3hive Rewinds and Fast Forwards

Let's face it, 2010 was less than stellar at this url. The principals and our reviewers all dropped out of ear-shot simultaneously and for months 3hive has been out of commission. No particular reason really. Life unplugged us, and once unplugged it's hard to get back into gear, back into the groove.

Twenty-eleven's gonna be different. I can only speak for myself, but I'm back on the wagon. I'm good for a couple posts a week, maybe even three. I'll likely drop in the readings I'm obsessed with on occassion, like this, this , and this.

3hive's Most Popular Posts from 2010:

11. Jaga Jazzist
10. Inlets
09. Let's Say We Did
08. Happy Birthday
07. The Royal Chains
06. Bonobo
05. Junk Science
04. Cap'n Jazz [re-issue]
03. Galactic
02. Phantogram
01. Tycho

Phantogram

Phantogram sets the bar high for new music in 2010. Obvious comparisons to Portishead aside, this young duo easily hold their own. It's a fine distinction, but Phantogram is more space-hop than trip-hop and "When I'm Small" throws down a groove of heavily plucked bass that brightens up the bedroom vocals and scratchy record sample circling its way through the track. About a third of the way through everything drops out except soft synth pulses and echoing guitar to highlight Sarah Barthel's voice. Diamonds spill from this woman's mouth every time she opens it! My limited judgment is based on this and a couple other tracks, but I'm happily prejudiced and waiting to be fully abducted by Eyelid Movies on February 9th (vinyl via Ghostly). East Coast dates begin shortly before.

When I'm Small [MP3, 9.6MB, 320kbps]

"Mouthful of Diamonds" live on KEXP:

www.barsuk.com
www.myspace.com/phantogram

Tycho

Tycho's latest single evokes the tranquil mood that accompanied my recent sunset chase here in Huntington Beach. A few years back my father pointed out that late in the year, and from the vantage point of the H.B. pier, the sun settles into the isthmus of Catalina Island. My father is full of such miscellany. For some reason, this year I had a major itch to witness this minor phenomena. To my surprise, I found no information online, so beginning winter solstice I closely monitored the coast trying to determine the D-day. My efforts did not go unrewarded. The area experienced scattered showers in December, which smeared plenty of clouds across the skies, clouds that bled all the warm colors of the rainbow. Sensing that was the day, I crammed kids and cousins into the car on New Year's Eve and sped off to catch some dying rays. "Coastal Brake" provides that same warm, shimmering epiphanic moment.

Coastal Break [MP3, 13.3MB, 320kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.tychomusic.com

Pocket

We just included Pocket's Top 9 of 2009 in our on-going Best of 2009 lists from friends of the 'hive. Be sure to take a gander that way for his take on art, apps and laughs along with his cover of New Order's "Sub-Culture" for next year's tribute album from 24 Hour Service Station. If you don't already have any of Richard Jankovich's songs in your pocket, now's the time to start squirreling. Formerly of Burnside Project, Jankovich began remixing tracks for oh, folks like Beck, Radiohead, Cat Power and Antony & The Johnsons. And now he's putting his depth of musical taste and history to good use in a series of singles marrying vocalists from bands like Dag Nasty, The Church, Shudder to Think, Liquid Liquid and Asobi Seksu with his own blend of electronic beats, blips, and blasts. I noticed he dropped a Human League sampled beat in one of his tracks as well—it's like he's curating the Gen X museum of music geekdom with his Warhol-esque pastiches of the past and ever evolving present.

Hear in Noiseville feat. Steve Kilbey (The Church) [MP3]
Beautiful Gray feat. Dave Smalley (Dag Nasty/Down By Law) [MP3]
A Force of Nature feat. Mark Burgess (The Chameleons UK) [MP3]

www.24hourservicestation.com
www.music-by-pocket.com

Various: Moodgadget—The Nocturnal Suite

Working with a smaller affiliate, Moodgadget Records, Ghostly recently introduced to the world 38 tracks from 33 new electronic artists on two discs. (Qualifier: Some artists are newer than others, and one, Daniel Johnson, not so new at all, but new perhaps to many a Ghostly consumer). More than introducing new talent, The Nocturnal Suite reminds music aficionados once again that the electronic genre, especially in the hands of Sam Valenti IV and company, is neither narrow nor nostalgic. The compilation also demonstrates that these gatekeepers and soapboxers of the genre don't discriminate on the basis of the quantity of electronic instruments utilized. Moodgadget like Ghostly eschews genre for aesthetics.

The sound difference between the four artists presented as a sample of the compilation illustrate its musical pastiche. Worst Friends represent the dancier side of things with their disco house track; Shigeto is more experimental and glitchy, while New Villager crosses over into the arena indie rock sound. Mux Mool's got two tracks featured, a broken-up hip-hop joint, and this lush trance-like piece. Arm yourself with this arsenal and you'll be equipped to declare war on any pedestrian party.

Worst Friends - I Wish I Don't Drop Dead [MP3, 11.8MB, kbps]
Shigeto - Is This All for Real [MP3, 7.2MB, kbps]
New Villager - Rich Doors [MP3, 12.2MB, 320kbps]
Mux Mool - Ballad of Gloria Featherbottom [MP3, 8.4MB, 320kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.moodgadget.com

UltraChorus

The title of this first UltraChorus track reminds me of my five-year-old. He started talking later than most children do and he often uses his own syntax and vocabulary (he named his stuffed puppy LLPP, pronounced "lil-lip"). When he gets tired of listening to me, or anyone for that matter, he'll shake his hands and say, "Too many words, Dad." We've quickly adapted, for better or for worse, his version of English and whenever we're bored of anyone's verbal tirades, anytime their words keep talking and we've stopped listening, we shake our hands and repeat our kid's mantra. Their single artwork offers a keen graphic representation of this "too many words" phenomenon.

Musically, I can't get enough of UltraChorus. These boys from Minneapolis have got pep! Chris from the band used to be in Sukpatch, and his latest project is an extension of the bedroom beats he cranked out for Grand Royal way back in the '90s. Add the words "bubblegum disco" to the mix and you've got an idea of the party this duo dishes out.

Words Kept Talking [MP3, 11.0MB, 320kbps]
Scarlet Eyes [MP3, 9.0MB, 320kbps]

www.so-tm.com
www.ultrachorus.com

3some: Too Hot to Trot

Hopefully this 3some will become a regular feature here. That's the plan. The idea is to share more music more often and to do so in fun party packs, organized and gathered around some similarity, theme, sound, or anything else our pea-brains might dream up. First up, three takes on flames, fire and heating up, which the weather in L.A. threatens to do again this week, just as the Station fire is about to be contained. Inevitably, and regrettably, such weather brings out murderous kooks and their matches.

Burn It Down [MP3, 4.4MB, 160kbps]
by The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
Available now on Outta Site Records

The Arsonist [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
by Simon Joyner
Available now on Team Love Records

Earth is on Fire [MP3, 8.2MB, 160kbps]
by T.H. White
Available September 29 on Sky Council Records

Ruckus Roboticus

At 28, Dan Haug, aka Ruckus Roboticus, is the youngest DJ to be inducted into the elite forces of Solid Steel, Coldcut's famed radio programme (as they spell it in the UK) and podcast...if my math is right. One thing I'm sure of, he's the only DJ from Dayton, Ohio, to roll with Solid Steel. I discovered him in catching up with my podcasts and his last session (featured below) is utter dopeness. Listen to any of his smiles-a-minute dance mixes — most of which are free for the downloading on his newly refurbished site — and you can see what all the hype is about. He takes this body moving seriously. And, after you fall in love with his ability to work with other people's music, be sure to purchase his equally infectious LP of original tunes, 2007's Playing With Scratches, using the convenient e-commerce links below. It's a quirky and sample-tastic romp in the vein of Kid Koala or Dosh. Thank you.

Solid Steel Radio Mix (5/15/09) [MP3, 54.7MB, 128kbps]
Vampire Weekend "Cape Kwassa Kwassa (Ruckus Roboticus Remix)" [MP3, 10.3MB, 320kbps]
Bloc Party "Hunting for Witches (Ruckus Roboticus Remix)" [MP3, 14.2MB, 320kbps]

www.greaserecords.com
www.ruckusroboticus.com
myspace.com/RuckusRoboticusMusic

Miles Tilmann

I first encountered Miles Tilmann on the compilation "Six Records Breaks Your Heart Again" (in truth it was the first and last time the label would break your heart, because it was their first release and they haven't released anything since) and a recent revisit to the album sent me searching around for facts and tunes from some of the artists. Miles Tilmann, pleasantly surprised me by offering up close to 100 MP3s on his site. Tilmann produces a variety of ambient tracks, but the ones I chose to highlight here are more beat driven. Tilmann's music is awash in fluid synths, deep kick drum pulsations, and well, plenty of ambient sounds. You'll discover similarities to Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. Tilmann has been steadily releasing music since 1999 on labels like Sub:marine, Consumers Research & Development, and Toytronic. For his latest effort Departures (2008) he collaborates with drummer Steven Hess for an album of unpredictable rhythms and soundscapes. Extreme chill factor ahead.

From Underland (Sub:marine 2001):
Mother-Father [MP3]
Derail [MP3]

from Xenon (Consumers Research & Development 2006):
Wrong Move [MP3]

From 3D Concepts (Toytronic 2003):
Particle 3 [MP3]

From various comps:
Tek [MP3]
Circles Everywhere [MP3]

webhole.com

Osborne

Todd Osborn reflects all that is great about Detroit to me. Like many of his local influences (including legendary radio DJs The Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard), he's a jack of all genres - producing techno, house, jungle, hip-hop, and dubstep records with equal aplomb. He's also a restless tinkerer with many side interests including, as his latest EP on Ghostly indicates, hovercrafting. "Fire" - from that EP - is a silky smooth disco track, a synthetic blend of strings, stings, guitar, and vibraphone over a buoyant 4/4 beat. On the other hand, "The Count," also on the EP, can only be shared in the context of its video, which lets his worldwide fans in on one of Detroit's treasured secrets: "The New Dance Show," a local late-night TV show that I, along with many other suburban Detroit kids, watched with great awe back in the late '80s. Twenty years later, those moves sync up nice and tight to this exquisite slice of minimalist techno without any need for special effects magic...

from Hovercrafting EP [2009]:
Fire [MP3, 8.8MB, 192kbps]

www.ghostly.com

Lymbyc Systym

We last left this dynamic duo after releasing their debut album on Mush Records. Since then, the Bell brothers, Jared and Michael, from Tempe, Arizona, have put out a remix album (featuring remixes by The Album Leaf, Daedelus, The One AM Radio and Bibio) and recently re-issued their first EP on their new label, Magic Bullet out of Virginia. The new tracks the band has added for the sharing encompass the wide range of instrumental rock you can expect from these fellows. "Narita" from their new split EP with This Will Destroy You starts out small and subtle with a three-key riff and then gradually grows into a sweeping epic as layers pile onto layers. "Fall Bicycle" from their first album exemplifies the duo's playful personality and showcases well Jared's keyboard playing and Michael's drumming. This summer you can enjoy the sites and sounds of this family roadtrip when they come strolling through your town.

Narita [MP3, 4.3MB, 128kbps]
Fall Bicycle [MP3, 8.0MB, 128kbps]
Truth Skull (Bibio Remix) [MP3, 12.4MB, 128kbps]

Original post: 04/18/2007:
If you'll notice our masthead we list the names of the cities in which each of our writers reside. Well, close enough. I don't actually live in Huntington Beach. I live in the small city that rests in the geographic elbow of Huntington Beach: Fountain Valley. There are no physical features distinguishing the city from Huntington Beach, with the exception of the mile square park smack in the middle of the city, and the great Vietnamese restaurants on the north end of town. How, you ask, does this have anything to do with Lymbyc Systym's instrumental, post-rock, debut album on Mush Records? When I first heard Lymbyc Systym it immediately brought to mind Fountain Valley's bland, generic motto: "A nice place to live." Simply put, Lymbyc Systym is nice music to listen to. Yet it's neither bland, nor generic. And unlike FV's relationship to the L.A. metropolis, Lymbyc Systym is anything but an insignificant blip on Mush Records' sprawling, musical landscape.

Truth Skull [MP3, 3.9MB, 128kbps]
Carved By Glaciers [MP3, 7.0MB, 128kbps]
Birds [live] [MP3, 8.8MB, 224kbps]

www.magicbulletrecords.com
www.mushrecords.com
www.lymbycsystym.com

autoKratz

French wunderkind label Kitsuné is feeling lucky! The seventh incarnation of their stellar compilation series hits early next month, and they've sifted out this nugget o' hard disco to share as an invitation to grab your sieve and join them in their search for more gold. autoKratz represents the electro side of Kitsuné's electro-pop spectrum, but neither autoKratz, nor the label allow themselves to be held hostage to pithy genres. They're explorers! Adventurers! Pop 'n' Lockers! Vocoders! They're all good and Kitsuné Maison #7 will trip you out! (safely and naturally, naturally).

Always More (Yuksek Remix) [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Kitsuné Maison 7 Mini-mix [zip]

www.kitsune.fr
www.myspace.com/autokratz

Dan Deacon

Sean,

There is no way you haven't heard of Dan Deacon. And if you haven't, well, get on it! And if you have, well... get on it! For God's sake!

-Geena (via email), College Station, TX

P.S. This video brings me so much joy I can't comprehend it.

Geena,

Yes, I am familiar with Dan Deacon. We are failing in our mission to share the sharing for not having reviewed him sooner. Thanks for the swift kick to the head. A tragic wrong finally made right.

-Sean

My Name is Robert [MP3, MB, kbps]
I Will Always Have Juice Today [MP3, MB, kbps]
Hey Let's Go For a Ride [MP3, MB, kbps]
Mister Big Stuff Cover [MP3, MB, kbps]

www.carparkrecords.com
www.dandeacon.com

Etienne de Crécy

A quick tip for the Coachella bound: Etienne De Crecy proves it's dope to be square. De Crécy makes his U.S. debut this Sunday night at Coachella and he's bringing his tricked out, larger than life Rubik's Cube-Lite Brite. I won't bore you with describing how the thing works. Watch the video to see this beautiful monster in action. The contraption was designed by fellow Frenchmen Exyst and when The Killers asked them to design a similar cube for their European MTV performance Exyst declined. The Killers ripped off the light show anyway. Of course, their version ended up looking like an, over-the-top, seizure inducing Hollywood Squares set. But that's beside the point

Though not a household name, de Crécy was instrumental in developing the French house sound. He and Alex Gopher founded the Solid record label and he's released a slew of singles and albums on his own and in collaboration with Cassius and Air. "Home" is an unreleased track that de Crécy plays during his live sets. Between the driving bass lines, the fuzzed out knob twiddles, and state-of-the-art light show, be sure to brace yourself for maximum tripping Sunday night in the Sahara Tent.

Hope [MP3, 6.3MB, 128kbps]

Etienne De Crecy Live 2007 Transmusicales de Rennes from Clement bournat on Vimeo.

www.myspace.com/etiennedecrecy

Project Jenny, Project Jan

Project Jenny, Project Jan soften the downtime since their debut album two years ago with this new collaborative EP. Considering the topic, their ode to unrequited love, "Pins and Needles," featuring Fujiya & Miyagi, settles into a smooth club groove, while their work with percussion wunderkinds and fellow Brooklynites So Percussion and Mixel Pixel stirs up darker, primordial feelings. The emotional range on this EP seems to span eons and reminds me of Shriekback's dark tone on Oil and Gold. It's unexpected (but not unwelcomed) from the usually playful PJPJ, but they return with their usual pluck on the final tracks with Adam Matta and Clack Singles Club. No matter their mood, Project Jenny, Project Jan has left me with a bout of paresthesia, eagerly anticipating their next album, due before year's end.

Pins and Needles Feat. Fujiya & Miyagi [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kbps]

Original Post 6/23/07:
Mapquest Project Jenny, Project Jan. Go ahead. I dare you. You'll have a hard time pinpointing the Brooklyn duo because they're all over the proverbial map. When their debut EP opens up with the marching band sound of "Fight Song," you know you're in for a treat. On their first full-length, XOXOXOXOXO, they start the party again with a nice brass section, giving way to a bright samba number. The freestyle-stylee vocals of Jeremy Haines keeps the tracks loose and the whole album will get you shake, shake, shaking your caboose, dancing the duck-duck-goose. Feeling down lately? These boys are sure to get you up and out of your seat with a little bit of banjo, a little bit of swing, a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of reggae and lots and lots of fun. Philly, Boston, Montreal, Toronto and Cleveland brace yourselves for this Brooklyn brand of electro-karaoke coming your way live next month with Fujiya & Miyagi. A match made in dancefloor heaven.

320 [MP3, 4.4MB, 192kbps]
Train Track [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]

www.mightrecords.com
www.projectjennyprojectjan.com

Coltrane Motion

There's something about 3hive's hard drives and Coltrane Motion. Sam's crashed three years ago shortly before posting about Chicago's Coltrane Motion, and mine recently had to be replaced, too, shortly before posting about them. I had intended to also post some photos I took of Coltrane Motion when I saw them in May 2006 while in Chigaco, but I may have to blame a different hard drive crash from last summer for misplacing most of those. Which is rather unfortunate, as they played in an old church, and I got a sweet shot of Michael Bond bouncing under an enormous lighted cross while still trying to keep his mouth at microphone level and not tipping over his laptop stand. Michael, the driving force behind Coltrane Motion, is also a dead-ringer for 3hive's Sam, but alas, that photographic evidence is also missing. I did find an poor quality shot I took with my phone inside the church, which is below. Sam's description of Coltrane Motion still holds true, as further demonstrated by their first 7" release "The Year Without A Summer b/w Maya Blue," out tomorrow.

Original Post by Sam on 14 Jan 2006:
My hard drive crashed this week which, as reliant as I am on my PowerBook, is like suffering short-term memory loss. One of the few artists I remember having on tap for 3hive is Coltrane Motion, who are members of a Midwest artist-run collective/label called, irony of ironies, datawaslost. These tracks are a good representation of Coltrane Motion's "sound" — in quotes because they seem to have as many "sounds" as they have songs, due in part to their habit of making their own software and instruments. This makes remembering what I wanted to say about Coltrane Motion even more difficult. Was I pogoing to the urgent dance-punk of "I Guess the Kids Are OK" or singing along to the sizzling crooner pop of "Pi Is Exactly Three"? Cutting rug to the cheeky Beck send-up "Supersexy '67" or stroking my chin to the backmasked glitch 'n' beats of "The End of Every Movie"? Couldn't tell ya. So I guess I'll own up to liking all four. And, please, before you start downloading: a moment of silence for my hard drive...

The Year Without a Summer [MP3, 3.6MB, 192kbps]

Older songs:
I Guess the Kids Are OK [MP3, 4.0MB, 160kbps]
Pi Is Exactly Three [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]
Supersexy '67 [MP3, 3.1MB, 160kbps]
The End of Every Movie [MP3, 3.1MB, 160kbps]

www.datawaslost.net
www.coltranemotion.com

King Loses Crown

I recall an interview with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins many years ago where he said that in his head the music he wrote sounded like death metal. I get the same sense with King Loses Crown. While this San Francisco duo exercises their love of hooks and synthesizers analog and digital, somewhere in their heads perhaps their music sounds more like death metal than the electronic power-rock of their self-titled debut EP.

My Revenge [MP3, 3.1MB, 192kbps]
Dallas Doesn't Love You [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]

kinglosescrown.com/

Jon Hopkins

Patience. Give it a moment of your time. You need a break from your lightning paced life. Breath in. Hold it. Breath out. Repeat three times. Now that you've fed your brain a healthy dose of oxygen, feed your head a healthy dose of ambient beats courtesy of Jon Hopkins, pianist, composer, self-taught producer. At once his compositions soothe and haunt. Audio rorschach tests, you hear what you are, where you are, where you want to be. Hopkins merely holds a mirror up to your soul—you decide what it means. The break down at the end of this track signaling a break from tranquility, or a break for lunch. Me? I'm always up for the latter.

Vessel [MP3, 5.3MB, 160kbps]

www.dominorecordco.com
www.jonhopkins.co.uk

The Egg

Compared to my pals here at 3hive, I don't know jack about electronic music. I can tell you all about country and jangly guitar pop, but deep down inside all those synths kind of freak me out. Maybe it was too much Herbie Hancock back when my dad built a pirate MTV converter in 1985 or so. Therefore, if The Egg isn't cool, you'll have to forgive me, 'cause I think it's pretty kicking. At least it doesn't give me a headache, which every other electronica track I pull seems to do. So here's how I found out about this British quartet that's been making records for a decade or so: SXSW. Every year, the website for this Texas blow-out has about five hundred free MP3s, and I get all download crazy for a day or two. The Egg was one of my random grabs, and it got me moving, and one click begat another... Enjoy "Funky Dube," live from Glastonbury, and forgive me if it ain't all that. I kind of think it is.

Funky Dube (live) [MP3, 9.7MB, 160kbps]

www.theegg.org.uk

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Here's one that's long overdue for an update and what do you know we're just in time for Casiotone's single collection due out this week. It's called Advance Base Battery Life. The opening track, "Old Panda Days," is classic CFTPA and highlights Owen Ashworth's cunning command of couplets rhyming "boyfriends I shouldn't have kept" with "stupid flatbeds we never swept." You'll have to listen to get the context. Not one to leave us hanging, Ashworth will quickly follow his singles and rarities collection with his fifth album, Vs. Children, of which "Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm" is part and proof that while Ashworth may be a one-man band, a one-trick pony he ain't.

Note: Be sure to check out the SXSW Megamix from Tomlab, K Records, and Asthmatic Kitty. No medley nonsense here, just lots of full-length gems.

Old and Panda Days [MP3, 3.2MB, 192kbps]
Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In) [MP3, 2.1MB, 160kbps]

Sam's original post 2/4/2006::
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone has been one of those monikers that kinda gives away the ending before you even press play — like Rage Against the Machine, or Insane Clown Posse. I say "has been" because now Owen Ashworth (who from some angles looks remarkably like 3hive's Jon Armstrong, see for yourself) has joined forces with producer Jherek Bischoff to expand his sound beyond its lo-fi trappings. "Young Shields" is the lead-off single from the resulting album, Etiquette, which by all indications still speaks to the Painfully Alone, just with less Casiotone (and a lot more of everything else) than before. "Cold White Christmas" is also from the new joint... Where was this track when I was putting together my Christmas podcast? Oh well, this one defies seasonality. When isn't a good time for some chilly melancholy?

Young Shields [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]
Cold White Christmas [MP3, 4.6MB, 128kbps]
Bobby Malone Moves Home [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
New Year's Kiss (version) 4-track home recording [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
Graceland [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]

www.tomlab.de
www.cftpa.org

Milke

My mother prides herself on being "with it." And compared to 99% of mothers I guess she probably is, as far as any mother's "with-it-ability" goes. People are still often surprised to find out that she's my mother since she looks too young and flashy to have a son who looks as old and frumpy as I do. And she was quite the early Facebook adopter amongst her friends and her generation. Speaking of which, this morning she expressed dismay at the fact that one of our mutual friends would use a photo of herself with her tongue sticking out as her profile picture. "It's sexually suggestive," my mother said. She may be up to date on technology, but her sexual boundaries are still quaintly old-fashioned. No mother, Shari's picture is fun and sassy, this is sexually suggestive and *gasp* highly androgynous.

