Music Monday: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Name: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Style: Indie Folk
Similar To/Sounds Like: Hicks (no, that's not a band name)

I've been listening to quite a lot of what many people would consider to be hipster music lately, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is by far the most hipster of them all. If you hate all things hipster then you aren't going to like ES, but you should probably reconsider you stance and at the very least give their song "Home" a chance.

I first heard this group when their song "40 Day Dream" came up on my always-astounding Florence + the Machine Pandora station, the source of all good music in the universe, and jotted down their name to look up when I had the time. A few days later I did a quick Google search on them, and it was quite apparent that "Home" is their biggest hit so I listened to it on YouTube. And loved it. And then at the NYFA fashion show in Seattle last week, one of the designer's showed their collection with "Home" playing in the background and I loved it even more than the first time I head it. Almost as soon as I got home, I bought their CD on Amazon and it's been playing ever since.

The group is made up of Alex Ebert, the lead singer, Jade Castrinos, the back-up female singer, and about 50 other random musicians. OK, so not 50, but there's a bunch. They also have a superb trumpet player that is worthy of mention. I'm sure all of the other members are good musicians as well, but today I'm feeling particularly pro-trumpet... probably because my dad got his out the other night and was brushing up on his rendition of "Taps" for his second-career as a funeral trumpeter.

Like most of the bands and singers I listen to, I know this type of music isn't for everyone. Probably 85% of you that actually give the group a listen are going to think I'm insane, so sorry for that. But the other 15% is going to love me for sharing these guys with you, so you're welcome for that. Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you listen. (I'm only linking up my 3 favorites today, but I'm sure you can find all of them on YouTube.)

Up From Below

1. 40 Day Dream
2. Janglin
3. Up from Below
4. Carries On
5. Jade
6. Home
7. Desert Song
8. Black Water
9. Come in Please
10. Simplest Love
11. Kisses Over Babylon
12. Brother
13. Om Nashi Me

Download on Amazon (only $3.99!) or buy the CD.

This isn't a music video exactly, but I thought it was fun and a good way to listen to their best song:

Music Monday: St. Lola in the Fields

I know what you are doing right now. You are double checking the day on the bottom right corner of your screen, aren't you? Well stop checking, because I know very well that it's not Monday. I'm doing this today (Wednesday) because on Monday I forgot it was Monday, and on Tuesday I remembered I forgot it was Monday the day before and decided to wait until next Monday to do a Music Monday post, but today (Wednesday) I changed my mind and decided to do Music Monday today even though it's Wednesday and not Monday. Got it? Good. Let's carry on.

Their Name: St. Lola in the Fields
Their Style: Indie/Alternative
Similar To/Sounds Like: Lily Allen, Florence + the Machine, Imogen Heap

You can tell this indie duo isn't well known because their album does not have it's own Wikipedia article, and I can't even remember the last time I looked up an album that didn't have its own article. Gasp! Also, I couldn't hardly any of their songs on YouTube. In fact, I never even would have heard of them if not for Amazon recommending them to me. So thank you, Amazon!

Apparently the singer for this group (Cindy Morgan) is semi-well-known as a solo artist in the Christian music realm, but I've never been a big Christmas music fan so I can't tell you if that's true or not. For this project, though, she teamed up with a guy named Jeremy Bose and they made music together. The result is kind of awesome.

Like I said, I couldn't find all of their songs on YouTube, but you can listen to samples and download the whole album an Amazon for only $5, which is cheaper than on iTunes where it costs $10. By the way, did anyone else know you can download music off of Amazon or am I just a dummy? I just got The Decemberists brand new CD for only $3.99! And it so awesome to just download it immediately instead of having to wait for a CD in the mail. Anyways...

I'll just leave you with a link to the CD on Amazon since I can't get the YouTube videos. Click HERE to go there.

High Atop the Houses and the Towns
1. Fly
2. Hold Me
3. Go Don't Go
4. He's in Love
5. Waking Up With You
6. Don't Say
7. Sunny
8. Unless
9. Yes I Do
10. Fix
11. Say Goodbye

They're kind of a calmer, more bluesy version of Florence + the Machine. Great easy listening.