Niki N. Phaser

                   A new Coco is born… Coco Sumner (Sting’s daughter) is taking her first steps in the industry with her band I Blame Coco. Maybe it’s not really important news, but in her defence, she did get some help from one ‘insider’ and no, I don’t mean her daddy. Caesar, the debut single in question, is a collaboration with Swedish pop-honey, Robyn. 

                  It sure is an interesting way to begin a career with the lyrics “I want to annoy, And i’m going to enjoy it”. It might also be a promise of what to expect of I Blame Coco: stylized retro-pretty punk. And for what it’s worth, the video for Caesar does have Berlin late 70’s feel to it and I’m pretty sure that this is not an accident. If you want to see this new band in action you should know they are touring the UK with La Roux this spring. See if this charmingly underproduced track does it for you:

BLAME COCO Here

              Mazzy Star’s best known song, Fade Into You, is not a very complicated track, it hardly ever crosses the acoustic border. Hope Sandoval’s vocals are also pretty steady all over. The structure is simple, the production minimal. Yet maybe it’s just these things that make Fade Into You the perfect soundtrack for that moment we all take once in a while, those few minutes when we just stop. It provides the distance we all need sometimes when looking at our lives. It might be mistaken for a love ballad, but Fade Into You just seems more like an ode to closeness. Lyrics like “I look to you and I see nothing, I look to you to see the truth” are as truthful and cynical as any relationship, no matter what are the circumstances. The demystifying of love is exactly what gives it strength and before happiness there is the warmth of a comforted heart. But then again, I’m really just guessing here, hear for yourself:

FADE INTO HERE

               Australian indie-rockers Expatriate are releasing their debut album, In the Midst of This, in the UK, this very day. The album was initially released in their homeland back in 2007 and it certainly did not go unnoticed. It received enough indie attention to keep the band’s gig schedule quite busy and for Rolling Stone to name them “one of the most important new bands of 2007”. In 2009 they toured with fellow Riverman band, Placebo, thus being exposed to an even broader audience, which payed off, as shown by this UK breaktrough, as well as by a string of headlining gigs around Europe. As for the album, if you are into rock mythology, you should know it was recorded in Seattle, in the studio where Nirvana did their last sessions. Even though Ben King sings “A dream’s a dream, Leave it at that” on Times Like These (maybe the best track on the album), Expatriate keep on working on the architecture of their own dream and, with a second album in the demo phase, they might just become one of those bands who inspire others to dream.

Download Info HERE