This one’s been sitting on the back-burner for too long. An enigmatic little label releases the first solo record (a double album!) from prolific songwriter Matthew Friedberger, one half of the brother/sister duo The Fiery Furnaces. Part 1 of the album, Winter Women, as represented by the first download, is a more hooky, melodic affair with plenty of spacey textures Furnace fans will appreciate. Spontaneous speaking in foreign tongues inspired part 2 of the album, Holy Ghost Language School, and expectedly embodies the weirder, more experimental tracks such as “Do You Like Blondes?” Possessed or collected, Friedberger continues to compose songs that will both trip you out and get you singing along.
The Elected
I originally wanted to make this a topical post a couple weeks ago when the Dems took the power back. Now the gag is a bit dated. It’s just been that kind of month for me… But good music is good music and The Elected make good music. Their textured folk-pop stops time and encourages introspection. The Californian quartet is fronted by Rilo Kiley guitarist/songwriter and former child actor Blake Sennett. Go vote with your wallet if you like what you hear.
Over The Atlantic
Today, we sail South down the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand to tune into Over The Atlantic—a couple young lads recording music that’s completely unhip compared to today’s standards. I mean none of the kids are doing this. As far as I can tell, most of the kids this age still style out their jet-black hair curtains and whisper/scream, wearing their bloodied emotions on their sleeves. I was never cool in school, so I’m always glad to find fellow geeks, the kind that that lock themselves in their rooms and record their own music videos. The bonus with Over The Atlantic is their skills are those of a songwriter twice their age, yet they fill their hooks with youthful exhuberance. I have a feeling their parents’ record collections (which undoubtably contain the entire Church catalog) are to blame for their twenty-year old sound, which is an entirely good thing.
I Am Bones
After featuring Under Byen last month, the good folks at Morningside Records kindly left a handful of suggestions in the comments. Their roster balances between two forces of pop music: dreamy and power. I Am Bones does the power pop thing, along the lines of Figurines. I find it interesting that these two fine Danish bands draw heavily from the American indie rock sound from the 90s at a time when so many contemporary American bands lean towards the heady, arena-sized sound of Radiohead. I’m not afraid to admit my bias. Usually when I drop needle to groove, or hit play, or insert my ear-buds, I want to sing-along (dig the chorus to “The Ostrich Approach:” “I’ll hook you up / with alcohol and valium…”), jump around, get the endorphins flowing…I don’t want to think about music, I just want to move to it. I Am Bones will certainly get you shaking your own skeleton. If I might point out one song in particular here, “Oktoberfest Vs. Morrissey” would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving mix tape. ONLY if you’re a loud and proud meat lover. Vegans beware. May I suggest a subtitle? “Turkey Vs. Tofurkey.”
Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground
The first minute of “Hey Mamma” pays major homage to the Beatles of a certain era you can probably guess by looking at the photo. After the first minute, as Hunter S. Thompson might say, it gets a little strange. But strange is good, and Kay Kay manages to toss around strings, percussion, and even what sounds like a player piano to spritely effect. The songs on the band’s MySpace page are equally confounding yet somehow appealing to the ears. Kay Kay will be coughing up a cassette-only EP soon, so pick it up and, hop in your 10-year-old Subaru and crank it until you can’t hear the engine noise.
Health & Beauty
There’s something very, very good happening on Chicago’s south side, and that good thing is called Mr. Hyde Records. To quote from their mission statement, Mr. Hyde is a record label that “focuses on making definitive compilations of the rock music being made in Hyde Park.” When I lived in Hyde Park ten years ago, it wasn’t really clear that there was much music being made in the neighborhood; it didn’t help that there was only one bar, Jimmy’s, and the local university is pretty geeky. Then again, as 3hive proves week in and week out, geeks rock. Based on Mr. Hyde’s output, like the recent Jackson Park Express compilation, the U of C scene is rich, diverse and (surprise, surprise) notably cerebral.
So, Cola Wars was our first Mr. Hyde related post, even if I didn’t really know what it meant at the time. (In true home-grown fashion, all these guys are in ten bands and running their own label.) Anyway, Health & Beauty is another band in the family; Brian J. Sulpizio even looks like my cousin’s crazy ex-boyfriend. Though his music doesn’t really reflect this craziness — you’ll find a little noise here and there, among beautiful melodies and smart, smoothly-delivered lyrics — the Health & Beauty website itself is like a psychedelic corn maze of poetry and random association. I spent at least an hour wandering around “Eraser Metropolis”, following the links and taking it all in. Over the next few weeks I’ll post a few more Mr. Hyde bands; if you like what you hear, go ahead and buy a few compilations.
Voxtrot
Another example of our diabolical scheme here at the ‘hive. Wait for every other site in the world to talk about a band, then we swoop in, iconoclastically late. Is the Voxtrot party still on? You bet it is. And there’s still plenty of time to sport Voxtrot merch and not look sooooo 2005. The Austin-based band warns there won’t be a proper album for a while. So they do what any respectable band should, keep teasing their fans with EPs. “Trouble” is one third of their next installment of American-bred, Britishy smart-pop that holds up remarkably well under all the buzz.
The How
Who: Matt from the late, great Henry’s Dress (seriously one of the best bands ever) and Stew from Boyracer. Also, The Who, the chief inspiration of Matt and Stew.
What: Self-described as “revved up Who-inspired mod-rock” that’s “in the Spirit of ’66.”
Where: Not important.
When: First released “Dreaming of Lily” on a split single with The Aisler’s Set back in 2000. “I Was a Boy” is from the current Happy Matt single out on Slumberland.
Why: Cause they can.
The How.
Frida Hyvonen
As a parting gift for the last week at my job, my coworker Lisa sent me some music recommendations—and when Lisa sends recs, I tend to listen because her mad skillz at free-MP3-mining far surpass my own. Frida Hyvönen was on that list, though with the caveat that the record was released nearly a year ago in Frida’s native Sweden (it’s spankin’ new on Secretly Canadian in the U.S.), so for you Northern European seekers, this may be old news. But for the rest of us, it’s a refreshingly enigmatic gust of cool air. Hyvönen is a sort of Scandinavian Joni Mitchell, a post-feminist proto-poet with the voice of an angel and the outlook of Kierkegaard. The track here is short and bittersweet. The rest of the album multifaceted and addictive. Take Lisa’s advice and pick it up.
Clare Burson
Clare Burson is often compared to Lucinda Williams, so clearly she’s got something good going on. The Nashville-based Burson’s very personal tales, often of searching or longing, are hypnotic and gritty and completely endearing. As evidenced by the number of free downloads, she’s a generous soul as well, offering up for easy access about half the body of her recorded work. My favorites are from her full-length album The In-Between, on which her country roots are most obvious. Like several other 3hive picks, Burson’s music has been used in a hip TV show (Six Degrees on ABC? If it’s not Dora the Explorer I don’t know about it) so we wish her luck in landing a big fat record deal and implore her to remember the good old days of sharing the sharing.