I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with instrumental music. As a compulsive reader, songs have often been an extension of that compulsion, and I’ve always been drawn to verbose, dense songs that have something to say aside from the music itself. And if I can relate to what is being said, then all the better. But every once in a while songs sans words manage to tickle some small place in our brains and can speak to us directly without having to say anything. I don’t know if this is that for you, but without getting into it, DetektivbyrÃ¥n is from Goteborg (Sweden’s second city) and with their simplicity, chimes, accordians and ethereal Amelie-esque charm, they have managed to thrust me straight back to the time I was in their city and I’ll be damned if this isn’t the wordless soundtrack to my time there, only discovered after the fact. And so, they must be added to the short list of musicians who work in the instrumental form who just plain old move me
E18 [MP3, 5.2MB, 206kbps]
Nattopet [MP3, 5.2MB, 128kbps]
Dansbanan [MP3, 5.6MB, 200kbps]
Today, thanks to the folks at Canadian net-label Decibel Palace, we rediscover a rare electronic quartet with a taste for techno, funk, and 80s synth-sounds. The resulting output resembles Mr. Scruff circa year 2099, a playful, futuristic-nostalgia. Toronto’s answer to Kraftwerk? Unfortunately the band disbanded eight years ago after releasing an initial 12″ (with “Liquor Mart” as the a-side) and a 10-track debut featuring a remix by Freaky Chakra. Dave Allen (Gang of Four, Shriekback) planned on releasing their sophomore effort on his World Domination label. When his domination attempt failed the album was shelved and the band went on their separate ways. Live, Transformantra employed live instrumentation and improvisational re-mixing and set King Svenie (a veteran rave dancer/illustrator) loose on the stage, dancing around, costumed like the cosmos. Here’s hoping for a Transformantra reunion show in the Gobi tent at Coachella!
Just read my original post…so much has changed and so much hasn’t. Same goes for 65 Days of Static. They’re still making instrumental rock that I actually like. But they’ve since matured their sound a bit. It’s less of an aural blitz and more of subtle, studied sound. Don’t get me wrong, they still have an edge to them: they had to kick a Scottish after-school dance troupe out of their own auditorium to record the grand piano for this album. Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll.
Lately there have been all these commercials for the NYC “easy listening” radio station and despite my general aversion to anything “easy” (especially when “listening”), I’ve been fascinated by how calm the woman on the advertisement is. One has to wonder… is it the music? Well I’m not ready to throw in the musical towel yet and so my latest solution to needing a little sonic R&R is going to have to be Dntel. Dntel is definitely not going to make the evening drive line-up next to Celine Dion BUT Dntel is Jimmy Tamborello (also part of 
More goodness from Morr Records. The Go Find, which began as a solo project of Dieter Sermeus, has developed into more of a full band affair. To get a sense of where The Go Find searches for inspiration, consider the artists they covered for a recent 7″: Hall & Oates backed with Pavement. A winning combination in my book. “Dictionary” blends both sounds well—understated, indie vocals over soft, 80s-style, electro-disco instrumentation (complete with echoing handclaps and Roxy Music-esque guitar riffs).
Given the season, it’s appropriate that “Simple Plan,” one of my favorite songs of late, could be described as triumphant. Don’t get me wrong, ain’t nothing preachy about Hooray for Earth. Though you could say they’re on a bit of a mission. They appear determined to make every one of their songs sound freakin’ epic. They start with the big-guitars-meet-big-synths sound—then proceed to send it skyward and never look back. “Simple Plan” is a classic example. For the first 20 seconds it rumbles through low-gear grunge, then bursts into a glorious, spiraling new wave anthem that would make Icicle Works blush. “So Happy” picks up the pace, like 
It’s been a little bleak here on Wednesdays, and I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks — but hopefully you will all enjoy today’s musical selection and forgive the midweek blackout of late. The Blow, consisting of Khaela Maricich & Jona Bechtolt from Portland, OR, have been carrying me through a busy time. The music is rife with slick modern beats, but there is a super pop, super earnest candy center. Throughout the album there are many, many references to how hard it is for girls and boys to come together and I admit (with a blush and an eyeroll) that when Khaela sings “really you just injured my pride” I had a moment where I was like “um, did I write this song???” As usual, file under: better late than never.
The suggestion box here at 3hive gets worked overtime. We have blessed suggestions coming in from our kind readers, we have emails from bands and labels that we are also grateful for, and we get a whole lot of spam, as is expected with a published email address on the world wide web. There’s one spam email that we regularly get for an Indian television site (no, I’m not going to share the url, we don’t want to encourage them), so I was so close to passing over an email for All India Radio when it arrived. Not the one that’s the only Indian radio station broadcast in the real time over the internet. I’m talking about the one that’s the Australian downtempo electronica group inspired by the sounds of Indian street life and the KLF. And for a reference point for A.I.R., think no further than that other “AIR” band…yes…that’s the one…
The last time 3hive.com saw