in which the r's love their family

so, i feel a bit foolish not knowing this until just recently, but apparently national geographic has a record label. as you can probably guess, it features world music (a label i dislike, because it pretty much is tacked onto any artist that isn't from the states, canada, or the UK and conjures up visions of tribal tunes or pan flutes) - but you may be surprised to find it isn't the kind of world music you may be expecting.

case in point, italy's indie pop the r's (or, the records).

unfortunately, a lot of people assume music from italy is the kind of stuff you'd find in an italian chain restaurant - some kind of love song ala lady and the tramp's shared spaghetti meal scene or dean martin warbling about pizza. having spent some time over there and discovering many music crushes along the way (i pathetically hunted, to no avail, for one italian rock song for a good year after my trip), i can safely assure you that, while you probably don't hear a lot of italian bands on the radio nowadays, there are a lot of great indie bands worth your listen.

the r's, a trio of guys from brescia and milano, have a really fun vibe to them. their songs come across as a mosaic of surf rock, 50's & 60's guitar lines, pop and a smidge of ska.



check out their very catchy and summery i love my family. it is SUCH a surf song!

(mp3) i love my family by the r's

and here's the irreverent video:



check 'em out in new york in june:

June 14th – Brooklyn, NY – Bruar Falls
June 16th – New York, NY - Pianos

de fauna et flora, the album i love my family is off of, will be released later this year. go HERE to visit their national geographic music page. then head over to their facebook page to learn more about the band.