Sharing the sharing.
Take a trip through the tropical beats of South America and Japan with Monster Rally’s new two-part digital 45, Escape To The Cloud Forest. As usual, like everything MR releases, it’s really good.
Escape To The Cloud Forest is available now via MR’s Bandcamp page and you can sample its goodness below. Enjoy.
You can also pick up some other Monster Rally releases on vinyl at the 3hive Record Lounge. MR on vinyl is a treat, you won’t regret it.
Sean Byrne (as LAZY SALON) has just added another standout album to his already stacked catalog of LZ releases. Lazy Salon (his new self-titled release) is 34 minutes of chilled out, sweeping instrumentals, layered over the top smoking hot drum beats. These 8 tracks are the Calgon for the soul, especially during these COVID-19 times. He calls them “cosmic instrumentals” which pretty much nails it.
Give “Wild Travels” (below) a spin, it’s a great example of the entire album’s goodness. Lazy Salon is available now on Bandcamp. I highly recommend it.
We are huge fans of Seattle multi-instrumentalist Eric Elbogen and his Say Hi (a.k.a. Say Hi To Your Mom) project here at 3hive headquarters. Our first SHTYM post was back in 2004 and here we are almost 16 years later sending love to his newest album, Diamonds & Donuts.
Diamonds & Donuts is 13 songs of crunchy, synth-driven goodness, taking on bold and dangerous topics like happiness, missed lovers, broken hearts and seeing dead people — all wrapped up nicely behind titles like “Tiger Unicorn”, “A MacBook Pro to a Nineties Dell” and “Windsor Knots and Ruffles” — exactly what you’d expect from a Say Hi album. You can spin “Tiger Unicorn and “Grey as a Ghost” below for a taste.
Diamonds & Donuts is available worldwide now. We also have copies available at the 3hive Record Lounge. Be sure to catch Eric and Say Hi on his living room tour that kicks off in March. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Say Hi live and in person. I will never forget how cool Eric was with my daughter and I back in 2014 when I took her to see Say Hi for her first concert.
2019 was another great year for music, below are my top ten favorite albums 2019:
Also for your aural pleasure (and my own), I have attached a handy-dandy playlist of some my favorite songs from 2019…
LAZY SALON is back with Boot Magna, his newest release of tasty, hypnotic beats. Boot Magna is split into 2 sides, side one is more uptempo and dance-friendly while side two takes things back a bit with a more chilled-out vibe. Boot Magna is made up of a combination of remixes, new tracks and previously unreleased tracks. LAZY SALON is damn good at what he does and Boot Magna is no exception. You can snag Boot Magna now via LAZY SALON’s Bandcamp page – I highly recommend that you do.
Digging from vinyl bins all around the globe the beat making dynamic duo of Paces Lift & Ben Bounce go deep into the vast world of psych and tropical grooves on their sophomore release Tropikoro. Give the standout tracks “Telephone”, “The Marketplace” and “The Great Phantasmo” a spin below for a taste of Tropikoro’s radness.
Tropikoro is available now on vinyl (recommended) and digitally via Wax Thématique and Paces Lift & Ben Bounce’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.
L.A. producer/beat-maker Benedek’s new EP, Kushel, caught my attention right off the bat as it’s opening track “Geo-Soul Anthem” sounds like it could have come from my all-time favorite skateboarding video The Search For Animal Chin. My good friend Viet and I watched that video almost every day for an entire summer before carving up the local curbs and speed bumps.
Kushel is one of my favorite EPs of the year. It has just enough chilled-out groove to go along with its head-nodding beats – a perfect soundtrack to your next get together or grinding up some curbs 80’s style. You can get Kushel now on cassette or digitally from Leaving Records. Enjoy.
Better late than never – my auditory loves of 2017, in rough order…
Thundercat Drunk (Brainfeeder)
Intoxicating, weird, vulnerable, and soooooo damn funky. My Album of the Year if I had to pick one.
Slowdive Slowdive (Dead Oceans)
The comeback album of our collective dreams.
Trementina 810 (Burger)
If this hadn’t been The Year of Slowdive’s Triumphant Return, I’d like to think this gorgeous offering of dreamy shoegaze from Chile’s Trementina would’ve been the talk of the town.