This is the artwork to Milke's new single, "Love Get Out of My Way." The duo mix French electro with soulful pop vocals for a sound that's sure to be burn its way through the club scene and get the blog-o-kids all geeked. The two principles behind Milke are from opposite ends of the music world: producer Andrew Friendly has been DJing and remixing his way around the world, remixing the likes of Justice, LFO, and Darren Hayes, while singer Ra has been holed up on his own, flying way below the radar, until Friendly heard his work on the Black Grass album. Now with Milke they're writing tracks that transcend their former domains. It's big, bold, and yes, suggestive, synth-y disco. My mother will love the music, but loathe the artwork. I'm bracing for the response she's sure to fire at me on Facebook (Hi mom!) Speaking of which, here's a reminder to join us there too.

Love Get Out of My Way [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]

www.myspace.com/gulpcommunications
www.milke.co.uk

Faunts

On their second full-length, Alberta, Canada's Faunts reign in their epic song structuring, meandering less while managing to maintain their expansive sound. Their new album tends to use more electronics (a more dour Postal Service?) without sacrificing the ringing guitars. In "M4 (Part 1)" guitars loop repeatedly a la Michael Brook's infinite guitar and Faunts' ethereal tendencies in many of their songs remind me of similar moments in The Cure's Seventeen Seconds. Faunts get plenty of comparisons to The Cure, but unlike many of their contemporaries the similarities lie with the instrumentation rather than Smith's warbled vocals; however, bald-faced comparisons to any band do a disservice to potential fans, because Faunts transcend simple analogies to any band that's come before, and Feel.Love.Thinking.Of raises expectations for any band choosing to follow Faunts' lead.

From Feel.Love.Thinking.Of (2009):
It Hurts Me All the Time [MP3, 4.4MB, 192kbps]
Feel.Love.Thinking.Of [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]

From Faunts Remixed (2008):
Memories of Places We've Never Been (T.H. White Remix) [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]
M4 (Part II) (The Paronomasiac Remix) [MP3, 10.2MB, 192kbps]

From M4 Digital EP (2007):
M4 (Part 1) [MP3, 10.6MB, 160kbps]

From High Expectations/Low Results (2005):
Instantly Loved [MP3, 7.9MB, 192kbps]
Memories of Places We've Never Been [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]

www.friendlyfirerecords.com
www.faunts.com

Michna

Asking me to pick my favorite track off Magic Monday is like asking me which child I love the most, or which food I love the most. Ask me on any particular day and I'll have a favorite, sushi for instance, in fact I'll be enjoying my favorite faux-sushi of all time, the Bungee Roll, this evening. Actually I wouldn't do the same with my children. My favorite quote from Michna himself comes when his label's owner asks him to list the samples he'll need to clear, to which Michna responds, "What samples?" I'd like to hope Michna's reply represents a new, knowing artistic naïvety in which a new generation moves past the plundering of hip-hop's history and forges on with their own original beats and breaks (not that there's anything wrong with samples!). He's been paying his dues DJing parties in New York with tapes (yes!) and cutting remixes for Diplo (with his previous Secret Frequency Crew), Bonde Do Role, and surprisingly Jandek. Made playful by his trombone playing and use of found sounds (especially the answering machines, air hockey, and skateboards) his bass heavy pastiche work remind me of our old friend Alan Sutherland aka Land of the Loops (where ya at Al?). If you're in the market for a good slow and steady, fun groove: Michna's your man.

Swiss Glide [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.myspace.com/eggfooyoung

Loyal Divide

This makes me sick! (Well, the sick feeling probably comes from the dizzying bout of Neuritis I've been battling for the past week. Makes typing a bit tedious.) Peeved may be a better word. Either way, I can't believe I let 2008 lapse without mentioning my favorite EP to come our way at the end of the year. Chicago's Loyal Divide is at once cold and earthy, shoe-gazey and trip hop, Nine Inch Nails and Autolux, Laurie Anderson and Portishead. Your not so typical post-industrial-shoe-goth if you don't mind me taking such liberties. "Labrador" is tethered to time as the track unwinds into a chugging locomotive pace, driven by Can's tribal basslines, until ethereal vocals hauntingly give way to a languid narrative about a dog with "blackest eyes and softest mouth / she buried her bones behind the house / she grabbed a bird trying to steal my food / she squeezed its head until it cooed." The vocals float along through punchy bass-lines and electronic tickings and tweets as everything but the bassline drop out, then rush back in. The Loyal Divide creates the most compellingly textured music I've heard from a new artist in some time.

Labrador [MP3, 5.2MB, 160kbps]

www.theloyaldivide.com
www.myspace.com/loyaldivide

Pallers

Just the other day, my buddy Roland from my freshman year of college said on Facebook that "Love Like Blood" by Killing Joke was the best song ever. While I think "The Fall of Because" is Killing Joke's best song (let's not even get started on the topic of "Best Song Ever"), it did cause me to pull out some old records of other electronic tinged artists of that era that Roland introduced me to, namely Click Click's Rorschach Testing and Clan of Xymox's self-titled LP. The Labrador Records site describes Pallers as "the darkest and finest electronic music we've heard in a long time." That's the perfect description of Pallers, who take the dark electronics of the previously named bands, yet add vocals with an amazing Swedish pop sensibility a la fellow Swedes The Radio Dept, making what was old new again.

Humdrum [MP3, 8.8MB, 256kbps]

www.labrador.se
www.myspace.com/pallers

Skew

The opening track on Skew's debut album is a bit of an understatement. Stadiums are more than just OK. Stadiums are where things first got skewed for Skew. I'm assuming as much. At six, a young Skew got turned onto the rock 'n' roll at an Iron Maiden concert. Afterwards, his grandfather financed guitar lessons, he ended up at Berklee College of music, and the rest is history. Skew sludges out ethereal rock riffs and then lays down hip hop beats to keep the party moving. The result is a grittier Ratatat with a raw, bone-rattling low-end. You can hear his progression on the baskets of tracks on his site. There are plenty of originals along with his under the radar remixes—Radiohead, M.I.A., Yeah Yeah Yeahs—and his mash ups of Nirvana and The Beatles against themselves. Get Skew today (the album's fresh on sale) and expect plenty more from him in the future.

Stadiums Are OK Too [MP3, 3.8MB, 160kbps]
Can I Get More of Everything in the Monitors [MP3, 3.0MB, 160kbps]

skewmusic.com
itsbananasmusic.com

Lykke Li

Now that Santogold can be heard on light beer commercials, I'm ready for another obsession (I'm not that fickle, I just need to back off from my one-a-day dosage). 22-year-old Swede Lykke Li might just be the answer. Her songs ooze modernity and warmth — restrained rhythmic backdrops meshing seamlessly with her instrumental lyrics. And then there's her voice, that entrancing siren call... It may be too early to call her My Angel of Stockholm based on a debut album alone but dang diggity if she doesn't melt my ears and heart.

(Thanks to JM3 for the suggestion.)

from Youth Novels (2008):
Tonight (Demo Version) [5.8MB, 192kbps, MP3]

www.lykkeli.com/
myspace.com/lykkeli

Lone

Bless Sean West's (Dealmaker Studios in Nottingham) email earnestness and his consistant harping on us all summer, trying to open our eyes and ears to Lone. We're listening! and loving it! Lone is one Matt Cutler, beat-maker, audio-cut-and-paster, and all-around sonic-magician. Cutler lays down hip-hop beats then layers the tracks with illusory flourishes, broken chords, and dream-inducing 8-bit melodies. This is the music I heard in my head when I read the Chronicles of Narnia (before current literature to screen trends began destroying young imaginations). This is the music I imagined the band of lizards playing in Daniel Pinkwater's Lizard Music. Give it a try. Do your own mini mash-up of Pinkwater Vs. Lone to see what I mean. Youthful, imaginative, and sweetly psychedelic Lone will likely conjure up visions of rainbows, sparkly unicorns, Mozart playing lizards, magic wardrobes or any other mystical apparitions floating around in your subconscious.

Fly Fire Rainbow [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]
Crimson Drank [MP3, 2.8MB, 320kbps]

www.dealmakerrecords.com
www.myspace.com/lonemusic

Ernest Gonzales

Hip Hop producer Ernest Gonzales drops his Theory of Everything moniker and tinkers out 8 bit lullabies for his soon-to-be-born daughter. I was a bit hesitant to listen to such an intensely personal project. But when I heard these playful, dreamy compositions I felt privileged to have been invited to this musical expression of one father's hopes and dreams for his child. That said, children are not required to enjoy this 80s-era synthesized study in dream pop.

Lullaby No. 5 [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]
Navigating [MP3, 3.5MB, 192kbps]

www.antipop.net
www.myspace.com/theoryofeverything

Leila

On her myspace page Leila lists her influences as "life...noise...stuff." I'd just add "beats" to that list for a quick summation of her sound. These tracks her label has generously offered for your downloading pleasure demonstrate Leila's controlled cacophony as she gathers audio odds and ends, samples of this horn and that vocal clip, and masterfully stitches the sounds together into something you can dance to and something you can chill to, respectively. It's pastiche-core in the vein of Solex. Leila brings in a hodge-podge of guest musicians to add their own noises and stuff like Martina Topley Bird, Terry Hall, Andy Cox (The English Beat/Fine Young Cannibals), and her own sister Roya Arab. Blood, Looms, and Blooms is just the latest in her decade long recording career. Leila has worked with Björk and Aphex Twin and recorded as Grammatix and Little Miss Specta. Admittedly, I've got some homework to do as I've missed out thus far on her earlier efforts. Shame on me.

Little Acorn feat. Khemahl and Thaon Richardson [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
Time to Blow feat. Terry Hall [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]

www.warprecords.com
www.myspace.com/leilaarab

Penny and Ashtray

Penny and Ashtray hail from Osaka, Japan (their real names are Momoyo Kubo and Tamotsu Ide). I could call their music a cross between minimalist techno and chip music...but I'd be more direct to say it's straight hyp-mo-tiz-ing. Their debut album, The Secrets of Galaxy Z, spans the gamut from floor-bangers to thoughtful instrumentals—which makes the repetitive nature of their style far more durable. In addition to recording 47 minutes of original material this past year, they found time to participate in Flunk's remix competition. May they never run out of batteries...

from The Secrets of Galaxy Z (2008):
Bent [MP3, 6.8MB, 192kbps]

from Flunk's Democracy (2007):
Personal Stereo (Penny and Ashtray Remix) [MP3, 6.4MB, 192kbps]

from Bonus Stage 7-inch (2006):
Python [MP3, 4.2MB, 192kbps]
Chipmunk [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]

www.saasfee.de/
disconinjaz.net
www.myspace.com/pennyandashtray
www.pennyandashtray.com/

Girl Talk

At the risk of revealing myself as A) behind the times, and B) a complete tool, I’m going to share that I’ve recently gotten back into heavy exercise. At the gym, I usually listen to (here’s where the “complete tool” part comes in) This American Life or some other talky podcast where I don’t have to worry about (tool again) consistently high-energy beats. But praise be to Pittsburgh’s Greg Gillis, whose Night Ripper from 2006 is a (the behind the times part) mashup masterpiece that (tool) keeps my adrenaline PUMPED, man! For my money, Z-Trip is still the high-water mark of such guerrilla hip-hop-classic-rock-punk-pop-whatever mixing, but what Gillis does with the riffs from The Pixies, the Strokes and Weezer in “Hold Up” helps me burn 500 calories in two minutes. Girl Talk’s newest, Feed the Animals, is available here for whatever price you want to pay, which I’ve already done so that I can take my workout to anotha level of behind-the-times toolness. Join me and feel the burn!

Hold Up [MP3, 5.9MB, 283kbps]
Bounce That [MP3, 7.4MB, 296kbps]

myspace.com/girltalk
www.illegalart.net

Santogold

I know I've been taking the "summer hours" concept a little too seriously, but it's hard to do anything but enjoy summer when you have something stuck in your iPod like Top Ranking, Diplo's "mixtape" treatment of Santogold's debut album. Diplo's dub-bass-electro-hop concoction provides a textured playground for Santi White's angelic and sassy brand of new wave. Unreleased mixes of Santi tracks bounce in and out between cuts from Three 6 Mafia, Benga, B-52s, Ratatat, and Sir Mix-a-Lot—there's a smile around every corner. (If this sounds familiar, Diplo did the same for the last big indie "it" girl, M.I.A., on the eve of her debut album with the 2004 mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism.)

Now, if you're picturing me just swaying away in a shady hammock you're only partly right. Top Ranking also got me off my butt and running every morning (five weeks and counting!). And it's been the soundtrack to some spontaneous summer grill action... I don't mean to overpromise but I guarantee it will make your life better—even if that means you forget to update your blog for over a month.

These tracks are some tasty Santogold remixes featured on Diplo's Mad Decent label, though they're not even on Top Ranking. For that, you'll want to head over to turntablelab.com and drop $12 for the 75-minute mix.

Starstruck (Diplo Remix) [MP3, 6.4MB, 160kbps]
L.E.S. Artistes (Grahm Zilla Euromix) [MP3, 11.9MB, 320kbps]

http://maddecent.com
http://www.myspace.com/diplo
http://www.myspace.com/grahmzillamusic
http://www.myspace.com/santogold

Chromeo

Four years later (look how short our posts used to be back then...) and Chromeo are still making us feel touched for the very first time with their naughty '80s dance funk. Their latest release offers their sophomore album, Fancy Footwork, plus a bonus disc of greatest hits, videos, and remixes (though there are at least twice as many still floating out there in clubland). Get your tight white pants on for this action.

Previous post (from 6/21/04): A faithful homage to '80s processed funk phenomena (Jesse Johnson's Revue, Timex Social Club, Oran "Juice" Jones, et al), "Needy Girl" could be my not-so-guilty pleasure of the summer. (This post updated on 09.16.04 with a couple of swell "Me & My Man" remixes.)

from Fancy Footwork: Deluxe Edition (2008):
Bonafied Lovin' (Yuksek Remix) [MP3, 8.2MB, 256kbps]
Me & My Man (Whitey vs. Chromeo Fly Whitey Mix) [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]

from Fancy Footwork (2007):
Tenderoni [MP3, 6MB, 192kbps]

from She's in Control (2004):
Needy Girl [MP3, 5.9MB, 192kbps]

Miscellaneous remixes:
Fancy Footwork (Guns 'n' Bombs Remix) [MP3, 8.1MB, 192kbps]
Me & My Man (The Juan Maclean Mix) [MP3, 9.2MB, 192kbps]

www.vice-recordings.com
http://www.myspace.com/chromeo
www.chromeo.net

Wild Years

Basically everything I know about Ann Arbor's Wild Years is found on their myspace page. So download the song below, a twirling, whirling electronic piece, then head to their myspace page and grab their two EP's for free. The older one has definite folk leanings, so knowing they pretty much make whatever music they want goes right along their dabblings in performance art.

Half Japaneez Girl [MP3, 2.9MB, 192kbps]

myspace.com/wildyearsmusic

The Chap

Check The Chap's label page and there are two lines in the "About" section, one of which reads, "The Chap: have never been influenced by anyone or anything at any time, ever." While I appreciate and even support their refusal to apologize for or explain their influences, I don't believe them. I do believe in letting the music speak for itself. So stop reading this and download these songs and make up your own mind while I explain the comparison I'm about to make. My take, highly influenced by the mass quantities of '80s music I've been listening to lately, is this: The Chap deftly juggles bits and pieces of Gang of Four, XTC, Queen, Men Without Hats, and Kraftwerk for a capricious rock 'n' roll dance party. Their third album, Mega Breakfast, is evidence of a quirky, lo-fi band that's pulled out all the stops and plans on playing stadiums. Do yourself a favor and lower your guard down while listening so you can fully revel in The Chap's merrymaking. Their album cover is a mylar balloon dog whose nose has been dipped in chocolate and sprinkles for crying out loud. If you don't get a kick out of this record it may be time for a swift kick to the head. (Be sure to watch the video for the album's standout track).

From Mega Breakfast (2008):
They Have a Name [MP3, 3.3MB, 192kbps]
Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]
They Have a Name (Atlas Sound Remix) [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

From The Horse (2003):
(Hats Off To) Dror Frangi [MP3, 7.7MB, 210kbps]
Volumatic Spacer Device [MP3, 4.2MB, 153kbps]
I Got Flattened By a Pig Farmer [MP3, 3.7MB, 137kbps]

From Fun EP (2002)
Yes [MP3, 6.7MB, 192kbps]

"Fun and Interesting" [Video]

www.ghostly.com
www.thechap.org

Zooey

I think it's pretty safe to say that you won't be hearing about Zooey from many other music sites. A few weeks ago the band sent out an email blast and they forgot to BCC their mailing list. Ouch! Poor Zooey got an earful about that faux pas. Instead of drinking the Haterade I thought I'd listen in on what Zooey had to offer. I was pleasantly surprised by their semi-easy-listening-electronica. Zooey recently remixed "Change of Destination" by Monade and, if you can imagine, they made it even bubblier than the original. "Little Thunder" is brand new music while "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" and "Rendez-vous" are from their 2005 self-released LP Pique-nique et jeux dans l'eau, which you can download in its entirety. Zooey is sweet, playful, and with the exception of their little "accident," perfectly charming.

Little Thunder [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]
You Gave Your Love to Me Softly [MP3, 2.4MB, 160kbps]
Rendez-vous [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]

www.frannyandzooey.org
www.myspace.com/zooeyzooey

The Notwist

Amazing it's been six years since The Notwist's break-through album, Neon Golden. Time flies. And in the meantime, these Bavarian boys have kept busy bloodying their fingers in a variety of pies like 13 & God, Lali Puna, and Ms. John Soda to name a few. The Devil, You + Me, their sixth album (out domestically today) in twenty, yep, twenty, years, opens with this solid, extremely listenable track, "Good Lies," in which Ascher, in his signature casual delivery, sings this platonic refrain: "Let's just imitate the real until we find a better one." If you enjoy gentle melodies flavored with large dollops of electronic gadgetry and a sprinkling of orchestral arrangements, then you won't likely find anything much better than this. The last offering here is another fruitful pairing of The Notwist with a member of Oakland's hip-hop collective, Anticon.

Good Lies [MP3, 6.2MB, 160kbps]
Sleep (Odd Nosdam Remix) [MP3, 7.4MB, 320kbps]

"Where in this World" [video]

www.dominorecordco.us
www.notwist.com

Bikini

Here's a little something to keep an eye on, Montreal duo Bikini. Alisa mentioned their Feist cover sounds like a sleepy Daft Punk ("hey honey, you never read 3hive, but why don't start writing for us??" It won't happen. She's blog-phobic. Says they make her feel like a voyeur. Yeah, what's wrong with that?). The one original they've posted for the world to hear, "I Remember Being Young," quickly stuttered and warbled its way into my head and had me grooving out with some impressive air knob twiddling. The song seems to be an homage to childhood, something like "hole in your shoe, everyone can study, everyone can sing...sunrise is meant to get up, sunset's meant to fall asleep..." Really hooky, but way too short. Keep that thing going! Spin it around the block one more time! Bikini will reveal more when they release their EP next month.

1234 (Feist Cover) [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
I Remember Being You [MP3, 2.3MB, 128kbps]

www.myspace.com/bikinii

Tender Forever

Melanie, my favorite French street-artist-turned-K-Records-stalwart, has released her second LP Wider. Her live show that I caught several years is one of my favorite live shows of the past ten years. To quote myself in our Junk Drawer: "Holy moly, Melanie was incredible, part musician/poet/child/dancer/manipulator/artist/provacateur/comic/songwriter. And her voice live is so loud, so strong, so filling." She set up on the floor in front of the stage for maximum audience interaction, which involved her punching me in the stomach, taking and wearing my wife's coat, and rifling through the pockets of my friend Vince. With her new album, she continues to craft her electronic performance-pop, with sweet melodies and varying tempos, harmonizing with herself about love and life.

Original post 10/12/2005:
As previously mentioned, my personal goal of attending all shows by 3hive bands in my hometown has been quite a failure, coming in right now at about 3 out of who knows...10? 20? 30? That's gonna improve slightly when Tender Forever comes to town on November 6 with His Royal Highness of Indiedom Calvin Johnson. A musical journey from Bordeaux, France, to Olympia, Washington, can only mean one thing: exquisite Franco-American pop. Melanie Valera and friends, see you soon.

How Many [MP3, 4.9MB, 256kbps]
Heartbroken Forever [MP3, 7.0MB, 256kbps]

www.krecs.com

James Pants

Good evening. I'm going to try very very hard not to make any "Pants" jokes here. O.k. — Let's do this. He impressed Mr. Peanut Butter Wolf and now he's impressing us with his neon-bathed, wheel-pitched funk. A sneak peak at the new album from James Pants, "Ka$h" draws a lot of comparison to Prince, Pharrell and the '80s. More specifically, I would say it dates back when nerds *weren't* cool, and Mr. Nelson was knocking the genres of the day on their sorry asses. There's a DRM version out there now, but I'm holding out more. You could say I can't wait for the rest of these Pants to drop. Ah, crap. I'm soooo sorry.

Dan Sicko (special guest to 3hive.com)

Ka$h [MP3, 2.6MB, 135kbps]

www.stonesthrow.com
www.myspace.com/jamespants

Shy Child

The artistic interpretation of a wiring diagram of the band's setup found on their website sure tells a lot about Shy Child. It lists "Lead Synth 1". And "Lead Synth 2". And "Lead Synth 3." No "Non-Lead Synth" shown. No "Just Plain Ol' Synth" either. The three lead synths, undoubtably fighting for that "Lead Lead Synth" position, give a glimpse into the electronic frenzy that is Shy Child. Their story: the band was a side project that somehow found legs, made an album on the cheap, played SXSW, and got picked up by a bigwig producer, in this case Paul Epworth of Bloc Party and The Rapture, resulting in their new album Noise Won't Stop.

Astronaut [MP3, 4.0MB, 160kbps]

www.killrockstars.com
www.shychild.com

Rae Davis

I so need this right now. Lately my brain has been swelling at the seams as I work through my first year of teaching (in the face of pending budget cuts that may very well force me into retirement decades too soon), grading (English teachers do too much), and, the really hard part: snowboarding, skateboarding, biking, legoing, and birthday-partying with my kids. Just as I'm about to lie down to sleep (quick usage lesson) I came across this chilly gem. How chill is it you ask? As chill as a stay-cold pillow my friend Mitch talks about developing. I'm gonna cozy up to these beats and deep, bone-shaking bass plucks, and pass out. Like this photo of Mr. Davis himself. You're about to be schooled in the ways of quality downtempo and quality down time courtesy of this up and coming Texan.

