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The Limiñanas

The Limiñanas | Crystal Anis | 3hive.com

The psychedelic/pop revival continues on with The Limiñanas. This French pop duo, consisting of Marie Limiñana on drums, and Lio Limiñana playing pretty much everything else, including vocal duties (other vocals provided by guests), have their genre pegged. Wearing their Gainsbourg, Velvet Underground, and any of the ye-ye girls of the 60’s influences on their sleeves, they also sound like what I think Stereolab would’ve sounded like had they been around in the 60’s.

The Limiñanas latest album, Crystal Anis, out now on the great Hozac Records, is pop perfection. The hardest part about writing this post was deciding which of the 11 songs to share. For your listening/downloading pleasure, (below) we have the straight forward, fuzzy, and over-before-you-know-it “AF3458”, and the sing-talking, Hammond and bass driven title track “Crystal Anis”. The more I listen to these, the higher this album moves up my favorites of the year list. Give these songs a spin. I know you will enjoy them.

The Limiñanas – AF3458 from Crystal Anis (2012)

The Limiñanas – Crystal Anis from Crystal Anis (2012)

Hozac

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Cardinal


It’s nice this duo can afford to put out an album every 18 years—that means their third record should hit in 2030. Considering that schedule, this review that comes six months after the release of Hymns is super timely! My snarkiness belies my feelings for this band and record. This is pop just like I like it. It’s definitely comfort music for me considering I geeked out on my parents’ Bee Gees records as a kid (I understand this makes me completely uncool; I’m cool with that). The tracks here are two of the more rocking songs on the album. Don’t let that scare you away. Getting these two purveyors of baroque chamber pop together on record is a rare occurrence and should be savored and appreciated like an eclipse or comet.

For a little history of Cardinal, Richard Davies used to be in a band called The Moles back in the ’80s down in his native Australia. He joined with Eric Matthews here in the states for their self-titled debut, but they split soon after and continued with their own solo efforts. Matthews put out a record on Sub Pop back in ’95 and the opening song “Fanfare” remains one of my favorite songs of that decade. Davies put out at least three solo records and was backed by The Flaming Lips on tour for his first. Davies does vocal duties on most of the songs, but I prefer Eric Matthews’ deeper delivery (“Her”). Though the two together are pretty much magic (“Carbolic Smoke Ball”).

Cardinal – Love Like Rain

Cardinal – Carbolic Smoke Ball

Fire Records

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Hollows

Hollows, a quintet (four ladies and one gentleman) out of Chicago, just released their second album Vulture with Trouble In Mind. Their musical style utilizes multiple vocal harmony layers that when mixed with jangly guitars and driving drum beats creates a killer garage pop groove. Trouble In Mind was kind enough to share a couple songs with us. Give them a try below then run out to your favorite local record store and buy this.

Hollows – V Is For Vulture from Vulture (2012)

Hollows – Golden Chain from Vulture (2012)

Hollows

Trouble In Mind

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Craft Spells

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.

Craft Spells – Party Talk

Craft Spells page on capturedtracks.com

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Hospitality

Hospitality is an indie pop trio out of Brooklyn, NY. They released their first full-length, self-titled album on Merge Records last week. This album is catchy as hell, and has been on constant rotation since I received it. The two songs we’ve included below are a mere example of how good this album is. “Friends of Friends” and “Betty Wang” are pure pop gold. Full of fuzz, some surf guitar, and just the right amount of punch. But what really makes these songs stand out, and really the entire album, is Vocalist Amber Papini’s unique style. She sings with a slight English accent. According to Merge, Amber is from Kansas City and learned to sing by imitating Richard Butler on The Psychedelic Furs’ Talk Talk Talk. Enjoy.

Hospitality – Friends of Friends from S/T (2012)

Hospitality – Betty Wang from S/T (2012)

Merge

 

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Bears

The weather has finally started to turn to winter out here in Utah, with plenty more cold and gray days to come. I’m glad that I just stumbled onto Bears new single, “Eleven a.m.”, from their forthcoming album Greater Lakes, to be released February 14 on Misra Records. I’ve listened to the song several times now and have found that their warm pop melodies are a perfect remedy for the winter blahs.

