I absolutely adore the various influences that Craft Spells have ingeniously grafted into their songs. This particular track opens with an echoey guitar riff that has a very Hawthorne, CA circa ’67 feel, if you know what I mean. Mix that with a low-fi version of New Order’s rhythms and distant Ian Curtis-esque vocals and you get a clear vision of where this Central California band’s heads are at. They don’t shy from wearing such influences on their sleeves either. Literally. Check out their album cover. Looks really familiar, right?
More power to them, I say. Such a flagrant display of their influences serve as a display of their confidence as artists and their ability to borrow and steal as such. That, and I’m just as geeked as they are about their pet sounds, and about Craft Spells’ crafty channeling of such.
The band recently announced their US tour with The Drums, plus released a single from their forthcoming EP, Gallery, due May 15th.
Let’s face it, 2010 was less than stellar at this url. The principals and our reviewers all dropped out of ear-shot simultaneously and for months 3hive has been out of commission. No particular reason really. Life unplugged us, and once unplugged it’s hard to get back into gear, back into the groove.
Phantogram sets the bar high for new music in 2010. Obvious comparisons to Portishead aside, this young duo easily hold their own. It’s a fine distinction, but Phantogram is more space-hop than trip-hop and “When I’m Small” throws down a groove of heavily plucked bass that brightens up the bedroom vocals and scratchy record sample circling its way through the track. About a third of the way through everything drops out except soft synth pulses and echoing guitar to highlight Sarah Barthel’s voice. Diamonds spill from this woman’s mouth every time she opens it! My limited judgment is based on this and a couple other tracks, but I’m happily prejudiced and waiting to be fully abducted by Eyelid Movies on February 9th (vinyl via Ghostly). 
Tycho’s latest single evokes the tranquil mood that accompanied my recent sunset chase here in Huntington Beach. A few years back my father pointed out that late in the year, and from the vantage point of the H.B. pier, the sun settles into the isthmus of Catalina Island. My father is full of such miscellany. For some reason, this year I had a major itch to witness this minor phenomena. To my surprise, I found no information online, so beginning winter solstice I closely monitored the coast trying to determine the D-day. My efforts did not go unrewarded. The area experienced scattered showers in December, which smeared plenty of clouds across the skies, clouds that bled all the warm colors of the rainbow. Sensing that was the day, I crammed kids and cousins into the car on New Year’s Eve and sped off to catch some dying rays. “Coastal Brake” provides that same warm, shimmering 
We just included Pocket’s Top 9 of 2009 in our on-going Best of 2009 lists from friends of the ‘hive. 