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Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles have been priming the pump via Facebook and Soundcloud this week. They’ve released a remixed song from each of their albums, a brand new track, “Plague,” and then yesterday they announced dates for their upcoming North American tour. I doubt I’m introducing a new band to many people, since Crystal Castles are somewhat of a household name within the indie music world. Years ago I realized they were more popular than I imagined when kids at Disneyland were pointing out my son’s Crystal Castles t-shirt. Either that or it was Goth-tronica day and no one told me.

The new track is throbbingly ethereal and more atmospheric than their earlier work. NME posted fan footage of the live premiere of the song where they described it as having “a clear ’90s rave influence.” Whatever your take on the song, it’s great to have new Crystal Castles rattling around in my ears with a tour and new album on the horizon.

Crystal Castles – Plague

Crystal Castles – Suffocation

Crystal Castles – Suffocation (HEALTH remix)

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Monster Rally

What do you get when you take a stack of old records and sample bits and pieces in order to create new music with a psychedelic, tropical, surf, hip hop vibe to it? The answer, my friends, is Monster Rally.

Monster Rally is the project of Ohio-resident Ted Feighan. His music has a warm, lo-fi, crackley, organic feel to it. It’s put together so nicely, it almost sounds like a full band recorded these songs directly to tape. Since 2010 Monster Rally has released quite a bit of music via his bandcamp page, and is set to release a new full length album, Beyond The Sea, on June 19. Below are just a few tastes of Monster Rally’s music for you downloading pleasure.

You can download all of Monster Rally’s releases at his bandcamp page, and preorder his new album here. Ted is also an artist, you can check out his stuff here.

Monster Rally – Jaguar from Beyond The Sea (2012)

Monster Rally – Lone Rd from Crystal Ball (2011)

Monster Rally – Siberian Girls from Deep Sea EP (2011)

Monster Rally – Maori Mai from EP (2010)

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DMA

After the dissolution of his previous band, Jookabox, Indianapolis’ own DMA (aka David “Moose” Adamson) dashed off an album of self-described “crust funk” tracks that mostly defied listening. I say “mostly” because DREM BEB (as in “Dream Babe”) yielded “Riding Holiday”, an altered state take on the classic rock highway jam that wormed its way into my ear last summer with its hypnotic beat and headstrong chorus.
Now DMA is back with a follow-up called The Boardwalk which is far more gentle and refined in its approach. Waves of warped melodies wash over dubby pulses, beats, and clicks. Every so often DMA’s deadpan vocals wander through the soundscape, soaked in reverb, serving as yet another layer of instrumentation. Kind of like listening to Orbital after taking a handful of Sudafed.
DREM BEB was released as a limited-edition cassette and it appears that The Boardwalk is only available for streaming on Bandcamp. Not the most user-friendly distribution strategy, maybe it’s all part of the mystique.

Riding Holiday from DREM BEB (2011)

http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
dmanaptown.bandcamp.com

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Kono Michi

Attempting to review music while your wife and son are jamming to The Beatles Rockband is like making a suicide at a fountain dispenser–taking a hit from each flavor of soda you get a little taste of this, a little taste of that, but it’s all really just a blur. Not the ideal situation to be sure. I’m gonna go get my headphones….ah, that’s much better.

Kono Michi is a concert violinist with a beautiful voice and a knack for writing interesting songs. And excuse the blasphemy I’m about to embark on, but I find her voice warmer and more pleasant than that of Annie Clark’s (St. Vincent). If that’s even possible!

Violins open her track “My Monster,” then her vocals glide in, the strings drop out and a slow drumbeat thunders in. And like that you’re hooked. A deep male voice rolls in with the violin again, la-la-la-la-la-ing along, and the song kind of turns into a duet between Kono Michi and the monster on the cover. He sounds like a gentle fellow, and like she sings in the song, as long as they’re singing along, they’re getting along. Maybe a good relationship healer. Feeling sour towards your partner? Sing a song or two together!

If you’re not yet moved to give Kono Michi a try, then check out the video for “You are the First.” It’s a DIY stop-motion effort in which Kono Michi, a Brooklynite, traveled 6,000 miles across the country photographing herself jumping in the air so it looks as if she’s floating around. If that doesn’t mesmerize you for a few minutes, then you’re a sad, jaded soul and I feel for you…

My Monster [MP3]
You are the First [MP3]

www.konomichimusic.com
www.sharkbatter.com

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Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore needs no introduction, being the lead singer for Sonic Youth and releasing solo albums for the past 20+ years. However, in his long musical career, this is the first time that he has collaborated with Beck and the results are quite spectacular. Both songs below (and the entire album) are full of depth, and quite different from his last, more straight-forward indie rock effort. Thanks in part to Beck’s production skills, great use of strings, and of course Thurston’s incredible talent at songwriting and guitar playing. Enjoy.

