Huma started out as a duo of New Jerseyites who wanted to counter the smothering influence of malls and suburban sprawl. Their answer: Folktronic pop blessed with a childlike innocence. Score one for the good guys.
Josh Ottum
Josh Ottum’s “The Easy Way Out” reminds me of the old joke about the weather in Michigan — if you don’t like it, wait a minute. I lost track of the abrupt tempo changes after about 45 seconds and just let the song play on, digging the cute pop (think Ben Kweller) vibe. The remaining tracks available for free download aren’t quite so schizophrenic, and for me they’re actually more enjoyable. “Who Left the Lights On?” has a great groove, nice simple hooks and a thick sound, while “Freedom” sounds like a synth-ed out video game love song. With all this polished pop, all I want to know is, where are the hand claps?
She, Sir
Austin-based quartet, She, Sir recently built a lovely wall-of-sound EP, stacked with layers upon layers of guitars, modal harmonies, and hushed melodies. With the subtle hooks and deep atmospherics of Who Can’t Say Yes, She, Sir drop pop music to an even vaguer level than Loveless. She, Sir beautifully fractures music for the next generation of dream-pop connoisseurs.
Every Move a Picture
Nigh on two years ago, I wrote about my wife asking me, “Are you listening to 80’s music?” whilst posting about Kawaii. When I was getting Every Move A Picture’s album Heart=Weapon from eMusic recently, she asked me that yet again. I really should have posted about this San Francisco band this time last year, but I passed. However, I recently discovered them again, filling that space between Bloc Party and Interpol. So flying back from SFO on Friday night going through Bay Area bands—reminding me how much I still miss the late great Henry’s Dress—on my MP3 player I decided to finally get around to Every Move A Picture. Their website points to their myspace page, where you can grab at a lower bitrate two of the better songs, “Outlaw” and “Simple Lessons in Love,” from their album.
The Postmarks
Trick or treat…or treat…or treat! Treat 1: The sweet, sweet heartbreak pop of “Goodbye,” a sneak peek of the self-titled debut from Floridian trio The Postmarks. Treat 2: A couple of remixes from Spookey Ruben and Cassettes Won’t Listen. (In a nutty marketing move, The Postmarks preceded their debut with a 9-track remix EP which flips their delicate sound on 45 so you can dance to it.) Treat 3: A wonderfully eerie take on Ministry’s goth-wave era hit “Everyday Is Halloween.” The trick? Waiting for the full-length to come out.
Johan
Johan is an Amsterdam quartet whose members have good haircuts and impeccable pop sensibilities. “Oceans†features swimming, crossing, crawling, a first verse built around “you,†and various other indications of true love, unrequited. Its infectious hooks and crooning might remind you of Matthew Sweet, Travis, or (lyrically) James Blunt, but Johan’s sensibilities are all their own…and they’re meant just for you.
Benjy Ferree
An interesting tidbit about Mr. Ferree to start things off, he’s Domino’s first American worldwide signing. Meaning, I guess, that Domino’s British mothership is finally warming to the American music scene. And Benjy Ferree’s got a solid, old fashioned, back porch, red, white and blue sound running through his songs. I can almost hear someone blowing into a moonshine jug in “Why Bother,” and a washboard player would fit in just as well. “Private Honeymoon” waltzes along nicely with the sounds of the West Coast’s neu-folk folks. Ah, it’s probably the playful, beatles-esque romp “In The Countryside” that’s got the label giving Benjy the green light for worldwide domino-ation. His tour of the Midwest and East Coast starts tomorrow with the Archie Bronson Outfit.
Under Byen
I need to thank David Byrne for tipping me off to Under Byen. And more thanks is overdue to Mr. Byrne for tipping me off years ago to a tasty soup special at Shopsins, back when Kenny & Co. were at their original location (I’m dying to see “I Like Killing Flies,” dying harder actually for a plate of Slutty Cakes and a tall tumbler of their Horchata!). Under Byen is a Danish ensemble, who maneuver orchestrally, and percussively, in the dark end of the pop music spectrum. Beautiful, hushed vocals draw you in and keep you warm in songs which befit the cold, cold landscape of Denmark.
Nom De Guerre
Not only do Nom de Guerre play some wonderful pop music, but they offer perhaps the best band shirts ever offered for sale by a band: tailor-made, double cuff dress shirts designed by the bassist for measley 70 euros! Other offers available for purchase include your name in a song, an entire song about you, and even an entire album about you. If only I were the Russian billionaire with some spare cash whom Nom de Guerre is hoping to court, I’d buy Blackburn Rovers, then buy half the Chelsea squad (and no, not Lampard) and have them warm the Blackburn bench cause that other Russian billionaire must be getting bored by now, and then have Nom de Guerre write albums about each member of my family. But in laying out the required payment, I would insist on the formula of “So Long Sister”: dirty bass, swliring keyboards, and plenty of la la’s and other sing-along harmonies. Oh, and some of those dress shirts. What is the dollar-to-euro exchange rate these days anyway?
The Little Ones
In recording their debut Sing Song EP, The Little Ones had two goals: 1) convince themselves that everything was going to be alright, and 2) make their own feet shuffle. I’m posting about them because they managed to help me achieve those two goals as well. Which, alas, brings me to my third goal: clean my house. At least I know what I’ll be listening to…