The Bird and the Bee

One song a day is much easier than a review proper. If you like the song you can dig up the group on your own =D Still, some basic info on this indie group 'The bird and the bee' which I chanced upon on a chinese music blog trix.cn. The L.A. based duo consists of vocalist Inara George and keyboardist Greg Kurstin who worked with Red Hot Chilli Peppers before. Their style is a bit dance and electro indie. I'd say Inara sounds like Imogen Heap, but softer and more dreamy pop.

The bird and the bee official website

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I just knew this from one of their interviews: How does the band name suggest 'sex'? Seems it's a common saying in English.Someone enlighten me.

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Continue here,

They released the eponymous LP on Jan, 2007.



Here's the first track on the album 'Again and Again'


F*cking Boyfriend

Frou Frou - Details

From last.fm biography--

Frou Frou is a British electronic musical group with two members: Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth, active from 2002 to 2003.

Frou Frou manufactured an impressive brand of vocal-driven, electronic pop; formerly the exclusive territory of Björk. The British duo had been collaborating for years without a record deal, and after what must have been countless hours matching Sigsworth's studio finesse and trickery with Heap's breathy yodel, the group's debut, Frou Frou - Details, was completed for American release on MCA Records in 2002.

Heap and Sigsworth first worked together on "Getting Scared" from Heap's 1998 solo record, Imogen Heap - I Megaphone. After completing the promotion for that splendid debut, Heap was ready to begin work on a new project and the two hooked up again as Sigsworth had privately been compiling music specifically for Heap while producing other projects. The first track, conceived by the new, more formal (but as yet unnamed) pairing, eventually turned into "Flicks" from Details, which is perhaps Frou Frou's most Björk-reminiscent number.

Sigsworth grew up listening to eclectic female artists like Kate Bush, and along with Heap, developed an appreciation for classical music. He has specificaly worked with Björk (Homogenic, Vespertine) and Madonna ("What It Feels Like for a Girl") among many other significant '90s pop and electronic artists. Far from being the kind of campy moniker one might expect from a more sugary pop outfit, the name Frou Frou was decided upon when Francophile Sigsworth noticed the phrase in a Baudelaire poem. Apparently, when uttered in French, the phrase is meant to approximate the swishing of skirts as they swirl about the legs of comely dancing women, as in a burlesque performance.

Born composers, multi-instrumentalist Heap and studio/sound/ producer/musician Sigsworth are credited with many side appearances in support of other artists, especially Sigsworth, who was often used as a bit of a song-fixer. While those aren't bad jobs to have, artists of Frou Frou's caliber need to step out on their own, and while Heap worked as a solo artist for a majority of her career, Sigsworth had never been so strongly identified with any previous project. Instead of relegating the male producer/writer to a barely credited back seat, as often happens with a female-fronted team effort, Frou Frou was conceived and honestly portrayed as a true collaboration, making it significant for its marketing truthfulness if nothing else.

Details has some relatively conventional pop moments like "It's Good to Be in Love," but more experimental cuts like "Only Got One" display a more definitive quality. The true accomplishment of Frou Frou (which is in evidence on just about every track the "band" created) is their uncanny ability to infuse highly manipulated, digitally crafted music with a warmth quite rare in pop and almost unheard of in music so technologically progressive. In the studio, Frou Frou achieved unique sounding beats for Heap's luscious voice via more-than-would-be-expected acoustic and natural instruments. These actual instrumental performances were recorded first, then heavily manipulated in an editing stage, giving the duo their own process and thus, their own sound. This approach made their music lush, dynamic, and more earthy when compared to typical electronic/dance and canned pop.

Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek

Some random reading in Last.fm on Frou Frou and I read (with great surprise) that FF is a duo and not the name of the singer, right. And then I saw this weird name ranked first in a list of ‘Similar Artists’. Imogen Heap, what a name, but no, didn’t ring a bell. But later when I played the Hide and Seek sample track and heard the first notes, bell ringing big time. (If you are an obsessed follower of So You Think You Can Dance, you definitely will remember this track and/or the goose bump-inducing dance choreographed to it with the dancers in heavy mascara and full black outfits. But I digress) and later still, when I did find a tubie and stared at her bony, strong face for five whole minutes, I jumped from my chair realizing she is Frou Frou. The visible half of FF, anyway, so much for my uncomprehending reading activity. And YES, she went solo and has good projects going. I’m trying to get the albums down now, more to come.



Clip of the SYTYCD dance. Low quality but you get the idea. ;-)

Life In Mono

The trip-hop duo Mono was formed by the vocalist Siobhan De Maré and producer Martin Virgo. Their songs are mainly influenced by jazz, '60s pop and classic film-soundtracks. Life in mono is a song in the American film Great Expectations soundtrack which earned a high profile for the duo. So far they only have one album: Formica Blues. Personally I found "life in mono" is the best in this album. I've uploaded this song to my space, those interested can download from this site:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/yayaduck/Yaya/mono.mp3

The lyrics for songs in Formica Blues can be found in this site:


Life In Mono by Mono

The stranger sang a theme
From someone else's dream
The leaves began to fall
And no one spoke at all
But I can't seem to recall
When you came along
Ingenue

Ingenue
I just don't know what to do

The tree-lined avenue
Begins to fade from view
Drowning past regrets
In tea and cigarettes
But I can't seem to forget
When you came along
Ingenue

Ingenue
I just don't know what to do

Muhahahaha, after some painstaking search, I managed to find most of the songs in Formica Blues. You can find them here:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/yayaduck/Yaya/Formicablues.rar
Guys, show some enthusiasm! Gimme some cheers!