I know very little about The Ballet. I picked up their song “I Hate the War” a month or two ago but didn’t listen to it for such a long time that now I have no idea where I actually found it. However, some google searches suggest it may have been either Brooklyn Vegan or Yeti Don’t Dance.
Their website has the following description of the band: “4 queers, 3 chords, 100 melodies. Marina plays bass, Ginger plays violin, Craig plays synth, and Greg plays guitar and sings.” If I had more time, I would eschew the easy categorization, but it’s busy times around these parts so I’m just going to cut some corners and call ’em twee. Belle and Sebastian, Magnetic Fields, many other 80s-type pop bands. You get the picture.
As I mentioned, it took me awhile to listen to “I Hate the War” but I’m hooked now. It’s about as happy and bouncy an anti-war song as you can get, but somehow it just serves to drive home the absurdity of it all. I mean, really, what else is there to say beyond “It’s crazy that this thing is still going on”? Nothing except a few more “na na na na na’s.”
For a little more info, there’s a nice interview with them at L Magazine.
If you want a copy of their record…well, you can’t have one. It’s sold out right now, but they’re getting ready to issue a second edition. Check their website for updates or send ’em an e-mail.