apples fall in my yard, some poisoned just for you
i love it when my hunches pan out.
back in january, blowupdoll posted the song "For Fun" by Bertine Zetlitz, a Norwegian pop star. it's a pretty straightforward, playful, offbeat little pop song. but i couldn't get enough of it. i listened to it over and over again. there was something about that really appealed to me.
so i did some research. found her website. watched the videos on there a bunch of times. tried to find some of her stuff. couldn't find much of anything on this side of the atlantic. finally bit the bullet and ordered a copy of "Sweet Injections" from Austria via gemm and waited.
i'm so happy i did. it's so good. probably the best pop music i've heard in the last year. i can't really describe it any better than calling it "weird pop". the songs are beautiful and catchy, but just a little strange. probably the clearest example of this (and so far my favorite song on the album) is "Sickest Girl". the slightly off-key chimes sound behind "i get a taste of iron when i breathe..." really does it for me. just enough atonality to turn a fairly normal song into something extraordinary.
the album really covers a nice range too. there's really dancy upbeat songs like "Girl Like You" and "Wild Kisses" at one end and more low-key loungy stuff like "Piper Piper" (part of which sounds like portishead with some techno-y cymbols added on top), "Chainsaw", and "Let Armies Loose" at the other.
i've got a copy of her first album, "Morbid Latenight Show" on its way to me. i haven't had any success in finding a copy of the new album "Rollerskating" though. maybe someone can help me out.
i have a hard time picturing Bertine Zetlitz becoming an MTV staple or even getting in the top 40 in the US, but it really amazes me that there hasn't been more of a push to get her music to american audiences. IMHO, Capitol/EMI have really dropped the ball on this one.