Yesterday's History [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
This I Dig of You [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]

www.antipop.net

Matthew Dear

Even if you've only listened to my radio show a handful of times, chances are you've heard me play Matthew Dear. His more immediate songs (the ones offered here are such examples) have chameleon-like qualities. They fit so well next to other electronic songs, obviously, but they also segue well with pop songs, new wave tracks, especially the darker ones (like Joy Division), and well, just about any other track I throw them up against. Ironically, Dear's lackadaisical vocal delivery lends a populist air to his minimalist-techno tracks (it's a warmer version of Kraftwerk's robotic vocals) and with every release he gets deliciously close to busting out a crossover hit. When it comes right down to it, I just dig this stuff. Plus, his albums are easily accessible in the KUCI music library, just over my left shoulder, which saves my show from ever embarrassing bouts of dead air.

from Asa Breed: Black Edition (2008):
Neighborhoods [MP3, 4.0MB, 172kbps]
Deserter [MP3, 5.9MB, 205kbps]
Don and Sherri (Hot Chip Version) [MP3, 5.2MB, 166kbps]

from Leave Luck to Heaven (2003):
But for You [MP3, 5.2MB, 189kbps]

Buy from iTunes

www.ghostly.com
www.matthewdear.com

Teargas & Plateglass

Label this track from Teargas & Plateglass "dark." Not dark like teen angst dark, but dark like Darfur, like the Balkans, like Kenya, like Cambodia. Dark like genocide. Dark like 4,000 more U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq than W.M.D.s found in Iraq; that kind of dark. "One Day Across the Valley" is almost too much; the percussive drum track, the spoken word memory of pure violence, the sparseness of the sound. Like the photos from My Lai or Rwanda, you want both more and less in the given output — more justice, less brutality, more hope, less reality. "I felt a lot of pain," says the narrator, and it's hard to understand how this could not be a universal response. From the album Black Triage, with accompanying videos available on the band's website.

One Day Across the Valley [MP3, 5.1MB, 128kbps]

www.waxploitation.com
www.teargasandplateglass.com

Meho Plaza

Each dose of Meho Plaza's quirky, hooky electro-punk takes care of business, then bolts—leaving you craving more. I'd hardly call it minimalist, only that each musical element is used cunningly and sparingly. If there is an imbalance worth noting, it's that Mike Thrasher's lyrics take a back seat while the Moog gets its own dressing room—but it's all for the good. From what I've read, their live show's even better than the recorded version, and quite different. Alas, I'll never know firsthand until they get enough funding to tour beyond of their SoCal homebase...so buy this record (available on iTunes), if only for me and everyone else east of the Pacific Time Zone.

P.S. Whew, I made it to the end of the post without referencing Wire... Oops!

from Meho Plaza (2008):
The Beach [MP3, 3.4MB, 192kbps]
I Sold My Organs [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

Special Easter Egg Track:
Love Plus One (Haircut 100 Cover) [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]

www.betterlookingrecords.com
www.mehoplaza.com
www.myspace.com/MehoPlazaMusic

The Love of Kevin, Colour, Chaos, and the Sound of K

Compare and contrast my post of May 18, 2005, with this one. Same band. Same song title. But just as the Swedish duo of Lindefelt and Fredrik have changed their performing name from The Lovekevins to The Love of Kevin, Colour, Chaos, and the Sound of K (or "The LK" for short), they have also changed their style. "Stop Being Perfect" has gone from being a textbook Swedish guitar-pop song to a textbook Swedish electronic pop song (there's the contrast). No change though in their ability to craft a catchy pop song, one that induces singing along and toe-tapping. For the curious, some of those older "guitar" songs from their 2005 Max Leon EP can be downloaded from the Songs I Wish I Had Written website below.

Original Post (as the Lovekevins) 5/18/2005:
There's nothing quite like blindly buying an album at the local record store and finding something you just love. Trust me, I've bought some real junk over the years (Betty Boo circa 1990, anyone?) in that pursuit. But I've found some really good stuff. Sometimes it's the album cover (Jessamine), sometimes it's the record label (Henry's Dress), sometimes it's just a good vibe (Super 5 Thor). Even today, in the new millenium, that still happens with the world wide web. I stumbled across a real gem of band, the Lovekevins, on the online store Delicious Goldfish Records. Fantastic Swedish pop that soars and bounces and captivates and I just have to go listen to "Stop Being Perfect" again right now.

Stop Being Perfect [MP3, 6.7MB, VBR]
Tamagotchi Freestyle [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]
Private Life of a Cat [MP3, 5.4MB, 192kbps]

www.thekorarecords.com
www.songsiwish.com/thelk
www.thelkhideout.com

Pretty Good Dance Moves

P.G.D.M. will, as the title implies, keep the dance floor packed at the silent disco. It's fitting because the electronic instrumentation approximates The Postal Service while the lovely female vocals will be a warm wooby for fans of Cat Power and Bat for Lashes – in other words, it's great music for dancing with yourself, even when you're dancing with the masses. I'm giving the band short shrift with such simple comparisons because I'm in a hurry today, but I ask—nay, admonish—you to not give them short shrift yourself, because beats like these don't often come with such pretty and smart heartstrings attached.

Demons Dancing [MP3, 3.7MB, 160kbps]

myspace.com/prettygooddancemoves

Vanilla Swingers

It was my daughter's birthday yesterday and the major festivities happen today, so the in-laws are in town (they just walked in the door) and my hosting and fathering skills are required, but I don't want to short change the 'hive or this band. Lucky for me, Anne and Miles of Vanilla Swingers just dropped these tracks of gold into our suggestion box yesterday, saving me the trouble of digging through piles of mail, electronic and snail. While their name rings oxymoronic (I imagine swingers to be more of a Rocky Road or Chocolate Fudge Ripple variety) there's nothing contradictory about Vanilla Swingers' music. Moody, electronic tracks are the backdrop for hushed boy/girl vocals telling the story of two lovers who run away to London then travel back in time. "I'll Stay Next to You" epitomizes Vanilla Swingers' cinematic themes and sound, while "Danger" sounds as if the Pet Shop Boys slowed things down to about 90 bpm and were fronted by a gorgeous, brunette chanteuse. Oh yes, despite their name Vanilla Swingers sound very brunette, the color of my desire.

I'll Stay Next to You [MP3, 12.2MB, 252kbps]
Danger [MP3, 5.6MB, 180kbps]

www.vanillaswingers.com
www.myspace.com/vanillaswingers

Honey Claws

As most of the music world heads to Austin, Texas this week for the annual South By South West music festival I'm stuck here in my front bedroom doing the virtual bar crawl hunting for something new to listen to and re-living past SXSWs. Honey Claws is just the sort of thing I'd hope to run into at 1 A.M. my feet weary from the walking, my head hurting from all the rocking, but these grooves would buoy me up for another couple hours. These two tracks sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails tempered and mellowed through Beck's beatbox and microphone. The rest of the album will take you on a wild bounce deep into the heart of Austin's freak-hop-tronic scene. Sure, that may just be the Honey Claws' garage but bigger things have blossomed from humbler origins.

SXSW showcase: Wednesday night @ 115 Club.

Villains [MP3, 4.8MB, 256kbps]
July [MP3, 4.8MB, 256kbps]

www.honeyclaws.com
www.myspace.com/honeyclaws

Under Electric Light

Danny Provencher began making music as a child secretly singing over records (something I still do, not so secretly, as a full-grown man, often over records I only hear in my head). At some point he committed his music to record, leaving out, ironically, his vocals. The earliest recording as Under Electric Light features four synth-pop instrumentals that sound like a mix between early Depeche Mode beats awash in New Order melodies. From my not-so-scientific investigation, Provencher didn't come out of the proverbial vocal closet until about three years later. The result is a clean, dreamy, earnest style free from any bells and whistles, content on remaining inconspicuously, well, great—and entirely timeless within the window of the last four decades. "Wintertime" is nothing less than a small epic worthy of ushering out this current season, while leaving the listener wanting more: oh, play that chorus again, please! "This Moment" fills that gap by repeating its gorgeous, soaring chorus once. Oh well, I'll just have to listen to them for the fifteenth time. Pull my leg.

from After the Blue (2007)
Wintertime [MP3, 5.9MB, 192kbps]
This Moment [MP3, 6.3MB, 192kbps]

from UEL Concert Sampler (2004)
International Agreement [MP3, 5.8MB, 160kbps]

from Under Electric Light single (2002)
Drop [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
Time [MP3, 3.4MB, 160kbps]

www.underelectriclight.com

Science For Girls

If I reveal producer Darren Solomon's musical pedigree you may very well choose not to listen to his newest endeavor, Science For Girls. I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with your closet favorites. I'll leave his former employers unnamed and leave the sleuthing up to you. Solomon lays a smooth, electronic foundation to each of his songs—gentle rhythms, rich keyboard riffs, scratchy hip-hop beats—then turns mic duties over to various, flying-below-the-radar New York-based singers (Bronwen Exter [wow!], Boots Ottestad [The Getaway People], and Paul Brill). They're icing on this trip-hop, brazilian pop, chill-out layered cake. The vocoder vocals on this track are the edgiest element on Science For Girls' easy-listening debut. I can easily hear Science For Girls being obliterated by the WB, Gray's Anatomy, Starbucks muzak machine. Get to SFG before they do.

You'll Never Know [MP3, 8.0MB, 201kbps]

www.scienceforgirls.net

Take

Take's rich, melodic take on downtempo made his gorgeous 2007 debut LP Earthtones and Concrete more than a clever title, but the flag-planting of a new genre. Now Mr. Thomas Wilson has brought some remixes and collabos together for The Plus Ultra EP, where things get a bit electrospacey but no less warm and nuanced. Do yourself a favor and go straight to eMusic for the full album and EP.

from Earthtones and Concrete (2007):
Slouched Over (12" Edit) [MP3, 8.8MB, 320kbps]
from The Plus Ultra EP (2008):
Like a Drum (Take & Domu Collaboration) [MP3, 8.1MB, 320kbps]

www.myspace.com/takeisme
www.innercurrent.com

Hearts of Palm UK

The following is a Public Service Announcement from 3hive and Hearts of Palm UK.

Hearts of Palm UK offers a timely song this week about citizens and their right to vote, "Super Tuesday," the (un)official anthem of (obviously) Super Tuesday, the day 24 states in our blessed union hold presidential primaries. Hearts of Palm UK are not British or Northern Irish, as the name would suggest; Erika and Ambi-D are a couple of Cali girls cranking out this peculiar indie-electro-pop. As a political science major in college, I secretly hope that they follow this up with a song discussing, dissecting, and explaining the results of Super Tuesday. Maybe they can even get invited to appear on Meet the Press. Anybody got Tim Russert's email address?

Remember to vote!

Super Tuesday [MP3, 3.9MB, 160kbps]

www.heartsofpalmuk.com
myspace.com/heartsofpalmuk

The Hermit

I found out about The Hermit after checking up on Paper Moon, one of my favorite Canadian bands. The brainchild of musical experimentalist/drummer Hamish Thomson, The Hermit also features — with greater prominence on their most recent release, Turn Up (the Stereo) — the alluring voice of Allison Shevernoha from the aforementioned Paper Moon. Samples from the new spin can be heard over on MySpace; I like "Si vous me quittez" a lot. The tracks available here are winners from a remix contest, based on The Hermit's 2005 album Wonderment, and they are sweet and pleasant things to listen to.

Flutterbye (Sputnichek remix) [MP3, 6MB, 160kbps]
Wonderment (Affekt remix) [MP3, 7.1MB, 160kbps]

www.hermitmusic.com
www.myspace.com/hermitmusic

Ben Benjamin

I've been busy the last two weeks. Busy doing nothing. It's been nice, but it's time I start catching up on a few things. First up, outta Sam & Joe's hood, more or less, from Ypsilanti, Michigan give it up for Ben Benjamin. Formerly of Midwest Product, Ben Benjamin, AKA Ben Mullins, splits his time between this solo project and PostPrior, his neu-wavish duo also out on Ghostly. Between his myspace and Ghostly pages you can get a good feel for his debut full-length, The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin Vol. 1. "Selective Periphera" showcases Mullins strength—his ability to elaborate, with both electronic and organic instruments, on a simple riff for an absolutely hypnotic effect. Run this track into your skull and your life, regardless of how mundane it may be, will resonate with cinematic panache.

Selective Periphera [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]

Buy from iTunes
www.ghostly.com
www.blogbenjamin.tv

Fantasy Mirrors

Hey, as I've admitted elsewhere on these pages, I was a child of the 80's. When it came to the electronic music of the decade, I did have certain tastes. Big fan of Tears for Fears' the Hurting, as well as A-ha (those Norwegians could write a fantastic pop song), the Thompson Twins (who weren't really twins), the perverse Australian fun of Severed Heads, and even, gulp, for a brief while, the Communards. Despite their popularity at church dances, I was not so into Depeche Mode, and I sold Erasure back to the CD exchange store a week after buying it. After ending 2007 with the electronic pop of hollAnd, I'll also start 2008 in the same vein, although the Fantasy Mirrors are much more blatant in their devotion to 80's electronic music. Anyone care to take a stab at naming the Fantasy Mirrors' influences?

Human Beings [MP3, 4.1MB, VBR]
Premature Baby [MP3, 5.8MB, 320kbps]
The Blue Whale [MP3, 5.7MB, 320kbps]
Premature Baby (Totally Radd! Mix) [MP3, 6.0MB, 320kbps]

www.fantasymirrors.com

hollAnd

Let me end 2007 with hollAnd, one of my favorite all-time bands, who I first wrote about on 3hive in May 2004, although it's not so much a band as it is one Trevor Kampmann, musician/producer/former-child-TV-actor extraordinaire. A dozen (or more, depending on how you count) releases, along with even more production credits, over the last dozen or so years. From the day I bought the Sea Saw (his first moniker) seven inch Stereo on a whim at No Life Records in LA until the recent release Love Fluxus and my new favorite hollAnd song "French Grass" (replacing his cover of Human League's "The Lebanon"), I'm man enough to say it's been a love affair.

French Grass [MP3, 4.6MB, 320kbps]

www.teenbeat.net
www.parishiltonmujahideen.com
www.virb.com/hollAnd

4Hero

Today’s selection is actually a nice bookend to Lisa’s Hello, Blue Roses post yesterday, albeit 4Hero has always been more of a sweeping club fave than an electronic bedroom dweller. Way back in 1999, I took a job in Los Angeles and drove down the very next day in my Chevy Sprint Turbo (yes, turbo), and 4Hero’s Two Pages, which came out a few months before, was about the only cassette I had that would play in my cheapo radio. Unlike the CD release, the promo segregated the darker drum’n’bass onto one cassette and the more chilled-out, string-laden fusion stuff onto another. As the title suggests, one was a great antidote to the other. In the central Utah mountains? Time for Ursula Rucker’s smooth spoken-word over lovely breakbeats and sweeping strings. Trudging the home stretch through the Mojave? Bring on the sci-fi jungle. Since that bygone era when we were all going to be dot-com millionaires, 4Hero has gravitated more and more toward the groove, and “Morning Child” has the feel of both a return to form and a culmination of the form. It also sounds like a lithe and lovely summer song, so perhaps it’ll warm up your new year a few degrees.

Morning Child (Radio Edit) [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

4hero.co.uk
milanrecords.com

Merry Christmas 2007

May you and yours have a festive and safe holiday this year. Please enjoy this Christmas song from our friends in Letting Up Despite Great Faults (gingerbread houses courtesy Sean's kids):

So Fast [MP3, 4.3MB, 128kbps]

Chairs in the Arno

Have you ever pursued a particular boy or girl because he or she was hot in a way that another particular boy or girl was hot, but for whatever reason the former boy or girl avoided your clutch? Well that's the situation in which I currently find myself. Musically speaking. It's been over a year since I've heard anything from Jason Korzen in any form and I've been in need of an synth-geek fix. And as my dear Cuzzin Brad used to say, Chairs in the Arno are "putting me where I need to be." Moogs, a microKorg, an MC 505 groovebox and sweet boy/girl vocals are like Hershey Kisses to me. Once I've popped one in my mouth, I can't stop. Those wily Kisses are prone to push my pants slightly past size thirty. Chairs in the Arno remind me that hey, that's OK.

Input Delay [MP3, 2.7MB, 128kbps]
Size Thirty [MP3, 2.7MB, 128kbps]

www.mushpotrecords.com
www.chairsinthearno.com

Mikrofisch

Mikrofisch is our first entry from the Hamburg net-label, Komakino. Their album, Masters of the Universe, represents the label's first full-length release (the band's second) and you can download it, in its entirety, here. Mikrofisch formed with the intention of covering The Smiths, but left their first recording session with four original tracks and "a brilliantly intimate lo-fi version of Morrissey´s Everyday Is Like Sunday on fourtrack." Five years later Mikrofisch remains brilliantly lo-fi, and brilliantly playful, but from what I gather, this long distant recording duo (London/Hamburg) backgrounded their guitars around 2003 and opted for a synth-based sound. The first song, "Drum Machines Will Save Mankind" serves as a kind of mission statement for Mikrofisch in their understated quest to take over the musical universe: "Make a beat so we can dance, make the kids form bedroom bands." Then Mikrofisch sets their alliances, forming their own Justice League of Indie Rock, in the tongue-in-cheek "Let's Kiss and Listen to Bis" (hip, indie reference help). The band name drops some of their favorite bands and sounds circa 1995: Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr, Afghan Whigs, Sonic Youth, Twee, and an allusion to the now defunct March Records ("Keep Sparky's dream alive...). Finally, it's the micro-epic "The Kids are All Shite" in which Mikrofisch battle the current UK indie scene including HMV, NME, Coldplay, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Jet, Razorlight, their clones and fans. Delusions of grandeur? Perhaps, but Mikrofisch's small and simple sounds are brimming with enough hooks and wit to bring their great dreams to life.

Drum Machines Will Save Mankind [MP3, 4.7MB, 192kbps]
Let's Kiss and Listen to Bis [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
The Kids Are All Shite [MP3, 3.8MB, 192kbps]

www.komakinomag.de
www.mikrofisch.de

Freezepop

What do 80's electronic dance popsters Freezepop have in common with the Dead Kennedys and the Sex Pistols? They've all been included in the video game Guitar Hero!

Life has been good for Freezepop since we first posted about them on 3hive in July of 2004. They've been included in said Guitar Hero game that the kids love so much, and they'll soon be in some MTV game (I'm not so good with reading to the end of press releases), but they sure keep pumping out the 80's inspired electronic pop. So let that be a lesson to all you young bands and kids just playing Guitar Hero out there; keep doing your own thing, and maybe you, too, will someday be featured in Guitar Hero XXVII.

Original post July 7, 2004:

In their own words, Freezepop is "hip enough for hipsters but nerdy enough for nerds." That pretty much says it all.

From their latest LP future future future perfect:
Ninja of Love [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]

From original post:
Here Comes a Special Boy [MP3, 5.8MB, 192kbps]
Stakeout (Donnerschlag Remix) [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Lazy [MP3, 4.5MB, 128kbps]
Harebrained Scheme [MP3, 3.5MB, 128kbps]

www.freezepop.com
www.archenemy.com

Spitzer

Spitzer consists of a couple young men raised in the same house in Lyon, France. These brothers have one goal: Make you dance. Currently, the duo is working on a four song EP called Roller Coaster and if the four tracks on their myspace page are any indication of what we're in for, we're in for some big, bright and bold dancefloor action. I love the early Speak & Spell-like synth tones used on "Disco Biscuits." Of course they've been pumped up ala Marion Jones for maximum rump-shakin' enjoyment. The track opens with one synth riff getting overshadowed by another, high up in the mix, trampling over the first until that second riff distorts itself into oblivion as the track finally settles into its groove, a slamming epiphany imminent. Spitzer proves France still has fertile fields to harvest for yet another generation of club kids.

Disco Biscuits [MP3, 7.9MB, 192kbps]

www.spitzer.fr

Hasch'm'Méneum

This is a fun mystery.

Having stumbled upon Hasch'm'Méneum through the backalleys of Last.fm, I have yet to find any more information on them. The best source of information comes in the way of the “electrojazz” tag given to them on said social music network. Normally we at Moodmat shun genre names, especially those of the hastily taped- and stapled-together variety. But this one ain’t bad. Hasch'm'Méneum’s “jazz” has a blues-y chug to it, and their “electro” bubbles a bit under the surface. So songs like “Heliotrope” wouldn’t be out of place in a Jazzanova set, and “Slide” evokes the “future sound of Hull,” a.k.a. Fila Brazillia. Who are these masked men? And why did they leave us two free albums to download?

Dan Sicko (special guest to 3hive.com)

Heliotrope [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Slide [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Christerium [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
Red Sniper [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]

www.last.fm/music/Hasch'm'Méneum

Múm

For the uninitiated: Múm makes music that would emanate from Willy Wonka's jewelry box. I can close my eyes and actually see their music. It looks like a found object sculpture, with various instruments, kitchen utensils, and all manner of gadgets (analog and digital) piled high and held together with catgut and twine. A marvelous contraption set in motion and song by dropping a large marble into a bright chrome cylinder soldered to the top. As the marble travels down the sculpture, in, out, and back in again, it triggers notes, chords, voices, tiny starched flags adorned with glitter and stars and fastened to thin gold poles, flickering in and out of view—an explosion of sparkles signaling each change of timbre and tone, beat and bell, melody and mood. In a word, or two, utterly fanciful. Múm is the music of the butterflies that tickle your heart when you're in love. If this is the first Múm song you've ever heard, please don't let it be your last...

Dancing Behind My Eyelids [MP3, 5.1MB, 170kbps]

www.fat-cat.co.uk
www.randomsummer.com
www.myspace.com/mumtheband

Cale Parks

Cale Parks — multi-instrumentalist for the band Aloha — released a solo album — Illuminated Manuscripts — about a year ago. It's shimmery and delicate and quivery and pretty much electronic, save for the snappy live percussion. These characteristics contrast so nicely with the rasp and grit of the acoustic folk rock that's lately been pouring through my earbuds that I don't care how old it is; I'm just happy to be in the haze.

Wet Paint [MP3, 6MB, 192kbps]

www.polyvinylrecords.com
www.myspace.com/caleparksmusic

Mojib

Staffan Ulmert (aka Mojib) shares a taste in music with many of us here at 3hive. He lists Explosions in the Sky, UNKLE, Sixtoo, and The Avalanches as inspirations. Instead of blah, blah, blahgging about about these artists however, Ulmert settles down in front of his computer in Gothenburg, Sweden, and composes his own music and remixes some of his favorite artists (check out his remix of Ian Brown and his UNKLE / Notwist mashup). No new formula here: solid hip-hop beats, pop melodies, strings, pianos, and samples galore (what's that main riff in "Break of Dawn"??? It's driving me nuts. Sigur Rós? Radiohead?) Mojib provides plenty of teaser tracks on his website, but the litmus test, his first proper full-length (Whimsical Lifestyle) drops next month on Canada's Non-Existent Recordings.