The xx I See You (Young Turks)
Now that producer Jamie Smith, aka Jamie xx, is getting his due as the driving force behind The xx juggernaut, I might be able to stop raving about him. But why stop now?
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Soul of a Woman (Daptone)
What a force. What a voice. What a loss.
Big Thief Capacity (Saddle Creek)
This album has quietly slipped on to a bunch of Best of 2017 lists because it is just that: a quiet album of incredible strength.
Grandaddy Last Place (30th Century Records)
“Even still the rockers are…”
Mountain Goats Goths (Merge)
A wonderfully engaging concept/tribute album – whether you are, were, or have ever loved a goth.
Boris Dear (Sargent House)
Rumored to be a farewell letter to their fans, it’s a welcome return to the nuanced take on sludge/drone/doom metal that first lured me in almost 20 years ago.
Fazerdaze Morningside (Flying Nun)
Nearly perfect bedroom pop.
Moses Sumney Aromanticism (Jagjaguwar)
All the feels.
Molly Burch Please Be Mine (Captured Tracks)
A sparse, timeless album that allows nothing to interfere with the purity of Molly’s hypnotic voice.
Doug Tuttle Peace Potato (Trouble in Mind)
Hypnotic psych pop with enough ragged edges to keep you awake.
Homeboy Sandman Veins (Stones Throw)
Based on record sales in the “>3hive Co-op Shop, not everyone agrees – but I think he’s one of the best, most versatile MCs around.
Waxahatchee Out in the Storm (Merge)
Katie Crutchfield finds her sound and voice amidst the rubble of a failed relationship.
Honorable mentions: Iron & Wine Beast Epic [buy vinyl], Protomartyr Relatives in Descent, LCD Soundsystem american dream [buy vinyl], Destroyer ken [buy vinyl], Open Mike Eagle Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, The Courtneys II [buy vinyl], King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Murder of the Universe [buy vinyl], Jonwayne Rap Album Two, Priests Nothing Feels Natural, Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Hitchcock [buy vinyl]
Here are my favorite albums/EPs from 2017, in no particular order…
Monster Rally Flowering Jungle (Gold Robot)
Spotting Spotting EP (self-released/Aarght)
The Rebel Set 4 Song EP (Hidden Volume)
Ty Segall Ty Segall (Drag City)
Molly Burch Please Be Mine (Captured Tracks)
Doug Tuttle Peace Potato (Trouble In Mind)
David Bowie No Plan EP (Columbia)
FRONDS Cold Across My Skin (Gold Robot)
Jake Xerxes Fussell What In The Natural World (Paradise of Bachelors)
Lilith Apology Plant (Disposable America)
Tall Friend Safely Nobody’s (Exploding In Sound)
Oh Sees Orc (Castle Face)
Bedouine Bedouine (Spacebomb)
UV-TV Glass (Deranged)
Destroyer ken (Merge)
Mountain States Whispers (Coaster)
Kevin Morby City Music (Dead Oceans)
Otoboke Beaver Love Is Short! (Damnably)
Century Palm Meet You (Deranged)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Soul of a Woman (Daptone)
RIP
Slowdive Slowdive (Dead Oceans)
Open Mike Eagle Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (Mello Music)
Milo Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?! (self-released)
Michael Nau Some Twist (Suicide Squeeze)
Thundercat Drunk (Brainfeeder)
Jack Cooper Sandgrown (Trouble In Mind)
Waxahatchee Out In The Storm (Merge)
OCS Memory of A Cut Off Head (Castle Face)
Once And Future Band Once And Future Band (Castle Face)
The Safes Tasty Waves (Hidden Volume)
24-year-old New Zealander Amelia Murray writes, produces, and sings as Fazerdaze. Her debut full-length Morningside is an impressive collection of spunky, sun-drenched jams and soaring dream pop. Her songs are tight and her vocals outta sight, with lyrics that get right at it (“I’m trying not to try so hard for you”). Soak it in and make your summer more summer-y.
[Morningside is available on beefy vinyl via the legendary Flying Nun Records. Buy your copy in the 3hive Co-op Shop while supplies last.]