Hello Stranger 'Hello Stranger' album

At the risk of making a slew of awful puns, Hello Stranger are no...errrr...stranger to the feat of writing catchy melodies. But doing such isn't enough, and Hello Stranger are wise enough to employ a gleeful bounce and electro-throb to these potential indie-pop smashes. Their self-titled debut has all the shiny sheen of the best moments of Blondie and The Cars, crossed with subtle hints of The Faint and The Killers for those craving a contemporary edge. And what's more? It's produced by the legendary Ry Cooder, who's actually the father of band member Joachim. If exuberant power-pop rocks your socks, Hello Stranger deliver the tunes without hassle. It's about time you pay them that introduction. All tracks clean.

biography
Four years ago, Jared Smith was working at a hip coffee shop in L.A.'s eastside, where he would sneak in after it closed, feed himself with their coffee cake and sleep on their floor. He had been living like this for over a year after moving to Los Angeles from a small town in Michigan. During that time he met Los Angeles natives Juliette Commagere and Joachim Cooder, a couple who had been making music together since they met in highschool at sixteen. They took Jared into their little apartment and after realizing he wasn't about to have sex with them they said, "well how about being in a band then?", and Hello Stranger was born. For a year they sat around drinking whiskey and writing songs before they had their first show. It wasn't long before they became an integral part of Los Angeles's Silverlake music scene, a scene that has helped catapult Indie Music into the mainstream.

In 2005 the Kings of Leon saw Hello Stranger play and invited them to tour with them. Without a record deal, an agent, or a manager they were touring the country and playing to sold out crowds at venues like New York's Irving Plaza and Webster Hall. When they returned home there was the typical major label clamor, but after A&R guys suggesting Juliette put down her instrument and "dance around more", and being offered new songs to record (including the song "Screwed" which Paris Hilton ended up recording) Hello Stranger realized they were being steered down the wrong path. They decided to turn down these weird deals and make their own record with the help of Joachim's dad, legendary guitarist Ry Cooder, who offered to produce it. Then they recruited Juliette's teenage brother Robert to come play bass and do some live shows. His input alone added a whole new dimension to the band, musically and emotionally opening it up. The record encompasses everything from synth-driven dance songs, to languid country ballads, to a crazy song sung in Spanish-a nod to Juliette's half-mexican heritage. After completion of the record, they decided to release it themselves, until they met the wonderful people of Indie label Aeronaut Records who offered to help them with the release. As Hello Stranger prepares for their national tour, it is up to the country to decide how big they can get.

press
“The indelible pop melodies on their debut album, plus their glammed out performances, have made Hello Stranger a sensation in Atlanta and L.A., plus their sassy, long-legged singer is wicked sexy.” – Penthouse

“The band’s eponymous debut features a timeless musical formula: an ultra-tight rhythm section, a dazzlingly good guitar player, and a pin-up worthy lead singer (Juliette Commagere) with jazzy vocal chops and an intuitive sense of pop melody. Her ability to switch between the contagious English of ‘Her in These Lights,’ and the contagioso Spanish of ‘Es Tu Vida’, doesn’t hurt either.” – The Onion

“Led by the über-pretty vocals of Commagere, Hello Stranger applies just enough sci-fi psychedelia to its discolike verse-chorus structures to situate the band outside the mainstream box. That unique position stems in part from the band's unorthodox tools: a Roland Jupiter-8 and SH-101, Korg Mono/Poly, Alesis Andromeda A6, a homemade guitar Smith fashioned from vintage materials, a 1952 Fender Strat once owned by Keith Richards and Commagere's collection of keytars. These days, she owns six; her favorite among them is a 1978 Moog Liberation.” – Remix

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Tracklisting

Hello Stranger - Hello Stranger