My sister Christy saw these guys play at Coachella a couple weeks back and sent me an email asking what I knew of them, especially their percussionist (what is this, a dating service?). To my embarrassment, I knew nada. After reading up, I see that one of their two singers is Anthony Roman, formerly of Garden Variety, who I do know for his ragged, plaintive punk of some 10 years back. After listening up, I hear funky homage to Britain’s most danceable post-punk bands (Wire, Gang of Four, The Clash) and the feelgood politics of NY peers !!! and Out Hud. So thanks, sis, for keeping your brother’s ear to the street (apparently the Mitubishi ad they were featured in didn’t do it) — and happy birthday!
Thao Nguyen
Imagine walking into the Nguyen family laundromat in suburban D.C. and hearing these sounds coming from behind the counter as young Thao honed her raspy lovelorn poetry between bundles of laundry. Man, I would have run up such a huge bill…
New Despistado Track Added
Pedro Remix at Melodic
The Foxymorons
While their name is more befitting a rec league softball team than a lo-fi pop duo from Mesquite, Texas, don’t go writing them off as a novelty act (unless, of course, you’re into that sort of thing — in which case you should skip straight to their covers album). These guys take their craft quite seriously, as evidenced by the warm, inviting hooks and smart yet honest lyrics. Their newer material is more polished, relatively speaking. “Harvard Hands” mimics early Wilco and “Hesitation Eyes” is pure power pop a la Posies, Cheap Trick, et al. But, no matter how you package it, the honesty goes down smooth and easy. As referenced earlier, the band’s site features an entire album’s worth of MP3 covers — including some fractured renditions of Sonic Youth, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, and more. Play ball…
Someone Else
“An undying fear of commitment has fueled 24-year-old Sean O’Neal’s eclectic discography…” So began an interview I did with the Illadelph native, then of Flowchart, back in 1998 for URB. Seven years later, not much has changed — in that quite a lot has. Sean recently added netlabel unfoundsound to his stable of ventures (he also runs Fuzzy Box Records) while steering his music away from the richly layered drum ‘n’ bliss and quirky electronica of his Flowchart days toward wry, minimalist techno under the alias Someone Else. You gotta love a fool who can make your head bounce and put a smile on your face (just listen to those tweaked mouth noises on “Goofball”). These tracks make up the first of six unfoundsound releases to date; all are available as free, high-quality MP3s under a Creative Commons license (if anyone gets “sharing the sharing,” it’s Lawrence Lessig). There’s also an entire release of Philadelphia field sounds which unfoundsound invites you to mess around with and submit as a demo.
Kid Lunch
People ask me where we come up with all the good stuff we post on 3hive. It’s hard to explain except to say that we sometimes seem to benefit from some sort of collective stream of consciousness. To wit: spring springs in Detroit, which reminds Joe of Hayden’s music; Joe posts Hayden, which reminds Eli of Kid Lunch who is a Canadian colleague of Hayden’s; Eli drops us a note about the Kid; I like the name and download some tracks from his 1999 self-titled debut; I like them enough to download the entire thing (it’s available for free on his website); I scrap together a post which says nothing about the music itself and voila! It’s just that easy! Kid Lunch may be in semi-retirement — his last live gig appears to have been in 2002 — but his sonically diverse album holds enough promise to leave me wondering if/when he’ll return with more good stuff. In the meantime, let’s see what kind of associations this post triggers… The suggestion box is open.
South Ambulance
That Sambassadeur post sent me on a Swedish shoegazing spree. That’s right, a spree. In case you doubt there is such a thing, I present you with South Ambulance. Also Swedish, also shoegazerly. When their press frequently references Ride, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Television Personalities (and I’d add Galaxie 500 just to sweeten the deal), you know you’re in for a dreamy, melancholy treat.
Sambassadeur
I can’t figure out how this band landed on my iPod. I checked the usual suspects (can’t believe Jason isn’t all over this one). I scoured the suggestion box. I asked Jeeves. No dice. So I’ll just assume it’s a sign that I should spread word of their sweet (and Swedish!) shoegazer folk. The breakdown on “Between the Lines” — the snare hit, the ethereal “ahs,” the chord progression — is completely irresistible to simple minds and hearts such as mine.
Between the Lines [MP3, 2.4MB, 128kbps]
Whatever Season [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]New Moon [MP3, 3.2MB, 160kbps]Days
Group Sounds
HP ain’t the only ones getting mileage out of the Kinks’ time-honored pop formula. Group Sounds put a slightly modern spin on the Davies brothers’ no-nonsense hookology and 90% of what I’ve heard so far sounds pretty flippin’ good (10% being the falsetto chorus on “Business Before Pleasure”). Also, my pal Jon Regardie would be quick to point out that Group Sounds are Jewish, which means they are a chosen band. Well, at very least they’re chosen by 3hive, which should count for something…