Swedish. Pop. Labrador Records. Silly. Dark. A concept. Songs about a Japanese female assasin. Thrilling costumes. Songs about murder and sex. Not really a band. Genius.
The Colour
Groovalicious, danceable rock straight outta the OC. Following in the footsteps of The Killers, The Colour released an EP in the UK through the Lizard King label, and are heading to Nashville early in the new year to start work on their album. I expect you’ll be hearing and seeing plenty from these lads in ’06. You’d have to be colourblind (ouch!) not to notice.
zooey
It’s funny how everything comes together around the holidays. I was assembling my Christmas-cast last night and wanted something…wasn’t sure what. Then, I check my email to find that Zooey (one Matthieu Beck from Bordeaux, France) has just wrapped up his melancholy Grey Christmas single and, like everything Matthieu creates, is giving it away for free. It fit nicely into the mix, a delicate, flickering little Christmas miracle. That track and his latest full-length, Pique-Nique et Jeux Dans L’eau, are .zip files. So you’ll have to go to Zooey’s downloads page to get your hands on those. However, if you’re looking to escape the weather of the season, we’ve got “Endless Summer on the Beaver Island” with it’s lazy, hazy ode to warmer days.
Matt Costa
I’ve been dying to post Matt Costa. And he recently put up one of my favorite songs from his album, “Cold December,” a song that sounds as great in July as it does in, well, December. So just in time for the holidays… Now in the past couple years I’ve watched Matt go from playing my radio show, local clubs in and around L.A., and a small showcase at SXSW to huge ampitheater shows opening for Jack Johnson. No matter the size of the crowd Matt makes fans because A) he can play, B) he’s cuter than 90% of the men in this world which — surprise! — helps with the ladies, and C) he’s got the songs. Mark my words, you’ll be seeing and hearing plenty from Mr. Costa in the zero six. So start now and get used to it.
Deerhoof
I don’t believe we’ve ever tested our readers odd meter. Meaning, how odd do you like your music? What’s your oddness threshold? To some listeners, Deerhoof will sound like Top 40 fodder. Others may find it a bit quirky for their tastes. Deerhoof will make a great gauge. So here’s the test: the following MP3s are listed in order of their palatability. Most palatable, in my opinion, first. Start with “Milk Man” and work your way down, then share with us how far you got in the comments. If all the songs are too odd for your taste, leave a zero; if you get all the way through the songs and are dying to hear more, leave a seven, then get shopping. This much I can tell you, “Milk Man” is gonna make your day. It’s what you’d hear in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame if it were curated by Willy Wonka.
Cassettes Won’t Listen
I just finished posting Forget Cassettes and noticed the next artist in my queue is NYC’s Cassettes Won’t Listen. That’s too much of a coincidence to pass up, so I’m making it a cassette-themed 2-for-1 day at 3hive! Cassettes Won’t Listen couldn’t be more different than Forget Cassettes, except that they’re both good. These cats do sprawling, warm synthy pop epics (some with a beat you can nod your head to). You’d expect the label to read Morr Music — it’s that good — except those fools don’t offer free MP3s (come on, Morr, share a little why don’t you?). Thankfully, CWL’s label Dope Lotus does share. And so do we. Happy Cassette Day!
The Boy Least Likely To
It was love at first sight. I was smitten by The Boy Least Likely To as soon as their visual hit. A chronic doodler myself, I have a weak spot for the hand-drawn, kid-art look. They’ve got it in spades. Their musical deck is likewise stacked: simple, twee pop melodies sweetened further with candy-coated lyrics. Pop in its purest form. I’m a sucker for it! (Pun intended). There was one slight problem however. No full-length MP3s were available from the band, just a few nasty, embeded clips. Yuck. But this week the band announced their Christmas presents to the world: this MP3 of “Little Donkey” and a flash game of the same name.
You still need to hear more more songs from the band, so I’ll use this opportunity to announce the pre-pre-beta soft launch of 3hive’s guide to myspace. Few bands can resist the free hosting and instant networking myspace offers, nor should they. Too many times we come across artists who only make their music available on myspace, so we thought we ought to take a stab at whittling down the choices for you.
Jason Anderson
Regular readers of 3hive know that, as silly as it sounds, we sometimes have problems figuring out the names of the bands we profile. Case in point: Is it Jason Anderson or Wolf Colonel? Greg says, “Who cares?” (Someone will, I’m sure, as I’m sure we’ll hear about it. For the record, I think it was the former and is now the latter.) He — Greg, that is — suggested Jason Anderson, and I’m okay with that, because the plaintive folk-pop of “O, Jac!” pairs nicely with the Michigan’s snowy forecast. Thanks, G!
Letting Up Despite Great Faults
Electronic, acoustic, classical, it all goes together to create beautiful music. Letting Up Despite Great Faults create music from the heart, ignoring formulas and expectations, letting their freedom and creativity flow. There are no great faults, and hopefully no letting up.
Tessitura
We consistently receive excellent music tips from our readers and, when we do, small battles usually break out behind the scenes as the six of us stake our claim. Joe beat me to The Spectacular Fantastic but hasn’t posted it up yet. Squatter! As I was sniffing around I discovered a solo project from one of the members of The Spectacular Fantastic, Jonathan Williams, who records under the name Tessitura. Fans of the Elephant 6 collective and those who like a bit of psychedelia with their pop would enjoy a track or two from Tessitura. His bio puts it as blunt as possible: “Tessitura….just a guy writing and recording some songs of his own,” and, the bio fails to mention, “giving them away.” Look, anyone with songs like this floating around in their head would be doing the world a great disservice if they didn’t commit them to tape or ones and zeroes. The fact he’s giving them all away is pure bonus.