One last Memphis music history lesson. I saw Neighborhood Texture Jam at the Antenna Club in Memphis in 1988 (as nearest as I can recall), and one their most appealing features was the absurd song subjects, like “Torsoes of Murdered People” and my personal favorite, “Mall Boutique” on the life of a mall worker. The suggestion box at 3hive recently got an email about NTJ, so with their new website comes the opportunity to share the NTJ love. More MP3’s can be found at their website.
Ladyslipper
This one’s perfect after a day of my better half and I struggling to talk to each. “What did you say?” “Can you say that again?” “What was that?” “I couldn’t hear you.” We’ve finally concluded that our poor hearing has a common cause: too much rock ‘n’ roll. Years of going to shows sans ear plugs. Years of head phones and ear phones and ear buds. Years of going to sleep with the stereo on. Years of car stereos on full blast. And in my case, years ago, not being very good on the guitar and trying to compensate for it through loud feedback. So what better anthem for the toll music has taken on our hearing than Ladyslipper’s “Tinnitus?” Tinnitus is ringing or buzzing in the ears and the reason that I recently purchased a twenty pack of ear plugs. But this Minnesota’s band’s melodic, fuzz-drenched indie rock with their proud, echo-heavy shouts of “tinnitus” hopefully will serve as a reminder to all of us to use ear protection when listening to loud, catchy music from Ladyslipper.
This public service announcement has been brought to you by Ladyslipper and 3hive.
Mono in VCF
To make up for a few posting days I’ve missed during my move to Cali, it’s two-for-one day.
Recalling a simpler time with simpler pop, Mono in VCF have graduated from the University of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood (school mascot: The Some Velvet Mornings) magna cum laude. Okay, that was lame, but these songs are so fresh and clean and original (in a 2007 way) that they are completing enthralling, and you should just download now. An MP3, like a picture, is worth a thousand words.
The Toy Guns
The Toy Guns are (mostly) British, yes; but no, this is not a Joy Division cover. “Transmission” is a rip-roaring little post-punk number that, like the best of the genre, clocks in at just over two minutes. It may be a less-then-ideal 96kbps, but if listened to loud enough in the car while playing the air guitar, you can barely notice.
The Coach and Four
It’s my last post from Memphis, so I’d better make it a Memphis band, eh? I especially like the changing moods of “In Transit” by The Coach and Four. First delicate and almost plaintive, then building until becoming strong, fierce, and frantic, it reflects the hidden stories of the band’s namesake, a local run-down hotel.
Parade
Two weeks ago when posting the Childballads, I quoted from Jonathan Fire*Eater’s “Give Me Daughters” in relating that I have three daughters, just like the song. In my quote, I left out the lines immediately preceding the words I quoted: “I will raise them/I will raise them/I will raise/I will raise/I will raise them oh/In the city surrounded by water.” Now that me and the family are moving San Francisco, which I understand to be mostly surrounded by water, I’ve started to wonder about Stewart Lupton’s impact on my life. Of course, this also means that for the near future I will be focusing purely on Southern bands, like Atlanta’s (via Athens) Parade, in celebration of the 81% of my life spent living in the South. I’ve loved Atlanta bands since I first heard the 1986 compilation of Atlanta bands Make the City Grovel In Its Dust, and I can still remember almost every word and guitar lick of Train Black Manifesto’s “Bristol” and Rockin’ Bones’ “Be At Ease.”
So back to Parade and their smart rock-tinged pop. On “That’s Hott” from their recent EP, one cannot almost imagine the B52’s raised in this millennium on Parade’s stated influences of Radiohead, Gang of Four, Nick Cave, and PJ Harvey, while others like the acoustic guitar-based “Hunting” embrace the Southern singer-songwriter tradition of other Athens and Atlanta bands. But whatever the style, Parade is simple and melodic, kinda like the South.
The Childballads
Whilst sitting in church last week with my three daughters, I thought of a Jonathan Fire*Eater song that I first heard before I had any children. I could just hear Stewart Lupton singing in my ears “Give me daughters/And make ’em 1-2-3/I will raise them/they’ll go to church with me.” Now I know he wasn’t prophesying about me, but Stewart’s imaginative lyrics were one of my favorites things about one of my favorite bands. Three of the Fire*Eaters went on to The Walkmen after the big breakup, but Stewart’s new band the Child Ballads hit the scene around two years ago. Style-wise, Stewart’s 60s-influenced acoustic guitar rock is a long way from the Fire*Eater days, but when it comes to the lyrcis, he’s still got his muse.
Free New EP from Bedroom Eyes
These Electric Lives
By my count, These Electric Lives sent their first email to 3hive on May 25th of last year. Nineteen, count ’em, nineteen, emails later, we’ve finally snapped out of our slumber and persuaded these lads from Toronto to share a song with us. It’s only a matter of time before the arena-inspired indie rock from their debut EP infiltrates across the border into American popular media, the cancellation of Veronica Mars only delaying the inevitable. Available from iTunes and eMusic on July 25.
Poison Control Center
Ian, who just signed the Poison Control Center to his label Afternoon Records, refers to this Ames, Iowa, band as “spastic pop wonders.” And that’s all you really need to know before downloading!