Catching up on my letter writing

[koganbot]

Dear male dudes in the Black Eyed Peas,

There is only one person in your group who can sing, and you are not she.

Sincerely,

A Fan


Dear male singer dude in the xx,

There may not be anyone in your group who can sing, but if there were, it would most assuredly never be you.

Sincerely,

Frank

Comments

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Uh, not that anybody is paying attention to this anymore probably, but it turns out the Laughing basically sound...like Vampire Weekend (who I don't hate but don't love). Anglophilic Afrophilic nerd-rock. [i]Maybe[/i] with more going on rhythmically than VW, though I wouldn't swear to that, and probably with as little going on vocally and less going on lyrically. So, not recommeneded, not even close, but maybe some potential there. They're from here in Austin, so maybe I'll try to go catch them live sometime.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

They don't have VW's sense of melody, either -- and yeah, defintely no evidence of "clever worldplay" on a VW level, though mainly the words are just hard to make out. Still, sometimes they slip into a goth moodiness I don't mind. And a track or two (#7) seem to have more kick to them than VW do.

The publicity sticker on the cover of my promo copy compares them to, get this, Harry Nillson, Os Mutantes, Silver Apples, Love, Roxy Music, Sonic Youth, 13th Floor Elevators (pretty much all wishful thinking, as far as I can tell, but a pretty neat list) and Animal Collective (which might well be a clue.)

Replayed the '09 Slarrafenland CD yesterday, though, and once again thought it was really beautiful, in some weird convoluted way I can't put my finger on. "Post-Radiohead" might not be right -- more likely they sound closer to some obscure '70s progresssive rock band from, uh, Canterbury or somewhere I've never heard. (They're Danish themselves.)