Artist: The Pagan Spolkestra
Song: SOIL
From album: Open Arms EP
Genre: New Weird UK
[Buy Mp3s][Myspace]

Some bands have a sound that grabs you because of their pure musical mastery, some have an indefinable aesthetic charm that wins you over emotionally; and some, you guessed it: have a winning blend of both.

From the beginning of the song “SOIL” off of their new “Open Arms” EP, The Pagan Spolkestra plays the musician card & charm card pair with a subtly-building prelude of woodwinds, strings, percussion, and fey vocal oohings. Then the saga unfolds with a vocal lead which is almost José Gonzálezian at points, surrounded by the varied and progressive folky rompings of the 15ish collective members.

All in all a very interesting group, one to keep the old eye on (especially since their next album will apparently feature guest-stars from The Arcade Fire, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, and more!).

Artist: Stealstealground (???)
Song: Swimming Bird
From album: Stealstealground
[Email for album: stealstealground [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] hk][Myspace][Website][Song Lyrics]

Stealstealground is a brother and sister breathing a music of listless understanding; singing songs of wise and delicate youth. Simple songs of simple beauty and a faint calm sadness.

I wasn’t able to find their album for sale, but if you can, please let me know and I’ll post the link.

Brian Dettmer uses knives and old books as his rather unique art supplies, and makes surgical three-dimensional collages of brilliant complexity.

The thumbnail image is his carving of “Gray’s Anatomy”. Seems like it would require extreme attention to detail and a high tolerance for tedium, slicing carefully through hundreds of pages to reveal a single word.

[Link][2]

This is some very interesting art from Aya Kato. Click on the “Gallery” link at the top to check out 8 years of illustrations.

The mood ranges from dark and gothy to bright and elegant; always with very fine details and a distinct, personal style. Each of the images has a name and story associated with it as well. Many are drawn from mythology and legend and feel extremely well suited to Aya’s artistic methods.

[Link]