She wears face paint and plays a ukelele

and sings in a voice that rests somewhere between Joanna Newsom and Ella Fitzgerald. Mix in a two girl vocal chorus, xylophone and two bearded dudes on cello and bass (oh and some other girl i just now noticed) and you have some music that somehow fits this Saturday morning perfectly.



The band is called Honeycomb. I won't lie. After the first two the songs start sounding really similar. But at least it's a good sound in the first place.

Honeycomb live session @ One Night Music
Honeycomb @ Myspace

A cartoon with no friends

Xiu Xiu have a penchant for making songs so sad they are funny but still sad, and quite honestly I think that's about the best combination of emotions possible in art. Sure enough, their sound has changed from minimalist idm/gamelan creepscapes to merely weird synthpop, their attitude remains in tact.

I say "they," but i guess it's just Jamie Stewart now. Given the content of the new album, "Dear God, I Hate Myself," i wouldn't be surprised if Jamie will become the new Trent Reznor. This I wouldn't mind much at first, because Xiu better shirts.

I'll end with a link to a song off the album. It involves Butters. Yeah, the character on South Park.

Xiu Xiu - Apple for a Brain