Break of Dawn (demo) [MP3, 5.0MB, 229kbps]
Learn the Put Down [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
My Love [MP3, 4.2MB, 192kbps]
Ian Brown - Upside Down (Mojib Remix) [MP3, 5.3MB, 192kbps]
UNKLE / Notwist - In a State (Mojib mashup) [MP3, 6.7MB, 229kbps]

www.nxr.ca
www.mojib.net

Calvin Harris

Three song titles from I Created Disco, the debut long-player from Scotland's Calvin Harris, succinctly sum up the sound of the album: Electro Man-Making Merry At My Place-Disco Heat. Drop this track during any ol' get-together at your pad and you'll have the place bumping, friends, enemies!, making merry to the thumpin' bass-line. Don't take the tongue-in-cheek title literally. What Calvin Harris has created is disco in his own image: bedroom producer of the YouTube generation, behind his Amiga computer, making beats & riffs like it was 1984, the year of his birth.

Merry Making At My Place [MP3, 4.7MB, 160kbps]
Merry Making At My Place (Mr. Oizo remix) [MP3, 4.0MB, 160kbps]
Acceptable in the '80s [MP3, 6.4MB, 160kbps]

www.almostgoldrecordings.com
www.calvinharris.co.uk

St. Vincent

Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, used to play guitar with the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, which might account for her pleasingly random-seeming musical influences. Contrary to standard operating procedure, I don't have a whole lot else to say other than I really like this woman, she has pluck and style and and I think you should listen to her. Plus, you've gotta love a woman who names her album "Marry Me." Brassy!

Now Now [MP3, 3.95MB, 160kbps]

www.beggarsgroupusa.com
www.myspace.com/stvincent
www.www.ilovestvincent.com

General Elektriks

This gem's been on the back burner for two years! Ouch. I started a post on General Elektriks back in August of 2005, the year his debut album came out. I remember the label pulled the MP3s, and since we like to play nicely with others, I pulled the review (crying, all the while, on the inside, gettin' all emo). Since then, Quannum has partnered with a solid digital distributor, ioda promonet, and the goods are back! This is such a great album. French-Brit, and current resident of Berkeley, CA, RV Salters, is General Elektriks, a man with an impressive quiver of vintage keyboards and the playing skills to go along with it. Smooth 'n' easy grooves made for lazy summer afternoons. Quantic said it best, "Like the Beatles in a pub brawl with the Neptunes." And as a bonus, plenty of the Quannum crew make guest appearances on the album. Two-years-old, but packaged with stay-fresh beats. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Looks like General Elektriks will strike again early next year. He's been busy with his other project Honeycut.

Facing That Void (w/Maroons) [MP3, 4.3MB, 189kbps]
Tu M'intrigues [MP3, 7.4MB, 216kbps]
Take You Out Tonight (w/Lateef the Truthspeaker) [MP3, 7.0MB, 183kbps]

www.quannum.com
www.general-elektriks.com

Justice

Justice is a French DJ duo known for, among other things, a rumbling synthetic bassline that hits you like an electric shock. They released the addictive if woefully abbreviated Waters of Nazareth EP just over a year ago, and I've been dancing to it, especially the piece de resistance title track, ever since. Now, mind you, I was born without a stitch of rhythm or grace, so when I say I've been dancing to it, what I really mean is that I've been bobbing my head to it. But trust me, it's been a wicked head-bob. "Waters of Nazareth," unfortunately, has never been available in its original form as a free download (understandable for club DJs who live track to track) so you'll have to go to MySpace and listen to it through your browser. Likewise "D.A.N.C.E.," Justice's latest cool-kid craze (with an awfully cool video to boot). And there's plenty more where that came from: It may have taken over a year for the boys to get together an LP's worth of originals, but they've been rather busy mashing, remixing, and getting remixed. Here's just a sampling—go to Vice's great MP3 "Blog Up Your Jaxxy" for loads more hard-to-find Justice tracks and remixes.

Cross Medley [MP3, 12.3MB, 320kbps]
Waters of Nazareth (John Redden Mix) [MP3, 8.9MB, 192kbps]
D.A.N.C.E. (Justice vs. Data Paste Back Remix) [MP3, 8.8MB, 256kbps]
D.A.N.C.E. (Tittsworth Remix) [MP3, 5.3MB, 192kbps]
Blood On Our Hands (Justice vs. Death from Above 1979) [MP3, 5.4MB, 192kbps]
Show Me How to D.A.N.C.E. (Justice vs. Jay-Z) [MP3, 4MB, 160kbps]
Me Against the Music (Justice vs. Madonna & Britney Spears) [MP3, 4.7MB, 160kbps]

myspace.com/etjusticepourtous
www.vicerecords.com

George Sarah

It's been almost four years since I had George Sarah and his string trio on my KUCI show. And just about as long since he's released a proper album. He's back again tonight on the program, this time as a guest DJ and I look forward to catching up with him. I do know he's been hard at work scoring music for, and placing his music in, television and film. One listen and you'll hear why his work is sought after. Sarah's downtempo beats and synth work flow in and around gorgeous strings of all shapes and sizes. He calls it Electronic Chamber music. I call it a super-smooth-chill-explosion. Cool down your hot summer head with some George Sarah swimming between your ears.

Lament (previously unreleased) [MP3, 3.8MB, 160kbps]
Untitled [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
Sonata For Petra [MP3, 6.9MB, 192kbps]

www.georgesarah.com
www.myspace.com/georgesarahmusic

Laurie Anderson

It's rare for a label to offer up a free track from their catalog, from one of their bread and butter albums, the albums that pay their bills year after year (not that Laurie Anderson is bringing in barrels of cash for WMG...). Even more rare is finding Laurie Anderson, the iconoclastic musician-artist-instrument maker (the tape-bow violin), revisiting her older projects. "Let X=X" can be found on her 1982 album Big Science, an early mainstream electronic album. The lyrics are wonderfully disjointed, seemingly found sentences, notes and conversations woven together with swelling synths, handclaps and doubled vocoder vocals. I believe this re-issue will be the first of several from Anderson's catalog. Take advantage! If your music collection is void of Laurie Anderson start filling that void today and expand your education in American electronic artists.

Let X=X [MP3, 4.5MB, 160kbps]

www.nonesuch.com
www.laurieanderson.com

South Central

Leave it to a couple Brits, thousands of miles away from the hood, to snag South Central as the moniker for their punked-up, electronic efforts. Don't, however, expect them to address gang politics or aesthetics in their dance floor offerings. On their forthcoming single, due August 13th on Regal's Single Club, the b-side track, "Revolution," and its refrain "Can't stop the wheel," pays homage to both Spacemen 3 and to the novel of Russian philosopher/mystic P.D. Ouspensky, The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, who explores the idea of eternal recurrance. Deep, trippy stuff to be sure. Catch their DJ sets or live appearances (with a five piece band) this summer in London and its surroundings. If they ever slow down their remix work, hopefully South Central will concentrate on banging out their very own, proper album. An archaic wish I know...

Revolution [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]

www.regal.co.uk
www.myspace.com/southcentralmusic

Various - From L.A. With Love

Andrew Lojero brings musical and visual artists together as a collection and an introduction to the prolific art movement currently unfolding in Los Angeles. Usual suspects like Madlib, Daedelus and Nobody all provide tracks under various monikers. But newcomers such as Georgia Anne Muldrow and Gaby Hernandez also make significant contributions. Lojero passed the tracks along to visual artists with the mandate to produce works of art inspired by the songs. Several of these works are provided below. No stranger to this vibrant art scene, Andrew Lojero curated this collection as he has been curating live gatherings, er, parties, legal and otherwise, all over the L.A. area: in lofts, under bridges and in warehouses. From L.A. With Love places the power to party likewise in the palm of your hand.

DJ Kutmah - Art Don't Sleep Megamix [MP3, 16.6MB, 128kbps]
(an 18 minute mix featuring each track from the album)

www.milanrecords.com
www.myspace.com/artdontsleep

Detektivbyrån

I've always had a love-hate relationship with instrumental music. As a compulsive reader, songs have often been an extension of that compulsion, and I've always been drawn to verbose, dense songs that have something to say aside from the music itself. And if I can relate to what is being said, then all the better. But every once in a while songs sans words manage to tickle some small place in our brains and can speak to us directly without having to say anything. I don't know if this is that for you, but without getting into it, Detektivbyrån is from Goteborg (Sweden's second city) and with their simplicity, chimes, accordians and ethereal Amelie-esque charm, they have managed to thrust me straight back to the time I was in their city and I'll be damned if this isn't the wordless soundtrack to my time there, only discovered after the fact. And so, they must be added to the short list of musicians who work in the instrumental form who just plain old move me.

E18 [MP3, 5.2MB, 206kbps]
Nattopet [MP3, 5.2MB, 128kbps]
Dansbanan [MP3, 5.6MB, 200kbps]

www.detektivbyran.net
www.myspace.com/detektivbyran

Transformantra

Today, thanks to the folks at Canadian net-label Decibel Palace, we rediscover a rare electronic quartet with a taste for techno, funk, and 80s synth-sounds. The resulting output resembles Mr. Scruff circa year 2099, a playful, futuristic-nostalgia. Toronto's answer to Kraftwerk? Unfortunately the band disbanded eight years ago after releasing an initial 12" (with "Liquor Mart" as the a-side) and a 10-track debut featuring a remix by Freaky Chakra. Dave Allen (Gang of Four, Shriekback) planned on releasing their sophomore effort on his World Domination label. When his domination attempt failed the album was shelved and the band went on their separate ways. Live, Transformantra employed live instrumentation and improvisational re-mixing and set King Svenie (a veteran rave dancer/illustrator) loose on the stage, dancing around, costumed like the cosmos. Here's hoping for a Transformantra reunion show in the Gobi tent at Coachella!

Liquor Mart [MP3, 8.5MB, 192kbps]
Sleet [MP3, 8.9MB, 192kbps]

Buy from iTunes

www.decibelpalace.com
www.myspace.com/transformantra

65 Days of Static

Just read my original post...so much has changed and so much hasn't. Same goes for 65 Days of Static. They're still making instrumental rock that I actually like. But they've since matured their sound a bit. It's less of an aural blitz and more of subtle, studied sound. Don't get me wrong, they still have an edge to them: they had to kick a Scottish after-school dance troupe out of their own auditorium to record the grand piano for this album. Now that's rock 'n' roll.

Original post (12/20/2004): I just got back from two weeks of working in London. Sounds great, I know, and for the most part it was. But, as a wise man once crooned, "being apart ain't easy on this love affair." So, as I fought jet lag and IMed my wife at 2am, I'd leave the TV on in the background for a little company. I usually kept it on mute, but when the video for 65 Days of Static's "Retreat!Retreat!" flickered on, I turned up the volume and got sucked right in. Why can't we just swap these guys for Linkin Park and make the charts a better place for everyone? Here are a couple secular tracks, plus a seasonal treat to play in your iPod as you fight through the crowds at Toys 'R' Us. Ho ho ho, indeed.

from The Destruction of Small Things (2007):
When We Were Younger and Better [MP3, 6.4MB, 128kbps]
Don't Go Down to Sorrow [MP3, 6.5MB, 128kbps]

from The Fall of Math (2004):
Hole [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]

Unreleased:
I'm Dreaming of a White Noise Christmas/Christina [MP3, 4.5MB, 128kbps]

www.monotremerecords.com
www.dustpunkrecords.com
www.65daysofstatic.com

Dntel

Lately there have been all these commercials for the NYC "easy listening" radio station and despite my general aversion to anything "easy" (especially when "listening"), I've been fascinated by how calm the woman on the advertisement is. One has to wonder... is it the music? Well I'm not ready to throw in the musical towel yet and so my latest solution to needing a little sonic R&R is going to have to be Dntel. Dntel is definitely not going to make the evening drive line-up next to Celine Dion BUT Dntel is Jimmy Tamborello (also part of The Postal Service and Figurine)--which earns him some cred in my book. His vocals are calmer (and prettier) than Ben Gibbard's (although BG gets points for style) and the beats are a little lighter and more folky-playful. The end result is that I can't turn it off. It's a lovely and complicated melange of bips and tics that also manages to calm and soothe. Interesting. It ain't easy like I thought I wanted, but it's just right. As always, some tracks are included here, but the intrepid listener can find the whole album on Dntel's Myspace page...

The Distance (Ft. Arthur & Yu) [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]
Dumb Luck [MP3, 6.2MB, 160kbps]

www.subpop.com/
www.dntelmusic.com
www.myspace.com/dntel

The Go Find

More goodness from Morr Records. The Go Find, which began as a solo project of Dieter Sermeus, has developed into more of a full band affair. To get a sense of where The Go Find searches for inspiration, consider the artists they covered for a recent 7": Hall & Oates backed with Pavement. A winning combination in my book. "Dictionary" blends both sounds well—understated, indie vocals over soft, 80s-style, electro-disco instrumentation (complete with echoing handclaps and Roxy Music-esque guitar riffs).

Dictionary [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]

www.morrmusic.com
www.thegofind.com

Hooray for Earth

Given the season, it's appropriate that "Simple Plan," one of my favorite songs of late, could be described as triumphant. Don't get me wrong, ain't nothing preachy about Hooray for Earth. Though you could say they're on a bit of a mission. They appear determined to make every one of their songs sound freakin' epic. They start with the big-guitars-meet-big-synths sound—then proceed to send it skyward and never look back. "Simple Plan" is a classic example. For the first 20 seconds it rumbles through low-gear grunge, then bursts into a glorious, spiraling new wave anthem that would make Icicle Works blush. "So Happy" picks up the pace, like Self jettisoning in an escape pod from his bedroom studio. Their self-titled debut is worth it if only for the ridiculously catchy (as proven by the track's popularity on iTunes) vocal hook from "Everything We Want": "Put on your makeup, I want to get out."

Simple Plan [MP3, 6.6MB, 192lbps]
So Happy [MP3, 6.6MB, 192lbps]

Buy from iTunes
myspace.com/hooray4earth
www.hoorayforearth.net

The Blow

It's been a little bleak here on Wednesdays, and I've been MIA for a couple of weeks -- but hopefully you will all enjoy today's musical selection and forgive the midweek blackout of late. The Blow, consisting of Khaela Maricich & Jona Bechtolt from Portland, OR, have been carrying me through a busy time. The music is rife with slick modern beats, but there is a super pop, super earnest candy center. Throughout the album there are many, many references to how hard it is for girls and boys to come together and I admit (with a blush and an eyeroll) that when Khaela sings "really you just injured my pride" I had a moment where I was like "um, did I write this song???" As usual, file under: better late than never.

Pile of Gold [MP3, 2.9MB, 160kbps]

Sam's original post: 01/10/05
I was going to wait for Valentine's Day to post this, but couldn't because I've been waiting long enough as it is. The Blow is one unassuming Khaela Maricich whose catalog of come-ons is sultry, clever, and disarming enough to lure even the most reluctant players to bed. When I say players, I don't mean Fabolous or Jermaine Dupri. I mean the mysterious outsiders, the John Cusacks of the world. To some such player, Khaela sings, "I'd love to make you nervous/I'd love to make you sweat/I'd love to make you breakfast the morning after..." How you gonna say no to that? And if you do, would you be pal and pass her number along?

Knowing the Things That I Know [MP3, 3.6MB, 192kbps]

http://www.theblow.us
www.myspace.com/theblowus
http://www.tomlab.com
www.krecs.com
www.statesrightsrecords.com

All India Radio

The suggestion box here at 3hive gets worked overtime. We have blessed suggestions coming in from our kind readers, we have emails from bands and labels that we are also grateful for, and we get a whole lot of spam, as is expected with a published email address on the world wide web. There's one spam email that we regularly get for an Indian television site (no, I'm not going to share the url, we don't want to encourage them), so I was so close to passing over an email for All India Radio when it arrived. Not the one that's the only Indian radio station broadcast in the real time over the internet. I'm talking about the one that's the Australian downtempo electronica group inspired by the sounds of Indian street life and the KLF. And for a reference point for A.I.R., think no further than that other "AIR" band...yes...that's the one...Air French Band.

Four Three [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]

www.allindiaradio.com.au
www.mintyfresh.com

The Rapture

More dance punk disco funk from the Rapture. Does anyone need more than that?

Whoo! Alright-Yeah... Uh Huh [MP3, 4.4MB, 160kbps]

www.therapturemusic.com/
www.vertigorecords.co.uk

Miho Hatori

The last time 3hive.com saw Miho Hatori, she was singing some samba with Smokey Hormel. But that was '04, and things have moved on a bit. On Ecdysis — Miho’s debut solo album released on Rykodisc last October — the multilingual chanteuse hops from genre to genre and continent to continent. Looking for Caribbean rhythms? How about Southeast Asian? African? Just keeping skipping through the tracks on the album; eventually you'll get there.

Barracuda [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]

www.rykodisc.com
www.myspace.com/mihohatori

Corwin Trails

So Rob M. suggested this one because his cousin's roommate's best friend's brother is in the band, or something like that; I coudn't keep it straight. What I do get is the ambient beats and noise laid down by Corwin Trails. Pleasant melodies, event bouncy at times, coexist among fractured and warped samples and scratches. Walls are built and crumble, time stops and starts — it all reminds me of this paper I wrote in college about how, in his poem The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot subverted the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (Sure he did!) Providers of the soundtrack to the film version of this epic battle between physics and literature: Corwin Trails.

Hakim Bay [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]
Sand Castles [MP3, 5MB, 192kbps]
Icicle [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]

www.archaichorizon.com
www.myspace.com/corwintrails

WJ Kington

WJ Kington spends lots of time around his house recording found sounds, tapping on walls and household appliances and recording the results. Sometimes he just sits at the piano and records his improvisations. Rather than "perfecting" the recordings he'll leave in sounds of passing trains and the crows scratching at his roof. What's left are highly engaging compositions. I found these tracks via boingboing.net (if they're not already a habit don't start!) which linked to "I'm Talin," a track made from samples of his young son ripping apart a cardboard box which he'd strung with rubber bands. Be sure to stop by his site for stories on each of the songs.

Sunken Sky [MP3, 2.0MB, 128kbps]
I'm Talin [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Bubble House [MP3, 1.7MB, 128kbps]
Crows Upon the Roof [MP3, 2.7MB, 128kbps]
Making Rain [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]

theurbanmyths.blogspot.com

Apes and Androids

Despite the fact that I’m sensing a whole lot of holiday spirit from the 3hive dudes this week, I’m going to have to deviate from the norm and express my relief that the world has returned to its normal state of affairs. And in the coming days, I’ll have to step aside and let someone else find you all that hot new ghettotech version of Auld Lang Syne. In any case, the seasonal lights may still be up, people may still be out of town, but the madness is over. And for a grinch like me, that means some celebration is in order. Who knew that NYC band Apes and Androids would provide just the kind of relief I was looking for? I’m naturally arrhythmic and dancing has just never been my thing, so what a miracle it is that I cannot stop dancing around my apartment to “Radio”! Seriously, this is huge. I’ve been dancing all weekend! There was a time when uber-electronic music that made other people want to bump and grind really didn’t speak out to me, but times are a-changing and Apes and Androids happen to be clever about the placements of their bleeps and zips and pings, which helps. Of course, let us not discount the value of hearing something fun after all these days of cheer and sentimentality. A&A are new to the game, and will be releasing their album in early 2007, but while I wait, I plan on buying a pair of good flat shoes to dance in ALL NIGHT LONG. Ah, how sweet to remember just how fun life can be when you need a holiday from the holidays.

Radio [MP3, 5.5MB, 192 kbps]
Hot Kathy [MP3, 6.5MB, 192 kbps]
Nights of the Week [MP3, 6.6MB, 192 kbps]

www.apesandandroids.com
www.myspace.com/apesandandroids

PostPrior

As my friends and family will attest, I'm a big fan of Christmas-y songs — new and old, classic and offbeat. So I'm always thrilled when I hear a new entry in the genre, such as this ditty from PostPrior (Midwest Product's Ben Mullins and drummer/descendent-of-circus-acrobats Michael Kuzmanovski). PostPrior's Touched Pilot EP is an icy cool treat in its own right, with its intricately composed and delightfully goofy new wave soul. But, for now, the lyrics to "Snow Orge" so you can sing along on the way to Grandma's house:

"Confusing Scientists
With Conscious thought and moving limbs
The sun comes out and then he melts
Only to re-form again

Avoiding Mobs and cops
Because they know not what he does
Cause this his life 'twas forged in ice
And so misunderstood

GO SNOW OGRE, POUND YOUR FISTS AND ROAR
GO SNOW OGRE, A FINE AMBASSADOR
GO SNOW OGRE, LET THE SNOWFLAKES FALL
GO SNOW OGRE, THE ICE CONSUMES US ALL

Mom and dad, are just a lab, he has no place, of residence
Alone on Christmastime

Speeding Sleds, Gingerbread, Hyper kids, packages
Rotate through his mind

In the snow, he built a fort, with fine decor and even more
The Ogre trims the tree

Down below, warmer homes, throw a bone, and telephone
Say Ogre PLAY WITH ME.

Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, go snow ogre go!
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, pound your fists and roar
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, go snow ogre go!
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, a fine ambassador
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, go snow ogre go!
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, let the snowflakes fall
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, go snow ogre go!
Go snow ogre, go snow ogre, the ice consumes us all"

Happy holidays, one and all :)

Snow Orge [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.myspace.com/postprior

Thieves Like Us

A great tip from Lismore's email blast. The two bands just played Friday at the Delancy in NYC. I can't stop listening to the 12" from Thieves Like Us. This A-side plays like a lost track from the Trainspotting soundtrack. A little New Order, a little Daft Punk, a lot of dance floor fun. A tribute to tripping. 3hive does not condone illegal drug use (at least not before breakfast), but we fully support dropping beats that induce body moving euphoria. Tune into these two Swedes and a Yankee and let yourself go.

For those of you keeping score at home, this post marks 3hive's 1,000th entry. Make some noise!

Drugs in My Body [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

http://www.thieves-like-us.com

L.A.O.S.

I've been holding out on posting this one...holding out for the day when L.A.O.S.'s brilliant (not to mention educational!) "Panda Style" single becomes available to the masses—or to me, at least. Alas, it's not widely available in any format and I can't, according to the 3hive Oath, keep awesome free MP3 downloads to myself. L.A.O.S. (Large Amount of Soul) are a drum 'n' bass trio from Helsinki with a great ear for deep hooks, cheeky samples, and beats that won't quit. "Drowning Deep Inside Your Soul" is a good taste of their sound. However, if you want to hear "Panda Style" you can stream it from their MySpace page, or download the DJ Abraham (1/3 of L.A.O.S.) mix from their old school site where it sits alongside some other killer dubplates. Also, if you don't mind voiceover—and in this particular case I really don't—I'd recommend the thrilling Hospital Records podcast where I first heard "Panda Style" (thanks Moodmat!). Rumor has it, L.A.O.S. will release at least one title on Hospital in the near future. Fingers crossed it's you-know-what...

