If you don't know, now you know......Dark Mean

I spend a fair amount of my free time, of which there is little, trying to find new music. Since I lack patience in my music hunting endeavors, I have developed a completely unscientific approach to aid my search. It involves, essentially judging books (or in this case album covers or press release photos) by their covers and giving bands very little time to make an impression on me with their music. My own little "Gong Show" if you will. Certainly things fall through the cracks from time to time, but as previously stated I don't have the time or patience to devote the energy needed to do it right.

A band with the name Dark Mean has me reaching for my gong striking devise, based on principal alone. For whatever reason I gave it a listen, assuming that it would induce nothing short of nausea. The first song I heard was "Happy Banjo", how dark and mean could a happy banjo be, right? I was hooked within the first 30 seconds. I knew that I was going to like the band, not just the song. The song is built on a melodic banjo ditty that compliments the keyboards beautifully. Although the banjo makes the song, it's not a song that you would anticipate hearing a banjo in. Their songs are built more on rock drums and keyboards, guitar takes a back seat in this band.

To date they have only released 4 songs in the form of the Frankencottege EP. The title song from the Ep sounds like a lost Firebird Band song if I've ever heard one. But the kicker for me is "lullaby". The vocals are simple, essentially consisting of a repeated line "close my eyes/ haven't slept in five days/ we'll sleep when were dead", which doesn't sound nearly as morbid when taken out of context. The song builds up on keyboards, Que banjo, and then bring in the strong background vocal track for the climax before crashing back down to the foundation of the song, mellow keyboards. Truly a recipe for a great song.

You don't have to take my word for it, you can download the EP for FREE at their website: www.darkmean.com. Did I mention they are from Canada? Canada, killing it again.

Fanfarlo.....for a buck!!!!

All right, quite literally, I can not say enough about the band Fanfarlo. They are an essentially unknown band with members from all over but recently based out of London. Without a doubt, one of the most exiting new bands I have heard in the last couple years. I'll try to keep my school girl rant to a minimum since the my first post on this blog was detailing their new album reservoir, if you didn't read it, go read it. At any rate, I just found out that from now until July 4th, you can download the album, along with 4 bonus tracks for a dollar. Seriously, see for yourself www.fanfarlo.com . I purchased the album months ago when it came out, but dropped in again just to get the 4 bonus tracks. It's only a dollar, do it!! If you download it and don't like it I will personally send you a dollar, it's that good.