MINI MANSIONS

Yes, these guys sound like the Beatles. But not in a tacky way, I mean it's not Oasis. It's all good, most songs sound like "Because".

Listening to two little albums in a row, they sounded a bit flat and repetitive at first. But God is in the details, so I soon realized what a fine piece of jewelry each song actually is. There's still work to be done, of course, it feels that some of the songs are a bit lost without a map in the musical wilderness, don't know if they're coming or going, but the mess is just adorable. And dig this: bass, piano, drums. That's it. Ok, guitar sometimes, but who's counting.

This little assemble is a side project of QOTSA bassist, Michael Schuman. As you may not remember, QOTSA is a band which I loved to hate at first, then hated to love and then, as your everyday Paulo Coelho saga goes, simply loved. I'm not saying that the Mini Mansions sound anything like QOTSA, it's something else entirely, but a few chords here and there do serve as a reminder.

So I've listened and I've listened, picked a short list of four songs and then I hit a wall. I could not pick just one of them. I like them all. So I'll put them all. Yeah.

Mini Mansions - Majik Marker


Mini Mansions - Vignette #3


Mini Mansions - Monk


And, ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles:
Mini Mansions - Laura


These are the kind of songs that you listen to one time and then annoy your friends humming two bars all day long and then annoy them even further by forgetting who's singing. In a word: catchy. The good catchy kind.