Drowning Deep Inside Your Soul [MP3, 15.4MB, 320kbps]

www.largeamountofsoul.net
www.myspace.com/largeamountofsoul

Caural

Caural is short for Chicago's Artful Underdog Resists Abstract Labeling. Okay, I made that up. Caural is the stagename for multi-talented musician Zachary Mastoon whose off-kilter beats, found samples, and moody synths often find him compared to Four Tet, Prefuse 73, and Daedelus. Flattering company as far as I'm concerned, but not necessarily satisfying as a description. He's got a sound all his own and each track packs its own little surprises if you listen carefully.

from Mirrors for Eyes (2006):
I Won't Race You [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]

from Remembering Today (2005):
Entre Chien et Loup [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]

www.mushrecords.com
www.chocolateindustries.com
www.myspace.com/caural
www.caural.net

Huma

Huma started out as a duo of New Jerseyites who wanted to counter the smothering influence of malls and suburban sprawl. Their answer: Folktronic pop blessed with a childlike innocence. Score one for the good guys.

from We Are Here for You (2006):
Feels Like I'm Walking
Waking Up

from 2003 demo EP:
Dream

www.cult-hero.com
www.humamusic.com

Roger O'Donnell

A man and his Moog. Not just any man mind you, Roger O'Donnell has tickled the ivorys for The Cure and Psychedlic Furs. However, don't expect his solo album to flash you back to the glitter and glam of the 80s, rather, The Truth in Me is an exercise in limitation. All the music here is composed using one instrument, the Moog Voyager, an analog synthesizer (a few tracks feature vocals by Erin Lang). You'll hear that what Roger O'Donnell discovers is both warm and chill, human and machine, the collision of opposites that makes truth possible.

Not Without You [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]

www.worlds-fair.net
www.rogerodonnell.com

Boyskout

I originally posted about Boyskout two years ago when they released their debut. As you can see below, I was quite smitten. I still am...this time by the range and sophistication of their follow-up, Another Life. They go from fragile innocence ("Everybody Knew") to smoldering spite ("Happy Yet?") without letting up on the sexually charged energy. Welcome back, girls.

Original post from 8/25/2004: Boyskout are not boys at all. In fact, I don't even think they are "into" boys, if you get my drift... So why is it that I feel all special inside every time I listen to "Back to Bed"? Because something about their black magic new wave transcends sexual politics and brings out the freak in me.

from Another Life (2006):
Happy yet? [MP3, 2.3MB, 128kbps]
Fantastic [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Everybody Knew [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]

from School of Etiquette (2004):
Back to Bed [MP3, 3.1MB, 160kbps]
Girl on Girl [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
Secrets [MP3, 2.8MB, 160kbps]

www.threeringrecords.com
www.alive-totalenergy.com
www.boyskout.com

The Baldwin Brothers

It's late. I'm beat. I'm starting to hallucinate: flashing slices of pepperoni...But I want everyone to have a fresh, hot cup o' music first thing on a Sunday morning. The new Baldwin Brothers album is appropriately titled The Return of the Golden Rhodes because as you'll hear, just about every song has T.J. Widner ripping on his "main ax," the Rhodes keyboard. Most of the tracks groove along like Starsky & Hutch, Welcome Back Kotter, or Sesame Street, except for the closer "The Party's Over" which turns down the Rhodes and gets all Moody Blues on us. Mark Lanegan provides the moody vocals. The track does stop the party in its tracks, and frankly isn't representive of the rest of the album. Even "Leave the Past Behind" fails to keep pace with the rest of the album's block rocking funk. What's a boy to do? Those are the tracks we get to work with. Sharers can't be choosers. Just make a note, if you like the tracks from their EP, know that most of the new album is similar rug-cutting material.

from Return of the Golden Rhodes:
Leave the Past Behind [MP3, 6.6MB, 205kbps]
The Party's Over [MP3, 4.1MB, 186kbps]

from Funk Shui EP:
That's Right [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Funky Junkyard [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]

Buy from iTunes
www.tvtrecords.com
www.baldwinstyle.com

Radio Citizen

Radio Citizen updates the big band concept for the hip hop generation. To be more precise, Radio Citizen is Niko Schabel, a one-man big band really, with a cast of players, including Indian-born vocalist Bajka. "The Hop's" bluesy beats, grinding organ riffs, and seductively soulful vocals resurrect trip hop's potential and tap hip hop's power and promise—the ability to combine genres and moods to create a new work of art. Radio Citizen's source genres are a potpourri of sixties jazz, funk 45s, soul, dub and reggae, afrobeat, electronica, trippy avantgarde, surf, Latin, boogaloo, and rocksteady just to name a few. Get in on this track now for an injection of soul into your usual, soul-sucking Monday.

The Hop [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]

Buy from iTunes
www.ubiquityrecords.com
myspace.com/radiocitizen

Christopher Willits

Hot on the heels of his release with with Brad Laner (ex-Medicine) as North Valley Subconscious Orchestra, Christopher Willits drops this blissful solo album. Each track features layers upon layers of dreamy vocals, soaring guitars, and chirpy synths that keep washing over you until your mind is completely free. Call it shoegazer, call it stargazer, call it what you will. Just make sure you call it up on your iPod to keep you warm inside this fall.

Yellow Spring [MP3, 5MB, 128kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.myspace.com/christopherwillits
www.christopherwillits.com

Cacoy

Cacoy is a Japanese electro trio possibly named for a Filipino martial arts legend and signed to a Danish record label. Their song Piracle Pa doesn’t seem to be from any language, but the soothing organ and lilting female vocals sound like French/Canadian/British indie-pop darlings Stereolab. “Yoko Majikick Ono” seems to be named for the Japanese-born U.S. resident, and with its rubbery, buoyant cornucopia of digital burps, it sounds like a track from U.S.-born Josh Presseisen’s Japanese-named project, Marumari. In other words, it makes for good listening no matter where you lay your headphones.

Piracle Pa [MP3, 6.6MB, 128kbps]
Yoko Majikick Ono [MP3, 3.3MB, 96kbps]

www.rumraket.net

The Black Neon

I have to admit I've been squatting on this one for a while. Leaving a blank post in ol' Movable Type just to keep my 3hive colleagues from posting The Black Neon before I do. But blank posts aren't a very effective way of sharing the sharing, so here goes... The Black Neon's first full-length is called Arts and Crafts. It's a regular appetizer tray of styles, as evidenced by these two tracks — one a nostalgic psych-pop ballad, the other a searing electro-rock instrumental. And there's even more goodness if you dig deeper on the album, which I'd love to play for you in its entirety but that's your job now, isn't it?

Ralph & Barbara [MP3, 3.3MB, 160kbps]
Hollywood 1, 2 & 3 [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kbps]

www.memphis-industries.com
www.myspace.com/theblackneon

Eliot Lipp

Tacoma, Washington. Home of the underappreciated, yet thoroughly ruling punk band Seaweed. At one point I think I had eight Seaweed t-shirts. One of them had the band's logo on the front, and in large, capital letters "VISUALIZE TACOMA." I've never been to Tacoma, but from what I hear there's nothing special to visualize. Then there's Eliot Lipp. His two latest releases were recorded in L.A. while he had Tacoma on the brain. So what did he do? AURALIZE TACOMA. The soulful grooves on Tacoma Mockingbird, and the new Days EP, grew from his moods and emotions while reflecting back on his hometown and friends. His output is a simple, yet simmering synth stew of well-worn breakbeats with Lipp's retro, yet timeless, twist. His goal was to create a classic electro sound which he pulled off with his economic use of synths and beats. Think New Order pitched down to Grandmaster Five's tempo, and drop in a lick of their rhythm.

From The Days EP:
Eyesore [MP3, 3.4MB, 192kbps]
Glasspipe (Daedelus Journey to the Center Remix) [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

From Tacoma Mockingbird:
Rap Tight [MP3, 5.2MB, 160kbps]

Buy from iTunes
www.easterndevelopments.com
www.heftyrecords.com
www.eliotlipp.net

Originally posted 05/10/05:

One of my favorite labels, Scott Herren's Eastern Developments, recently made MP3s available on their site. Well, actually just one MP3. In fact, it's a remix, not even an original track. Hey, you know how the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers (although around here we prefer "sharers" over beggars...). This remix brightens up Eliot Lipp's usual dusty, hip-hop groove. Track down Lipp's full-length for twelve underground, soulful rhythms sans rhymes.

Neutral (Leo123 Remix) [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]

Languis

Hmmm. I've been somewhat bored with music lately. Slow stuff is really getting to me. I saw Radiohead in LA a few weeks ago, and while it was a good show ("Paranoid Android" was awesome!), when the stagehands started wheeling the piano out, that was my queue to sit down. I just fly through my old lady's iPod on shuffle. Boring. Next. Boring. Next. Boring. Next. Maybe it's due to my advancing years, but I need something with some zing to it, some energy! Of course I say that and here I find myself digging out LA's Languis. Their drive to create electronic music with real instruments is intriguing, as are their frequent releases, their impressive list of contributors, and their musical histories. Which because I'm sick of writing, I'm going to make you read for yourselves at the links below, after listening to "In The Fields of (Lonely Fences)" from their Other Desert Cities EP.

In The Fields of (Lonely Fences) [MP3, 4.5MB, 128kbps]

www.plugresearch.com
pehrlabel.com
www.simballrec.com

Hexes and Ohs

Listening to "Alive Until Saturday Night" by Hexes and Ohs made me want to pull out my New Order albums from high school and get back into that groove again, but of course, they're on vinyl! Like I have a turn-table... besides the one I got for my 12th birthday in 1983, which is probably in my parents' basement somewhere. For better or worse, their other downloadable track below, "This and Other Distances," calls to mind Death Cab for Cutie rather than the sounds from when sequencers were young. Hexes and Ohs, a Montreal duo with an '05 album, Goodbye Friend, Welcome Lover, and maybe another coming soon, are another great suggestion from Dawntread (she sent us Canasta from last week).

Alive Until Saturday Night [MP3, 6.3MB, 160kbps]
This and Other Distances [MP3, 6.1MB, 160kbps]

www.noisefactoryrecords.com
www.hexesandohs.ca

Solo Andata

My family is about 1700 miles away right now, which probably makes me even more of a sucker than usual for this meditative, lonely man's free jazz. Or maybe there's an even deeper connection I'm feeling... Solo Andata is a long-distance duo as well: Paul Piocco and Kane Ikin, who live in Perth, Australia, and Stockholm, Sweden, respectively. They collaborate by means of modern connectivity, as I do with my wife and kids, which is great but means you kinda have to fill in the gaps in time and distance with your own imagination and memories. The resulting sessions are sparse, yet richly textured and nuanced, giving you the sense—and I know I sound like Abe Simpson when I say this— that you can actually hear the wear and tear that comes from sending their tracks back and forth over such long distances. Be sure to check out their remix as part of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Stop Rokkasho project, available on their MySpace page.

A Ballet Of Hands [MP3, 6.9MB, 160kbps]
The Echo's Left Behind [MP3, 8.0MB, 192kbps]
Sukieneice [MP3, 6.2MB, 160kbps]

www.heftyrecords.com
www.myspace.com/soloandata
www.soloandata.com

Jab Mica Och El

From the same label that brought you Secret Mommy come the similarly playful Jab Mica Och El from Denmark. Unlike Secret Mommy, Jacob and Michael seem less interested in making playful songs out of non-musical sounds (with the exception of the bicycle project) and more intent on making playful songs out of familiar instruments such as the banjo, flute, and tuba. After some laptop manipulation and reorganization, the sounds that emerge feel surprising and spontaneous, warm and real — as if some Appalachian robots got drunk and started to jam until they haphazardly came across a tune. Perfect for your next barbecue (Appalachian, robot, or otherwise).

from ABC Hej I'm Cola (2006):
Biojhelm Light Speed [MP3, 2.7MB, 128kbps]
Pull Up If I Pull Up [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]

from Project: Bicycle Compilation (2006):
Side Car Bicycle [MP3, 3.0MB, 160kbps]

www.acherecords.com

Sapporo 72

Sapporo 72 comes to us today courtesy of my new friend Tracy T., who made this suggestion last night as fireworks were exploding over our heads. Now, you know this whole 80's new wave thing that's been going on for a while? Think that's the only 80's drama the kids these days are unearthing? There's a whole lot more to the 80's, and in this case we're talking about electro-synth-dance-pop, a la Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Erasure, etc. So let Sweden's Sapporo 72 take you on a trip down memory lane, updated for the new millenium.

Architecture of Love [MP3, 9.2MB, 128kbps]

www.sapporo72.se

Books on Tape

Books on Tape is actually just one Todd Drootin (should that make it Book on Tape?), current resident of Los Angeles (where I'll be landing tomorrow, by the way). Todd was raised on punk, but was then hooked by electronic music and hip-hop as he began making music. The result: "beatpunk," as coined by Todd himself. The energy and spirit of punk, expressed through electronics, very deliberate and focused, not as brash and concussive as say Atari Teenage Riot or Les Georges Leningrad.

Bubblegum [MP3, 2.8MB, 160kbps]
Upon Rock City [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]

www.alien8recordings.com

Brian Eno + David Byrne

Today we're going back twenty-five years to 1981 (would someone check my math on that?). Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborated to produce the album My Life in a Bush of Ghosts. The album highlights the pair's mutual love for African pop and rhythms. The track offered here, "Regiment," is obviously influenced by such music. Its rhythms and percussion are also reminiscent of another album released in '81, Japan's Tin Drum. Eno + Byrne's album set the template for later works of world and electronic music. My Life in a Bush of Ghosts was re-mastered and re-issued this year and the complete multi-tracks to two of the songs are available for download on Bush-Of-Ghosts.com. Producers are encouraged to use the tracks in their own work, or remix the songs and upload them back to the site. The site also features archival press coverage, essays, photos from the recording sessions, a video and polaroids by David Byrne himself. A worthwhile way to spend your day procrastinating.

Regiment [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]

www.nonesuch.com
www.bush-of-ghosts.com
www.enoweb.co.uk (fan site)
www.davidbyrne.com

Si Schroeder

I love the first line of description regarding this guy on the Trust Me I'm a Thief website: "Si Schroeder is a six-foot hairy male who makes 'music'." To how many people in this world does that sentence apply, I wonder. And is it the hairiness or his height that matters the most (or the combination of the two)? Anyway, with all of the above you get Irish psychedelic electronica in a cool ambient vibe, and if you find yourself wanting it more, Si Schroeder's debut album Coping Mechanisms will be released in fall 2006.

Lavendermist [MP3, 6.5MB, 128kbps]
Brailowsky (remix) [MP3, 5.6MB, 128kbps]

www.trustmeimathief.com

Marumari

Marumari makes electronic music just the way I like it, when I'm in the mood to chill to it, not dance to it ('cuz let me tell you, it ain't no easy feat to harness the energy of my dance moves in a little song. Nuh, uh. No way. But I'm not dancing now. And I imagine you aren't either if you're reading this—unless you've got moves I'm unfamiliar with). It's smooth, warm, and he keeps things interesting without the glitch, klack, sputter. There's an Eastern sensibility at work here, as if he's creating extended mixes of haiku. All this from a young American raised on Pee Wee's Playhouse with an unexplicable penchant for Gap clothes. Problem is, Marumari, aka Josh Presseisen, has been regrettably silent for the past four years, with the exception of this EP that he's been giving away on his site since last year. Only for "awhile" he warns. Well, the links are still good, but who knows for how long. Get 'em while you can (btw: some of the smaller files sound like clips). I should mention here that Sam turned me onto Marumari back in the last millenium, and Brian over at Fun Time OK hipped me to the free Pathscrubber EP.

Birch Beer Forest [MP3, 5.0MB, 192kbps]
Inside Washing Machine #2 [MP3, 643KB, 192kbps]
Som 1-01 [MP3, 4.1MB, 160kbps]
Lenticular Vehicular [MP3, 722KB, 160kbps]
Probed the Maw [MP3, 2.3MB, 160kbps]
Zyphormius [MP3, 6.0MB, 160kbps]
Pathscrubber [MP3, 1.2MB, 160kbps]
Hand That Byte [MP3, 2.3MB, 160kbps]
Birch Bark Vessel [MP3, 1.6MB, 160kbps]
Smart Birch [MP3, 2.3MB, 160kbps]
Freed Guitar (Bonus Track) [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]
Presumer Nagas (Bonus Track) [MP3, 1.8MB, 160kbps]
Lyortoi (Bonus Track) [MP3, 1.7MB, 160kbps]

www.marumari.com

Manual

I promise this will be the last plug I give a Darla artist this week (gotcha...it's Saturday!). Manual is Danish prodigy Jonas Munk. At age 22, he's already got over a dozen releases to his name(s), many of them an epic 10+ minues in length. I always thought it was weird when music critics would use the term "big" to describe a sound. But that's about the best way I can think of to describe Manual. Big and warm and familiar. In fact, Darla's press release says: "In Jonas' world there's no line between dream pop and stadium rock..." So here I am, lighter held up high.

From Bajamar:
Celebration [MP3, 5.0MB, 64kbps]
From Azure Vista:
Summer of Freedom [MP3, 5.5MB, 64kbps]

www.darla.com
www.morrmusic.com
www.limp.dk

Balún

The emerging theme from the last two days is unintentional: more electronic treats from Latin America. Today it's Balún—Puerto Rico's answer to Múm. You had no idea Puerto Rico had an answer to Múm, did you? I certainly didn't. Consider ourselves clued in. Balún's songs tend toward the cinematic: gentle textures unfolding into soft rhythms and child-like vocals. These downloads are from the past couple years, but they do have a new album coming out in June on Brilliante Records out of Chicago. The video below is their first from that release, Something Comes Our Way. Oh, and Sam, let's hear you work this phrase into conversation, "hay una piscina en la nube (there's a swimming pool in the cloud)."

From While SleepingEP:
No Debería Hacer Esto / I Shouldn't Do This [MP3, 7.9MB, 192kbps]
Senecio (Revisited) [MP3, 2.9MB, 192kbps]
Mientras Dormía / While Sleeping [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]
Snol [MP3, 6.7MB, 192kbps]

From Nada Que Hacer Hoy EP:
Hay una Piscina en La Nube [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]
Senecio [MP3, 1.8MB, 192kbps]

Be Careful When You Walk [Video]:

www.brilliante.tv
www.observatoryonline.org
www.balunonline.com

Entre Rios

A three-day weekend's nothing compared to the joy of Darla Records finally getting with the times and converting their fabulous label CD sampler series, Little Darla Has a Treat for You, into a download-only affair (albeit 64kbps...). You may have already read Sean's Junk Drawer post about Little Darla Has a Download for You but I'm guessing both Clay and I will take the opportunity this week to finally herald some of our fave Darla acts. I'll start with Entre Rios. Think of them as Argentina's Everything But the Girl, because Isol just sings and Sebastian just writes. Or don't think of them as anything, and just get lost in the angelic loveliness of "Claro Que Si" (one of my favorite Spanish phrases to drop into everyday conversation) from Entre Rios' 2005 album Onda.

Claro Que Si [MP3, 1.7MB, 64kbps]

www.darla.com

Psapp

We like to keep this main column on 3hive filled exclusively with brand, spanking new posts. But in this case we'll make an exception. You see, Psapp (pronounced "sap," fyi) was one of the very first posts to this site and we've carefully followed their progress. Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann, aka Psapp, are consistently one of 3hive's most popular artists due, in large part, to Grey's Anatomy fans searching for their song "Cosy in the Rocket." The good folks at Domino have released THREE new MP3s, two from the new album The Only Thing I Ever Wanted, and one, "Wet Box," which is a vinyl only b-side on their UK release. "Wet Box" is a more playful song, along the lines of their first Melodic tracks, filled with "anything that's silly and uses stupid noises" (the band's words). The album tracks work in Galia's sultry vocals, for a feel that snuggles right up to "Cosy in the Rocket." So get downloading, because you never know how long these links will last, and hit their e-card for details on their upcoming North American tour dates with Juana Molina and José González.

Hi [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Tricycle [MP3, 2.6MB, 128kbps]
Wet Box [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]

Original post: 02/23/04
Sounding like the best eclectic electronic comp since 2002's Six Records Breaks Your Heart Again. The first track, "Difficult," is from that comp, Tracks for Horses. The second track, "Dad's Breakdown," isn't as strong, but fun nonetheless. They're super lo-fi MP3s, Melodic's definitely not showing much of their hand, but damn, can they pick 'em! Check out labelmate Pedro as well...

Difficult [MP3, 549KB, 24kbps]
Dad's Breakdown [MP3, 512KB, 24kbps]

Buy from iTunes
www.melodic.co.uk
www.dominorecordco.us
www.psapp.net

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?

Paul Cries [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]

thinkaboutlife.org
www.alien8recordings.com

Mr. Comicstore

We're closer to the '10s than we are to the '90s. And guess what happens when we hit 2010? The twenty-year flashback happens in music. It's a theory I have. Popular music recycles itself every twenty years. What's the "now" sound? We're re-living the '80s right? Started off with the electro-clash thing and it's morphed into this Talking Heads/The Cure vibe. Back in the '90s we were dealing with a re-hash of the '70s—everything from grunge's revival of hippie-rock, to the resurgence of punk. It's not a perfect theory by any means, but you can always find some interesting examples of this. Along comes Mr. Comicstore, a reminder that the DJ was king/queen of the '90s. Party DJs like Fatboy Slim were all that and a bag of chips. Whether Mr. Comicstore is early on the DJ revival, or late to the party is your call. Either way, he'll get your booty moving. (Thanks to Samantha for the tip. By the way, these aren't complete tracks, but I'll let it slide this time since they're long enough to mix into and out of on your "two [iPods] and a microphone.")

Brain Place [MP3, 950KB, 64kbps]
Grandfather's Permanent Hair [MP3, 800KB, 64kbps]
Grandfather's Permanent Hair (Dr. Ruberfunk's Remix) [MP3, 901KB, 64kbps]
Aldo Vanucci - Big Dogs Rock (Mr. Comicstore remix) [MP3, 945KB, 64kbps]

www.mr-comicstore.com

John Hughes

Let's get his pedigree out of the way. Yes, John Hughes is related to that John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller). It's a father/son relationship. The younger Hughes (the third actually) runs Hefty Records out of Chicago. Ten years ago he started the label as a way to get his own music out back when he was recording under the moniker Bill Ding (his other nom de beat is Slicker). Hefty has released some amazing albums, including the new Eliot Lipp, Telefon Tel Aviv, and essential re-issues and remixes from trombonist/Motown player, Phil Ranelin. Back to Hughes' music... "Gull" is featured on the new IA-Tunes EP, a digital version of Hefty's Immediate Action series. This track has a great xylophone riff that sounds not unlike a riff in Kraftwerk's "Tour de France." In fact, "Gull" sounds as if "Tour de France" somehow broke and Hughes came across the pieces and put them back together to form a completely new song. In fact Hughes composed pretty much the entire song with his sick collection of modular synths. If you're new to this world of Hefty, I suggest you jump in now, and jump in deep. If you're already a fan, share your favorite Hefty moments with us in the comments.

Gull [MP3, 5.0MB, 160kbps]

www.heftyrecords.com

The Cansecos

"You know what I feel like doin'? I feel like struttin'..." Another wonderful find courtesy of the CBC Radio 3 podcast. This Toronto quartet serves up warm, disco-tinged percolators guaranteed to put a little pimp in your limp. Or something like that.

Raised By Wolves [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Faster Than You Go [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]

www.upperclass.to
www.myspace.com/thecansecos

Children of the CPU

Look at the cover. Look at the band name. WYSIWYG (a little tech nerd reference of my own there). Warm, synthy pop with sweet, disposable lyrics. Perfect for an analog road trip with your windows down.

