you really got a hold of me

i'm not sure what indie-country-pop is, but i'm betting we'll see more of it coming out of the ultra chic, nighttime scene of la in the coming months. i can't say whether it will catch on nationwide, but anytime a hollywood type starts a band and puts out an album it will get noticed (see jason schwatrzman's coconut records).

she & him is the latest project from indie ingenue zooey deschanel and the enigmatic m. ward. already the star of indie films like all the real girls, the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford and others (or elf and bridge to terebithia if you don't watch indie flicks), deschanel has made the leap to music. it's not a huge stretch because she's always kind of had that june carter cash thing going for her. and she & him is definitely country music. but it's more fun than that really. it has a throwback feel to it where if you heard it on an old truckers am radio, you would assume it was from 30 years ago (back when country music was actually good). each song features simple melodies and uncluttered arrangements which is what gives it that older sound. and it compliments her style well because the songwriting is solid enough that it doesn't need excessive production to prop it up. you could very easily picture her touring just by herself with a guitar, telling stories between songs (i'd buy that ticket). so far though, she's just done south by and sold out shows in new york and la.

zooey deschanel's debut cd is called volume one and as always, i recommend buying it at slowtrain on broadway.

dreamy dreamerton

apparently i'm the only one of our six writers that is still alive so i'm racking my brain trying to come up with articles...

so here's a band that i just discovered, even though they've been around all year. the band is coconut records and yes, jason schwartzman from films like rushmore, i ♥ huckabees, darjeeling limited and shopgirl is the lead singer. and yes, he's as talented at music as he is at acting (and still SO dreamy).

i have to stop right here and say that i usually hate when hollywood interferes with music and it usually ends up as bad as you'd expect (see 30 seconds to mars, see dogstar). but with an avant-garde artist like schwartzman, we've learned to expect quality and nighttiming certainly delivers. each song off nighttiming is it's own piece of work and each one could and likely will be featured in an indie movie sometime in the next few years. the album still works as a whole, even though each song is starkly different from the others.

so there you go: coconut records.

there will be a funeral for the other four writers of this blog as i'm sure they're dead. and when they give me grief for writing this, just go back and look at our posts and you'll soon realize that they have no ground to stand on. whenever we get the funeral scheduled, i'll surely let you know. we'll do a benefit concert as well to help pay for the funeral expenses too.