to the new “Felt Vol. 3” a few times, rightfully so. It seems like the beats and the rhymes are like oil and water, they just don’t mix.

The first two Felt albums had a playful and imaginative vibe with a congealed sound that brought the whole album together. Like puzzle pieces, it all seemed to fit together perfectly to make a complete picture. Every song was juicy, full, and dripping with talent that made you want more. Felt appeared to be the ground-breaking project that revealed a delicious recipe for hip hop by bringing all the elements together. “Felt” and “Felt Vol. 2” lead us to believe that this was the beginning of beautiful relationship, setting us up for what we know that Slug and MURS are capable of.

“Felt Vol. 3” leaves much to be desired especially when compared to their previous projects. The beats have the personality of Aesop Rock, while Slug and MURS bring lyrics fit for hip hop kings making for a confusing combination that never quite comes together. I found myself waiting for a few tracks to balance out the album with some bump, funk, jazz, and electro samples, but the dirty, dark, low-fi, grinded beats were carried throughout the album.

I never quite got that warm & fuzzy feeling that the first two albums left me with. Reluctantly, I must admit they missed the mark on this one. But I still got mad love for Slug, MURS and Aesop! Better luck next time boys.

~Portia <3

Sweet Little White Lies <3

I recently discovered a wonderful British band called White Lies. A group of twenty-something British blokes that are reminiscent of the new wave sound of the post-punk 80's with their own original flavor. If you are or were a fan of The Cure, Joy Division, or New Order then White Lies should perk your little ears right up! The lyrics are wonderfully poetic and morbidly delectible in an emo/goth kind of way with songs about death, suicide, kidnapping and so on. Each song delivered by Harry Mc Veigh's haunting vocals that truly resonate in my soul. Thought provoking tracks with great danceability, a subtle pop undertone, and technically very tight on all levels. I for one and really enjoying thier premier album, To Lose My Life.