Here's a band I've been warming to quite recently, norwegian duo Kings of Convenience. Paraphrasing Vanilla Sky, they had me at the Simon and Garfunkel vocal harmonies. I was literally and instantly hooked on their sweet sounds. And I've been rotating this, their second album - Riot On An Empty Street - quite heavily for the past few days.

Their main appeal is actually quite simple and straightforward. It stems for their exquisite talent in crafting the gentlest melodies I've heard in quite a long time. Because that's just what this is: a collection of gentle songs, gently sung by - yes, why not? - two very gentle men. It's the kind of record you put on a Sunday morning and slowly get into the groove of a new day, preferably spent at home cuddling your pet(s) and drinking latte in front of the TV or on the front porch.

As a taster, I leave you with Misread, one of my favorite tracks at the moment.

I just love it when I listen to a new band or sound and it instantly clicks. That's exactly what it happened with Austin, Texas based band Shearwater. They've recently released a new album but I'm still going through their back catalogue and finding a bounty of reasons to write about each and every one of them in here. Today, I'm focusing on their second album proper, Rooks.

Rooks finds Shearwater perfecting their preciously woven sound with even greater epic sounding songs and wide scope-like musical canvas. And then there is that voice. My God. It's been a long time since I've heard such a crystalline sounding male voice, perfectly in command of the song's emotional curves and thematic arches, frail and delicate one second and brave and commanding the other. I'm hooked.

I'm going to leave you with one of its grander moments, The Snow Leopard. Please enjoy it.

Something strange happens when The Divine Comedy release a new album. Unknowingly to the impending release, I start listening to their records almost as a compulsion and then when I go to their official website to find out what they've been up to recently, I discover that they are about to put out a new album in the near future. Serendipity, they call it.

This is their last one and its title - Victory for the Comic Muse - is a nod to their very first and quite rare album - Fanfare for the Comic Muse - a quite different and very indie-sounding recording that is very much at odds with their following releases.

Victory (...) sees them return to their comic sensibility at its best, combining satirical lines with british wit and heartfelt lyrics often through the course of a single song. It's a trait that its mastermind, Neil Hannon, has been demonstrating again and again to be his main gift and reason behind the band's success. And noone does it quite like him. His character driven songs woven through exquisitely melodic songs are quite a treasure in today's music scene. Not to mention his amazing voice, seemingly intact since he started his career.

I'm going to leave you with my favorite song of the album, the affecting Lady Of A Certain Age. Brilliant, that's all I have to say.

Camera Obscura's follow-up to the immensely enjoyable Let's Get Out Of This Country finds them again on familiar territory: exploring big soundscapes, keeping in mind the Phil Spector legacy and soothing us with the lead vocalist feminine ramblings on men, love and anything that passes her mind. You don't change a winning team, that's for sure.

My Maudlin Career is a perfectly respectable follow-up to one of the best records of late and, if anything, it even succeeds the impossible: it one-ups it. Maybe the songs are not as easily recognizable this time around but that is just a question of letting them enter your consciousness and soon after, you'll start humming them almost unawarely.

Much like She & Him's recent Volume 2, this album surprises in its unwillingness to change. All they have to offer is more of the same and I, for one, thank them for that. I'm going to leave you with the title track - My Maudlin Career, for those not keeping track... - and wish a great week all around.

And speaking of bands that can be filed under the "Baroque Pop" musical section, here's what's probably the most famous of them all: The Zombies.

But, amazingly, it almost was not to be so. Odessey and Oracle is now considered a pop music classic, filled to the brim with gems of compositional brilliance and highly elaborate arrangements. To think that they had such shortage of money at the time of its recording, they were still able to produce high quality material that still sounds as strong today as it did then. Talk about working on a shoe string! And the fact that their own record company didn't believe in the material they were producing! It just goes to show...

After being rediscovered by a multitude of new fans and being hailed as a "lost" masterpiece, they never stopped. Shame that it took them so long. Oh, well - better late than ever, I suppose. I leave you today with A Rose For Emily. Bye.

The good thing about music is that no matter how much songs or albums you listen to, there are still thousands upon thousands more to discover. So, I guess it's really up to you to go on a journey that lasts a lifetime, a journey that sooner or later it's going to give you something strange or beautiful (or both) that you'll treasure for years to come. And although today's recommendation isn't earth shattering or genius-like, I'm glad I found them.

The Left Banke were one of many 60's american bands that got together and cut an album or two, only to break-up and disband a few years later. The CD era gave these "lost" bands and their records a second life and being rediscovered was both a blessing to them as to us, because otherwise we wouldn't even know about them if it wasn't for those shiny compact discs. Anyway, but on to the music.

