Music for Tired Ears

The Dresden Dolls
Toy ponies. You wouldn’t really expect to see them on stage at a punk concert, but Amanda Palmer, the lead singer for The Dresden Dolls, takes a small herd of My Little Pony toys with her on tour and likes to trot them out for everyone to see. But something about this sweet eccentricity makes sense for a two-piece band that revels in being odd.

Part punk, part cabaret, The Dresden Dolls pump out eclectic songs ranging from the antique and simple — ones that might have come out of your grandmother’s music box — to the dark and scary. On most numbers, Brian Viglione provides heartbeat-esque drumming that outshines that of The White Stripes’ Meg White. Though very different in sound, the two bands share a penchant for having a unique look. In The Dresden Dolls’ case, it’s a little mime-ish — cabaret-style black clothing that seems to shrink over the course of a concert.

While the band’s lyrics tend to be heavy, they do address real issues that teens can connect with. In “Good Day,” Amanda sings about people ignoring you to talk about themselves. Hey, that happens to me every day. In “Bad Habit,” she sings about cutting: “And you might say it’s self-destructive/But, you see, it’s more productive/Than if I were to be happy.” While such lyrics may seem dark, they bring light to something serious and real. That’s probably the thing I like best about The Dresden Dolls — they keep things real and they work to build a better understanding with their fans, even when it’s about toy ponies.

Willamae Boling / VOX Staff

Super Furry Animals
All the way from Wales, comes Super Furry Animals, a band with a sound that may make you think it was the love child of Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips. The five-man group meshes techno, rock and punk together to form a psychedelic and experimental style that’s extraordinary. Their hypnotic tunes such as “Herman Loves Pauline” or “Rings Around the World” get stuck in your head with their incredible musicianship and metaphor-laden lyrics that sound like poems by Emily Dickinson.

Unfortunately — or is that fortunately? — you likely won’t hear this band on the radio, but you can check out several of the Super Furries’ music videos on YouTube or get a few downloads off their Web site www.superfurry.com. It’s also worth spending a little dough to get their latest album “Love Kraft.”

Marcus Jones / VOX Staff

The Streets
Rap music isn’t just an American thing. Mike Skinner hails from Birmingham, England, where he blends garage and electronica with rap under the name of The Streets.

Contrasted to the mundane, repetitive snap-rap movement today, The Streets’ dynamic, easy-to-listen to music is a groovy protein shake for the ears. Some people might laugh at Skinner’s accent — he’s definitely not from Atlanta — but it’s hard not to enjoy his addictive beats and smart rhymes.

The Streets’ rap focuses more on everyday life — say, simply having a bad day — than the typical smack about street life, money or hustling. Skinner even sings about his team losing a soccer match.
The Streets’ best known album, “ A Grand Don’t Come for Free,” announced to the hip-hop world that it had a fresh new competitor. Personally, I think the CD even beats R.Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” for its straight story line and compelling sound.

The Streets may seem pretty different than the usual hip hop we hear in Atlanta. Howver, it delivers an amazing sound that you shouldn’t be afraid to check out.

Marcus Jones / VOX Staff

Cobra Starship
You can’t go wrong with a name like Cobra Starship, right? Well it’s fitting that this brand new band got its first taste of stardom when it’s interestingly addictive song “Bring It” made it onto the soundtrack of this summer’s campy action flick “Snakes on a Plane.” The band mixes a sense of trippy fun into their unusual brand of alternative punk power pop — along with a dash of breakbeat.

The band is led by lead vocalist and bassist Gabe Saporta, who formed Cobra Starship as a side project to his punk band Midtown, and he’s backed by Elisa Schwartz, Ryland Blackinton, Alex Suarez and Nate Navarro. Cobra Starship’s first album “When the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets” was released in October, and the group has recently toured with the likes of 30 Seconds to Mars (and its sexy frontman Jared Leto) and Panic! at the Disco.

To bite into some of Cobra Starship’s music, visit the band’s Web site at www.cobrastarship.com or stop by its MySpace page at www.myspace.com/cobrastarship. And look out for them on tour this spring — hopefully they’ll be coming back to Atlanta again.

Raven Hathcock / VOX Staff