I’m astounded by the success that I’m From Barcelona has had. Every which way I turn I encounter mentions of them, their sound, their size or their presence on You Tube, P4k, and the blogs. I wish them well; I really do. But once something like this happens you hope for at least some of that sucess to rub off or trickle down to other bands from the same scene.
The most similar band in terms of sheer size, naive indiepop sound, and idiosycratic eccentricities is Billie The Vision & Dancer. Much like I’m From Barcelona this band revolves around the deadpan slighlty accented vocals and songwriting of Lars Lindquist. The bands new record, The World According to Pablo, follows the trials and tribulations of a character named Pablo Diablo (particularly his homosexual tristes with someone named Marcus). Pablo pops up in one way or another in nearly every song on the record; as do tamborines, handclaps, syrupy strings, strummed acoustic guitar, harmonica and horns. You can download all the songs on the new record here and then buy it here.
Bonus: 40 year old French dude covering I’m From Barcelona’s “Collection of Stamps”