Through the Looking Glass

Before I tell you about Glasser, I’d just like to answer a question a lot of people ask me—“How do you find these groups?” Well, I do a lot of digging from a lot of resources. In this case, I went through the entire lineup of all the groups playing Coachella that I’ve never heard of. Then, I listened to samples of their music on youtube. Tedious? You bet. Worth it? Of course. That’s why my motto is: I listen to a lot of crap, so you don’t have to.

Back to Glasser. It’s the musical project of Cameron Mesirow. Her Dad is a member of the Blue Man Group which features some incredible music of their own. She says she grew up listened to Motown, new wave, punk, grunge, and ska. Her music features beautiful, almost Bjork-like vocals and sparce electronica backing her up. She’s recently toured with xx and Jonsi (from Sigur Ros), and her debut album Ring was released in 2010.

The Other Pogo

This isn’t about the much beloved classic cartoon strip by Walt Kelly but about the audio-visual artist. He currently lives in Perth, Western Australia and his real name is Nick Bertke. There isn’t much about him in the way of a bio on the net, except for the tidbit that he worked briefly at Disney. His work is very intriguing. Pogo takes bits of film and scenes from tv shows and does a painstaking job editing them. Then he sets them to music, which is a mix of original compositions and samples. It must take him weeks to edit a two or three minute video. The results are pure genius. If you enjoy them, do a search on youtube—Pogo’s volume of work is enormous. (Warning, his take on "Dexter" is a bit bloody.)

Toro! Toro! Toro!

Chaz Bundick of Columbia, SC is the alter ego of the group known as Toro y Moi. It’s a chillwave group that that has a dreamy, dancy sound. Chaz recorded a couple albums worth of music back in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he released his first cd. He sounds a like a cross between Beach House and Panda Bear. I’ve only included studio recordings of Toro because the sound quality on his live recordings is awful.

Comments welcome!

Hey everyone! I've been posting for a couple years now. And I've only had a few comments on the music I've put up. What's up with that? Please give me some feedback! It's like there's no one out there. I post something and it's like I'm talking to a ghost town or something. If there's no one out there, I'm going to quit posting music. What's the bloody point?

Major Tunage

Merrill Garbus is the brains and the lungs behind the lo-fi experimental project known as Tune-Yards. She records her voice with a digital voice recorder and shareware mixing software and combines it with found sounds, ukulele, percussion and the results are quite unlike anything I’ve ever heard. It’s dreamy and dancey and a tad spacey. She reminds me a little bit of Bjork but with a soulful edge to her voice. She added a couple musicians to her one-person group and signed with 4AD Records a couple years ago. Tune-Yards has two releases to date.

Guitar Heroes

The astonishing Rodrigo y Gabriela have quite an interesting history. The two guitarists started out in a heavy metal band in Mexico City. They moved to Dublin where they earned a living busking on the street. Eventually they learned flamenco guitar, were taken on tour with Damien Rice, and the rest, as they say, is history. The duo has released three cds, the third of which hit the number one spot on the Irish charts in 2006. They play everything from traditional flamenco to their interpretations of rock tunes. All in their own fiery brand of blistering guitar work.