Total Babe
Compared to the bands I’m about to use to describe them, Total Babe could be named Just Babes. Still in their teens, this Minnesota quartet just performed their EP release party in their hometown and one of their mother’s baked brownies for the event. But their songwriting skills belie their ages. Oh the hooks! I was just listening to The Wishing Chair by 10,000 Maniacs and there’s a similarity in the two bands’ vocal deliveries, the languid enunciation, the stringing together of syllables from adjacent words, the way the vocals sound as if they’re sung in some other Germanic language. Or imagine Lush unplugging and dropping their tempo a notch. That’s it sort of— Total Babe strips away the feedback, the distortion, and the droning from the shoegaze aesthetic, leaving room for their heavenly vocals to breathe. Surprisingly, mature musical decisions for a young, fresh band.
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Patrick & Eugene
Don’t hit the download link unless you adore:
1. Ukeleles
2. Banjos
3. Bongos
4. Slide whistles
5. Bells
6. Super cheery pop music
7. Trombones, clarinets and a variety of horns
Because those are the tools that Patrick & Eugene use to transform Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” into a bouncy klezmer romp. When left to their own songwriting devices P&E create equally breezy tracks, varied in tempo, but not tone. These are happy songs. Sunshine songs. Glass half full songs. Dixieland jazz songs. If you’re old and jaded, grumpy, too cool to smile, or maybe just mean you’ll want to hit someone after hearing the twin songs “Altogether Now” and “The Birds and the Bees,” but maybe, just maybe if you listen long enough you’ll offer a hand to the poor soul you just floored with your fist. Post Patrick & Eugene as the marching band to next month’s Afghanistan surge and Obama very well may start bringing troops home in 18 months. They’ve got that kind of feel-good power.
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Neon Indian
Does time seem to move too slow for you? Do your days and weeks drag on? If you’re interested in making time move faster I’ve got a piece of advice for you: make some babies. Probably not the best solution for everyone, but let me tell you the last thirteen years of my life have skated by. Yesterday I worried whether or not my kid would keep breathing throughout the night; today I worry whether or not he’ll be able to find and hold down a job. It’s not the economy that makes me anxious, but the teenagers I’m surrounded with everyday and their work ethic or lack thereof. So lately I’ve been on the lookout for tips on teaching kids how to work and why they should care about the quality of their work. Let me share what I learned today: don’t introduce your child to Neon Indian!
One quick glance at these track names and I think you know where I’m going and what Neon Indian, né Alan Palomo, is selling. These playful, lilting pop songs and their psychedelic synth flourishes will do nothing but encourage your youngsters to raid your medicine cabinet, string up a hammock out back and sway their days away. He uses subversively cheerful melodies and samples of bird songs to lead your children away on a breezy headphone trip, far away from their duties and responsibilities. I’d like to see you get your children to make their beds to this music, let alone pull a shift at Mickey D’s! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s perfected the aural aura Cornelius has taunted us with for years. Whatever you do, don’t listen to this! And be sure to keep your iPod and prescriptions locked up tight.