This week’s theme is: “International Bands.” Here are three acts that you should check out. Go forth and seek out a band from another land – you might be surprised by what you hear and see.
MARIE-MAI, “C’EST MOI”
OK, not quite a band, but still… This peppy pop-rock brunette is a megastar from Quebec. In Canada. Across the border. (Still counts as international.) She was one of the finalists in “Star Académie” – a sort of Quebecois version of “American Idol” – back in 2003. Since then, she’s released three Francophone albums, the latest being the excellent “Version 3.0,” and done guest vocals on the French version of Simple Plan’s single “Jet Lag.” You might, possibly, also recognize her from when she sang her tune, “Emmene-Moi,” during the Vancouver Olympics 2010 closing ceremony. An extremely tattooed and gauge-earringed HMV employee in Montreal recommended “Version 3.0,” which has got to be a good sign. Anyway, watch the “Bionic Woman”-inspired video for “C’est Moi,” even if you don’t understand French. There’s something about it that has a very early Lady Gaga feel to it, which is nice.
KMFDM, “KRANK”
Achtung! The German band has been bringing industrial music to the mainstream masses since forever. Founded in 1984 – yeah, really – as [sic] Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid (“no majority for the pity”), they’ve released 17 studio albums, the latest being April’s “WTF?!” The band calls their headbanging/body-moving music “Ultra-Heavy-Beat” and primarily sings in English, although they’ve recorded a few tracks in German and have dabbled in Latin, Hebrew, Lingala (an African dialect), Spanish, Russian and Italian. The video for “Krank” is the band’s first new single and video in 9 years, according to the band’s bio. They’re playing Irving Plaza tonight, if you wanna scalp a ticket… And, if you like what you hear, you can pick up their entire back catalog, which has just been remastered with deluxe booklets and extra tracks via Metropolis.
CHTHONIC, “TAKAO”
Forget K-Pop and J-Pop and C-Pop and whatever kind of cutesy rainbow pop you’re used to hearing come out of Asia…Chthonic is pure melodic death metal of the long black hair (no dye necessary!), crazy corpse paint/masks and buckled-out clothing variety. Formed in 1995 in Taipei, the band incorporates classical Asian instruments like the erhu (sort of like a violin if it had 2 strings) and the Se (zithers) into the usual guitar/bass/drums lineup. It’s eye-opening, how well new and old work together. Although they used to sing in Mandarin and Taiwanese, they’ve started to sing in English…not that you can really tell since Freddy, aka Left Face of Maradou, pretty much Cookie Monsters his way through all the lyrics. Most of their songs revolve around Taiwanese folklore and historical events – like the Takasago Volunteers, which is what “Takao” is all about. Their new album, “Takasago Army,” streets Sept. 6 and they’ll be playing NYC’s Best Buy Theater on Sept. 9. Seriously cool looking band and the bassist, Doris (yep), gives Lacuna Coil’s Christina Scabbia a run for the cute metal chick money.