Baroque Pop was a term coined to describe pop music that featured heavy strings arrangements and the use of instruments often associated with that movement, such as the harpsichord. The results are both magical and ethereal and very vintage sounding. The Left Banke were one of many bands that used that particular sound to express their musical sensibilities and after listening to their songs, you get the feeling that suddenly you've tapped into a whole other aural dimension, one filled to the brim with imagery reminding us of old houses, green gardens, dusty books and mossy trees. Just my kind of place, actually. See what you think: here's Pretty Ballerina.

Their Volume 1 was probably my favorite of all the albums I listened to last year, so it was with extreme anticipation that I awaited She & Him's "difficult" second outing, apropriately titled, Volume 2. Thankfully, that sophomore album curse passed them by, because this is a killer album on all fronts and further proof that Zooey Deschanel is a wonderful songwriter.

This time around, the songs are more ambitious in scope, production values and vocal abilities. It's as if they took the best parts of the first album and what made it so good and expanded on all that. The final results are both winning and enduring. Yes, it's got a bit of sunshine pop, a dash of Beach Boys and a good measure of perfectly crafted pop songs that make you feel like everyday is Summer. This is one album I'm certain I'll keep on listening for a long, long time.

I'm going to leave you with Thieves, the wonderful album opener. Keep happy!

I'd like to start the month with a great recommendation which was also a great discovery for me when I first heard about this album and this band in particular. The band in question is called A Banda do Casaco, which roughly translates to The Band of the Coat or The Coat Band. They're from Portugal, my home country and it's not everyday that I sing our praises but when they're due, they're overdue.

This - Dos Benefícios dum Vendido no Reino dos Bonifácios - their debut album, is one of the finest ever recorded and produced around here and they seemed to manage what few bands have: to be truthful to portuguese musical roots and capture the sound of their era at the same time. Beautifully sung and played throughout, this is one of those albums that keeps you coming back to them many times over to discover layer upon layer of new sounds and words that you just didn't listen to the last time you played it. A keeper then.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite tracks at the moment: A Cavalo Dado (A Given Horse). Have a great month of March, everyone. I know I will because right now I'm on vacation! See you around.

French groovers Air have always been a favorite in my household, be it when I'm chilling after some hard-working day or even at the beginning of one, their sweet brand of vintage electronic euro-pop is able to do the trick every single time I put one of their CDs on.

So, it was with some expectation/trepidation that I waited to put my hands on their newest album, tentatively titled LOVE 2. And, accordingly, I received it with some mixed feelings. While on one side you get what they've always done best (effortlessly melodic instrumental incursions into electronica), you also get to hear them at their most blatant automatic pilot songwriting of late. Which means you get the usual great tracks you will grow to love and repeatedly play, but you also are forced to hear some pretty uninspired songs clearly in need of some TLC thrown into them.

But at the end of the day, I much prefer an o.k. AIR album to the crap I keep hearing on the radio everyday. On that note, I leave you with the album opener - Do the Joy - one of the standouts on their new album. See you soon.

This small incursion that I'm making into some seriously vintage music would not be complete without a mention to perhaps the maddest, quirkiest, most whimsical british band of all time: the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah Band, a.k.a. the Bonzo Dog Band.

Led by eccentric extraordinaire Vivian Stanshall, a major force in the post-modern whimsical world (if such thing even exists), they are to the music world what the Monty Python are to the movie world. This obviously means that they possess that rare gift of making people laugh whilst creating great art at the same time. This compilation is essential to understanding and comprehending just what made them tick and exactly why they are revered in Britain as belonging to a sort of music nobility, such was their legacy.

Part of their charm are the reinventions they made around old vintage classics of the popular sort and how they somehow successfully achieved grand notoriety with such material in a time when everyone was looking into the future for inspiration. Perhaps anachronism was the key, after all. If you've never heard them before and are curious to know how they sounded like, here's your chance now. I leave you with one of their all time classics: Hunting Tigers Out In India. Toodle-oo.

There are very few bands that are able to get such high accolades and recognition with their first album. American debuters Fleet Foxes have done just that. And for once, the praises are completely worthy.

Their self-titled first album is simply that: an instant classic. Perfect songs, beautifully sung, exquisitely performed and lovingly produced. I wonder if they already feel the pressure of the dreaded sophomore album syndrome. I honestly hope not because I can only see them going even bigger from here, actually. Debut single, White Winter Hymnal is one of the most bizarre first singles ever released: barely 2 1/2 minutes long, almost no instrumentation whatsoever, big vocal harmonies and a sound that is everything but hip. Yet it worked wonders and still sounds great after many listenings. Brave little bastards, they are.

The rest of the album continues the trend: not a dud in sight, and although the influences are reasonably obvious (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc.), their sound is unique and distinctive. I leave you with the album opener proper: Sun It Rises.

And the aural journey takes yet another detour. A left-field one, in fact. Ever heard of Popol Vuh? Well, now you will.