Slay Your Dragons [MP3, 5.1MB, 160kpbs]
I Spy [MP3, 4.5MB, 160kpbs]
Omega [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kpbs]

www.childrenofthecpu.com

About

Jason Forrest (aka Donna Summer) has a record label called, subtly enough, Cock Rock Disco. Said label will be releasing the full-length debut of Amsterdam's Rutger Hoedemaekers (aka About). About is all about "shredded pop," as the sticker on my review copy describes it. It is, in fact, more shredded in places (e.g., "Think Niles Drink") and more pop in others (e.g., "Strike You As the Enemy"). But sometimes About get the balance just right, which they do on a track not currently available for free and legal download (i.e., "Nogato"). Hmm, if only I could share it with you. If only... You know, you really should sign up for our mailing list. Just felt like saying that. Oh, and check the neat stop-motion video for "Think Niles Drink". And sign up for the mailing list (lower right corner of the screen, btw). Just felt like saying it again.

Think Niles Drink [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]
Strike You As the Enemy [MP3, 3.5MB, 192kbps]

www.cockrockdisco.com
www.whataboutabout.com

Data Panik

You want the bad news or the good news first? The bad news (you're so predictable): Scottish electro-pop-punkers Bis are no more. Kaput. Finito. The band that gave us the theme song to the Powerpuff Girls is dead. The good news: original Bis members Manda, Steven, and John have been joined by two other lads to form Data Panik. The torch has been passed. Now aren't you glad you heard the good news last?

Rulers and the States [MP3, 3.2MB, 160kbps]
Minimum Wage [MP3, 3.8MB, 160kbps]

www.datapanik.co.uk
www.mustdestroymusic.com

The Helio Sequence

So we just got schooled by one of our fine readers. Brittany P. wrote in with a "Currently Listening To" list of 45 bands. Everyone from The Books to Slowdive to Galaxie 500 to Boards of Canada. Then at the very end of the list was this little note: "I'm surprised none of these bands are on 3hive." Everyone should know that we often surprise ourselves with what we haven't featured on 3hive. It's those surprises that keep us doing what we do. And I believe a reminder of what we do is in order: we only feature MP3s that are provided by the artists or their labels. We made that decision early on and it's helped to differentiate us from the crazy amounts of audioblogs out there. There are a ton of bands we'd love to feature, like the ones mentioned above, but they don't have free and legal MP3s available. That said, Brittany's list is highly useful as I'm sure she includes more obvious oversights on our part. Like The Helio Sequence. So listen, enjoy their space-gazing sound, and if you live in the western part of the United States, be sure you see them on tour. And keep those suggestions coming!

Everyone Knows Everyone [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]
Blood Bleeds [MP3, 6.1MB, 192kbps]

www.subpop.com
www.theheliosequence.com

Sukpatch

They're back! They're back! Sukpatch are back! After a near seven-year hiatus, Chris and Steve are finally about to drop a new full-length full of polished bedroom beats, guitar loops, and slacker poetry on our aching ears. (If you need to get caught up on these fools, head over to Slabco and download their first two albums for free, 'cause that's how Slabco rolls.) To celebrate their new release, Sukpatch have put out an open call for remixes. Go to the Music section of their site to download remix files and instructions. The rest is up to you...and Reason, Ableton, Cakewalk, Acid, or whatever the kids are using these days. Good luck on that.

Bottom of the Well [MP3, 4.6MB, 192kbps]
No Rebellion [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]
Hey Jolie [MP3, 7.1MB, 192kbps]
Reform [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]
We Fold at the Fork [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

www.moshimoshimusic.com
www.slabco.com
www.sukpatch.com

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness

There was a time (before MP3s or listening stations) when I'd buy records based solely on the name of the band. Don't laugh, it's how I ended up discovering Echo and the Bunnymen and Siouxsie and the Banshees before they became '80s household names. It's the name that drew me to I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness which, with their shadowy, elastic heartbreakers, could have been shelved alsongside Bunnymen and Banshees back in the day. Only they're of this decade and from Austin, Texas (with ties to Windsor for the Derby). Britt Daniel of Spoon produced their debut EP and his taut and tuneful sensibilities shone through (see "Your Worst Is the Best"). Their new LP, Fear Is on Our Side, was produced by Paul Barker (of Ministry and related side projects) who made the dark corners darker (see "According to Plan"). Either way, it's good stuff and gives you the opportunity to invite this exchange: "Who is this?" "I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness." "That's nice, but who is this?"

According to Plan [MP3, 5.3MB, 160kbps]
Your Worst Is the Best [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]

www.emperorjones.com
www.secretlycanadian.com
www.chosendarkness.com

Sing-Sing

Released in the U.S. by Reincarnate Music a mere two days ago, Sing-Sing and I, this British duo's second full length album (ugh, too many twos in that sentence!) should please you U.K. pop fans who like smooth-voiced female singers, and just about anyone looking for bright yet not banal songs, some of which are downright groovy.

Come, Sing Me a Song [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

www.reincarnatemusic.com
www.sing-sing.co.uk

Protokoll

Given the Great Polarizing Talking Heads Comparison of 2005, I will attempt to describe Protokoll without referring to any beloved bands from the past four decades. Okay, here goes... Protokoll is a GANG OF FOUR scrawny, unshorn lads from Boston. It's a real JOY to see such a young band blur the DIVISION between style and substance. While Protokoll's nervous, synthy punk often bears all the charm and warmth of a BAUHAUS structure, one mustn't INTERPOLate from that a lack of feeling. Jose De Lara's dark, stoic vocals belie very simple and very HUMAN sentiments which alone puts Protokoll in a LEAGUE apart from the more fashion-conscious derivative acts of their vintage. This will set them apart down the WIRE, if they continue writing such memorable songs. There, that wasn't so hard.

Holy Divine [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]
How Can You? [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]
Worthy Nonsense [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]

www.protokoll.us

The Valentines

Two events, no, three events have created this post about the Valentines. One, WindyLou, a 3hive reader, asked why my year-end list did not include more Memphis bands. Two, my friend Vince made a submission about the Valentines, a Memphis band who moved to Washington state. Three, the Monday holiday completely messed up my schedule so I'm a little late today. I really thought it was Tuesday.

So the Valentines (formerly the Dearest Darlins) make fun music with simple keyboards, guitars, and a crappy microphone. A little indie, a little rocksteady, a little toe-tappin, that's what the Valentines are all about.

Change of Heart [MP3, 2.3MB, 112kbps]
O's & I's [MP3, 2.5MB, 112kbps]

www.xoxthevalentines.com

The Presets

2006 will be a good year if we keep getting MP3s from Australia's Modular Records. Home to a wide range of goodness — from the epic rock trip that is Wolfmother to the Avalanches' turntable bricolage — Modular is set on opening the world's ears to Sydney duo The Presets, whose dark, moody (and sometimes sleazy) electro funk gets remixed here by labelmates Cut Copy. Sounds like they dialed up the "Underworld" setting, if there is such a thing. Now, if we could just get Modular to offer up a Cut Copy original, that'd be one more band I could cross off my 2005 wish list.

Girl and the Sea (Cut Copy Remix) [MP3, 5.9MB, 128kbps]

www.modularpeople.com
www.thepresets.com

b.fleischmann

As I was putting together my best of 2005 list and got to the "artists we wish we could put on 3hive but who don't offer fre and legal MP3 links so alas..." section, I instinctively started jotting down all my favorite Morr Music artists. Then I double-checked b.fleischmann's website and realized, while Morr continues to embed their music in that damn lovely, illustrated Flash site of theirs, the artist is a bit more giving of his wares. Working bottom to top, these tracks demonstrate our man's evolution from laptop glow to a richer blend of analog and digital textures. "Phones and Machines" is a fine example of the latter, a preview from The Humbucking Coil (pre-order from Boomkat). Here's to more Morr in 2006!!

Phones and Machines [MP3, 7.0MB, 192kbps]
Toru Okada[MP3, 3.4MB, 80kbps]
Buzz [MP3, 7.8MB, 160kbps]
Slope [MP3, 5.1MB, 160kbps]

www.morrmusic.com
www.bfleischmann.com

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.

Endless Summer on the Beaver Island [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]

www.sparkreleases.com
www.frannyandzooey.org

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!

Cutting Balloons [MP3, 4.6MB, 128kbps]
Lunch for Breakfast [MP3, 6.9MB, 192kbps]

06/15/06 Update: Cassettes Won't Listen Busy Cutting Hair & More

www.dopelotusrecords.com
www.myspace.com/kassetteswontlisten

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.

I Hear You Drowning But I'm Tied [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]
Maybe I'll Hide With You [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]
Disasters Are Okay [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
If You're Here Today [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]

lettingup.com

Walter Meego

No one in Walter Meego is named Walter. Ironically, the 3hive reader who tipped us off to Walter Meego is named Walter. But, lest you think he's just one of these vain guys who'll go see any band named after him, he actually went to see Caribou — who was known as Manitoba up until about a year ago — and Walter Meego was the opening act. Confused? Good. Now you're ready for Walter Meego (the band, remember, not the reader) and their wry, funky, glitchy brand of "mutant dance" music.

Onefive [MP3, 5.5MB, 160kbps]
Weekday [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]

www.waltermeego.com

Caroline

After shunning major labels in her native Japan, Caroline Lufkin made her way back across the Pacific (she went to college in Boston) to California to begin work on an album with a wide array of producers (the producer in question here is Norway-born Andreas Bjorck). Maybe it's because the weather has finally dipped below 50º here in L.A. but the shimmering, icy cool textures of "Where's My Love" just warms the toes and has kind of ushered in the holiday season for me. It's knocked me out my frantic rush of daily life and I half expect to see snowflakes falling during a perfect, sunny day here. Her voice, it's magic.

Where's My Love [MP3, 5.1MB, 160kbps]

www.temporaryresidence.com
www.carolinelufkin.com

Faux Pas

A week ago I posted Gotye. If I hadn't been in such a serious carb coma on the heels of Thanksgiving I probably would have posted an Australian two-fer including Gotye's friend and countryman, Faux Pas (aka Tim Shiel). These two take great care to make their quirky, sampleriffic musical explorations feel warm, organic, and spontaneous. Faux Pas even goes as far as to eliminate vocal samples lest we get lured into the obsessive spotting exercise that Gotye's tracks inspired. The frenzied big beat sound of "Cup of Wonder" provides instant gratification but "White Light" definitely steals the show. I am now convinced that spacey theramin, Asian dulcimer, and R&B horn riffs were always meant for each other; all they needed was a tumbling drumbeat to rally around... As a bonus, it turns out Tim's also a bit of an MP3 blogger himself. Check out the Blog section of his site to get a good sense of his musical reference points.

From Entropy Begins at Home:
For the Trees [MP3, 6.5MB, 192kbps]
Hermann's Hermans [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]

From Faux Feels:
Cup of Wonder [MP3, 3.7MB, 192kbps]
White Light [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]

www.iamfauxpas.com

Climber

Right near the top of my list of "Reasons to Love Postal Service" is that they disposed of the pedantic audiophilia that torments many a knob-twister and opted for the red-blooded choice: to make songs. Climber have taken notice. The Portland, Oregon group holed themselves up for two years to refine a sound steeped in the boutique ambience of post-electronica pop and informed by the rainy-day-every-day melancholy of Radiohead (the similarities are almost too close...almost) and the aforementioned Seattle side project. Officially, these tracks are demos. Sonically, they’re a blissful walk down a bittersweet path.

Always Right [MP3, 3.5MB, 128kbps]
Hurt Mutant [MP3, 2.3MB, 128kbps]
Escape [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]

www.climberpdx.com

Gotye

Gotye is Aussie one-man band Wally De Backer who, like his fellow countrymen The Avalanches, humanizes bedroom beats, quirky samples, and the odd live instrument and weaves them into epic pop structures. I guess it's summer down under, which would explain the decidedly upbeat tone of these preview tracks from his forthcoming LP.

A Distinctive Sound [MP3, 8.7MB, 192kbps]
Learnalilgivinanlovin [MP3, 4.2MB, 192kbps]

www.gotye.com

Numbers

NPR a few months back had a big piece on Mr. Moog, you know, the electronics wizard who a million bands owe a great deal of thanks to for his wonderous synthesizers, keyboards, and other musical instruments, if we can call them instruments. Turns out it's pronounced Moog as in "toad", not as in "moo." Numbers, the band, are also indebted to Mr. Moog. This San Fran outfit churns out catchy tunes driven by pulsating keyboards, with a quirkiness that can be better understood by imagining Kraftwerk coming of age in the City by the Bay, where a bit of eccentricity is required by city ordinance.

Beast Life [MP3, 4.3MB, 128kbps]

www.killrockstars.com
www.polyvinylrecords.com
www.numbersmusic.com

Ladytron

If Ladytron had gone to my high school, they would have been those ultra-stylish new wavers who never went to class and never associated with the decidedly less-stylish new wavers like me. So, I should have written them off as some aloof, unironic Human League tribute band just to make myself feel better. But the fact is, they're more than that and even if they weren't, we're talking Dare-era Human League and, frankly, you could do a lot worse... If you can't tell, I'm fighting back a bit of a crush and not just on the ladies of Ladytron, Helen and Mira, but the whole lot of them. Their latest, Witching Hour, features a lot more guitar than ever before, which is a welcome expansion to their sound. That said, I will always be a sucker for their soaring synths as showcased on the monster single, "Destroy Everything You Touch." The video is nice, too. See what I'm saying, though? They're ice queens/kings, even they admit it.

Destroy Everything You Touch [MP3, 5.3MB, 160kbps]

www.rykodisc.com
www.ladytron.com

Laika

I'm taking the lazy way out today. But it's a damn fine band, so that shouldn't really matter. I spent the weekend in Waveland, Mississippi, helping with the relief effort there after Hurricane Katrina. Having seen the devastation in person, it's still unbelieveable to me. So today's offering of Laika provides both comfort and ease, two attributes that actually apply to the music itself. Margaret Fiedler and Guy Fixsen have been creating quite complicated music that somehow sounds so purposeful and, well, comfortable with an almost arrogant air of ease. "Sugar Daddy" and "Uneasy" are two of my personal faves.

Marimba Song [MP3, 4.9MB, 128kbps]
Sugar Daddy [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]
Breather [MP3, 6.7MB, 128kbps]
Bedbugs [MP3, 5.4MB, 128kbps]
Black Cat Bone [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Uneasy [MP3, 4.6MB, 128kbps]

www.toopure.com
www.laika.org

Clue to Kalo

You know that expression "the cobbler's children have no shoes"? That's kinda been the story of my household on the digital music front...until yesterday, when the Bose Sound Dock and my wife's silver iPod Mini showed up on our doorstep. I don't know who was more excited, her or me, but let's just say I already had a 125-song playlist ready to for the occasion. The pulsing strains of Clue to Kalo's "Empty Save the Oxygen" were the first to emerge from the Sound Dock. Velia's jaw dropped as she turned to me and said, "This sounds amazing." I'm sure she was talking about the speakers but she was right on both counts.

Empty Save the Oxygen [MP3, 7.8MB, 192kbps]
As Tommy Fixes Fights [MP3, 6.1MB, 128kbps]

www.dirtyloop.com
www.cluetokalo.com

Brokeback

Brokeback — a.k.a. Douglas McCombs from Tortoise and Eleventh Day Dream, and a few friends — offers dreamy release in this lovely track. Let's see, how many soft and cushy adjectives can be piled up on "Name's Winston..."? Ethereal, soothing, idyllic, pensive. There's four, at least.

Name's Winston, Friends Call Me James [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]

www.thrilljockey.com

Kingfisherg

Kingfisherg is from Liege, Belgium, and is on Carte Postal Records. Now you know as much as I do about Kingfisherg. But with electronic music this enchanting, that's really all you need to know. You see, at my new job, I'm on the other side of a raspberry-colored cubicle wall from a woman who listens to easy listening that frankly BLASTS from the radio on her desk. No, it's not actually that loud, but I cannot think while being forced to listen to this music. Fortunately for me, I can put on my headphones and listen to Kingfisherg's brand of easy listening.

Apple Act [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Today I Spoke to a Girl [MP3, 4.8MB, 128kbps]

www.cartepostalerecords.be

Build Buildings

Sometimes I can only explain my bias for a certain artist at a certain moment by blaming the weather. Build Buildings to me is autumnesque in its flickering warmth. Tape glitches and synth chirps swirl around you like cool fog on a country road, with moments of bright melody and humanity bursting through the periphery like orange, red, and yellow leaves. Whether or not you buy the meteorological analogy, you have to admit Ben Tweel's open-structured compositions are mature beyond the age of his laptop.

Test [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
November [MP3, 4.4MB, 128kbps]

www.buildbuildings.com

My Enemy

The band claims to know all your secrets. Their label says My Enemy will kill you with poison. A wolf in sheep's clothing? Harmless? Find out for yourself. Recommended if you're a fan of imagining Múm up all night smoking crack...well, okay, maybe Múm after a couple Diet Cokes.

My Time Coming [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]
Add Some Spiders [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]
Grönland [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]

www.vapengodis.com
www.myenemy.tk

Nnnj

Lately, while certain technological gadgets of mine randomly play my music collection for me, I've heard unfamiliar, electronic, yet warm compositions capable of producing pleasant states of relaxation and reverie. It's occured several times. Each time, as I've awakened from from this other world in which I've found myself, I glance down at the guilty party, and it's been Nnnj. Nnnj (pronounced "inch") relies on many sounds: global rhythms, glitchy programming, and trip-hop, but is beholden to none. Neither his name, album title (Monkey Straddle) nor its cover art is pretty, but the music itself is gorgeous.

What's the Weather Like Today? [MP3, 6.1MB, 192kbps]
Goop Scoop [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]
Demeter's Pupil [MP3, 6.3MB, 192kbps]

www.theagriculture.com

Les Georges Leningrad

Petrochemical Rock. That's how Les Georges Leningrad describe their music. These crazy Montreal post-punks are concussive, explosive, and just plain loopy. Imagine Atari Teenage Riot raised as Quebequois on The Fall and performance art.

Sponsorships [MP3, 3.7MB, 160kbps]
Supadoopa [MP3, 4.3MB, 160kbps]
Georges V [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]

www.alien8recordings.com
www.lesgeorgesleningrad.org

Popkan

This oughta keep your holiday weekend percolatin'. Hey, if anyone can, Popkan! (What do you expect? I'm on vacation here...)

Baseline [MP3, 9.8MB, 192kbps]

www.clevermusic.net
www.textone.org
www.popkan.com

Tom Vek

In one of our 2004 Year-End Lists we each named the artists we wished would make MP3s available so we could rave about them on 3hive. Well, dreams do come true, people, as I can finally cross one Tom Vek off that list — just in time for his debut album to drop Stateside. The unassuming Londoner records deliciously tense, warm, and infectious songs from his parents' garage. Feel free to listen in your garage, or wherever else you see fit.

I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes [MP3, 3.5MB, 192kbps]

www.startimerecords.com
www.tummytouch.com
www.tomvek.tv

Kettel

These examples of Kettel's finer moments, wherein cut-up jazz breaks and organic field sounds stroll hand-in-hand, make me wonder why he hasn't received as much notoriety as, say, Four Tet. He, by the way, is Reimer Eising. To browse/buy from his catalog, check the newly madeover kracfive site. (Overdue props to Disquiet for opening my ears to Kettel a while back.)

One Foggy Ear [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
Twinkle Twinkle That Is You [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]

www.kracfive.com
www.kettel.nl

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.

Dance 1 [MP3, 5.8MB, VBR]
Dance 4 [MP3, 2.2MB, 64kbps]

www.alien8recordings.com
www.kmdband.com

Ezekiel Honig

Who'd have thought the "hook" stuck in my head for the past few days would be the sweet rhythm of what sounds like a printer feed tray being lifted and dropped? I know, I know, I should get checked for OCD. But Ezekiel Honig does have an ear for the latent musicality in such found sounds, which he uses to infuse his minimalist headphone techno with a real warm-blooded feel.

More Human Than Human [MP3, 6.1MB, 192kbps]
The Breeze of Hibernation [MP3, 11.2MB, 256kbps]
Under the Covers [MP3, 9.7MB, 256kbps]

www.microcosm-music.com
www.anticipaterecordings.com
www.unfoundsoundrecords.com

Solvent

I originaly posted Solvent 16 months ago. In fact, they were one of the first bands featured on 3hive. Just days after, Ghostly pulled down their full-length MP3s due to bandwidth constraints and there went my Solvent post. As Sean points out over in the News section, Ghostly's recently found some bandwidth in their hearts and now offer, among others, this gem from Solvent's latest, Elevators and Oscillators. For the record, my original post was one line: "Proof once again from the Ghostly Massive that machines do have souls." Still holds true today.

Wish [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.suctionrecords.com
www.solventcity.com

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!

Tuff Ghost [MP3, 3.4MB, 160kbps]
Les Os [MP3, 4.0MB, 160kbps]

www.alien8recordings.com
www.secretunicornsforum.com

Mus

Please do not confuse Mus, the delightful Spanish duo of Fran Gayo and Mónica Vacas, with MUS, short for Memphis University School, the all-boy prep school I attended from 7th through 9th grades. First of all, Mus has a female, and there were no females at MUS. Mus use the soaring female voice as an instrument, highlighting their minimal approach, be it coolly electronic or calmly acoustic. And that voice sings in Asturian, from the Principality of Asturias in northwest Spain, making Mus as mysterious as a girl at an all-boy prep school.

Duerme Nenu Duermete [MP3, 4.0MB, 96kbps]

pehrlabel.com
acuareladiscos.com/mus/

Boom Bip

It's gonna be really hard expressing in words how much I like this track. There's an undeniable Kraftwerk vibe at work here and more importantly Boom Bip manages to hold his own. "The Move" is the 2005 version of "Tour de France" sans all the huffing and puffing. I obviously have a thing for songs that sound as if they could accompany a sporting event. Having remixed tracks for Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Her Space Holiday, and Lali Puna, I'd be a bit surprised if you weren't already familiar with his work. If not, start here and dig deep!

The Move [MP3, 6.4MB, 192kbps]

www.lexrecords.com

Octant

Octant are Tassy Zimmerman, Matthew Steinke, and an automated acoustic drum machine called the AD3, which looks like the kind of drum a one-man band would use only it has a motor instead of a man powering it. The result is a broken android new wave thing that kinda makes me nostalgic for the simple days of the Cold War.

Laquita Laquita [MP3, 4.4MB, 128kbps]
The Move [MP3, 2.4MB, 128kbps]

www.uprecords.com

Tiger Baby

I've always maintained the theory that no matter what kind of music you grew up listening to, you can find it, recreated somehow, someway in a current band. However, whether or not you're open-minded to it is another story. Some people get stuck in the past and are happy to be there. Those who don't read 3hive. So it finally hit me who Tiger Baby remind me of (and I can't wait to play it for my wife, Alisa, who's a huge fan of): Claudia Br�cken and her projects Propaganda and Act. Tiger Baby represent faithfully the heart and soul the aforementioned bands injected into '80s synth pop. We'll see if my hypothesis holds when these tracks end up in Alisa's iPod.

