The story of how CocoRosie came to be is now indie-legend. Two sisters separated at an early age, reunited in a distant land with music as one of their common traits despite years of separatinon. Only one is an opera student and the other is a folk and hip hop gypsy (or something like that). They cram into a tiny apartment in Paris and somehow record an album there for their friends. And let me tell you, a small apartment in Paris is so minimalist that a clumsy salad-toss in the kitchen results in a greens-covered bed. So how the sisters recorded an entire album in such cramped quarters is beyond me. I read something about the bathtub being used as the singing booth? Whatever, the point is what came out of that bathtub: in "La Maison de Mon Reve" ("The Home of My Dreams", a fitting title from girls stuck in a Paris apartment) CocoRosie created a hauntingly magical album out of simple instruments and a variety of noise-making toys and gadgets, and their opposing yet sisterly voices. The magic of the album is that it is so eminently likeable despite its lo-fi qualities and the fact that it is so utterly different from anything out there. And that's not just me talking, CocoRosie is gaining in popularity like few off-the-wall bands have managed.

It appears that people either love or hate the sisters' music! So start by downloading Good Friday for free from Insound. If you can't stand it then "La Maison de Mon Reve" is not for you. Now go to Touch and Go / Quarterstick Records to download Noah's Ark. Like it? Don't like it? That will determine whether you stand a chance with the album of the same name. As always visit either itunes or emusic for a short sample of each of the songs in these albums.

	La Maison de Mon Reve 2004, Touch and Go / QuarterStick
	The original, true and pure CocoRosie, straight from the bathtub. Singles downloaders should snag "By Your Side" to hear how the sisters' voices overlap and interact so naturally, and the lo-fi and minimalist "Tahiti Rain Song".

	Beautiful Boyz 2004, Touch and Go / QuarterStick
	A single including a few tracks that appear on Noah's Ark.

	Noah's Ark 2005, Touch and Go / QuarterStick
	This is CocoRosie under the pressure of commercialism. In this album the sisters sound very different from each-other. One of them belts out the opera-like vocals while the other gets jiggy with hip hop. To add still more diversity there is a bout of French rapping by some soft-spoken guy and cameos by rising stars of the Freak-Folk movement. All in all it feels like a more ambitious production and the magic of the Paris apartment is lost.

	Live Show September 22 2005, Vista Theatre Los Angeles
	As openers for Antony and the Johnsons the sisters startled much of the uninitiated crowd. Except for the five front row fans who stood up to match Bianca's hip hop dance moves during Noah's Ark, it seemed the magic that CocoRosie can convey on recordings floated clear above the heads of the Antony fans. One could blame the sound man for making one of the sisters ear-crackling-loud and the other a whisper, but I think that hearing CocoRosie in a large room with hundred's of other people is like eating momma's homemade pie at Denny's: the taste may be there but the setting is all wrong. La maison is the place to enjoy CocoRosie.

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