TINY GEMS

As much as I don’t want to like Bat For Lashes (aka British singer-songwriter Natasha Khan) for the total travesty that was her cover of “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, I have to admit – she’s pretty awesome (for the record, no one should attempt to cover that song after the amazing Electrelane version). Check out these new songs from Khan’s upcoming album “Two Suns,” due out in the United States on April 7. I’m not going to deny that I’d probably like anyone rocking this kind of Björk-Kate-Bush-magic-space-goth-hippie-weirdo aesthetic – but, as Pitchfork points out, she must have a pretty good sense of humor about her own bizarre indie sub-genre in order to come out with this totally ridiculous cover for “Daniel,” the first single off of “Two Suns.” Plus, I have to mention she is the musician responsible for one of the best music videos of recent years with “What’s A Girl To Do.”

While I’m at it, I’d also like to mention the awesomeness of another European lady rocking a similar aesthetic in her work – Swedish artist Nadine Byrne. Besides sharing a first name with my Tiny Gems co-contributor and a last name with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, she creates some really interesting textile/sculpture, performance, sound and video pieces. The image above is a still from her ongoing video/performance/music project, The Magic State (2008).