Jam of the Day – Get Naked in the Sunshine

FINALLY the sun is shining on New York City. To celebrate, I bring you this infectious jam by Norwegian punk-pop diva Ida Maria.

24-year-old Ida Maria is like a modern day Janis Joplin with an infusion of punk power and the poppy ska-drum beats of early No Doubt. On Fortress Round My Heart, her 2008 debut album, her lyrics swing from heavy concepts like religion to girl power and feminism to sex and men. Maria plays guitar and is backed up by band members Johannes Lindberg (on bass and vocals), Olle Lundin (on drums), and Stefan Törnby (on guitar and vocals). In one of the best musical style descriptions I’ve seen on myspace, she describes her music as “Healing & Easy Listening/ Melodramatic Popular Song/ Punk.” On some of her more mellow songs she sometimes sounds like another one of my Nordic favorites, Lykke Li.

After performing at the Hiro Ball Room last week, Maria returned to NYC again last night to perform her hit “Oh My God” on Last Call with Carson Daly. For the rest of the summer she will be on tour in the south and on the west coast with stops in Vegas, San Francisco, Austin, and Chicago, with a final concert at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado this September.

Maria has synesthesia, a neurological condition that is a sort of sensory dyslexia that allows her to see sounds and hear colors. Being a musician with this condition must be fascinatingly trippy to say the least. As she explained to LiveDaily, “When I hear music I see transparent patterns in front of me. Every single rhythm or every single hit on the drum has a different shape and they’re linked up together,” she explained. “Like a snare drum has the same kind of shape, it just varies if you hit it hard or soft or whatever. Drum sounds are mostly black and white with some sparks of yellow in the middle. It’s kind of hard to explain. Yeah, [it happens every time I play music] but it’s all kinds of noise–like when someone opens a door or car. It matters where I keep my focus. When we are on stage, I try to focus there and not the other noises.”

In a recent interview with MTV, she explained that her song, “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked,” is about “the male population of this planet and that I would like them to be naked all of the time.” It’s sure to be a summer hit of 2009, and you can download it here.

Ida Maria – I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked:

Happy Summer Ladies…

-Melissa