Thurston Moore – Benediction

Thurston Moore – Circulation

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Socalled

On paper, Socalled’s bio reads like an elaborate art hoax: he’s a producer/ composer/ arranger/ rapper/ singer/ journalist/ photographer/ filmmaker/ magician/ cartoonist/ puppet maker – oh, and Yiddish music enthusiast! – who, for his fourth album, invited 34 collaborators from all ends of the musical spectrum into the studio. As a whole, Sleepover is disjointed – sounding like “Prairie Home Companion” one minute and “106 and Park” the next. There’s a recurring thread of humor and pastiche on many of the tracks, but others stick out as being quite earnest. So it’s difficult to nail a unifying theme. However, taken individually, each song holds its own, and some even stand out. Take these two examples, where the eclectic ingredients come together nicely into a singular concept. The title track is a send-up of ghetto-tech anthems, with none other than Detroit’s own King of Booty, DJ Assault, serving up hypnotic refrains over a frenetic klezmer loop. (The joke wouldn’t be complete without puppets freaking in Socalled’s apartment – so be sure to watch the video.) By contrast, “Work With What You Got” is a positive vibration calypso-hop jam featuring Roxanne Shante and The Mighty Sparrow on vocals that would feel at home on the soundtrack to a feelgood children’s movie.

Socalled || Teaser Sleepover #2 from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

Sleepover (featuring DJ Assault) from Sleepover (2011)
Work With What You Got (featuring Roxanne Shante and The Mighty Sparrow) from Sleepover (2011)

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Cap’n Jazz


Cap’n Jazz were such a short-lived band that their entire musical catalog fits on a double album. But what a double album it is – a sloppy, cryptic, energetic, engaging masterpiece – and it’s being reissued by their erstwhile label, Jade Tree, as a double vinyl LP on June 15, 2010. To celebrate, the boys are getting the band back together for a set of reunion shows in select cities, including two sold-out shows in their hometown of Chicago. Cap’n Jazz’s influence extends well beyond those 34 songs. Their musical family tree includes other Monsters of Emo – Make Believe, The Promise Ring, American Football, Owls, Ghosts and Vodka, Joan of Arc and Owen. This is the kinda musical act you make a road trip to see. And, unless they add a Detroit show, I will have one in my future. Or maybe I’ll cash in some SkyMiles so Sean and I can geeeeek out at the LA show, the way we did when we saw The Promise Ring in Austin back in the day.

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Earth Program

So one of the band members of Earth Program, I won’t identify her specifically, has been pestering me for this post for some time. I think she didn’t really realize that I had quietly retired from 3hive as a way to maintain sanity. Seriously, how can anyone actually listen to even a fraction of the music that’s out there and keeps on coming every day? It was her quasi-anonymous e-mail that did it; “Dear Editor, ” it began. Come on… As a disclosure, I knew this band member before there was an Earth Program, back when she was the complicated girl in the back of my high school Creative Writing class. She was as awesome then as her band is now, and I’m glad I unretired just to share some tunes I think a lot of you are going to like. I mean, just listen to “Eat Your MakeUp,” ok? Earth Program is pop enough to be bearable and strange enough to keep things interesting. Sounds like a fine time to be 20ish in Chicago. Oh, and hi Jen.

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Quantic

Quantic And His Combo Barbaro | Tradition In Transition | 3hive.com
Quantic And His Combo Barbaro | Tradition In Transition | 3hive.com

On my radio show, Quantic (aka Will Holland) is my go-to guy, so when I realized we had not given him the proper props on these pages. I did some music mining. Lo and behold, Holland himself provides a minor motherlode on his Quantic site. I use him as a staple on the show precisely because his catalog is extensive and diverse. Holland cut his teeth on an album of downtempo hip-hop and soul, recorded in his bedroom before he’d turned 21. He’s never looked back. Eight years and twelve full-lengths later, Quantic has proved himself a jack and master of all genres, at least the one’s he’s conquered thus far. Funk, soul, jazz, house, hip-hop, dub, electronic, and on his last few albums, reggae, salsa, tropical, and cumbia. His Combo Barbaro is made up of musicians from all over the globe, including Panamanian Singer Kabir on “Linda Morena.” I’ve not only learned to never underestimate Quantic, I’ve also learned to count on him for quality and an ever expanding sonic palette.

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Atlas Sound

What does it take to to wake me from a 3hive coma? One simple tweet: “@diplo: i wish atlas sound would ask me to make them a mixtape.” Which got me thinking, How friggin sweet would that be? Which got me thinking, Wait, none of us have posted Atlas Sound on 3hive?? Which got me thinking, Where’s my login??? So here goes…
Atlas Sound is what the crazy prolific Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox calls himself when doing the home recording thing. It’s hard to put a finger on his steez cause it morphs based on his mood and whatever’s moving him at the time. To get a sense of his wide range of influences, just check the playlist to his latest “micromix“. The common thread is a drowsy, droney, and often messy sheen to surprisingly tuneful and hypnotic song structures.
“Doctor” covers an obscure single from ’50s/’60s doo-wop act The Five Discs. “Walkabout” is a pop chant that’ll shimmy its way into your head and stay a while. And, given the season, I threw in Bradford’s oddly sentimental “holiday” tune from 2007. Now, I’m heading back to Twitter for more inspiration…

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