Superficial Music Project: Mercedes Sosa #1

It occurs to everyone that listens to music…  It happens when you’re scanning the paper to see what shows are going on, or when your you’re reading your nephew’s band’s liner notes:

You Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them!

But is this true?  We are here to test it out.  We have blindly chosen three bands off of Last.FM’s “Hype List”.  We will now judge (from 1 to 10) how good a band is based soley on their name.  We will then look at their pictures, decide further if that changes our opinion.  And then, finally, we’ll actually listen to their music to see how wrong/right we were.

(Joining us is L.A.-via-Milwaukee’s Adam Lovinus )

The Band We Will Be Blindly Judging Today:

Mercedes Sosa

Lille: There was a drain cleaner brand called Liquid Sosa that we used in college to clean our sinks instead of throwing garbage out. That’s what this band name reminds me of. Like a Mercedes Benz going down the drain. I get the impression that the lead singer of this band fell in love with a girl named Mercedes and stalked her outside her apartment for months and sent her paintings about the Iraq war. And that they play haunting goth music. Rating ?

Brian: The words “Mercedes” and “Sosa” immediately make me think of the douches that inhabit Wrigleyville.  I get the impression that this band  is either global-beat, or wants people to think they are ( a-la Brazilian Girls who are neither Brazilian, nor girls).  I’m going to give them a 7.  I’d like to support global beat music, if it turns out it’s five crackers doing slowcore on Moogs, I’ll be very disappointed. Rating: 7

Adam: Either a poppy, faux world-beat starlet a la Nelly Furtado, or a luxury automobile that runs on ethanol and steroids. The name-alone rating is a 5. Neither clever nor annoying. Rating: 5

On Monday, we will look at photos and update our increasingly superficial opinions of mystery band, Mercedes Sosa.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day!

Sometimes I wonder if calling albums, “records” will become as antiquated as calling portable stereos “boom boxes”. Eitherway, I’m still calling them boom boxes so that’s neither here nor there. Years from now you will sit your grandchildren down and tell them that, in your day, if you wanted to buy music you had to leave your home and walk over to what was then called a “record store”.

In the near future, of course, songs never heard before or since will be generated and downloaded directly into your brain based on 30+ years of personalized last.fm information. But until that time comes (and while the RIAA and major labels work backwards trying to ruin “Mom & Pop” record stores), music culture is still flourishing at your local bastion of Indie. If you think I’m referring to Best Buy, please kindly close this window now.

Good. Now that they’re gone, tomorrow (April 19th) is National Record Store Day. A day in which, “all indie-record stores are invited to participate… [with] … in-store performances, sales, demonstrations, dances… everything that makes an indie record store unique should be on display…”

There are plenty of goodies and in-store shows taking place all over the US of A. In Chicago, Reckless Records in having some prize give-aways, Permanent Records is hosting an in-store show with Grand Ole Party and Purricane. Meanwhile, Reggie’s Rock Club, a historic South Loop indie staple since late 2007, is hosting a 3-stage, 27-band extravaganza. There’s a bunch more stuff going on, check the list of local records shops participating here.

Stephen Malkmus and Vampire Weekend are also both releasing limited-edition EP’s for the occasion. (Maybe Records Store Day is finally the time to ask someone why an “extended player” is longer than a “long player”. I’ve always been curious).

Not mentioned as part of record store’s celebration of uniqueness is the classic over the counter know-it-all-isms that we all loathe but actually crave. -Brian Howe Battle