I first got acquainted with the music of this german band when I happened upon the films of Werner Herzog. I think a lot of people can relate to that since they produced some of their most well known work with the equally famous german director. Their soundtracks are objects of cult following all over the world and for a reason: the atmospheres created are otherworldly and help transport the images to another realm altogether.

And so I wanted more. Hosianna Mantra (which presents itself as a marriage between western and eastern religions) is a masterpiece of ambient sounds and pastoral melodies. At the time, it represented both a break-up with their more krautrock oriented sound and a breakthrough to a more transcendental way of making music. It really is an aural delight from start to finish. Listen to Ah!, the album opener:

A pleasant discovery I made while digging through the incredibly rich and varied world of late 60's to early 70's british folk music.

Heron were an all-male band that put out only two albums in their recording lifetime (again, the penchant I have for artists with small discographies is in full display here...) but be that as it may, those two records were sufficient to put them on the folk map and on the hearts of everyone who listened to them. Gentle melodies gently sung and played on strictly acoustic instruments are the main ingredients of their particular magic. One interesting note is that, apparently, those two albums were recorded in a field - I'm sure you'll agree with me if I say that you cannot get more pastoral than that!

The cover that you see above is for a compilation that was released in 2006 that collected their entire recordings onto a 2 CD album. Everything is there including an E.P. and some rare covers too. But for now, take a listen to Yellow Roses, the track that opens their debut album and gently fall in love with their sound.

I thought it would be appropriate for this midsummer night to invoque a band that perfectly blends pagan traditions with avant-garde music, bordering on folk art-rock. Let me introduce you then to the mystical, scary sounds of Comus' debut album, FIRST UTTERANCE.

I first heard of them when I began to seriously investigate the whole british acid/folk/progressive scene and Comus was always a name that was held in high regard by everyone who was into this particular kind of music. After tracking down their album, it was not hard to see why: the songs have a kind of paganistic ritual to them and the lyrics as well as the singing emphasize this very characteristic. Murder, rape, violence, despair and occasional moments of serene clarity are the main ingredients of this bewitching brew of both ancient and modern sounds.

If you want to know, Comus is derived from Greek Mythology: he is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He represents anarchy and chaos. During his festivals in Ancient Greece, men and women exchanged clothes. He was depicted as a young man on the point of unconsciousness from drink. He had a wreath of flowers on his head and carried a torch that was in the process of being dropped. Unlike the purely carnal Pan or purely intoxicated Bacchus, Comus was a god of excess. He is a son of Bacchus and Circe. Perfectly suited then for a night like tonight's. Listen to one of their key songs: Herald.

I will get to that Charlotte Gainsbourg album in a day or two but before I do that, let me just take a minute to talk about an album that I pulled off my shelves today.

POCKET SYMPHONY is the last album officially released by Air and it's a treat. I've been following their career and musical output somewhat closely and this particular album is my favorite alongside their extremely successful MOON SAFARI. The soothing melodies are omnipresent and the fake 70's Francis Lai/Pierre Bachelet/Cerrone sound is here and more convinving than ever. The knack for melodic balladry, so intrinsyc to their music, is also on clear display here. However, there are some suprises: Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon sing one song each with lyrics written also by them and the koto and the shamisen, two japanese instruments, are new additions to the sonic tapestry of the record. The results are both exotic and exhilarating. It all starts with Once Upon A Time:

In my view, the best example of New Folk you can find. Following traditions but subversively changing them whilst aurally delighting the listener at the same time, A GARLAND OF SONG, the debut album of The Owl Service combo, is a winner on all fronts.

Released just last year, it has made fans of whoever listens to them. And it's not hard to see why that happens: the songs are all exquisitely arranged and beautifully composed and sung (both by male and female voices). At times, you forget that you're listening to a contemporary record because the blood that runs through this particular sonic vein is anything but new. However, you do sense a particular indie trait here and there that only adds up to its pastoral charm. I'm very curious to see where they will go from here and apparently they have already recorded and E.P. of sorts with Alison O'Donnell, one of the vocalists from Mellow Candle, so I guess they're on the right track, wouldn't you think so too? Listen to Turpin Hero.

I've been listening to this record at least once a week ever since I discovered it. The more I read about them, the more I'm sorry this was the only record they put out. Today, it's considered somewhat of a flawed masterpiece but such was not the case when Mellow Candle first released SWADDLING SONGS to an unsuspecting buying audience.

Backed up by two amazing female singers - Clodagh Simonds and Alison O'Donnell - the songs range from up-tempo folk-rock meteorites to exquisitely arranged melodic reveries. Simonds was also the main songwriter and it's really a shame she stopped composing because she was still very young when SWADDLING SONGS came out and she already displayed very advanced songwriting skills. It's the kind of music that transports you to another time and space. Magical ones, in fact. Listen to Silver Song.