Shy [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Sweetheart [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]
Chinese Fairytale [MP3, 4.5MB, 128kbps]
from Lost In You (2004)

Girlfriend [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]
At Least I'm Honest [MP3, 2.5MB, 128kbps]
from Noise Around Us (2006)

06/11/06 Update: Even More DK Music: New Tigerbaby MP3

www.souvenirrecords.com
www.tigerbaby.dk

schneiderTM

When Old Man Heat and Bitter Hag Humidity slow everything to a muggy crawl — as they have of late in these parts — schneiderTM's hazy electro pop seems to get a lot more spins on my iPod. Just thought I'd share...

Reality Check [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]
Masters [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]

www.cityslang.com
www.schneidertm.com

Ligyro

Fuzzy rhythms, blunt beats, and all manner of static and stutters, made by a man (Neil Cain) and a machine (Akai MPC 2000XL), and held together by moments of sonic chill. Thanks to music like this I don't need to do drugs. All it takes is a pair of headphones.

Orange Bounce [MP3, 6.9MB, 160kbps]
Sustain [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]

www.precipitaterecords.com
www.ligyro.com

Applied Communications

Applied Communications is quite an appropriate moniker for the music of Max Hood. Max takes all types of communications and applies them straight to your ears. A cacophonous symphony of electronic sounds, beats, and tones brace up the delivery of almost stream-of-consciousness thoughts and tirades in the combined traditions and styles of Cex, They Might Be Giants, the Circle Jerks, and Henry Rollins. When Max repeats, "I don't know how to play any instruments" over and over at the beginning of "Do You Know What I'm Saying?", you realize, well, that's not really his point, is it?

Do You Know What I'm Saying [MP3, 4.6MB, 192kbps]
There's a Reason This Is Such a Cliche [MP3, 6.2MB, 192kbps]
It Bothers Me It Bothers You I Snore [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]
Point Oh Seven [MP3, 13.5MB, 192kbps]

www.discosmariscos.com
www.appliedcommunications.net

Ursula 1000

An oldie but a goodie (like 2003 is old!). Ursula 1000 is one Alex Gimeno, a New York DJ who delightfully blends samba, bossanova, and 60's groove with smart beats. Sure, it's nothing new, but Ursula 1000 is a leading adherent of the genre, and "Samba 1000" is awfully catchy. Dada...dada..da..da..da...

Samba 1000 [MP3, 7.2MB, 160kbps]
Kinda Kinky [MP3, 4.3MB, 160kbps]

www.eslmusic.com
www.ursula1000.com

The Raging Family

Here's a brief recap of The Raging Family's bio: raised and home-schooled by bohemians in Upstate New York; lived in Eugene, Oregon until driven from their house by local authorities because of noise and behavior complaints; settled down in an enclave somewhere in the hills outside of town to focus on music and art. If you ask me it all sounds a little cultish, and at the risk of becoming Sharon Tate to their Manson Clan, I'm gonna throw my support behind The Raging Family's latest "concept" album. Black Holes is ostensibly a journey through space and time, but how they get us there is through an eclectic collection of styles ranging from the knob-twisting and wax-scratching exploits of Land of the Loops and Prefuse 73, the found-sound rebelliousness of Negativland, the electro-clash abandon of Meat Beat Manifesto, the jazz exploration of Miles Davis and Sun Ra Arkestra, and even the psychedelic guitar masturbation of Carlos Santana's Illuminations period. It's a whole lot of styles to wrap your noodle around, but luckily the band has posted the entire album on their website for us to take it all in (the links below are just some highlights), and there are other entire albums there fully linked for the taking — but beware, the money you save on music today may go to pay for the cult deprogrammer you'll need tomorrow.

The Orkastring Bowsting [MP3, 5.6MB, 224kbps]
The Klep Telescope [MP3, 5.6MB, 224kbps]
Disrupted Transmission of the Cow Space People [MP3, 2.1MB, 224kbps]
Latent Destructive Power [MP3, 5.5MB, kbps]
The Supermassive Black Hole [MP3, 13.5MB, 224kbps]

www.ragingfamily.com

Bitmap

Bitmap is the solo project of one Luke Barwell, formerly of the British band Salako (not to be confused with former Crystal Palace, Coventry, and Reading winger John Salako, now at Brentford, if you'll pardon the English soccer reference). For all of you out there wondering what Revolver would have sounded like had Beck been fronting the Beatles, with Brian Wilson as sound engineer, Bitmap's latest album Micro/Macro will satisfy that curiosity.

Someone To Call My Own [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Someone To Call My Own (Part 2) [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Turn It Around (Looper Remix) [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]

www.gentle-electric.com
www.bitmap2005.co.uk

David Last

Is there such a thing as dumbed-down IDM? Not inferior, but approaching it from a slightly different angle is David Last, less brainiac and more booty-shaker, moving away from digital detritus and towards more organic dancehall rhythms. Perfect for intimate gatherings. Served to chill. I'm jonesin' summer BBQs. Can you tell?

Secret Society [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]
The Push Pull [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]
Cat-Silver [MP3, 6.6MB, 192kbps]

www.theagriculture.com
www.davidlast.net

Someone Else

"An undying fear of commitment has fueled 24-year-old Sean O'Neal's eclectic discography..." So began an interview I did with the Illadelph native, then of Flowchart, back in 1998 for URB. Seven years later, not much has changed — in that quite a lot has. Sean recently added netlabel unfoundsound to his stable of ventures (he also runs Fuzzy Box Records) while steering his music away from the richly layered drum 'n' bliss and quirky electronica of his Flowchart days toward wry, minimalist techno under the alias Someone Else. You gotta love a fool who can make your head bounce and put a smile on your face (just listen to those tweaked mouth noises on "Goofball"). These tracks make up the first of six unfoundsound releases to date; all are available as free, high-quality MP3s under a Creative Commons license (if anyone gets "sharing the sharing," it's Lawrence Lessig). There's also an entire release of Philadelphia field sounds which unfoundsound invites you to mess around with and submit as a demo.

Goofball [MP3, 11.0MB, 256kbps]
Dink 'n' Strum [MP3, 13.0MB, 256kbps]
The Market [MP3, 9.0MB, 256kbps]
Goofball (Fusiphorm's Ungoofable Remix) [MP3, 10.1MB, 256kbps]

www.unfoundsoundrecords.com

Quantazelle

I remember the 1984 Olympics here in Los Angeles. At least one of the bike races snaked around my friend Donald's neighborhood in Laguna Hills. We went. Our view was a section of straightaway; it was as exciting as watching ice melt. When I was living in Salt Lake City, a couple of real nice fellows bribed the IOC into bringing the games to town. I set 2002 as my goal to leave Utah, a chance to move home and to avoid the hoopla that was sure to follow. I met my goal three years early... All of this as a preamble to say that "Braking (Hushed)" sounds like it could be the Olympic theme song if mankind is ever transformed into robots. That, or a really great remake of the Tron arcade game soundtrack. Speaking of arcade games, I swear there's a Marble Madness sample in "Stereofoam." I hope Quantazelle enjoys arcade games as much as I imagine she does.

Braking (Hushed) [MP3, 6.6MB, 320kbps]
Stereofoam [MP3, 6.5MB, 192kbps]

www.subvariant.com
www.quantazelle.com

The Cars Are the Stars

Kicking off like The Notwist's "Pilot," "Helikopter" starts with the sparse kit and then takes a deep breath. There is beauty in the silicon: mixing Mogwai, Boards of Canada, The Merkin Dream and even a pinch of Postal Service. This is one of those tracks I'll listen to over and over and over and in three years when I hear it again, I will be reminded of this time in my life.

Helikopter [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]

www.chezmoirecords.com
www.thecarsarethestars.net

13 & God

Remember the old Reese's commercials? A woman holding an open jar of peanut butter turns the corner and runs into a man with a chocolate bar. "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" Tragedy is avoided when the two taste their happy accident. 13 & God is just as happy an accident. Formed when German glitch-popsters, The Notwist, and No. Cal.'s avant hip-hop duo, Themselves, were stranded while touring Canada. With time to kill and a penchant for collaborating, well, they made beautiful music together. On this track The Notwist flavor is dominant, but I expect Doseone (Themselves) a bit more on the mic for the album. "Two great tastes that (surprisingly) go great together."

Men of Station [MP3, 4.4MB, 160kbps]

www.anticon.com
www.alientransistor.de

Lismore

Briefly: Lismore skillfully mixes electronics and analog instruments for a sound that hits somewhere between The Postal Service and Portishead. On a side note, the guitar riff in "Tremelo" sounds like a sample from some schlocky pop tune that I can't put my finger on...Anyone?

from We Could Connect or We Could Not (2004):
Tremolo [MP3, 7.0MB, 192kbps]
This Time [MP3, 4.7MB, 160kbps]
Come Undone [MP3, 5.3MB, 192kbps]

from It Takes Guts To Deceive So Eloquently (2006):
Far Off and Away [MP3, 5.8MB, 160kbps]

Bonus Track:
1979 [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kbps]

www.cult-hero.com
www.myspace.com/lismore
www.lismoremusic.com

Elephonic

Not to be confused with the latest joint by Thai Elephant Orchestra (yes, exactly what the name suggests), Elephonic are four humans from LA who provide some quirky, orchestral chillout music of their own.

Bailarina Plastica [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Good Mood [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Lost Limbo [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]

www.elephonic.com

Album

Sean's not the only one talking about South by Southwest. The New York Times — one of the hippest, most progressive indie-friendly rags out there — mentioned Album in its coverage of SXSW. What a score! On the Monterrey (Mexico) band's website, everything they've ever recorded is available in MP3 form, and a lot of it is wildly fresh and inventive. The sampling below starts with a suggested listening sequence supplied by the band, as well as a few more selected tracks that aren't half bad either. Enjoy!

2/3 [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Centro [MP3, 2.0MB, 128kbps]
Ti [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
Talvez [MP3, 4.7MB, 128kbps]
62 [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]
Do [MP3, 4.7MB, 128kbps]

www.somosalbum.com

The Aluminum Group

I'm an idiot. My brother had borrowed my turntable, and while he had it I was just jonesing to listen to Wire's "Another the Letter" from Chairs Missing. So he returned it, I got it all hooked back up (or so I thought), put the Chairs Missing album on, pulled the needle over and...nothing happened. There was no spinning of the vinyl. I spent a half hour messing around with the darn thing before I realized that...get a load of this...I hadn't plugged the power cord in! Power restored, I also threw on Severed Heads' Come Visit the Big Bigot and Modern English's After the Snow. I could have just listened to The Aluminum Group's "Motorcycles," a near perfect blend of the best of those two bands' sounds, and saved myself some trouble.

Motorcycles [MP3, 4.5MB, 160kbps]

www.wishingtreerecords.com
www.thealuminumgroup.net

Ilkae

Had they offered up even one full MP3 I'd be reviewing this right now. Just as well, Ilkae suits my need for chilled-out electronic sounds just fine. I'm not talking about the soft-bellied glut of easy-listening Musak(TM) that's out there these days passing as chill-out music. I like mine with just enough twittering clicks and clacks to keep things interesting. Ilkae's golden like that, without overpowering their gentle, cinematic melodies.

The Lockpick Almanac [MP3, 5.2MB, 192kbps]
Ampersand [MP3, 7.3MB, 192kbps]
Tin Crow [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]

www.ilkae.com

Scientific American

It's good to see Andrew Rohrmann (formerly of Hush Harbor) take on The Establishment by opting for the proper, if copyrighted, spelling of Scientific American. (Those who know him from his bedroom-beats-turned-commercial-beds on Slabco, know he used to drop the first "c" in Scientific, presumably to keep the lawyers at bay.) Those who don't know the score can get caught up real quick. Simply set aside 109MB of hard drive space and bask in the generosity of Slabco's free music policy.

Drift in Place [MP3, 5.7MB, 160kbps]

www.slabco.com
www.dirtyloop.com

Mobius Band

Just ain't no doubt. Ghostly has consistently released some of the best, essential music for the past several years. When we started up 3hive (over a year ago!) Ghostly artists frequently appeared on this site. But then the label made the ghastly switch from full MP3s to clips. Oh, the delight to discover a full-length MP3 from Ghostly's newest signing, the MA trio, Mobius Band! These gents put just the right amount of "electro" into their "rock" without falling into neu-wave cliché. Imagine if R.E.M. began in the 21st century instead of the '80s of last. They share similar melancholy vocal mumblings and novel sonic arrangements. Get this one while you can, don't know how long it'll last.

*Note: Ghostly's back with MP3s! Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Peep the newest Mobius Band MP3 "The Loving Sounds of Static..."

The Loving Sounds of Static [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Starts Off With a Bang [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Burnoff [MP3, 5.7MB, 128kbps]
The Lights Are Always On [MP3, 5.5MB, 128kbps]

www.ghostly.com
www.mobiusband.com

Printed Circuit

Can there be a better name than Printed Circuit for an electronic band? Casio keyboards, Nintendos, the Space Shuttles, Commodore 64s, Sean's iPod, Ataris, even the new Mac mini — they've all got printed circuit boards. But don't think Printed Circuit lacks a soul; au contraire, Claire Broadley of Leeds, who is Printed Circuit (and Catmobile Records), has a soul of pure pop. She just expresses it through silicon and transistors and electrons.

Semaphore on the Dancefloor [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]
Colacubic [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Goggles (Fingernail Remix) [MP3, 1.8MB, 128kbps]
New Year Song [MP3, 5.7MB, 256kbps]
Actrobotic [MP3, 1.2MB, 128kbps]
Hard Drive Soft Drink [MP3, 2.6MB, 128kbps]
Switch It On [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Diatomy [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]

www.catmobilerecords.com
www.printed-circuit.net
http://www.rawbw.com/~aelison/555

Fleckfumie

Sure, the name comes off like the Danish translation of "f&ck you," their music, however, is much more inviting. Japanese vocalist, Fumie, together with British programmer, Fleck, offer a world of stuttering samples, bubbling beats, silky vocals, and, oh baby, the bass! Worldwide flavor in both Fleckfumie's members and sound. Hit their site for streams of five more album tracks...

Stille Nachte [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]

www.bubblecore.com
www.fleckfumie.com

The Octopus Project

My 4-year-old son is obsessed with marine life of all kinds, to the point where a recent visit to the London Aquarium nearly resulted in a restraining order. It seems he couldn't keep his hands out of the manta ray tank (to be fair, it was marked as a "petting" exhibit). He also recently informed me that he wants a pet octopus. My subsequent research led to this surprise discovery: some killer deadpan glitch funk from Texas — at a fraction the cost of a real octopus!

Music Is Happiness [MP3, 4.2MB, 160kbps]
The Adjustor [MP3, 3.3MB, 160kbps]
Hot Sinners [MP3, 4.4MB, 160kbps]
A Bee Sack [MP3, 5.1MB, 160kbps]

www.peekaboorecords.com
www.theoctopusproject.com

The Fatáles

Vaguely detached, vaguely nostalgic, vaguely wonderful space pop. It's really hard to believe these guys are unsigned...maybe they're not in it for the money, just on a personal crusade to promote use of the accent aigu (á). Either way, I'm in.

Cosmonaut [MP3, 3.4MB, 112kbps]
Ministry of Defense [MP3, 2.9MB, 112kbps]
You're Not the Lunar Type [MP3, 4.3MB, 112kbps]

www.thefatales.com

DJ Soul Slinger

Hidden in the back of every music collection is a little rave music. Okay, maybe not every one, but there are plenty of us who keep a little something stashed away. I pulled out my personal rave-orite Altern 8 recently. My five year old was not impressed. Another from my collection who is actually still going strong is DJ Soul Slinger. A native Brazilian, Carlos is an early purveyor of rave/jungle/drum'n'bass music/culture/goods here in the good ol' US of A, and a perfect way to welcome a dear friend to 3hive on her first visit.

Chem Trails [MP3, 8.2MB, 192kbps]
FHDC RMX [MP3, 7.4MB, 192kbps]
Eu E Voce [MP3, 4.6MB, 192kbps]

www.liquidskymusic.com

I Am Robot and Proud

Great minds really do think alike! I Am Robot and Proud has been queued up here at 3hive just waiting for the right day to post, and a kind reader of 3hive sent in an email to the suggestion box, well, suggesting I Am Robot and Proud. It gives us the chance to again ponder the question, "What is it with big corporations and their raiding of indie-dom for music for their commercials?" This time it's adidas, and they're using "Winter at Night." I Am Robot and Proud is Toronto's Shaw-Han Liem, and he makes a beguiling electronic (but not robotic) pop that is both warm and refreshing. Layers of melodies, alternately purposeful and tinkering, merely hide the rhythms that can get a little groovy. Proud indeed.

Winter at Night [MP3, 5.0MB, 160kbps]
Grace Days [MP3, 3.2MB, 160kbps]
Robot vs. Heidi [MP3, 3.7MB, 192kbps]
Learn From Mistakes [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]
Saturday Afternoon Plans [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
A Proposal to Tune the World to F [MP3, 9.0MB, 128kbps]

www.catmobilerecords.com
www.robotandproud.com

David Sylvian

I have a couple confessions to make. First, I feel asleep during a U2 concert. I've never been a big fan. I respect the band tremendously, but their music, and that concert in particular, just don't do it for me. My second confession: I cried at a David Sylvian concert. Not that I wept out loud or anything, but his voice, its rich timbre, literally brought tears to my eyes. He has a long musical history, beginning with the band Japan, then his solo work. The first track, "Mothlight," is an ambient piece composed as an accompanyment to a group of photographs. The remaining tracks include vocals and give a better sense of David Sylvian's well-honed craft.

Mothlight [MP3, 8.1MB, 128kbps]
Late Night Shopping (Tweaking the Tweaker Mix) [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
Orpheus (Live in Toyko 1988) [MP3, 4.6MB, 128kbps]

www.samadhisound.com
www.davidsylvian.com

Worm Is Green

We're officially five days into winter so I thought it apropos to turn our attention to Iceland. I know it's not winter there year round, but it should be! Worm Is Green's debut album is almost a year old here in the States, but proper respect has yet to be paid. The band does a brilliant cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," and the rest of the album will put you in a cool chill with its warm synth tones and atmospheric vocals. These tracks are all demo versions and outtakes from Automagic. You'll have to put down some cash for the final product.

Automagic (original version) [MP3, 4.5MB, 128kbps]
Shine (original mix) [MP3, 1.3MB, 128kbps]
Small Reverb (original version) [MP3, 2.8MB, kbps]
Undercover (original version) [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Sunday Session 3.00 [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]

www.arenarockrecordingco.com
www.wormisgreen.com

Ulrich Schnauss

German, twenty-something with a veritable cornucopia of aliases. If you follow the reverse chronology of music represented here you'll notice that Mr. Schnauss finally came into his own, name and music, after an early output of more than competent drum 'n' bass. On his latest work, A Strangely Isolated Place Schnauss composes lush, atmospheric tracks that'd fit like bricks into My Bloody Valentine's or Chapterhouse's wall of sound.

On My Own [MP3, 7.7MB, 160kbps]
Suddenly the Trees Are Giving Way [MP3, 8.7MB, 192kbps]
A Lie for Breakfast [MP3, 5.7MB, 128kbps]
Attraktor Part One [MP3, 9.4MB, 128kbps]
Ethereal 77 - Dawn [MP3, 8.8MB, 128kbps]
View To The Future - Sirius [MP3, 7.6MB, 128kbps]
Police in Cars With Headphones - Tetrapek [MP3, 7.7MB, 128kbps]

www.dominorecordco.com
www.sutemos.net
www.ulrich-schnauss.net

Giant Robot

Not to be confused with the Japanese pop culture 'zine of the same name, Giant Robot are members of Nuspirit Helsinki and they run the gamut like Jesse freakin' Owens. From cozy EBTG-ish ballads ("Best Match") to lanky, dub-hop ("Konevitsa"). And then you've got the remixes, if you're ready for even more curveballs. Best of all, Giant Robot's site has a mile-long MP3 page with all of their commercially unavailable tracks, which includes their entire debut album and tons of said remixes. Set aside some download time.

Best Match [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Public=Shopping [MP3, 4.8MB, 128kbps]
Konevitsa [MP3, 4.2MB, VBR]
Taste of Love (Suckerpunch Remix) [MP3, 5.5MB, 192kbps]
Leave Your Man (Rrim�yk & Diidr Killyerman Remix) [MP3, 6.2MB, VBR]

www.stupido.fi
www.giantrobot.fi

Echostar

Martha Schwendener, of the late Bowery Electric, is the sole member of Echostar. Unlike the Dick Van Dyke One Man Band in Mary Poppins, this one woman band carries her instruments not on her person, but on her hard drive. While her beats are simpler and melodies "lusher" (Bowery fans should get that), Martha carries on where Bowery left off, with swirling sounds and her trademark whispering/breathy vocals making her debut solo album Sola sound as if it really is broadcast by a satellite.

Can't Say Why [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]
Night Light [MP3, 5.4MB, 128kbps]
Run [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]

www.shadowrecords.com
www.echostarmusic.com

The Aphrodisiacs

Scotland's The Aphrodisiacs have a great story. They were friends just goofin' around who recorded one demo and mailed it the late John Peel. A week later he called them up and asked if he could play it on the radio. So without ever playing a gig and having recorded only one song, they were invited down to London to record a Peel Session. Listen to their dark grooves and see why John Peel picked up the phone.

If U Want Me [MP3, 2.5MB,128kbps]

www.slrecords.net
www.theaphrodisiacs.co.uk

Air King Sound

San Francisco experimental sound posse who create very brilliant haunted soundscapes, perfect for moody film scores and a certain sense of isolation. Owing a lot to Brian Eno, but still managing to claim their own sound. Favorite track: "Gomez Gomez."

Wire Cast [MP3, 2.4MB, 128kbps]
Mineral [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
Cloud Cover [MP3, 3.9MB, 128kbps]
Rain No Rain [MP3, 1.7MB, 128kbps]
4H Club [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Holding Pattern [MP3, 1.5MB, 128kbps]
Hermit Thrush [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Prickly Pear [MP3, .6MB, 128kbps]
Country Waltz [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
Gomez Gomez [MP3, 2.1MB, 128kbps]

www.airkingsound.com

Jon Sheffield

I'm kicking myself that I'm just discovering Sheffield, who's already four albums deep into his recording career. His is quiet, playful electronic music wrapped in small pop-size packages. Sheffield frequently samples his son, Gabriel, which gives his music a sweet, innocent texture. There's a quality here that rings my holiday bells as well. When I hear these songs I see snow. And when I see snow, I'm inevitably carving deep tracks into the freshly fallen. Which begs the question, when's the 3hive snowboarding excursion going down?

Reaching Kisses [MP3, 3.7MB, 192kbps]
Carol's Cells [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
Call Me Smoky [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
Vaudeville [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]
Stay at Home [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
For the Birds [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]

www.notenuf.net
www.tomlab.de
www.hiaohiaohiao.com

Postal Service

Now that our beloved Postal Service appear destined to become a Harvard Business School case study, Sub Pop is scrambling to keep up with demand. Pending some new original material, that means releasing Give Up on vinyl with a bonus (if you don't already own the CD singles, that is) 12-inch of B-side covers, like Iron & Wine's tender rendition of "Such Great Heights," and remixes, wherein dance music for bookworms gets transformed into, well, dance music. Included here is an example of the latter, and a couple for the uninitiated...what few of you are left.