Bears – Eleven a.m. from Greater Lakes (2012)

www.misrarecords.com

www.bearspop.com

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Love Inks

It’s a Wednesday night, we are 4 days away from 2012 and the end of the world, my wife and kids are playing Rock Band in the background and I am searching through all the music that I’ve acquired this year trying to find any hidden gems that didn’t get enough attention when originally purchased. One of those gems is Austin, Texas 3-piece band Love Inks. They describe their sound as “minimalist dream-pop”, using just an electric guitar, bass guitar, and a drum machine, along with the simple, yet satisfying vocals of Sherry LeBlanc.

The songs below are great examples of their minimalist ways. While Love Inks isn’t the most musically or lyrically complicated band out there, their brand of pop music grabs hold of you, and before you know it you’re nodding your head and have listened to these songs several times and you don’t know where the last hour of your life went.

Love Inks – Blackeye from E.S.P (2011)

Love Inks – Leather Glove from E.S.P (2011)

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Library Voices

Here’s a glimpse into the highly structured publishing process that powers 3hive: if one of us wants to call dibs on an artist we create a draft post in WordPress. As you might imagine I’m notorious among the more active authors for squatting on bands way too long. I swear I posted about Library Voices back in August but Sean sternly pointed out that the only thing I did in August is prevent anyone else from doing so.

Library Voices are a seven-piece outfit from Regina, Saskatchewan. The warm, spunky pop on their second album, Summer of Lust, belies the fact it was recorded in the deep cold of Canadian winter. There’s a lot to love here – bouncy rhythms, swirling synths, saxophone accents, swelling harmonies – but the lyrics, rich with literary and cultural references, pay dividends with repeat listens. Where else can you find yourself drumming on the steering wheel and singing along to a skewering of Canadian PM Stephen Harper’s cuts to arts funding? Or an homage to Miles Davis and Juliette Gréco’s tragic romance? Or a Gen Y take on the short stories of Raymond Carver? (I’m guessing that last one is why Sean was bummed I was sitting on this post for so long.)

As good as those tracks are, I’ll let you discover them on your own. Turns out Library Voices write their best lyrics when they’re not trying to be topical. I leave you with one of the best pop songs I’ve heard all year…

Generation Handclap from Summer of Lust (2011)

www.summeroflust.tumblr.com
libraryvoices.com
facebook.com/libraryvoices
www.myspace.com/thelibraryvoices
www.dinealonerecords.com

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Soft Science

I’ve been trying since June to find time to post this. Meanwhile, if MP3s were tapes, I’d have already worn out my copy of Soft Science’s debut Highs and Lows. Their sound is a checklist of my vulnerabilities: melancholy lyrics, soaring harmonies, confident percussion, fuzzy guitars. Plus, singer Katie Haley’s delivery evokes at moments St. Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell or The Raveonettes’s Sune Rose Wagner. So I was smitten from the start. Love is the recurring theme, in all its many flavors. There are healthy doses of power pop and dream pop treatments here, but the most memorable songs are the nuanced and restrained ones. “Better Be Good” draws its strength from the smoldering embers of a broken relationship with an startling honesty that recalls “Voices Carry” (before you heard it a million times on ’80s rewind radio). “Put Your Arms Around Me” holds back in all the right ways – all that is left is Ms. Haley whispering sweet somethings in your ears, leaving you wanting more. Speaking of wanting more, this is only the second LP from Sacramento’s Test Pattern Records. Here’s to more where that came from…

Better Be Good from Highs and Lows (2011)

Put Your Arms Around Me from Highs and Lows (2011)

testpatternrecords.com

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Cuckoo Chaos

There isn’t much out there about Cuckoo Chaos other than they’re a five piece band from San Diego. They have posted a list of all the things they are, too many to name here, on their band page on Lefse Records’ site. What I can tell you from listening to the song “Just Ride It”, from their just released debut album Woman, they play super-tight pop/rock music. The song, and album as a whole, reminds me of Vampire Weekend, minus the Paul Simon influences. I hope I don’t get killed for that comparison. The song is full of muted and jangly guitars, combined with a nice bass groove and just enough keys, the song really takes you for a ride, and when it ends your ready to get back on and ride it again. Give this track a go, you will like it I promise.

Cuckoo Chaos – Just Ride It from Woman (2011)

Lefse Records