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Lateduster

An all-star collective from the Minneapolis underground, featuring the chaps who record individually as/with Fog, Dosh, Hymie’s Basement, and Neotropic. Post-rock instrumentals with an improvisational jazz flair. These are early recordings, birthed before the debuts of Fog and Dosh. Merck’s re-releasing Easy Pieces this month, with new recordings and a tour to follow next year. This generation is lucky to have more “easy-listening” options than Windham Hill.

* For residents of the OC: join me Tuesday at the Apple store for a little presentation. Would love to meet any local 3hivers.

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Signer

Like a fuzzy popsicle on a hot August day at 7:13 pm; it’s hot out, but the popsicle is so cold it’s fuzzy. You might be seven or eight years old. Then you squish the popsicle against the roof of your mouth after you’ve sucked out the juice.

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Walking Concert

Those who were ushered into junior high by Gorilla Biscuits, into college by Quicksand, and into adulthood by Rival Schools are all too familiar with what Walter Schreifels can do with an aggressively tuned guitar and a chest full of angst. The blister-hooks of those past efforts still make an appearance here and there in his latest band (also featuring a journeyman from Salt Lake City and a freelance underwear designer — viva la difference!), but Walking Concert showcases Schreifels expanding his horizons into areas more melodic and, dare I say it, quietly retrospective. He�s grown up, and growing up still sounds just right.

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Viva Voce

They say you should never go into business with your spouse, but — Jim and Tammy Faye, Sonny and Cher, Siegfried and Roy notwithstanding — here’s another reason why “they” aren’t always right. Viva Voce, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson to their neighbors, play woozy, psychedelic pop as though the ’60s were just a warmup. “Alive With Pleasure” takes their sound to even higher heights with a searing intro, which then swoops down into the lily-spotted valley that is Anita Robinson’s voice, then soars back up to the sky leaving behind a vapor trail of handclaps. Hmm, sounds like a treatment for a music video…everyone here is under non-disclosure, capice?

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Racetrack

Bellingham, Warshington (as my dad would say) can just crank out pop-rock bands, while still maintaining a very high ratio of good-to-not-good bands. Racetrack, well, they help the ratio on the good side. Throwing around big hooks and a raspy guitar, this three-piece is driven by Meghan Kessinger’s steady singing, aided on their debut album by Death Cab for Cutie‘s Chris Walla. And how do Racetrack describe themselves? “Picture riding a go-kart while eating a pickle.”

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Travis Morrison

Travis Morrison, the artist formerly known as 25% of The Dismemberment Plan, drops his first solo record just a year after the demise of TDP. A glimpse into Travistan (the first three tracks offered here) reveals PETA-inspired pop, an eager, piano-driven morality play, and a sing-song memoir cluttered up with live studio audience effects and Defender(TM) samples. Lick off Ben Fold’s sugar-coating, but don’t go as dour as Elliott Smith, and you got Mr. Morrison here.

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Cat Five

Another shot from the suggestion box… Cat Five’s madcap samplerama Kataphonics finally has a sibling, a new 12-inch called “On the Rise.” This may seem like a thin body of work for a five-year-old group. That is, until you discover the hours of original or heavily refurbished live tracks available on their site and realize what a fool you were for ever doubting them. These MP3s in particular were recorded directly from the mixing board and could easily pass for studio material. Cat Five are Avalanches on a budget; Negativland with a beat; whatever comparison you use when you find yourself nodding and smirking at the same time.

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The Shifties

West Coast slowpop vibe via Windy City. The pace picks up by “Can’t Go On”: the verses spunky like “Kids in America” while the chorus jangles like something off Reckoning. A fun find from the suggestion box.

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Dolour

I was first exposed to Made In Mexico Records when I came across Pedro The Lion‘s album It’s Hard To Find A Friend. Instantly I was a fan, with the band and the label. Made In Mexico seemed like the perfect indie label: wonderful bands and a simple, small, intimate vibe. The label eventually closed its doors and has remained dormant for almost five years, until now.

Singer/songwriter Damien Jurado, along with a couple friends and the blessing of the original owner, has resurrected Made In Mexico. Dolour is their first offering. Band leader, Shane Tutmarc, continues the Northwest’s too frequently slighted tradition of indie-pop craftsmen proving once again that sunny songs and cloudy skies are not mutually exclusive.

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