free_geek

So, I’ve been quiet about specific bands in the Wizard Rock arena as I try to take it all in and get my bearings.

I’m still in the process of getting a full understanding of what is going on here, but one band has quickly moved into the slot of ‘favorite.’ That band is The Parselmouths out of Seattle WA. (myspace here and here).

As you may have guessed by the name, the band takes after Draco and the Malfoys in the evil wizard rock arena. Like the Malfoys part of the brilliance is in their wonderful portrayal of the snottiness that would go along with a band formed by kids from Slytherin. What puts the Parselmouths above the Malfoys in my book? (and it should be noted that the Malfoys are pretty up there in and of themselves)

Well, acknowledging that I’m still waiting for my first CDs to arrive and so all I have is myspace to work with here. The humor the of the Parselmouths is a little different then the Malfoys. By portraying an actual character, the Malfoys must play to that character (and they do so brilliantly). On the other hand, the Parselmouths are not a known character, giving them the freedom to move how ever they want with out the limitations of Rowling’s vision.

So, in a song like Slytherin Is Not Half Bad, the band can declare “Potter’s not that bad” and then in Anything We Want, declare that all they want for Christmas is Harry Potter, but don’t tell anyone, followed by Brittany’s dead on declaration in What Kind of Name Is Hermonie “I love him” in reference to Harry. The second string nature of their place in the Potter Universe gives them this level of freedom and they use it masterfully.

And I guess I should mention, now that I have declared Courtney my role model and hero (the girl flew from Philly to Chicago to see Apples In Stereo, Tullycraft and Casper and the Cookies and then made rice crispy treats that look like little mix tapes for Tullycraft, what isn’t there to love in that?) that I’ve developed a little crush on Brittany. Yes, she’s beautiful, but so is Kristina. No, what puts Brittany over the top is two things. 1) Her little remarks in various songs, especially What Kind of Name Is Hermonie and doubly especially the above mentioned line, “I love him” which is just perfect. And 2) her performance in the below video.

In short, she taps into the inherent silliness of a certain segment of the wizard rock world and plays into it in an adorable way that elevates the group overall.

This is not to underestimate the band’s primary lyricist (I think), Kristina, who lays a wonderful framework for the group to work in. And it is the combined work of the two of them that has pushed the band to the top of the heap, so to speak, granting them the win in the Best Folk or Country category of the Wizard People’s Choice Awards (they were robbed in Best Duo, BTW)

OK, I’m going to shut up now. Go check out the myspace pages and understand the true brilliance of The Parselmouths.