Cold War Kids
I stumbled across Cold War Kids while at the office yesterday. Once the music kicked in one of my fellow desk jockeys exclaimed, “Turbo Indie!” Indeed. With their minimal jangles of guitar, sparse percussion and fluttering Buckley-esque vocals, Cold War Kids are about as “indie”-sounding as you can get. The other offerings on their myspace page recall the “freak” folk-ishness of Devendra Banhart and friends. Either way, Cold War Kids come close to reaching that primal place where music originates in all of us.
Cat Power
Cat Power’s been napping. By the time her new album, The Greatest (not a greatest hits record — boy I’m sure her label friends will tire quickly of repeating that mantra), hits stores in January three years will have passed since her last album. Not bad really. The space between her last albums lasted about four years. I should cut her some slack. The wait is always worth it. This time around she taps the Memphis soul scene for her backing musicians, with, among others, Al Green’s boys, Teenie Hodges (who co-wrote “Take Me to the River” with Green) on guitar, and Leroy “Flick” Hodges on bass. Judging from the small sample offered, Chan Marshall may be on her way to creating a timeless work of art.
Would You Sign This Band?
Voicst
Voicst is a decade ahead of themselves. Pop music takes about twenty years to recycle its sounds. Punk came back around in the mid-nineties and new wave’s back today with a vengeance. Voicst’s Mid-’90s-Alternative-Radio-Power-Pop sound was cycling through a second generation comeback ten years ago with bands like Presidents of the United States of America, The Posies, and Sparklehorse (from whom Voicst keenly, and wisely, lifts key riffs for “Whatever”). Can Voicst stick it out long enough for power-pop’s scheduled resurrection, or do they have the chops to usher in the third coming right now?
The Coral Sea
The Los Angeles area has recently spawned a new breed of rock bands defined by androgynous vocals, haunting guitar work, and fragile melodies which often crash into walls of sound. Autolux and the Silversun Pickups are among the stand outs. If you’re a fan, welcome to your next favorite band, Santa Barbara-based The Coral Sea. And here’s why I like 3hive: I can shut up now and let the band prove my point.
Oh Yeah, the New Podcast
New Titles Added to 3hive’s Library
New Against Me! MP3 + Amoeba In-stores
Self
Back it up about 10 years when Sam, Jon and I were all being paid for what we do now for free, a young man by the name of Matt Mahaffey was also, theoretically, getting paid for what he now does for free. His collage of organic and digital instrumentation, pop and hip-hop sensibilities, and his playful use of harmonic and discordant elements won us over immediately. Self was an essential artist in our soundtrack of those days at Acme. With Jon’s usual sarcasm, he remembers this time as “misty watercolor memories.” It took a loyal 3hive reader (thanks Josh!) to bring us full circle, back to Self. While selfies.com offers a veritable smorgasbord of free tunes, here’s a brief sampler of his classic and newest works. “KiDdies” was a literal hit on my nightly radio show in Salt Lake City and a great Halloween track, “So Low” and “Cannon” the singles from Self’s first album. The rest are from his most current album, this year’s Porno, Mint & Grime.