Down - Temptation's Wings

Last weekend I had an interesting conversation about supergroups. You know, those bands born by locking together famous people in the same room?

Thing is, I never actually liked any kind of supergroup (no, not even Cream). I wanted to like Audioslave (because I listened to Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun about a million times), tried Velvet Revolver (Fall to Pieces was OK, I guess), and, well, that's about it.

Until now.

One of the names mentioned in that conversation was Down. "System of a Down?" I asked, horrified. "No, just Down. Google it up!"

And I did. Watch Down - Temptation's Wings on YouTube. It rocks, which is normal - they're a metal supergroup gathered around the former Pantera frontman - read more here.

I also liked On March The Saints, Down's latest video.

What other supergroups do you crave?

Miguel y Bimba Bose - Como un lobo

I found this video by exploring the Spanish national music awards aka Premios de la Musica;  it was one of the three finalists of the best video category. You already saw one of the other three - Calamaro's 5 minutos mas (here).

Miguel Bose is a Latin superstar that nobody knows in Romania, even if he won a Latin Grammy for Best Male Pop Performance in 2002. His chameleonic career spans three decades; his albums's sounds changed from romantic pop to disco to electronica, while he was keeping a consistent, while extravagant, sharp fashion style.

Watch the Latin Grammy winner for Best Video - Como un lobo, a duet with his niece, Bimba Bose.

If you like it, try another duet from his Papito album - Nena, with Paulina Rubio.

More about him on Wikipedia. (with family friends like Hemingway and Picasso, it's only natural he grew up to become a star...)

Zemfira - Romashki

A Russian rock superstar, Zemfira is practically unknown in Romania (actually, most Russian music is... our airwaves are oversaturated with American / UK music).

The term "rock" is used here rather as a decoy - she's extremely eclectic and her sounds range from indie rock to electropop to latin to blues. She has a style all her own, though, which you'll recognize after listening to a larger sample of her work.

Watch Romashki (Daisies) in concert.

Read more about her on Wikipedia.

If you like her, try Iskala (Looking for you), PMML (Forgive me my love) or Hochesh (Do you want it?)

Noir Desir - Tostaky

Noir Desir was one of the most popular French rock bands of the '90s. I first listened to them in 1993, on a scratched vinyl borrowed from the Institut Francais; the song was Aux sombres heros de l'amer, the album was Veuillez rendre l'ame (a qui elle appartient)

They were so different from the usual rock'n roll / pop / punk brews of the era that I couldn't end but charmed. I listened to all their releases, and IMHO their best period is 1989-1992,when they released Tostaky.

Watch Noir Desir - Tostaky on YouTube.

After Tostaky, they slowed down, releasing albums in 1996 (666667 Club) - and 2001 (Des visages des figures)  before stopping to a complete halt in the shocking wreck of 2003.

What happened then? Bertrand Cantat, the frontman, killed his wife, the actress Marie Trintignant. He spent 4 years in prison in-between 2003 and 2007, when the band was practically in a coma.

They're now awake, though - go and get Gagnants-Perdants et Le temps des cerises (the original song was written in 1866!) from www.noirdez.com.

Read more about them on Wikipedia.

Magica - Bittersweet Nightshade

I always had a soft spot for rock/power pop divas - Deborah Harry, Annie Lennox, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Bonnie Raitt, The Bangles, Marie Fredriksson and many more. That's why I wasn't surprised to discover I also liked metal bands fronted by female vocalists (obviously, Nightwish, but also Inugami Circus-Dan or Lacuna Coil)

Magica is a Romanian symphonic metal band fronted by Ana Mladinovici; they've survived for quite a long time (founded in 2002) and issued 4 albums so far (I only own one - their first two albums were already out of print when I first heard them, and I've yet to buy their 2008 album).

Bittersweet Nightshade is their first video; raw and a bit messy, but sincere and powerful. Watch it on YouTube.

To learn more about them, visit www.magicaband.com

Tomer Yosef - Don't Fly Far From Me

Actually, my favourite song of his is Little Man, but there's no video of it, except this crazy Super Smash Brothers FMV  which keeps the game's explosions on top of the music, so I had to go for another tune.

Don't Fly Far From Me is a quirky mix of reggae, hip-hop, Balkan sounds and, obviously, Jewish folk traditions (he's from Israel). It shouldn't work, but it does. Watch the video on YouTube. 

Then go to Yosef's MySpace page and listen to the whole playlist. It'll take the wet winter out of you :)

Sharon den Adel - In and Out of Love

This has to be the most popular song I've posted yet - over 13 million views. It might contradict a bit the purpose of this blog, which is to share weird, cool and relatively unknown music; still, Sharon den Adel was unknown to me until I've listened to this song, and if you know her, well, you're more knowledgeable than me :)

What made the video so popular is, without a doubt, the composer - it's an Armin Van Burren tune. The guy was voted the best DJ in the world in 2007 and 2008, and it's easy to hear why.

Watch In and Out of Love on YouTube.

If you like Sharon's voice, you should listen to her "other" ego - she's also the frontwoman for Within Temptation, a Dutch symphonic metal band; their coolest song is, IMHO, What Have You Done.