Music is the one thing that humans create

The other day, a friend was over and I had music from the iPod playing. A weird song, that I love, from a Believer compilation came on. "What is THIS?" my friend asked. It occurred to me that even though I love this song, I'd never looked up the band, CocoRosie. They're two sisters who make very unconventional but strangely beautiful music. Their first album was recorded in their apartment bathroom in Brooklyn. You only have to watch this video to see how bizarre and yet wonderful they are:



I got feedback from several people that they liked my posts on music and one reader offered, in response to my claim that humans don't actually make anything, that we create music not from nature but from our imaginations. I have to give him that. I think I would die without music. Here's what I'm digging at the moment.

Albums that I love every song on are:
Spoon, Gimme Fiction
The Raconteurs, Broken Boy Soldiers
Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, Welcome To The Monkey House (I still don't have their latest)

I listen to this Dandy Warhols song every time I go running and it makes me laugh my ass off. It's fantastic, especially if you're a "struggling artist."



I recently got the KT Tunstall album. She had two very mainstream songs playing all over the radio ("Suddenly I See", "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree") so I got this one for my mom as catchy and easy to get into usually becomes irritating to me. But this is a great album! KT is half Chinese, adopted, grew up in Scotland and is actually musically educated. You can hear in her voice that she's a spirited and passionate person. I prefer listening to her rich voice without seeing her face but to get a taste, here's the video for one of my favorite songs "Another Place to Fall."



If you were into the English Beat in the 80's, check out The Futureheads' News & Tributes. If you were also a fan of early Talking Heads and Devo, give a listen to Maxïmo Park ("Apply Some Pressure" is their radio hit.)



Oh and this is really fun! I've been a fan of Natacha Atlas, an Egyptian musician, for ten years. I have every album starting with Diaspora. A couple of years ago she put out an album, Something Dangerous, that expands on her traditional sound by incorporating rap, jazz, R&B, pop and dance. I was supposed to see her in concert at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of summers ago but they announced that her Visa was denied on suspicion of terrorism. Nice work America! Here's a song from it:



ENJOY!