Malcolm Middleton is one half of Scotland’s Arab Strap. On his second solo album, Malcolm expands on his earlier work and the sounds he churns out for Arab Strap. Folksy one minute, almost danceable the next, Malcolm shares the highs and lows with equal beauty. But make no mistake, this being Scottish, the self-loathing is still there; just listen to the chorus of “A Happy Medium.”
The Weakerthans
In light of the recent discussion in Wisconsin to legalize cat hunting (if you haven’t heard about this, check here), it seems appropriate to post The Weakerthans, whose “Plea From a Cat Named Virtute” is actually told from the perspective of a cat. Katherine slipped me a disc of their melodic Canadian punk/pop, replete with a little steel guitar here and some blazing noise there, and it’s been the only rotation in my car’s CD player for a few weeks now. As for the licensed hunting of feral cats, it seems like The Weakerthans would likely not approve. To my knowledge, 3hive has no official position on the matter.
Swoon
Need another reason to move to or at the very least vacation in Sweden? Swegazers. Yeah, that’s Swedish shoegazers, and our pick today from the suggestion box, Swoon, have coined the term. Like one of the masterpieces of shoegazing, Lilys’ 1992 album In the Presence of Nothing, which deliberately mimicked My Bloody Valentine, Swoon are not ashamed to show their influences, and like Lilys, they do it so well that their songs can stand alone on their own merit. So those of you wondering what your band would sound like if you were raised in Sweden on Chapterhouse, Ecstacy of St. Theresa, Ride, and even Lilys, that’d be Swoon.
The Frames
First, some bidness. We’re happy to announce our first reskin since we started 3hive just over a year ago. Jon has whipped up some hot new colors for spring and a tighter, meaner sidebar featuring our patented Navotron technology. If you’re having trouble seeing any of this new sweetness and hence have no idea what we’re going on about, holding down your shift key and hitting the refresh/reload button in your browser a couple of times should do the trick. And now…
Although it would be easy to dismiss the Frames as a Celtic Indigo Boys for the way their fans can sing along so dutifully to “Star Star” and “Lay Me Down,” consider this post (and the hardly-facile climax to “Dream Awake”) an admonition not to dismiss The Frames so quickly. The harmonies are sweet, the lyrics are tepid, the guitar strumming is as reassuring as a bubbling brook — and in spite of all this, they sound awfully fine to these aging ears.
Bettie Serveert
My brother-in-law Pete has been wanting to suggest something for 3hive for awhile now, I think, and although he’s pretty much committed to the music of his glory days in the mid- to late-80s — think U2’s Boy or Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues — he pulled through with Bettie Serveert. “Attagirl,” off the Dutch band’s recent album of the same name, kind of has a new wave groove going, maybe. Anyway, Pete’s a hero of mine, along with my sister-in-law Cindy, because they actually hired a babysitter(!) for my favorite niece and nephew and went to see Bettie Serveert live(!!) not too long ago. They even got her autograph(!!!). I can hardly remember those days…
Kid Lunch
People ask me where we come up with all the good stuff we post on 3hive. It’s hard to explain except to say that we sometimes seem to benefit from some sort of collective stream of consciousness. To wit: spring springs in Detroit, which reminds Joe of Hayden’s music; Joe posts Hayden, which reminds Eli of Kid Lunch who is a Canadian colleague of Hayden’s; Eli drops us a note about the Kid; I like the name and download some tracks from his 1999 self-titled debut; I like them enough to download the entire thing (it’s available for free on his website); I scrap together a post which says nothing about the music itself and voila! It’s just that easy! Kid Lunch may be in semi-retirement — his last live gig appears to have been in 2002 — but his sonically diverse album holds enough promise to leave me wondering if/when he’ll return with more good stuff. In the meantime, let’s see what kind of associations this post triggers… The suggestion box is open.
Spoon
So nice to have Spoon back in the mix. Dig the thick groove and soulful vocals on “I Turn My Camera On,” a cross between Prince and Gang of Four. How can that be bad? Not much more booty-shaking on the album (with the exception of “Was It You?”), but lovely nonetheless.
Hayden
Yes, it was 70+ degrees yesterday in southeast Michigan, and yes, my daughter was playing in the sandbox in the park in short sleeves and no shoes or socks. Yes, the crocuses are in crazy bloom, and yes, the daffodils are ready to break free at any moment. The melancholy trio of songs below are for all of you who know, like me, that it will surely snow one more time this year. (Hayden is Canadian, after all. He knows this to be true, too.)
Citizen Bird
I’m normally a patient guy. I coach a soccer team of sixteen 3-5 year olds for crying out loud. But I get impatient in two areas: waiting for new albums to come out, and waiting for my rare eBay purchases to arrive. We here at 3hive just love the Swedes; in fact, I’d expand that to all Scandanavians. In the midst of Sam’s Swedish shoegazing frenzy this past week, I finally lost patience in waiting for the new Citizen Bird album to come out before I put them on 3hive. (Plus, I didn’t want him to beat me to them, cause you know, that happens here at the 3hive; insults and fisticuffs have been know to fly.) I’ve read anywhere from spring 2004 to spring 2005 for the release of their sophomore effort. While Swedish but not exactly shoegazers, they do follow in the footsteps of Loop, Suicide, Spacemen 3, Stereolab, and the Stooges, with their throbbing rhythms, pulsing Farfisas, and fuzzy guitars. That should hold me over until the album finally comes out. Now if I could only do something about the USPS…
South Ambulance
That Sambassadeur post sent me on a Swedish shoegazing spree. That’s right, a spree. In case you doubt there is such a thing, I present you with South Ambulance. Also Swedish, also shoegazerly. When their press frequently references Ride, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Television Personalities (and I’d add Galaxie 500 just to sweeten the deal), you know you’re in for a dreamy, melancholy treat.