Cleo's Pick o' the week- M83 "We Own the Sky"

It's a well known fact that I love these guys. And it really has nothing to do with the fact that Brandon Flowers said he's totally jealous of their synths, or that they opened for The Killers on the first leg of thier North American tour earlier this year. OK, I guess it has a little to do with it, because that's how I saw them live. Not that any of my friends here will believe that - according to Gingie and Chops everything I like must hearken back to The Killers. I say they're just jealous cuz I have exquisite taste.

So there.

I'm a self confessed anglofile, but I also gotta tell ya that I love french stuff too- my aunt taught me french when I was a little girl... not that I remember any of it, but whatever. I remember listening to Celine Dion in french when she was like 13.
So nothing makes me happier (ok, very little makes me happier) than when Anthony Gonzalez says

"We own ze sky"


That's just plain sexy right there... I don't care WHO ya are.

Enjoy my pick of the week... I know I will.

Thursday's Throwback- Bring on the Dancing Horses- Echo & The Bunnymen

I thought it was time to resurrect this little tradition of ours. And I gotta tell ya... I FREAKING LOVE THIS SONG!

Every once in a while, a little ditty comes along that simply transcends time. To me, this is a perfect example to illustrate my point. This wonderful band has more than one great song... in fact, I pretty much like most of them.

Also- I love the name Ian. Lots of great guys are named Ian.

Trust me.

I know a lot of stuff.

Wussy Music Monday

It's official ladies. I give up. I'm done done. I give in. I succumb.

I like wussy bands. I like floofy music. The bubblier the better.

There, I said it. Happy? I thought that by calling my posts "Manly Music Monday" I could get the world to see that "Manly" could mean lots of things but apparently I was wrong. So from here on out I unleash my inner wuss on the world with no apologies.

And with that I present to you "Donora"

I had a tough time finding much about them on the web. Most of the links on their Myspace site are dead and everything else just seems to be direct quotes of the little blurb from their "bio" section. What little I found was from local papers doing stories on them. From what I could find it seems that Donora is Jake and Casey Hanner on vocals and drums with Jake Churton on bass. Jake and Casey grew up in Pennsylvania surrounded by music as their dad, Dave Hanner was a country/western musician for most of their lives. Casey said of her musical upbringing, ""My best friend growing up, her dad was also a musician," says Casey, "so I'd just be back and forth between these houses, and the dads would be home all day working in their studios, recording music." Donora has only been around for a few years but they sound well polished and have obviously benefited from their childhood exposure. But despite their polish Casey seems to retain a nice innocence. She almost seems like a 10 year old that just picked up her dads guitar and is just happy to be making music. She seems genuinely excited about singing and being in a band. The songs all sound well produced and very well performed. The only thing I didn't care for was the whispery part in "Shh", but I'll even forgive that for the catchy, poppy guitar and lovely melody. So anywho.. check em out. Tell me what you think.

Unless your just gonna tell me what a tender soul I am.

Plus Casey's got a pretty mouth.

This is how I'm feeling today....

One dude from Charleston, South Carolina and five dudes from.....Sweden? Whatev...works for me. Carolina Liar...Show Me What I'm Looking For.

Discover a new band.... Discovery

This is a new collaberation between Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend, and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot. I'm not gonna post any reviews.... We are free thinkers and we know what we like. For me, what you guys think is more important than some music reviewer I've never freaking heard of.

So spill. Tell me whatcha think.

Manly Music Monday

I have kissed a lot of girls. Bunchs. Like, in the hundreds probably. I really enjoy kissing. It stared in the 4th grade. I was "going steady" with Nadia. A thick girl in Mrs. Henderson's class. I think she was of Russian descent. She had a haircut just like Mary Lou Retton. Anywho, one day I was out in the front yard putting the Pennysavers on my bike in preparation for my route when Nadia showed up with a gaggle (I think girls travel in gaggles) of girls. The lead girl pushed Nadia towards me and said "Nadia says you haven't kissed her yet." This was true. The thought of kissing Nadia scared me and made my still developing testes retreat into my skinny white boy abdomen. I tried to ignore them for a while but they just stood there in a line on the sidewalk staring at me. And Nadia was just standing there in the no mans land between me and the sidewalk looking sad. I kept racking my brain trying to think of a cool way to get out of kissing her for what seemed like hours. I came up blank. So I did the only thing a respectable 4th grader could do. I dropped my Pennysavers, walked up to her, grabbed her, threw her over my knee and planted one on her a la Clark Gable, which was the only kiss I could visualize at the time. When I let her up she looked completely dumbfounded. I looked at her gaggle (that still doesn't seem right..) and they looked as stupefied as Nadia did. But then they all smiled at me, Nadia walked over to them and they all left. I was a hero. Word of my smooching prowess traveled quickly and soon I was the kissing king. And it didn't stop in grade school.

In high school I was kinda even more of a mouth slut. That's what the girls told each other. And what they told me after I kissed them. The funny thing is I would meet some girl, flirt with her for a few days at school and some girl she knew who knew some girl I knew who knew a girl I had made out with would tell her what a player I was. They would almost always ask me about it. I even had a whole speech worked up.

"Suzie says you kiss a lot of girls"

"That's true, I do."

"Why?"

"I like to kiss, I think people should kiss more often. If I had my way we would kiss each other hello. To me its my way of telling a girl that I think shes pretty and that I like being around them. It's not a big deal"

And then they would get this look in their eye. They knew I was full of crap but they were curious. 90% of the time they would make out with me within 48hrs. And I never had an unsatisfied customer. I was an amazing kisser. I knew what girls liked and what they didn't. I could tell just by looking at a girls mouth what kind of kisser she would be. I loved teaching girls new things to do with their lips.

Then I met the future Mrs Chops. I had just gotten back from my mission in France so I was kinda out of practice. The first time I saw her I was absolutely mesmerized by her mouth. It was small but pouty. And I knew I wanted to kiss it.

When I was in High School I went on maybe 2 dates in 4 yrs which did not end up in a kiss. But the first time out with Mrs Chops I was too scared. And the second time. And the third. But the fourth time we went out we ended up back at her place and she broke out her guitar to play some "Jewel" for me. She played "Hands" and as she was playing I couldnt take my eyes off of her mouth. I was moving in delicous ways and I wanted to taste it so bad. She finished singing and I just stared at her for a second. Then I asked.

"Can I kiss you"

"What kind?"

Oh crap. I had been gone for two years and all of a sudden there were "kinds". Dangit.

"I.. I dont know... What do you mean?"

"Regular or foriegn?"

"Umm... regular?"

And then she kissed me.

Best. Kiss. Ever.

Bar none. And I knew I loved her. And that I would never kiss anyone else again. And I was totally happy with that.

And so I give you songs that make me think of making out with Mrs Chops. Because 12 years later very little in this world makes me happier than being kissed by Mrs Chops.

Fountains of Wayne - Sink to the bottom
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Cleo's pick o' the Week...Say Hi to Your Mom