Such Great Heights (John Tejada Remix) [MP3, 5.4MB, 128kbps]
District Sleeps Alone Tonight [MP3, 5.5MB, 160kbps]
Such Great Heights [MP3, 6.1MB, 192kbps]

www.subpop.com

Kaskade

Ryan Raddon, aka Kaskade, got his start by sneaking his tracks into the stacks of demos at Om Records during his employment tenure there. Raddon, teaming up with a regular and rotating cast of collaborators, with an emphasis on live instrumentation, refuses to slump during his sophomore season. Here he offers up a couple off-menu items, a downtempo hip-hop cut and a spacey, chilled-out, four-on-the-floor track.

Two Sides [MP3, 5.5MB, 160kbps]
Feeling the Night [MP3, 6.7MB, 160kbps]

www.omrecords.com
www.kaskademusic.com

Ice Cream Creatures

I originally misread this suggestion from Lauren as Ice Cream Castles, which naturally spurred my curiosity. No Morris Day here, as it turns out, but a batch of glitchy electronic ballads that could have come up through some kind of Ghostly farm league. They're actually on a net label based in Austin where, interestingly enough, the musicians appear to "workshop" their songs with listeners through the label site's comments area. Who knows, you might get a song named after you if you're helpful enough...

Some Kind of Optimism [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]
Little Machine [MP3, 5.9MB, 192kbps]
Sweet Eleanor [MP3, 7.8MB, 192kbps]
Another Day [MP3, 5.2MB, 192kbps]
Mist or Mast [MP3, 5.7MB, 192kbps]
So They Say [MP3, 4.8MB, 192kbps]
Very Awake [MP3, 5.0MB, 160kbps]

www.papergoose.net

Kleptones

These "original" tracks feature some swell breaks 'n' beats 'n' what-not but, to be honest, the Kleptones aren't nearly as interesting when abiding by copyright laws... This post is merely an excuse to plug their new mash-up-and-more theme album, A Night at the Hip Hopera. After giving the Flaming Lips a b-boy makeover with Yoshimi Battles the Hip Hop Robots, the audio kleptomaniacs are back at it with a similar tribute to Queen. To have a listen, head over to Waxy.org, where you'll find the complete album for download as well as a collaborative dissection of the countless samples used therein.

Potato Salad [MP3, 7.4MB, 192kbps]
Homesick [MP3, 8.9MB, 192kbps]
Maybe Another Here [MP3, 11.8MB, 192kbps]

www.kleptones.com

The Je Ne Sais Quoi

Every so often a band's name alone grabs your attention, and even less often it actually makes good on its promise. One of those rare cases is The Je Ne Sais Quoi who, as it turns out, have that certain je ne sais quoi. If you were listening from another room, you might write them off as another vapid electro-clash happening. However, in more intimate settings, their tense, funky sound digs its fingernails into you and won't let go. That said, "We Make Beginnings" wouldn't be my first — or second, or third — choice for the single from their strong full-length debut. But no one asked me... (And if they had it would have been in Swedish, so I wouldn't have understood anyway.)

We Make Beginnings [MP3, 5.0MB, 192kbps]
Death of Them [MP3, 5.0MB, 192kbps]

www.coalition-records.com
www.tjnsq.tk

Fog

I've just about reached presidential campaign 2004 overload. Everyone's got their two cents and now, more than ever, they're eager to spout 'em off. I can't listen to, or read, any contemporary works without having the subtext lunge at me. Regardless of the message lurking below the surface, this taste of Fog's forthcoming album flip-flops with clicks and clacks while the beat is firm in its resolve.

We're Winning [MP3, 1.4MB, 56kbps]

www.lexrecords.com
www.fogtimewaster.com

Zapan

Those guys at Fourthcity are such good fun we've just got to do another, namely the founder of Fourthcity, Zach Huntting, know to us as Zapan. This quote from Zapan, about Mister Afternoon, his collaberation with DJN, tells you all you need to know about him: "Our music is soothing, not unlike Christian radio or Kenny G, but with more of a drumnbass, booty hiphop-type flavor."

Activate [MP3, 3.7MB, VBR]
Dirt [MP3, 1.6MB, VBR]
Enjoy the World's Most Rewarding Hobby [MP3, 7.1MB, VBR]
I Wrote Hip Hop a Note Saying Last Night Was Dope [MP3, 8.1MB, VBR]
Pimple [MP3, 8.3MB, VBR]

www.fourthcity.net
www.zapan.net
www.laptopbattle.org

Caribou

Some 3hive history for you: Dan Snaith, a.k.a. Manitoba, was the inaugural posting to this site. Today Snaith announced that he was legally forced to change his nom de plume, hence Manitoba has been reincarnated as Caribou. I was hoping this announcement would coincide with a release date for his new album. No luck. Sounds like he's only halfway finished. Sigh. Until then...

I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life [MP3, 3.8MB, 96kbps]
Hendrix With KO [MP3, 2.7MB, 96kbps]
Dundas, Ontario [MP3, 3.0MB, 96kbps]

06/19/07 UPDATE: New Caribou MP3 + Album Details

www.dominorecordco.com/usa
www.caribou.fm

Signer

Like a fuzzy popsicle on a hot August day at 7:13 pm; it's hot out, but the popsicle is so cold it's fuzzy. You might be seven or eight years old. Then you squish the popsicle against the roof of your mouth after you've sucked out the juice.

Hurricane or Sunshine [MP3, 1.4 MB, 56kpbs]

www.carparkrecords.com
www.involverecords.com

Windsor for the Derby

Waaaaay back in the late '90s, WFTD built a modest rep on synthy post-rock instrumentals. Now they've taken to delicate (still synthy) melodies, narrative lyrics, and generally sounding all grown up. And, holy extreme makeover, does it sound alright to these ears...

Melody of a Fallen Tree [MP3, 7.5MB, 128kbps]
A Spring Like Sixty [MP3, 4.3MB, 128kbps]

www.secretlycanadian.com

Komeit

Nothing new from Komeit, but rather a Komeit tribute by Robert Lippok (To Roccoco Rot). Actually, even Lippok's album is about six months old... I just felt like I needed an excuse to post Komeit's "3 Hours." I don't know if they have Indian Summer in Germany, or what it would be called if they do, but this track feels like a warm spell in September. So there. There's my excuse.

I Can't Tell (Robert Lippok cover) [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
3 Hours [MP3, 4.1MB, 160kbps]

www.monika-enterprise.de
www.lok-musik.de
www.komeit.net

The Somnambulants

Slightly nervous, very danceable synth pop that'll remind you of early-'80s OMD one moment, as lead vocalist Joseph White blesses the mic, and modern-day German indie electro (Morr, City Centre, et al) the next, as co-founder Channing Sargent gets chirpy with it.

Watercolors [MP3, 4.4MB, 128kbps]
Beat Down [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
Evacuation (Remix) [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]
In the Interest of Continuity [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Things Will Happen [MP3, 4.9MB, 112kbps]
Comforts of Absence [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]

somnambulants.com
www.clairaudience.com

Talkdemonic

Imagine DJ Shadow swearing off turntables and samplers and turning to live instruments. Talkdemonic's Kevin O'Connor doesn't work completely sample free, but he does play live drums over what sounds like proprietary guitar loops and sequencing. I'll be damned if Thom Yorke's vocals wouldn't fit these tracks like a glove.

Final Russian [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Mutiny Sunshine [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
Dec 27 [MP3, 2.6MB, 128kbps]

http://www.talkdemonic.com/
www.luckymadison.com

Figurine

Just to help get us through the rough time waiting for a new album from The Postal Service (someone please tell me there's gonna be another one), here's a gem from the past of Jimmy Tamborello under his stage name of James Figurine. With pals David Figurine and Meredith (you guessed it) Figurine, their stated goal was to sound like Depeche Mode. Fortunately they ended up more of a Severed Heads/New Order/Aphex Twin hybrid.

IMpossible [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
So Futuristic [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]

www.marchrecords.com
www.monika-enterprise.de
www.rawbw.com/~forster/figurine

n.Lannon

Film School member, Nyles Lannon, graduates, goes solo and trades out a few guitars for a computer and puts a tech touch to his homestyle melodies.
Two mp3s added. Original posting: 06.15.04.

Turn Time Around [MP3, 2.0MB, 192kbps]
Hollow Heart [MP3, 2.3MB, 96kbps]
Demons [MP3, 2.0MB, 64kbps]

www.badmanrecordingco.com
www.nlannon.com

Mice Parade

Adam Pierce once again takes the bedroom dweller aesthetic more as a spiritual guide than a sonic one: skittish percussion bounces off the walls like random thoughts and warm vibes and synthesizers fill the background while his ever-gentle acoustic guitar seemingly plays for an audience of one.

Nights Wave [MP3, 6.3MB, 128kbps]
And Still It Sits in Front of You [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Here Today [MP3, 5.0MB, 128kbps]

www.bubblecore.com

Secret Mommy

Andy Dixon, a Vancouver-based web designer/audio saboteur, plays Olympic-paced ping pong (or is it table tennis?) with odd samples and found sounds until they become a blur of sound and rhythm. The results range from buoyant ("An Apple a Day...") to jarring ("Save As") to satirical ("Bottom 40," wherein Britney Spears is revealed as the cat in heat that she is).

from Very Rec (2005):
Dance Studio [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kbps]

from Hawaii 5.0 (2004):
The Drink [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

from Mammal Class (2003):
Bottom 40 [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]
An Apple a Day Keeps the Mac Voice Away [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]

from Babies That Hunt (2003):
Drop Shadow [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Save As [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]

www.musork.com
www.acherecords.com
www.secretmommy.com

Trans Am

Many artists have offered up the requisite anti-Bush song this summer; Trans Am opted for an entire album's worth with Liberation. Not every track holds its own: "Uninvited Guest" is unoriginal B-side material, based on the well-circulated "Bushwhacked" MP3s. But the other two cuts featured here prove that Trans Am can make their point quite effectively by speaking softly and carrying a big bassline.

Remote Control [MP3, 4.0MB, 192kbps]
Outmoder [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Uninvited Guest [MP3, 3.3MB, 192kbps]

www.thrilljockey.com
www.transband.com

Epic45

Often the best part of art films is the moody instrumental soundtrack. Thanks to Epic45, you can now get your moody instrumental soundtrack without having to sit through the art film.

I'm Getting Too Young for This [MP3, 5.9MB, 128kbps]
Barn Diversions [MP3, 3.0MB, 128kbps]
Motorway Journey [MP3, 4.8MB, 160kbps]
Remote Canals [MP3, 7.2MB, 160kbps]
Secret Maps of England [MP3, 6.1MB, 160kbps]
Leaving [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]

www.emorageimagazine.com/wam
www.epic45.com

Mouse on Mars

Mouse on Mars have mastered many genres by showing allegiance to none; rather, they rely on sound songwriting to make even their most adventurous work feel just right. This cut off their eighth LP, Radical Connector, is a case in point: a breathy vocal pop track sliced 'n' diced in a vocoder-stutter-funk stylee without once losing sight its memorable tune.

Mine Is in Yours [MP3, 6.8MB, 192kbps]

www.thrilljockey.com
www.mouseonmars.com

Daedelus

Cacophonic intro track to Daedelus' hip-hop record, Rethinking the Weather, layers a psychotic amount of voices over noodles of acoustic guitar, clattered beats, and flute loops. It's but a small, imperfect glimpse into Daedelus' expanding, eclectic universe.

Fin [MP3, 5.1MB, 192kbps]

www.dirtyloop.com
www.daedelusdarling.com

Headset

Allen Avanessian (Plug Research) and Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Postal Service, Figurine) hit the lab with a hard drive full of devolved beats and glitch-and-paste collages, then invite a who's who of electronic and hip-hop innovators to muse over the sparse foundation. The result ranges from head-nodding to chin-stroking; this track, featuring verbal gymnast Subtitle flowing over what sounds like a dying music box, exemplifies the latter.

Breath Contrails [MP3, 6.5MB, 192kbps]

www.scapemusic.de

Fridge

UK post-rock trio, not unlike Tortoise, prone to toy with electronic and sometimes jazzy improvisations. Although Fridge can sometimes resort to experimentation for experimentation's sake, these tracks are a fine sampling of their more accessible work. FYI: Fridge has spawned two solo projects, Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) and Adem (Adem Ilhan).

Ark [MP3, 7.3MB, 128kbps]
Cutup Piano And Xylophone [MP3, 3.0MB, 160kbps]
Lign [MP3, 625KB, 128kbps]
Lojen [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Surface Noise and Electric Piano [MP3, 6.1MB, 192kbps]

www.temporaryresidence.com
www.brainwashed.com/fridge

Greg Davis

Reluctant beats rinsed in rippling, melancholic guitars — perfect for after hours listening (assuming you're driving home after getting dumped).

Brocade [MP3, 1.7MB, 56kbps]

www.carparkrecords.com

Blockhead

Another Ninja Tune victory: scratchy electronic that sounds like how the movie 28 Days Later felt. This track seems to feature a bit of Strongbad right towards the end as well.

Bullfight in Ireland [MP3, 4.3MB, 128kbps]

More music from Blockhead:

Which One of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer [MP3]
From the album The Music Scene out 1/12/10 on Ninja Tune.

http://www.ninjatune.net
http://www.ninjatune.net/blockhead

Salvatore

Is it live or is it Memorex? (Wow, that reference seems really dated...) A band or someone hiding behind a curtain of computers? Either way it's as if robots recorded My Bloody Valentine music in the Mojave desert. But robots like the Tin Man, who had heart.

Easy [MP3, 3.5MB, 128kbps]

www.racingjunior.com

n.ln

A prolific chap, Nyles Lannon (Film School, n.Lannon), a double major (how far can a I push the collegiate allusions?), hard at work in his computer science courses (I can run them into the ground I tell you).

I Never Heard [MP3, 9.3MB, 192kbps]
4 Little Fires [MP3, 7.1MB, 192kbps]

www.highpointlowlife.com
www.nlnmusic.com

Havergal

Prairie drawl and bug zapper glitches = campfire music for the computer age.

I Am a Frequency [MP3, 5.6MB, 160kbps]

www.secretlycanadian.com

Magnus

Distant vocals served over cool techno and coupled with solid funk basslines and snappy guitars bring an old-school (circa 1994?) vibe to today's dancefloor.

Jumpneedle [MP3, 5.8MB, 192kbps]

www.anti.com
www.magnsumusic.com

RF

If you had to pigeonhole RF, you might label it Intelligent Acoustic Music. His whispering guitars and gentle programming make me want to snuggle up with my iPod and a good Haruki Murakami novel.

Bis [MP3, 5.5MB, 160kbps]
Falls (2) [MP3, 5.2MB, 160kbps]
Difference [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Sunday Park [MP3, 6.5MB, 128kbps]

www.oddshapedcase.com
www.are-f.com

Intuit

German duo enlist flamboyant Brazilian vocalists to add their smooth touch to this shimmering, summery jazz track.

Crianca Das Ondas [MP3, 6.0MB, 192kbps]

www.compost-records.com

Anna Oxygen

Bouncy, new wave stream-of-consciousness — as catchy as it is fleeting.

Fake Pajamas [MP3, 3.1MB, 160kbps]
Spectacle [MP3, 2.7MB, 128kbps]

www.killrockstars.com
www.coldcrushrecords.com
annaoxygen.com

Kennedy

Space-folk-gospel-disco pop, with a hint of The Who. It's all here, kitchen-sink rock. Gotta hear it to believe.

Brain in a Room [MP3, 5.4MB, 192kbps]
I Love Me [MP3, 5.0MB, 192kbps]
Mama Made Me a Pimp [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]
Wake Up Motherfucker [MP3, 2.9MB, 192kbps]

www.sealevel.com
www.kisforkennedy.com

Broken Spindles

Joel Peterson, aka Broken Spindles, runs the gamut of electronic music; from chilled-out synth symphonies to dark, bass-heavy grooves, he serves up a fitting soundtrack to our post-everything lives.

Inward [MP3, 2.5MB, 128kbps]
This Is an Introduction [MP3, 3.9MB, 190kbps]
Induction [MP3, 596KB, 32kbps]
Move Away [MP3, 5.6MB, 32kbps]

www.saddle-creek.com

Thavius Beck

Collages of stuttering breaks and swirling samples, along with extended doses of "spoken word" culled from the underbelly of American pop culture. A potentially played-out formula turned downright entrancing.

(Music Will Be) The Death of Us All [MP3, 7.8MB, 192kbps]
To Make Manifest [MP3, 4.2MB, 160kbps]

www.dirtyloop.com
www.midheaven.com

Weevil

Lonely, loping folktronica with a healthy shoegazer sheen.

Too Long Sleeping [MP3, 3.7MB, 96kbps]
Silver Rails [MP3, 3.0MB, 96kbps]
Pins of Light [MP3, 4.7MB, 128kbps]
Still [MP3, 3.6MB, 128kbps]
Foam [MP3, 3.9MB, 112kbps]

www.wichita-recordings.com
www.weevilmusic.co.uk

TRS-80

I keep thinking CLOADM "donkey"...sorry. I actually played a Donkey Kong clone on my TRS-80, loaded from cassette. These tracks are much better than Donkey Kong; reminiscent of DJ Shadow's work with UNKLE.

Phantom Power [MP3, 3.2 MB, 128kbps]
Math Basket [MP3, 4.06 MB, 128kbps]

08/24/06 Update: TRS-80 New Album + MP3

www.file-13.com
www.trs80.com

On!Air!Library!

The chin-stroking ambience of O!A!L!'s 2003 material (see "Ex's and Ho's Oh's") makes way for a more diverse palette of bristling pop and sprawling sonic gems in '04.

Faultered Ego [MP3, 5.3MB, 160kbps]
Feb. [MP3, 2.6MB, 160kbps]
Ex's and Ho's Oh's [MP3, 9.9MB, 192kbps]

www.arenarockrecordingco.com
www.onairlibrary.com

Four Tet

The "As Serious As Your Life" B-sides come in all flavors: Jay Dee and Guilty Simpson capitalize on the original's funky underpinnings with b-boy savoir faire while the live version pushes the limits of both RAM and patience.

As Serious As Your Life (Jay Dee Remix featuring Guilty Simpson) [MP3, 6.5MB, 192kbps]
As Serious As Your Life (Live Version) [MP3, 21.4MB, 128kbps]
As Serious As Your Life (Remix 1) [MP3, 5.3MB, 192kbps]
My Angel Rocks Back and Forth (Four Teas on English Time - Icarus Remix) [MP3, 6.8MB, 128kbps]
Cradle [MP3, 6.6MB, 128kbps]

www.dominorecordco.com
www.fourtet.net

Adem

Intricate, next-level folk music from Fridge bassist Adem Ilhan.

Statued [MP3, 3.5MB, 128kbps]
Everything You Need [MP3, 3.7MB, 128kbps]

www.dominorecordco.com
www.adem.tv

Say Hi to Your Mom

This pick inspired by Sam's 3/4/04 pick: SHTYM is what you'd expect from someone who grew up using a Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Compaq Portable II, and an Epson dot matrix printer. Now he's making music on those machines about the girlfriends who beat him in Centipede.

Dimensions and Verticals [MP3, 4.0MB, 128kbps]
The Forest Scares the Hell Out of Me [MP3, 3.9MB, 128kbps]
Yeah, I'm in Love with an Android [MP3, 2.1MB, 128kbps]
Hooplas Involving Circus Tricks [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Let's Talk About Spaceships [MP3, 2.8MB, 128kbps]
Super [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

www.sayhitoyourmom.com

07/13/06 update: Say Hi To Your Mom Goes Goth

Her Space Holiday

We'll keep adding MP3s 'til the wheels come off... Our growing talent showcase proves again (if needed) that emotronica wiz Marc Bianchi can play confessional singer/songwriter, bedroom beatslinger, or sampler symphonist with equal artistry. And yet, somehow, my man still finds time to get his remix on.

Forever and a Day [MP3, 3.1MB, 112kbps]
The Weight of the World [MP3, 4.0MB, 112kbps]
A Match Made in Texas [MP3, 3.3MB, 112kbps]
The Luxury of Loneliness (Boom Bip Remix) [MP3, 5.9MB, 128kbps]
Tech Romance [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Doctor and the DJ [MP3, 4.1MB, 128kbps]
Microfilmed [MP3, 5.4MB, 128kbps]
Key Strokes [MP3, 1.9MB, 56kbps]
The Luxury of Loneliness [MP3, 6.41MB, 192kbps]
American Household (HSH remixes Logic) [MP3, 4.8MB, 128kbps]
Ballad of a Paralyzed Citizen (HSH remixes The Faint) [MP3, 1.7MB, 64kbps]
Da Da Da (HSH remixes Elastica covering Trio) [MP3, 1.6MB, 64kbps]
Dark Ages (HSH remixes Bedhead) [MP3, 1.8MB, 64kbps]
Hip Hop (HSH remixes Dead Prez) [MP3, 1.85MB, 56kbps]

dirtyloop.com
www.wichita-recordings.com
www.herspaceholiday.com

Tree Wave

Warm, familiar, soothing tunes -- just what you'd expect from a Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Compaq Portable II, Epson dot matrix printer, and a 100% human chanteuse.

May Banners [MP3, 5.23MB, 192kbps]
Machines Fall Apart [MP3, 4.37MB, 192kbps]
Sleep [MP3, 4.13MB, 192kbps]
Instrumental 1B [MP3, 5.64MB, 192kbps]

www.observatoryonline.org
www.treewave.com

Pedro

Manchester based Melodic Records first birthed Pedro, then cranked out a whole litter of releases. Twenty, in fact, since 1999. A fine lot of electronic glitches, strums, and rhythms. From Melodic's site: "Full mp3 tracks, not CD quality, but good enough for you to get addicted." Actually, they're nowhere NEAR CD quality, but I'll be damned if they're not spot on with the warning of dependency.

Fear and Resilience [MP3, 3.6KB, 128kbps]
Lay Down Mega Man [MP3, 442KB, 24kbps]
Chapel Was My Dream [MP3, 442KB, 24kbps]

www.melodic.co.uk

Kim Hiorthoy

A sampling of favorites from 2003. This Scandanavian multi-talent builds mystery and melody from scraps found on the cutting room floor.

Det Blev Fel [MP3, 6.28MB, 128kbps]

www.bubblecore.com
www.smalltownsupersound.com

Donna Regina

A sampling of favorites from 2003. Not a she, but a husband and wife, composing simple, melancholic melodies and beats.

How Beautiful [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]
Late [MP3, 2.9MB, 160kbps]

www.karaokekalk.de
www.donnaregina.net

Manitoba

A sampling of favorites from 2003. Mr. Snaith makes music like no one else.

Hendrix With KO [MP3, 2.70MB, 96kbps]

www.posteverything.com/leaf
www.manitoba.fm