Artist: The Pagan Spolkestra
Song: SOIL
From album: Open Arms EP
Genre: New Weird UK
[Buy Mp3s][Myspace]

Some bands have a sound that grabs you because of their pure musical mastery, some have an indefinable aesthetic charm that wins you over emotionally; and some, you guessed it: have a winning blend of both.

From the beginning of the song “SOIL” off of their new “Open Arms” EP, The Pagan Spolkestra plays the musician card & charm card pair with a subtly-building prelude of woodwinds, strings, percussion, and fey vocal oohings. Then the saga unfolds with a vocal lead which is almost José Gonzálezian at points, surrounded by the varied and progressive folky rompings of the 15ish collective members.

All in all a very interesting group, one to keep the old eye on (especially since their next album will apparently feature guest-stars from The Arcade Fire, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, and more!).

Artist: Stealstealground (倫倫地)
Song: Swimming Bird
From album: Stealstealground
[Myspace][Website][Song Lyrics]

Stealstealground is a brother and sister breathing a music of listless understanding; singing songs of wise and delicate youth. Simple songs of simple beauty and a faint calm sadness.

I wasn’t able to find their album for sale, but if you can, please let me know and I’ll post the link.

Brian Dettmer uses knives and old books as his rather unique art supplies, and makes surgical three-dimensional collages of brilliant complexity.

The thumbnail image is his carving of “Gray’s Anatomy”. Seems like it would require extreme attention to detail and a high tolerance for tedium, slicing carefully through hundreds of pages to reveal a single word.

[Link][2]

This is some very interesting art from Aya Kato. Click on the “Gallery” link at the top to check out 8 years of illustrations.

The mood ranges from dark and gothy to bright and elegant; always with very fine details and a distinct, personal style. Each of the images has a name and story associated with it as well. Many are drawn from mythology and legend and feel extremely well suited to Aya’s artistic methods.

[Link]

Inspired by the innovative work of La Blogotheque’s Take-Away Shows, “five persons somewhere in their mid twenties” decided to start their own impromptu indie-video venture in Vienna, Austria; and they’ve already got some big names.

I must say that I hope this format continues to spread. You often get to see a lot more of the band’s personality when they adventure out into unfamiliar and often surprising surroundings. These types of videos blend the intimacy of close contact with the quality of near-professional video and sound. How could you lose?

[Link]

Artist: Pochakaite Malko (ポチャカイテ マルコ)
Song: Laya
From album: ポチャカイテ マルコ (Pochakaite Malko)
[Buy CD][Website]

Here’s a band that I guess you would define as either progressive rock, avant garde, or Zeuhl depending on your level of music nerdiness.

I find them interesting and quite theatrical. This song, in the parts with vocals, reminds me a lot of the music of Cirque du Soleil; an outfit which pretty much embodies interesting theatricality. I’m sure you could listen to these songs dozens of times and still be peeling apart the layers.

Artist: Galneryus
Song: Beyond of the Ground
From album: The Flag Of Punishment
Genre: Flag Metal
[Buy CD][Website][Song Lyrics]

Any band whose first 3 album titles include the word “Flag” clearly mean business, and Galneryus is no exception. They embody the spirit of heavy metal hyperbole, both in blazing riff and glorious narrative lyric (often made more profoundly enjoyable by virtue of engrish grammar).

The opening melody of this song almost reminds me of a megaman game soundtrack. Flagman’s themesong maybe. And speaking of video game connections, the album art for this and two of their other albums was done by super talented illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, who is probably best known for his highly-recognizable Final Fantasy character designs.

In any case, I think this is a great band to listen to when one is feeling sluggish, or in danger of taking things too seriously.

Said the Gramophone has recently concluded their “Wonderful Video Contest In which people make films for their favourite songs”, and there are some great ones in there.

Yet another fine example of what creative people can do with a little encouragement, some basic equipment, and possibly an all-consuming lust for prizes.

[Link]