Radio Free MP3: Barzin, Underwater Getdown, Trentalange, & T-Model Ford

In this periodically random, or randomly periodic series I will be highlighting batches of music that I find interesting. They will likely be new, but they might be old. They could be superstars, but mostly they will be unheard of, independently labeled and somewhat obscure. They will be free, but you are encouraged to buy. They will all be good, at least to me, at the time I post them. Your mileage may very. Heck, my mileage may very a day after I post them.

"Look What Love Has Turned Us Into" - Barzin
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Cher, Madonna, Prince, & Barzin? So Barzin Hosseini does not exactly ring the same bells as those other, more famous, one-named songsters, but he (and actually I should now note that Barzin is in fact a band consisting of at least three others besides the individual who's name is on the letterhead) is still managing to create some of the more original, if melancholic meditations on love and loss. With "Look What Love Has Turned Us Into" the music might upbeat, but the lyrics are straight out of a broken-hearted teenagers diary. A beautifully poetic diary, with the emotions bubbling over into a burning, frothing, despair.

Their new record, Notes to an Absent Lover is out now on Monotreme Records.

For more artful sadness please visit their homepage and myspace.

"Madonna" - Underwater Getdown
Click here to listen, or right-click to save.

I'm usually not a fan of gratuitous sounds in my music. We need less cowbell, not more. Gothic church bells are rarely a good thing. Random phone conversations should have died with Pink Floyd. With "Madonna" Phoenix's Underwater Getdown throw in some kind of random, gigantic dripping noise. Like God's faucet sprung a leak. Normally I'd dismiss it as pointless posturing, but you know what? It really kind of works.

The whole song has this great party-in-a-cave feel, like maybe the dripping is coming off a stalactite, as the people shake and move to the band. Or maybe I'm just reaching for some connection to a band called Underwater Getdown. Either way the sound is something I haven't heard before, yet altogether familiar. Beautiful. Pulsing. Wonderful.

Their webpage and myspace. Their newest, self-titled album comes out in February, though if you catch them on tour they'll give you a digital download of it for free.

Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

Visit Mat Brewster's author page — Mat Brewster's Blog