Couch Session: Class Actress.

Session #6: Class Actress

Elizabeth Harper is classy, no doubt,
though if she's an Actress, the jury's still out.
Genuine and true, she couldn't be someone else nor a fake,
when the soul in her solo playing is something we just couldn't shake.
Trading her band's two boys for our cheapy guitar,
the raw versions of her songs were gorgeous and bizarre.
The moodiness shifts from instrumentals to just her,
but the heart's still in those songs, though location is a blur.
She sings beautifully but with edge, like a Feist from the city,
less sparkly and pure, more honest and gritty.
Accompanied by six strings, she's our first lone girl,
The first solo artist to give it a whirl.
She noted that "music needs to pass the campfire test",
and with that guitar, she clearly accomplished that quest.
The girl seems like a starlet in her very own town,
though her hands remained shaky till the guitar hit the ground.
Stripped from surroundings she's comfortable playing within,
Elizabeth blew us away with no need for chagrin.
Adorned in silk, leather and fur vintage items galore,
her glamour and wardrobe are impossible not to adore.
Call her a siren, a songstress or whatever you choose,
there's something inherently special here, the making of a muse.
With too many glasses filled heavy with wine,
Elizabeth entertained us, and stayed for some time.
And while we can't help but love these songs when they're wholly stripped bare,
we hope you listen to each version, to enjoy and compare.
As their music, either way, is the start of something unique,
so if you haven't yet heard, you'll fall in love. Go ahead, take a peek:

MP3s:

Class Actress - "Let Me Take You Out (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

Class Actress - "Adolescent Heart (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

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Skating Away The Angst

Maybe I'm just high on inhaling puffy paint fumes through the TV from watching male figure skaters in glittery art project leotards skating around a rink, but I kind of like this. I kind of really like this. It involves flannel, rock music and doing the splits, which are three of my all-time favorite things, not to mention it's the manliest thing I've seen on the ice since...well, I don't watch hockey, but I can imagine if I did, this would be the manliest thing on ice since then.

Couch Session: Elsinore

Couch Session #5 — Elsinore

Elsinore, a gaggle of five Midwestern men,
came by while driving cross-country, and all the way back again.
A band from back home, from a much smaller town,
a quainter place, where people you know are always around.
We became fans first, friends second, constant listeners third,
with such dynamic songs, the lines became blurred.
One thing that remains static, straight, tried & true,
is what their music involuntarily does to you.
The chills from the lyrics, which sink like blood on a page,
tighten your throat, coarse right through your veins.
If their harmonies don't make you feel, you must be sans a soul,
a frozen-blooded creature, a heart lined with coal.
"Is it just something you can't quite put your finger on?" they pose,
Like they're inherently aware, like they already know.
Far from their home, the town we too used to claim,
they sang out from the new place we now give that name.
Luckily, we were able to postpone our goodbyes,
when the band stayed two nights, not one, from a snowstorm surprise.
And as the quintet lay quietly asleep on inflatable beds and cots,
there was a sense of being back in Illinois that could not be forgot.
So, to present a band we love, from a place we adore,
we give you, dear friends: Elsinore.

MP3's:

Elsinore - "Evens (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

Elsinore - "Body of Water (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

Elsinore - "Chemicals (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

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This Thing Kind Of Looks Like That Thing.

Top: The xx on Pitchfork.tv's Surveillance security camera-style series.

Bottom: MTV's Fear, where people are sent to a haunted factory or penitentiary and have to roam around alone with cameras and try not to panic. (I watched for :01 and all of my teenage terrors from this program came flooding back.)

Couch Session: Phantogram

 

Couch Session #3 — Phantogram

We had spent the day inside keeping warm,
while Phantogram actually braved last week's storm.
Straight from a magazine photo shoot they came,
shoes fresh with snow from exiting the L train.
Sarah and Josh stopped by during that whole Snowpocalypse,
(crap, there's no word that rhymes with apocalypse...)
We'd listened to Eyelid Movies on repeat for weeks,
intense and exciting, with its intricate beats.
But hearing these songs on the couch was surprisingly raw —
vulnerable, near-silent, and left us in awe.
In the days since, our home has filled with these sounds,
toggling between the two versions still does astound.
Makes sense, that a phantogram is an optical illusion of kinds,
since stripped down or dressed up, the band's essence still shines.
Put on those headphones, and give yourself a few —
there's no way these songs won't strike a chord with you.

 Phantogram - "As Far As I Can See (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

 Phantogram - "When I'm Small (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

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