“Fortelling certain doom to the bouncing rhythm of tuba, bass, accordion, banjo, and tongue drum.” That’s how The Scarring Party describes “No More Room,” as in no more room in hell. You could add the following: Tin Pan Alley, Tom Waits, gothic slaughterhouse, phantasmagoria — it’s like, make sure the hatchet is safely in the garage, the double-barrel in the gun safe. There will be quite a party on the ship when the Scarring Party sets sail from Milwaukee for Singapore, but with evil lurking everywhere, will anyone survive the journey? Though not for everyone, these tracks should give you that little extra twist for which you might be searching.
Miho Hatori
The last time 3hive.com saw Miho Hatori, she was singing some samba with Smokey Hormel. But that was ’04, and things have moved on a bit. On Ecdysis — Miho’s debut solo album released on Rykodisc last October — the multilingual chanteuse hops from genre to genre and continent to continent. Looking for Caribbean rhythms? How about Southeast Asian? African? Just keeping skipping through the tracks on the album; eventually you’ll get there.
Corwin Trails
So Rob M. suggested this one because his cousin’s roommate’s best friend’s brother is in the band, or something like that; I coudn’t keep it straight. What I do get is the ambient beats and noise laid down by Corwin Trails. Pleasant melodies, event bouncy at times, coexist among fractured and warped samples and scratches. Walls are built and crumble, time stops and starts — it all reminds me of this paper I wrote in college about how, in his poem The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot subverted the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (Sure he did!) Providers of the soundtrack to the film version of this epic battle between physics and literature: Corwin Trails.
The Expos
I’m starting to think we need a “ska” genre field; maybe “other” just doesn’t cut it. On the ‘hive, we’ve had German ska, New York ska, Boston ska-core, and of course the skanking from the North. The Expos naturally fit that category. When I web-searched the band, I half expected their site to show up above that of the defunct Montreal baseballers. (Those Expos were #1, these were #4.) Either way, you can go ahead and download “Little Red Hook” and put a little jump up in your day.
Summer Hymns
I ‘m brand new to Summer Hymns, so the huge back catalogue of free, downloadable tracks on both the band and label websites might take some time to work through. Also, the critical commentary, like the idea that their recent album Backward Masks is “the Summer Hymns record you always thought they’d make” doesn’t do much for me because I don’t know what they’re supposed to sound like. In other words, this blurb for the band is essentially useless. That said, “Pity and Envy” and especially “Start Swimming” are textured, mellow pop songs that seem to fit the band’s name, and are perfect for dreaming of those June days when the sun sets closer to ten o’clock than five, and that much I know for sure.
Mason Proper Video–Monkeys, Bicycles, Death, and Sexy Dreams
The Beauty Shop
Two things: 1. Good drumming really stands out sometimes. Think “The Bleeding Heart Show” by the New Pornographers, and all those great, tight drum fills in the last half of the song. The Beauty Shop’s “Monster” is kind of like that, at least with the fills. It’s a good, solid, catchy track reminiscent of Blue Mountain’s alt-country or maybe even The Promise Ring. 2. The other thing this Champaign, IL, band reminds me of is another Illinoisian, Chris Mills. In the mid-1990s, Mills was opening up for Wilco in their earliest gigs. (I was the guy always yelling for Jeff to play “Gun.” Sorry I was so obnoxious.) He had a deep, rich, twangy voice that seemed far older than his actual age, and I used to listen to his promo CD on the El all the time and stare forlornly out the window. (Sorry I was so obnoxious!) The Beauty Shop’s lead singer John Hoeffleur has that kind of voice and it works well on the re-release of their 2004 album Crisis Helpline, due in late February.
The God Damn Doo Wop Band
I did a workshop at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum about ten years ago — how to be a rock & roll teacher, hell yeah! — and there was this guy who just kept asking questions about doo wop bands. He was one of those guys who feels the need to comment at every single meeting, and so it was all like, “What about The Marcels?” and ” What about Vito and the Salutations?” or whatever. Most of my classmates had enough of him by the end of our first session together. Anyway, I have a feeling he would not appreciate The God Damn Doo Wop Band. Though tapping in to the grand tradition of the venerable genre, these Midwest girls (on the voices) and guys (on everything else) are clearly doo-wopping their own way. Straight out of the Twin Cities, their 2006 album Broken Hearts received a bunch of critical acclaim that, in true 3hive tradition, we totally missed last year.
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones with a free & legal MP3. That’s fun. Yeah, I know it’s cool to be all indie and stuff… I promise next week to post some band that no one has ever heard of. (Or, maybe I’ll post Tom Waits and bring this old couple back together. There are some free tracks of his over at the Anti website.) “Elvis Cadillac,” off the forthcoming The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, offers a taste of an album on which all of the songs are inspired by Jesus. While I’m not exactly the religious sort, if the rest of Sermon is as smooth and becoming as this song, Rickie Lee might make a believer out of me yet.
qr5
I was cleaning out my suggestion file from 2006 this morning, bringing the number down to a manageable 227 bands left to check out, when I came across qr5. The Canadian pop-reggae outfit suggested themselves in the sunny month of May, and I finally gave them a listen. (Sorry it took so long! Do you have snow yet? We got a little bit yesterday.) Since then, “Revisited Gone” has been the groove of the moment. Here’s what they had to say about themselves: “Introspective music you can dance to, qr5 is a singular combination of reggae groove, pop contagion, and folk sensibility. With their new album Pharmakon the Toronto 4 piece mixes a positive feel and engaging arrangements with tight rhythms and deep thoughts.” Right on. You know reggae sounds better in January anyway.