Do a little talkin' then a cafe latte

I sometimes think Ida Corr's second album, Robosoul, may be the weirdest album I own. The only reason I say "may be" is because there are a couple of dull tracks (usually the ballads) that aren't anything unusual, but the rest--well, it's an album that I'm sort of surprised got released. Ida seems to have decided to find out what happens when you mix pop, soul, R&B, and electro, but it's far stranger-sounding than that makes it sound. I alternate between thinking she needed a producer that would rein her in and thinking she's actually onto something and is pretty clever. I don't know that much about Ida herself, except that she's a Danish singer who, before going solo, was in a three person girl group named Sha Li Mar, who I don't really know anything about--only that they released an album full of random covers. After that, she released her debut album Street Diva. The songs today are some of the less weird ones from Robosoul.

Superficial Man--so far, this is the most accessible track for me on the album, but it's still pretty random (and funny) in parts. I like the rhythm of the verses, as well as her delivery and way with words--it's really playful. Ida seems to like to mess around with rhythms and productions. "Superficial Man" doesn't really show how spastic the album can be, though the whole shouted bit in the middle hints at that. Like most of her album, when I've finished listening to it, I can't ever decide if I've just listened to a good song or not, but I generally want to go listen to it again to figure it out.

Let Me Think About It--I almost posted "Lonely Girl," which I think is the lead single for the album; it's probably the most commercial sounding of the tracks on the album, but this song is just more ear-catching to me. "Let Me Think About It" features an almost whispered chorus as well as a standard issue male R&B singer cameo in the middle, but it still manages to sound unusual. Like a lot of the songs on the album, it's a little bit throwback, but also sounds like something on the fringe of today.

To buy Ida Corr's album Robosoul, go here (physical) or here (digital). I know I might have sounded sort of ambivalent about it, but listening to it is an experience I recommend having, though not everyone will enjoy it; listening to some preview clips first might be a good idea. She also has a MySpace where you can listen to some of the songs.

Next up: I wanted to write about that German band today, but I need to give them their full due, so they're probably up tomorrow.