Music: Couch and Robots in Disguise...

I'm bored with the political internet banter and RSS feed frenzy so it's time for some new music reviews.  I was just perusing the latest XLR8R magazine and discovered a band that many people probably already know about but that I just discovered.  Couch, a German Post Rock band featuring Stefanie Böhm, Thomas Geltinger, Michael Heilrath, Jurgen Söder, have released four CDs and one LP [the first, self-titled on Kollaps circa 1995] and several remixes and compilation albums have featured the Kraut Rock-inspired band that has been around for over a decade. 

Some of the iTunes reviews of their latest offering, Figur 5, are less than spectacular but it looks like people have come to have pretty high expectations from this band of musicians. There are also some reviewers who say that the people poo-pooing the latest effort must have terrible taste so, I leave this one up to you and your personal taste.  If you like Brittany Spears and K-Fed, well, this might not be music that you'll appreciate.  Likewise, if you're into Death Metal, Speed Metal, or hard core DIY punk rock, this group might not float your boat.

If you're into hazy, lazy atmospheric Post Rock, shoegazer-ish rhythms and lush dense multi-instrumental tracks, Couch might just be up your musical snout.  Fans of Kraut rockers Can, Sigur Rós, Tortoise or even some of the more guitar-focused arrangements of M83 will feel comfy in a musical chair with these guys.

Robots in Disguise is a while different enchilada.  Currently comprised of Dee Plume (taken from "Nom De Plume", French for a writer's pen name) and Sue Denim (a play on the assumed name word "pseudonym"), their drummer Ann Droid, and rotating duty on bass usually by Noel Fielding or Chris Corner this band has attitude, swagger and some teeth to bite you with.  The band's popularity in the states is still growing in the nooks and crannys of the musical underbelly but Robots are particularly popular primarily in continental Europe and especially in the UK where the two have starred in BBC television's comedy Mighty Boosh. The two electro-punk band members starred in a couple of episodes of the show including the appropriately titled "Electro" episode as two electro girls in a band called "Kraftwerk Orange".  I wish I could say that I've seen it but it sounds pretty funny just from the name of the band on the show.

Robots have a myspace site and the profile has upwards of 30,000 friends so apparently, a few people have heard of them. I'm always late to the party I guess.  Robots have previously released an EP: "Mix Up Words And Sounds" [not available on iTunes] and two albums: "Robots in Disguise", and "Get RID" [iTunes has two albums with the Get RID title including a new version that was released this year with more songs on it].  iTunes also has the single of theirs DJ's Got a Gun and the Turn It Up EP released this year as well but who would actually buy anything from iTunes with iTunes copy-inhibitor "FairPlay" anyway?

That's all I've got for now.  Let me know what you think of my music picks in the comments...