[x amount writes: One of the reasons we started this dinky blog was to aggregate all the links/music/crap that we knew Dr. Red Duke would never actually take the time to hunt down himself. We do all the foraging; he does all the enjoying. And he's never smarter than what we feed him. This new series will have us sending slightly edited mp3blog textual guts (NOT the songs, just the writeups!) to the good Dr. and having him try to guess what song they're describing.]

[Artist] "[Song title]" - How square are people now that any busker with a stupid beard gets to be called "freak folk" without having to actually sound as bizarre as this [edit] head-scratcher? The song begins as an urgent, theatrical lo-fi prog-folk thing (you could probably trick someone into believing that it's Guided By Voices at first), but halfway through, the vocals are put through some kind of extreme processing that makes it sound like the mic has been passed to an opera-loving Dalek.

-- Fluxblog, 11.22.05

Dr. Red Duke's guess: The beard is a dead giveaway. I mean how many singers do we know that have one of those. And I take issue with the characterization of said beard as "stupid." I find it fetching.

Second hint I'm picking up on here: theatrical lo-fi. This really helps me zero in on the song in question. Say no more. I must admit I'm not up on the "prog-folk" lingo, but if I'm on target with my guess then surely its "every man" translation is "simply glorious."

Guided by Voices? I suppose so. It is a melodic track with existential lyrics that lead me to a peaceful place I could not otherwise find.

Last bit, and I must correct the author here. Those are no voice-processed vocals. That's a whole 'nother person. And it's a woman. Hence, the change in pitch that you've mistaken as artificially manufactured. A man and woman singing together. Could there be anything MORE natural? And she is, in fact, an opera-lover of the "grand ole" variety.

I'll provide my answer in the mp3 format of which you're all so fond. But I'd like to suggest you listen to it Dr. Red Duke style, in the way it was meant to be heard (and read), at my pick for mp3blog of the month. Ah-ah.