Shimmering shoegazer goodness from up Portland way in a variety of flavors, from psychedelic to folksy to poppy. The High Violets may be a cast of many but they have two key components: Cliff Sargent’s blistering guitar and Kaitlyn ni Donavan’s angelic pipes. I’m so hooked, I put the TV on mute during the MTV Movie Awards so I can could listen to them (made for an interesting A/V mashup with Christina Aguilera’s live performance).
The Futureheads
With the first hit of the drum, pluck of the bass and strum of the guitar, for a split second, I hear the opening of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” (gotta throw in an obligatory reference to today’s once-in-a-century date). All you rockers, don’t get your hopes up. The stadium rock doesn’t continue, at least not in an AC/DC sense. However, the herky-jerky pogo beats, the Hyde brothers’ thick, northern British accents, and their soaring harmonies kick in full force. The Futureheads are often compared to XTC, with good reason (and not in a bad way: they sound neither nostalgic nor derivative), and the similarities continue on their second record, News And Tributes, out next week. “Worry About It Later” sounds as if it was pulled from the English Settlement sessions, mixed with a little pop-opera. Don’t expect anything near a slump for these blokes as their powerful/playful style, which has earned them opening spots (on stadium shows!) for Oasis and The Pixies, has only matured and had this come out some forty years earlier I can imagine The Futureheads playing with the likes of Townsend and company. Here we are, back to the future and you’ll find them out on the road in North America, starting next week, with French Kicks for the first leg and Tapes ‘N Tapes for the next.
S.S. Cardiacs
No. 1 candidate for my new favorite song (at least for the month of June): “Noo Noo” by S.S. Cardiacs. Jessie Stein sounds like she’s about 12 years old until you hit that chorus, “Word play is the foreplay of the gods,” and then it’s like we’re all back in high school again. Off-kilter rock, bizarre brainy lyrics, lots of t’s and i’s left uncrossed or undotted; great fun. The suggestion for S.S. Cardiacs comes from 3hive alumni Shotgun and Jaybird, representing full-on for Canadian indie rock. (We’ve posted so much from up north this year that we’ll be named Knights of the Canadian Empire soon, just you watch.)
Gordo Gringo
We’ve been enjoying Beat Radio for a while here at the Hive, so it’s always nice to hear what else the guys have going on. Guitarist/vocalist Phil Jimenez and drummer Jim Mansfield, along with two more friends from Huntington, Long Island, New York, have been busy with Gordo Gringo, whose simple melodies and pensive chords mix just right with Jimenez’s gravelly, cathartic vocals. “Old Suitcase†is a particularly bittersweet anthem, and the other two tracks here aren’t far behind.
Kid Casanova
Nothing fancy here. No frills. Just stripped down pop hooks and straight-ahead melodies. Kid Casanova have nothing to prove. They’ve written and recorded a solid set of songs, keeping ’em loose and relaxed, and it’s up to you to loosen up your belt, so to speak, and take them in with a few dogs at your weekend BBQs, or not. If you’re asking me though, I’d tell you crank it up at your picnic blanket as you’re knocking back a few cold ones.
The Eighteenth Day of May
This London 5-piece mixes Celtic folk with ’60s psychedelic pop with old REM-style vocal murmuring for a sound that’s light, tight and user-friendly. Check out the band’s website for a few live tracks and clips of about a half dozen other songs.
Lab Partners
Sean recently cleverly elaborated on the Circle of Life. Not of the Lion King, but of music, in his post about Mr. Comicstore. So for folks like me who invested so much time, money, etc., in the space/psych rock of the 90’s (think Jessamine, Space Needle, Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and many others), we’re about to see that come around again, starting here with Lab Partners. Sure they’ve been releasing albums from Dayton, Ohio, for 7 years, but the first to the market is the one who gets all the attention.
Chad Van Gaalen
So this Chad fellow, the story goes, has been creating music in his bedroom for years, playing all the instruments, yet never releasing it to the public. Until nineteen of his countless songs were put together on the album Infiniheart, a wonderous collection of ballads, confessions, indie rock, driving drones, and genuine songwriting. That must be some bedroom…
Maritime
I know I’m supposed to write about Maritime from Milwaukee — their latest album, We, the Vehicles, was just released, they’re made up of former members of The Promise Ring and The Dismemberment Plan, and everyone else is giving them some serious press time. But the Flameshovel website’s story about the band is so affected, pretentious and self-indulgent that I kind of want to write about Maritime from Belfast and Brighton instead. The thing is, they have an annoying bio page too, and their “life-affirming folk-soul,” as exemplified by “Like a Firefly” (click here if you want to listen to it) doesn’t do it for me like the other Maritime’s excellent track “Calm,” available below. I’m not sure if the idea that “Maritime remains solidly tethered to pop perfection, but has taken space to let that pop cycle through all its permutations” helps, or even what that means really, but “Calm” is a sweet tune. Enjoy!
Think About Life
Montreal’s Think About Life is more than that. The debut album, Think About Life, out yesterday, May 2nd, is more than that. Think About Life is a way of life. As they sing on “Paul Cries”, “Put on your shoes and your clothes, get set, get set for life, get set, get set for life.†And with the feverish backing dance beat and shrill pounding drones that cause spontaneous body convulsions/dancing, how can you not?