It took me a few listens to get used to the voice of lead singer Marisha Chinsky and the presence of the glockenspiel on the album.
But once I did get used to it and allowed myself to focus on the music, I realized that I had a really great album on my hands. Not once when listening to the 10 songs of the album, do I feel tempted to skip a track to move forward.
The Consultants plays a very typical and recognizable Indiepop which still (somehow) manage to blend in a little shoegaze, synth-pop (+ a whole lot more) and occasionally make you think of New Order.
Working From Home is an amazing debut album screaming for your attention. Track it down (shouldn't really be that difficult) and buy it – not tomorrow - NOW!

The Consultants

Like 44 million other people I now have a Myspace profile. You should get one too :-)

You can hardly call this ”news” at all, because Danes My Friend George released the album Born in the U.S.A. (yes – it’s actually called that!) back in January this year.
Despite this, the band is still “news” to me, so I thought it was OK to mention them after all! The 3 songs that you can download from the site of their record label Morningside Records might be short and of a pretty indefinable genre (or rather - I cannot think of a fitting one), but also quite catchy and definitely not without charm.

My Friend George
Marmalade Likes Me (MP3)

Yesterday when browsing through the webpage of Record Company Dead Frog Records, I found a couple of nice songs by German guitar-pop/rock band Phonodrive.

A quick visit at the band’s webpage revealed that both albums released by the band so far are available as free downloads (the debut One at 56 kbps only though), which was a bit too tempting to resist. Apparently the second album Music is only available from the webpage, which could explain the free download?

So this morning I’ve been busy listening to the band’s efforts and overall the songs are of such great variety that you get an impression that the band don’t want to be stuck and instead is looking intensively for inspiration from a wide range of other bands and musical genres.

When all's said and done everything seems to blend nicely and though not every song makes you go wild this band is by far too great to be unknown!

Phonodrive
Don’t Forget Me (MP3)
Up And Away (MP3)
Think About (MP3) Added to my Current Favorites

If you have a few minutes to spare I suggest you visit the media section of Canadian Indie label Boompa Records. Most of the stuff found there is definitely worth a listen. No point in linking to any of the songs - Just check them out yourself (but make sure that you listen to The Salteens)!

The order I placed at Twee Kitten a long time ago has finally been delivered. Therefore the following 3 albums have been added to my CD-Collection:


The Arrogants - You've Always Known When Best To Say Goodbye
Don't Die Before Your Day (MP3)

The Consultants - Work From Home
Snow Fell (It's Night) (MP3)

My Favorite - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Burning Hearts (MP3)

I thinks it's kind of noteworthy that all these 3 bands have female lead singers! If you browse my CD-Collection you'll see that it is quite unusual.

Hopefully comments on each album will be posted later today/this week!

In 2005 so far I've bought (or received as gifts) 108 CD's (99 albums and 9 singles/ep's). See the complete list.

Just to prove that I haven't completely abandoned the traditional sounding American Rock-Pop bands. Listen to nice guitar driven pop tune Right Girl by American Royal. Sounds a bit like Counting Crows and Matchbox 20.

American Royal
Right Girl (MP3)

This morning I found an e-mail in my inbox from a member of the band Venice Is Sinking. Since I’m always eager to hear new music, I of course visited their (absolutely amazing) website and downloaded a few tracks by the band.
And Venice Is Sinking is yet another great and virtually unknown band. This 5-piece origins from Athens, Georgia and plays a kind of indie pop with violins (sounds obscure, but it’s really cool).
Well it’s December and money is a rare thing these days, but I’m seriously thinking of buying myself an early Christmas present and order a T-shirt and the Split EP by the band.
A debut album called Sorry About The Flowers will be released in March next year.

Daniel - Thanks for the picture! :-)

Venice Is Sinking
Download.com
Myspace
Pulaski Heights (MP3)
Undecided (MP3)

I think I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but one of the real cool things about having a blog is that you every once in a while get contacted by people, who asks you to listen to their music or to the music by one of the artists they are promoting.
The other day I received a mail from the boys from sudd.org, which included the link for the new single called Stay (MP3) by Fujasaki featuring Björn Kleinhenz on vocal.
I’m not all that unfamiliar with Björn Kleinhenz (neither should you be), since he is the lead singer of Memoplay. Fujasaki on the other hand is more unknown territory; though I’ve previously heard a few tracks by the band that I didn’t enjoy (boring instrumental Electronica).
And the single is, as you could expect, an electronic kind of thing, but combined with the foot tapping beat, the rather catchy melody and the (almost) fragile voice of Björn, it turns out to be a real positive experience.
Björn Kleinhenz seems to be a rather productive guy and he frequently collaborates with other artists. However my wish for Christmas will be that he and Adam Svanell put more focus on the Memoplay project, because I'd really love to hear more from those guys!

Sudd.org
Björn Kleinhenz
Memoplay
Stay (MP3)

I only have time for a short post this morning. If you have a few minutes to waste, I suggest you add energetic punkpop tune Say Something by Komakino to your playlist and give it a try.

Komakino (Webpage + Myspace)
Say Something (MP3)