Out here on the fringes—that’s where we are, blog readers, the fringes—it might not be cool to cop to liking the Christmas standards. Then again, maybe I’m alone on that one and there’s no chip on anyone else’s shoulders. There certainly isn’t one on Aimee Mann’s. The reigning champion thinking girl’s singer-songwriter-goddess offers up an album of standards with some awfully fine originals in-between, making it a Christmas album that your mother will love as much as you do (although we make no recommendations on how to get her off Mannheim Steamroller altogether). Since there’s only one weekend left, shoppers, hop on over to your friendly neighborhood online music store and pick up the album. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” will give you just enough of a taste to hold you over until your download is complete.
Takka Takka
So I have this friend who is pretty much the indie rock grinch. You can throw on the newest.freshest.latest and he’s all BAH! INDIE BY NUMBERS!! Off with its head! It’s a battle you can’t really win. If he hears so much as a hand clap, a trace of irony, or god help you, whistling – it’s over. Enter exceedingly indie, uber DIY, outer-borough band (specifically: Brooklyn, Queens): Takka Takka. Hand clapping? Oh yeah. Whistling? Totally. Irony? Much. And they’ve got a country twang that’s not living in Mississippi. They are the arch nemesis of my hater friend. But that is his issue, not mine. Despite some musical tics that might seem a bit obvious, there’s just something about these boys that resounds with me. It’s a kind of clapping that I can get down with clapping along with. And who doesn’t like something catchy to whistle along with. Indie by numbers, it’s possible, but Takka Takka are also doling out some solid, catchy pop too. And after forming a veritable trifecta of oddness when they joined forces with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Architecture in Helsinki for a recent tour, the proof is in the pudding – silly/weird/random can be some good stuff.
The Red Faced Laughter
I think I can safely speak for all of us here when I say we’re suckers for a great pop song. We’ll even settle for a relatively good pop song. By pop I mean a song that begs to be sung along to. Occassionally, however, it’s good to drop in and turn up music that you can crash a car to. Enter The Red Faced Laughter. A Texas trio that excels at mangling things up a bit. This is a complete EP, Brokenear #4, released on the German net label Broken Ear Records. They remind me a lot of Sunny Day Real Estate, the vocals mostly, but with a more noisy, improvisational style of playing. This one’s for everyone who likes their coffee black—no cream, no sugar, no fluffy latte—this is the stuff that Will Farrell’s character in Elf was so excited to share as “The World’s Greatest Coffee.”
Kunek
Tim Ortopan is back for another guest DJ session. About 9 months ago he brought us Joseph Arthur. Now we have Kunek. O:
I went to high school with a kid named Kunec and at first I wondered if there could be any connection to the band Kunek. They sound like they could have been the socially awkward students sitting alone at lunch reading computer magazines that I remember. Could he have produced these beautiful songs of loneliness and sadness? It seems unlikely as I did not go to high school in Oklahoma nor could the student that I remember ever be described as “a delicate intersection of science and emotion—at times organic, dynamic, buoyant or ethereal.†I hope things are going well for the Kunec that I remember, but I know you will enjoy this Kunek straight from the flowering Oklahoma art-rock scene.
Mitch Easter
I recently rekindled a new friendship after googling an old friend. Except this wasn’t a friend from high school or college, it was a friend from the old hi-fi: Mitch Easter. Mitch Easter gained recognition for his production skills in the early ’80s producing R.E.M.’s first single, “Radio Free Europe,” and their first two LPs with Don Dixon. And thinking back to my own history as a music fan I don’t remember which came first for me, R.E.M. or Mitch’s band Let’s Active. I do remember that Let’s Active played a key role in formulating my taste for pop music. Smart, snappy, and cheerful without being sappy Let’s Active helped forged the template for American indie pop while flying mostly below the radar. Constant line-up changes, usually coinciding with changes in Easter’s relationships, occurred throughout the band’s one EP and three album history. Mitch has kept busy over the years as producer, working with everyone from The Connells, Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk, engineer, Pavement and Ride, and as guitarist extraordinaire (the two tracks from Shalini feature Mitch on guitar. Shalini currently plays bass in Mitch’s band). Coming across brand new music from Mitch Easter was an unexpected and thrilling surprise. He’s still got it. He’s like the King Midas of pop music. Everything he touches sounds like gold. Watch for his first release in eighteen years, Dynamico, in the next couple months on 125 Records.
Christians & Lions
If you were to strip the music from the songs of some awfully fine lyricists like Bob Dylan or Conner Oberst, you would likely be a little perplexed by what you’re hearing. Indeed, the few attempts there have been to give Dylan’s lyrics a more literal interpretation on stage and on the big screen have been so disastrous that it can make one lose respect for the incoherent old bastard. Fortunately, when such lyricists set their thoughts to a simple melody, what they say doesn’t have to be open for the simplest of interpretations. So even though you can easily find out why Sam Potrykus named his band Christians & Lions, or you can dissect the big-brained, big-hearted meanderings of songs like “Gimme Diction,” you can just as easily get lost not in what the words mean, but in the way they rise from the music like smoke from an agitated candle, creating a deductive harmony you can ponder or simply take on your own terms.
The Early Years
Incubating across the Atlantic in their native London The Early Years released this, their first single, almost a year ago. “All Ones & Zeros” bounces along with a cheerful Joy Division-esque bass line, then the guitars hit. And hit. And hit. Droning, reverberating, backwards, forwards, feeding back and just making wonderful noise. You get an idea of what The Early Years’ first show was like, David Malkinson, on stage, alone, armed with a guitar, amp, and a plethora of effects pedals treating the small crowd to a twenty-minute long wall of sound. The vocals remind me of (brace yourselves for a really obscure reference here….) Butterfly Train, with Brett Nelson of Built To Spill on bass and vocals (In fact, the two bands have a similar vibe, but Butterfly Train had that certain Seattle-in-the-90s sound). The Early Years do a fantastic job of holding back the guitars just enough so they don’t lose control of the song. Stop by the band’s myspace page for a few more songs and to get an idea of their range. Expect their self-titled debut early next year on Beggars here in the U.S.
The Asteroid #4
Some bands are just Clay bands, whether or not he posts them. Upon first listening to The Asteroid #4, I catch that British re-invasion vibe that make Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and the Lilys all Clay bands as well. In fact, Lilys frontman and fellow Philly Kurt Heasley produced The Asteroid #4’s first two releases. So, with all this said, I feel a little weird invoking Clay’s rep without getting his take first. So, Clay, what do you say? The A4, yay or nay?
First Coat
Another band from Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the Mr. Hyde Records family, First Coat is a band that keeps getting better and better. This improvement could be due to maturity or significant line-up changes, but either way, their newest work is confident and well-constructed. The thick and rich 8 minutes or so of rock in “Catchy Pneumonia Pajamas,” from their recent album Move Like Sparrows, is a stark contrast to the demure country strains and simple pop off Great Lakes Disorder, their first effort. Check it out for yourself. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!
The Black Antipodes
Is Denmark the new Sweden? But borders aren’t important. We here at 3hive love all Scandanavians, especially the ones who have a way with a guitar. The Black Antipodes claim Sonic Youth, The Stokes, and Interpol, among others, as influences, and it’s easy to hear all three in “Black Coffee and Pie.” My grandmother-in-law, a full Dane, if she were still here, would be so pleased.