She and Him

I have been meaning to write about She and Him for a while now, but every time I start, I find a group that I want to write about just a little bit more. But I decided it's finally their time.

In case you have been living under a rock, She and Him is Zooey Deschanel's band with M. Ward. They are cute, they are quirky, they are simple, but they are definitely fun. Deschanel has a very distinctive, strange singing voice. It is both horrible and wonderful. The lyrics to the songs are very simple, almost like they were stolen straight from her diary or poem book. Though very modern sounding, their musical sound calls back to 60s pop, folk, and country quite a bit. Songs such as I Was Made For You and Sweet Darlin' bring to mind the girl groups of yester-year, but then songs such as In the Sun and Sentimental Heart are a very modern sound.

My favorite songs are Sentimental Heart (a song that brings all my relationships to mind every time I hear it), I Was Made For You, Sweet Darlin', Thieves, In the Sun, Don't Look Back, Me and You, and Gonna Get Along Without You Now. I feel their first album Volume One is a great first album, but I find Volume Two a far better album. She seems to embrace her voice's quirks more and puts them to better use, instead of fighting against them and producing a sound that is not always easy to listen to.

Deschanel is on my list of dream people to dress. My mom and I always swoon over all her clothing in the cotton commercial she is featured in. Her style is so simple and wearable, but always stylish. I love the idea of dressing her in modern silhouettes with vintage style fabric. I love that she can wear cute or sweet clothing and accessories and it never feels forced. Bows, ruffles, sparkles, sailor collars, whatever. She always pulls it off wonderfully! Check out some of her adorable outfits below.

(I really really really want the dress on the right, but maybe in another color)

(I love her shorts outfit)

(I would wear that trapeze dress in a second)

I fell in love with Deschanel's singing voice in Elf, and I was so happy when She and Him was formed. I hope you enjoy them as well. Check out some She and Him videos below!










-Melissa

You Are Who?

So, I'll be the first to admit that iamamiwhoami is a bit of a publicity stunt. Mysterious band shows up on YouTube with strange videos with riddles for song titles and no one knows who it is. Over time some very anxious fans figure out bits and pieces of what everything means and everyone has a guess at who the mysterious singer is, but no one ever knows for sure until months later when one music video shows the singer Jonna Lee (who is a big deal overseas) without crazy makeup or special effects.

Putting all that aside, Jonna Lee's side project of iamamiwhoami is really really good electronic semi-dance music. There is such a difference I learned between watching the videos and just listening to the songs. When you watch the videos all you can think about is how bizarre it all is, and if you are me, "why can't they find that male model underwear that fits his ass" (and why is he wearing socks). But when I just played the songs by themselves, I realized just how good of music it is.

It is hard to say exactly what the sound is like, but I found bits and pieces of everyone from MGMT to Bjork in the sound. My personal favorites are O and T, which I will post below, but I highly recommend you check out all her videos in order! It's like a strange puzzle that slowly comes together bit by bit, but when you are done, you're not so sure what the picture is of. You can check out the order on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iamamiwhoami but if you only want to hear her main songs check out B, O, U-1, U-2, N, T, and Y in that order. Strange I know, but oh so good.





-Melissa