How about a blissful pop treat this last Sunday of summer? I know, it’s not technically, but come on, once September rolls around, summer’s over. Anyway, Acid House Kings (featuring members of Club 8 and The Legends) create amazingly pure pop songs and invite us all along for the fun: lyrics and instrumental MP3s are available online and you can add your own vocals to the mix and perhaps be included on a forthcoming EP. Swedish music hasn’t been this fun since ABBA!
Koufax
A frantic swell of kick drum and tinkled ivories launches Koufax’s new single, letting you know that some of the better (if lesser known) ambassadors of Generation Whatevs are back with 20% more sass, strut, and pout. You know, I should be tired of singing along to bands that are younger, better looking, and snappier dressers than me. If only they’d stop writing such flippin’ infectious songs…
Captain Sensible
I thought I’d follow up my Sunday Damned post with an obvious segue to Captain Sensible, who, in the early ’80s broke off from The Damned to venture out on his own. He’s got two decades worth of charming, often biting, pop songs that hold up remarkably well. His song “Wot” made quite a splash in the UK and its ripples made it across to our side of the pond. I remember actually seeing the video on MTV. The story ends up quite cheery as Captain joined back up with The Damned for an album in 2001, where Captain questions British Democracy and gets his digs in on a little place called Neverland.
Levy
Manhattan’s Lower East Side probably doesn’t smell as good as Manchester’s hipper hipster enclaves — or anywhere else, for that matter — but the sounds coming out of the gentrified tenements these days are enough to make you forget about that whole art-rock-as-next-big-thing debacle. Case in point: Levy, named for its post-modern crooner of a lead singer, paints NYC in an appealing shade of Mancunian gray, waxing chippy to melancholy on relationships that weren’t built to last. As with that one-named icon who helped put Manchester on the map, Levy sounds best when Matt Siskin’s guitar propels the songs into the atmosphere. Put on your iPod and let Levy bounce around inside your head for a while.
The Maughams
For years I’ve avoided saying aloud the name of this band, shared by (or maybe taken from?) W. Somerset Maugham, author of The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage and a bunch of other novels. Is it Mawm, like lawn but with an m? Or Mao-ham, two syllables? I assume the gh is silent… Anyway, these silly Canadians are causing me this trouble again, even worse than before, because I want to tell way more people about their wonderful homage-to-the-’70s lo-fi sound than I ever wanted to about W. Somerset’s psychologically searing social dramas. Check out “Jay Bird” for a catchy end-of-summer theme song.
Kiss Me Deadly
Regular readers of 3hive will recall Sam mentioning on Monday that he should be tested for OCD (although I would replace “tested” with “treated”). You will also recall my many posts that taken together demonstrate my own obsessive compulsive behavior. It’s music; how could we react any other way? The focus of this week’s OCD-ness is another Montreal band on the Alien8 label, Kiss Me Deadly. Formerly emo/math rock, KMD have moved towards a dancier sound that’s still deeply EMOtional, full of earnest energy and rather dependent on the ’80s. If only KMD had been around in the ’80s, I might have actually enjoyed years of school and church dances. These songs from KMD’s tour-only EP Amoureux Cosmiques provide a glimpse into their full-length due out this fall.
The Free Design
Early in its conception, Seattle-based, Light in the Attic Records acquired the re-issue rights to The Free Design, an obscure pop band straight outta the ’60s. Over the past year the label has offered up 12″ remixes by the likes of Peanut Butter Wolf, Super Furry Animals, and Stereolab. After completing the three part series you can now find all the remixes and more on one CD: The Now Sound Redesigned. This is some of the best remix curating I’ve heard in a long while and available just in time — before summer ends…
The Unicorns
These Montreal hipsters do — oops, I mean, did — play a lovely brand of ’80s-tinged rock/pop/dance music. Slated as the next big thing, they instead split up. What can I say? It happens to the best of them, but that’s still no excuse to pass over these songs. Get those feet a-dancing!
The Jessica Fletchers
The summer’s already a month over, but the annual search for the perfect summer anthem is still ongoing. That is, until now. This Norwegian quintet takes that famed Scandanavian rock ‘n’ roll swagger and applies to the ultimate song about the summer. “Summer Holiday & Me” is the best holiday soundtrack since Team USA’s “Halloween.” Life requires a soundtrack? So does the summer…
Skeletons & the Girl-Faced Boys
Weirdo, funk pop that’s sure to “git” the party started. Or not. Depends on the party. Depends on the party favors. Reminds me of this book I’m reading where a young Nigerian boy dresses up like Elvis singing and dancing for tips, but Skeletons & the Girl-Faced Boys are the polar opposite: white boys dressing up and getting funky à la Prince.