Maria Minerva Talinn at Dawn. How to be Estonian? I don't know. More homemade seeming electronic made in a bedroom made for eleven dollars but super cool electronic pop. See Bachelorette. I expect she'll land in a Hyundai commercial soon. I will be thrilled. Better her than Belle and Sebastian. I was watching Belle and Sebastian youtubes today and realized instantly, months have passed, that the new record is dreadful. But I also remembered a bit of advice from Stuart Murdoch when they were playing some festival and he was critiquing the other bands based on their dress and he came to the sensible conclusion that the more fashionable that a band's dress appeared the less likely it was that they had anything interesting to say in their music. He cited as examples in the pro-arctic monkeys who look terrible but seemed interesting and in the con- kaiser chiefs who represented the opposite end of the spectrum. Second track is on. I don't know how Maria Minerva dresses. She could be extremely fashion conscious, on the cutting edge, hanging out the same anti-semitic clubs as John Galliano but her music doesn't suffer terribly from the company. The vocals are almost vacant, barely there, the music is primitive and rudimentary but it's lovely all the same. California Scheming. Does it mean anything at all? I may have had a great deal of contact with former Estonians in my youth as Livonia, Mi was settled by Estonians. Allegedly. Colorado doesn't have such enclaves. In the Detroit area there is Hamtramck(where you can buy great Paczkis, the real ones, the ones that weigh 11 pounds each), there is Dearborn where you can get some great hummus, there is Sterling Heights(my hood) where nothing happens and then there is Livonia. Livonia of course is Wrn Defever's hometown. It is an interesting place, there are neighbourhoods where every house looks identical, the same red builder's grade brick, single story ranches, where there must be a small that differentiates each home for the owner because I can't make them out on my own with my eyes. Second track, a bit like the first, drum program preset, disembodied voices, it's for hipsters. We love it. We aren't hipsters. Ask our Thursday friend. Has Maria been to Livonia? Possibly the original Livonia. In Estonia. Or is it Latvia? I forget. It is probably filled with Stalin's footprints still puddled with the blood of the innocents. Kwame Nkumrah has probably been to Livonia. In Estonia. This song could be a travelogue of her travels in Livonia. I'd rather that His Name is Alive's Livonia evinced the real Livonia. Third track, floaty sampled voice, her voice more substantial, a bit Demarnia Lloyd. I posted a Cloudboy video recently. I am still in love with Demarnia Lloyd. It is all down to the name right? This is my girlfriend "Demarnia". Very cool. She wouldn't need to say a word. There isn't a whole lot happening on these songs. Bachelorette has clear ambition but I am wondering if my earlier suspicions about Maria are correct, of if she is a Nightingale the same as Walter Reuther, "she closes her eyes when she sings, and listens to nobody but herself". It's ok, I rather like it. Soon the days will begin to shorten. Where we live is on the eastern edge of the time zone. It is daylight here by 5am. This is not natural. In Livonian, in Winter, it isn't daylight until after 8am. Next track, Tallinn at Dawn, the title track. Sounds a lot like the last few tracks. She's not incredibly eclectic in her musical stylings. Should we admonish her for this? yes, but sometimes it is about the sound. We don't mind that the Acid House Kings sound the same on every record because they've hit on a sound and the fact that they sing in an affectless, emotion free register is of little concern. I will stop using the We. It is annoying, we find. This is an instrumental, she must have spent minutes on it. Next track, a bit more urgent, spacey synths, disembodied stereoscopic voice, tinny drum machine. Is tinny drum machine an option on Garage Band? Was this recorded on Garage Band. There are rumors that there will be another record this year. Will it be more developed? These are the black and white negatives, the tubes of cookie dough, the germinates. I could make this record. I will spend a few minutes tonight making this record. You will then review it and tell me how amazing and awesome I am. But I am not from Estonia. I could claim that I am from Livonia. I could bring Paczkis! Have you had a real Paczki? Not the fake jelly donuts at the grocery store. They will shorten your life by 11 minutes and 13 seconds, on each bite. Another track, a lot like the 5 or 6 previous. I will send her a book on how to write music, written by Martin Carr, it will be in the shape of a cd and instead of reading it she will play it in her discman in her trabant. Diversity is our strength. Isn't that the empty platitude that rules above the rest of the empty platitudes? I don't understand the whole concept of ethnic states. Are Estonians naturally drawn to defending other Estonians and is this only because people tend to be discriminated against because of their ethnicities and at this lies the root of coalescence? It isn't our similarities but our shared misery. Perhaps. Stalin ate Estonians with tacos. New Life. If she had someone who knew how to write music she might be super cool. She's got the ethereal chick goodness happening. She could write the lyrics in Estonian, emanate a true international ardor, write lyrics romancing the flat tax, poo poo'ing Olav Reju! I would be enchanted. I do rather like this. It's empty, vacuous, undemanding, but pleasant and dreamy. If it was from Lakewood, Colorado I might have a different opinion. But it is from Estonia. Jack Keoruac lived in Lakewood for a short period. I've driven by his home. It doesn't draw a lot of attention. I don't think. I haven't been on weekends. George Gamow's grave does not draw much attention either. People in Colorado are too concerned with their next rep of squat thrusts and mountain climbing to be concerned with the history that surrounds them. Even the dinosaur tracks seem lonely. Woe be to the Igaunadon! Stairs to Nowhere. Hmmm...if she made a real disco album it might be cool. All of this speculation on how great she'd be if she wasn't not great. Maria isn't as interesting a name as Demarnia but you could introduce her as my girlfriend Maria Minerva, always the pair, she could wear a name plate across her forehead. Oh, the last song is more interesting, multiple voices, cacophony, messiness, charming. She could come to Denver and the cultural monotony would force her to live inside her head the same as I do and create colours and space in her music. right now, it's greys and greis and grays.