Sarah Assbring is a Swedish woman, from the very musical city of Gothenburg, who records as El Perro Del Mar (which translates to “The Dog of the Sea”). I don’t think “ass” means the same thing to the Swedes as it does to us Americans, but nonetheless, she has the voice of a person who has been through… something. This pick definitely falls into the “3hive better late than never” collection, since her album has been making the rounds for some time now and before the album she was collaborating with Jens Lekman, but its time now. High time. El Perro Del Mar is all about keeping it a little offbeat–she has a non-traditional voice (haunted, a little rough, singing like she’s *this close* to a breakdown even when she’s singing “lalalalala”), she’s old school in a way that not many are these days and she named herself “El Perro Del Mar”–but she’s also really tethered to the ideal of making music that people want to, and love to, listen to. Bonus points for the sweetest little animated music video that side of the Atlantic. Seriously, I dare you not to like this video. I double. dog. dare. you.
Sister Vanilla
Props to Clay for digging up the Super 5 Thor gem! Speaking of The Jesus & Mary Chain…after ten long years the Reid brothers have made nice and have invited us all to their family reunion—including Jim and William’s sister Linda. We heard Linda on The Jesus and Mary Chain’s last album, Munki, and all I can really say is it’s about time. It’s about time the Reid brothers are back (along with TJ&MC alumin Ben Lurie), and it’s about time they get their sister in on the act. Her whispery delivery fits so well with her brothers’ fuzzed-out pop songs. The family recipe has been around for years, but it’s never sounded so fresh.
The Finches
I’ve been wanting to write up a celebratory post for my 3hive brother Shan, who’s a recently new daddy with a beautiful son. This one isn’t; more accurately, this post does not link to the songs of happy, carefree love that I’d really hoped to offer. The Finches are all about simplicity and sincerity, but often to a degree that is far more forlorn than ecstatic. Even so, “Daniel’s Song” — from the band’s EP Six Songs — is so haunting and powerful and rich that I can’t help but give it to Shan as a grounding device, a reminder that sad realities have their own beauty. I’m an only child, so I’ll never really know the kind of sibling love that Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan sing about here, but I hope to God that my daughter and son get it, understand and feel it, one of these days. And I hope your boy does too, Shan. Peace.
The Red Button
I’m always in the mood for this sleepy sort of pop song, this time from The Red Button. Principals, Mike Ruekberg and Seth Swirsky, have been writing and producing music in L.A. for more than a decade: composing soundtracks and writing songs for the likes of Al Green, respectively. The two met in 2004 when Seth was working on a solo record and discovered they had a mutual love for concise, melodic pop songs. So they began creating just that. Their album, She’s About to Cross My Mind, reminds me of a mix between the woefully obscure song-crafting wizard Erik Voeks on his album, Sandbox, and seminal pop-rockers The Posies. Coincidentally, those last two artists were in heavy rotation on the college radio station (AM 960: The Student Underground Network) Sam, Clay, and I launched way back when: sharing the sharing v.1. The Red Button’s retrospective melodies have me reminiscing like that today, the day after 3hive quietly celebrated our third year of existence. We hope to instigate more intensive festivities in the near future once our lives, mine in particular, settle down a bit. The proverbial dance card’s been booked lately.
Mouthful of Bees
A band called Mouthful of Bees will get at least one listen from me due to its connection, real or imagined, to Brian Evenson‘s wonderfully disturbing short story “Stung,” in which a boy kills his stepfather by…well, you don’t me want to give it away, do you? Mouthful of Bees got second, third, and fourth listens from me with a fresh take on that slurred (sm)art pop CYHSY and Tapes ‘n’ Tapes get so much credit for. While the genre is known for its frenzied pacing, their 2006 EP The End proves that Mouthful of Bees can speed it up and slow it down with equal dexterity (check “I Saw a Golden Light” on their MySpace page). “The Now” falls in the uptempo category. And, for all I know, their name may be the only connection to Evenson’s work, but singer Chris Farstad opens the song by crooning “In the time it took for me to write my novel/I did nothing in particular at all.” Hmm, fellow fiction buff or mere coincidence? Read the book.
Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is back, with a new album — Armchair Apocrypha — to be released in a month or so, a prominent SXSW appearance, late-night TV gigs and a big tour (dates & locales here). Also back: musically complex, gently orchestrated and textured pop songs with obscure or unexpected lyric paths, and more whistling than a Roger Whittaker album. Some of the off-beat syncopation and general quirkiness aren’t here; in general Armchair Apocrypha sounds developed and mature. That said, Bird’s sound is still fresh and inviting, clever and complex.
Heretics [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
Original post: 05/05/05
A message from Sean to me, regarding Andrew Bird:
“Damn, you beat me to this! AB’s one of those artists that I just never took the time to listen to, even though I had access to his records….then when I do finally listen, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long…”
Incredibly fresh songwriting, with an abundance of clever lines and complex instrumentation that fits somewhere between Nick Drake and Arcade Fire. Thanks to Gordon for this suggestion.
Julian Nation
Oh Snap! It’s Valentine’s Day and surely I will do one of two things today… Share some music for lovers? Select something discordant and raw for those who are candy-and-rose averse? Neither actually. Aussie Julian Nation has been playing music since he was a youngin and he’s all about songs created in the short form — the album is 18 minutes long! Melbourne Pop Haiku anyone? While there are elements of romanticism, wistfulness and charm to all of his songs, its all in an ambient way, not in a v-day emotional beat down way. Unfortunately, of late the word “twee” has come to take on some pejorative connotations, but this, folks, would not be without the Brits who came before. On a snowy morning in New York, Mr. Nation is all kinds of sending me back to being 19 and listening to Belle and Sebastian on road trips before the revolution. And you know what? No matter the backlash, I really liked that moment and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m glad that their influence made it all the way across equatorial divisions. So there.
Westbound Train
Clay’s posting of The Busters prompted a little combative traffic in our Comments section. Eigner requested, “please no ska,” to which Ali responded, “please more ska!” Yep, things are getting pretty heated here on our humble blog. Being a ska band veteran (trombone), I’m gonna side with Ali and — not to rub it in, Eigner — honor his request. Boston ska-pop kids Westbound Train bring in a little smooth jazz and R&B into their mix, matched nicely by the mellow vocals of Obi Fernandez, on their Hellcat Records debut from last fall. Hey Clay, it’s your turn!
The Never
The Never are the erstwhile geek rock (think Weezer) outfit of songwriters Ari Picker and Noah Smith, along with college friends Joah and Jonny Tunnell. I say “erstwhile” not just because it’s such a geeky word but because The Never’s latest LP extends well beyond geek rock to an intricately crafted multimedia project, including a 50-page illustrated storybook (featuring 40 original oil paintings by Noah himself) and a corresponding suite of songs depicting a country boy’s journey to return a nuclear bomb to the city. Word is The Never are aiming to adapt Antarctica for the stage. And, given the cinematic leanings of Ari’s latest Lost in the Trees EP, I wouldn’t be surprised if a film version follows…
Matt and Kim
Do these two ever stop smiling? I sure hope not. Maybe it’s the pulsing keybord riffs, or maybe the snappy drums, or maybe it’s just being in a band together. I sure would like to see them take on Mates of State in a no-holds-barred tag team wrestling match for the keyboard-drums-and-committed-relationship-band title…