Toofer Toosday - Okay & Ilad

Okay...I get it...again I'm a bit later then some other folks picking up on this band, Okay. A musical project of mainly Marty Anderson who produces this wonderful music out of Freemont, CA. Okay has an album coming out in April of this year on Absolutely Kosher called Huggable Dust. This album is full of beautifully written, simple, dreamy pop songs. Most of the songs are short, but don't strive to be longer. The are complete emotions stated and contained in Anderson's mini epics. The defining characteristic of Okay is Anderson's raspy voice. Think Tom Waits with a bag full of helium. Like Tom Waits, Anderson can't fool you with gorgeous vocals. They have to really craft the melody and drive of each song for it to be approachable. Marty does this and more making memorable pop songs that many will be singing the praises of.

mp3: Okay - Natural --> website --> buy
mp3: Okay - Pretend

Ilad is a four piece band from Richmond, Virginia that I've recently come to enjoy. They play a style of music that's hard to describe. There's definitely the influence of ambient free form jazz flowing through their music. On the same hand there's whispers of bands like 764-HERO and Modest Mouse floating around in there too. I guess if I was forced to come up with an analogy it would be like Medeski, Martin, and Wood suddenly switching their focus to mellow indie rock instead of jazz. I must warn you, though. This isn't everyday music (most music isn't). This is great music to relax and sketch or paint to. It would also be good card playing music or music to drink a glass of wine to. I guess that's why I perceive Ilad's music as introspective and emotive. The free flowing openness of their music lends itself to contemplation. I could rant on and on about this...you better just find out for yourself.

mp3: Ilad - Looking Glass --> website --> buy
mp3: Ilad - Holy Wars