San Francisco trio Halou, which is comprised of hubby and wife team Rebecca and Ryan Coseboom and a guy who simply goes by the name of Count (Dracula? Chocula? Blackula?), may be better known for their subtle remixes than their artist tracks. In an era when musicians better learn to do everything if their career is to amount to anything, Halou's guerilla recording tactics and generally large ears has garnered remix work with a variety of high profile punters. DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born, Frank Sinatra, Blackalicious, John Cale, Low, No Doubt and Rod Stewart (a Halou/Stewart remix hit #1 on Billboard) have paid the trio big bucks to make their music appealing to Starbucks suckers and late night dancing scenesters. (Halou also scored soundtracks for a couple films, This Girl's Life and Quality Of Life).

Halou gets their own blip on the Starbucks walk of fame with their new EP, Sawtooth, the follow-up to 2006's Wholeness And Separation, bringing the group's total release tally to three (if you‘re counting). And they've brought their friends along for select tracks. Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Imogen Heap's Zoe Keating lend their terrific vocal stylings to Sawtooth, making a good album even better.

"Don't miss their compelling, completely live performance," demands the group's website. "[It] features live drums, cello, bass, guitar, various electronics, Rebecca's mesmerizing vocals, all set to the backdrop of short films fully synchronized to the performance. Luxurious strings, atmospheric textures, inventive electronics, and heartfelt vocals stretch this sonic collage across the spectrum of human emotion."

"The spectrum of human emotion"? Reminds me of that '70s soap opera with the earnest introduction, "Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of our lives." Why not mention catchphrases like "a journey through sound," "a riveting blast in the space time continuum," or "simply the best, better than all the rest"?

Oddly enough, I just wrote about shoegazing in the previous Better Living Through MP3, and Halou's "Evensong" fits comfortably within that stained glass, mid-'90s genre. Singing like a dazed angel, Rebecca vocal lends the track a cold, distant emotionalism, while seesawing, echoing keyboards make it soar and a grunge era bass riff keeps it grounded. "Evensong" is all about the throb of heartsickness, the late afternoon loveliness of a day lost to daydreaming and sweet ennui. Like Monica Vitti in Antonioni's L'Eclisse, "Evensong" is so rich, lush, and beautiful, yet so bored with it all.         

Halou
"Evensong" (mp3)
from "Sawtooth EP"
(Vertebrae)

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Jason Collett's Here's To Being Here: I hate to make this personal, but hey, why not? Last year I was fired from the reviews staff of HARP magazine because I forgot to turn in a review of something by Jason Collett. Somehow I got Jason Collett confused with Jason Pettigrew, the editor for Alternative Press. I began my rock and roll coverage with Alternative Press (after a stint with Cash Box), a fine publication. Pettigrew could always be counted on for a beer and a good laugh. Editors need a good sense of sarcasm and a better sense of humor -- Jason had both. Anyway, let me redeem myself here by offering you a couple Jason Collett MP3s. If you are a fan (I still find his music forgettable), don't thank me, thank HARP.

Jason Collett
"Out Of Time" (mp3)
from "Here's To Being Here"
(Arts & Crafts)

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Jason Collett
"Charlyn, Angel of Kensington" (mp3)
from "Here's To Being Here"
(Arts & Crafts)

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