Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard is a crazy man from Memphis. He's prolific, playing with seemingly a dozen bands over the years, notably the Reatards and the Lost Sounds, with even more releases. He's even got his own Wikipedia page. "Sea Saw" is a single from March of this year. Matador, his new home, is releasing a collection of six of his singles from this year on October 7th.

Sea Saw [MP3, 4.2MB, 192kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.jayreatard.blogspot.com

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

There used to be a bunch of MP3's available for Stephen Malkmus so that you could get a great sense of what the erstwhile Pavement frontman has been up to for most of the last decade — and if you haven't been keeping up, you're missing out. We're down to one: the sprawling, guitarilicious Randy Newman cover (!) "Baltimore," all 6 minutes and 37 seconds of it. The new album is called Real Emotional Trash and as far as I can tell there is no release date yet, so don't wear out this stocking stuffer too soon because it may be all you get for Christmas.

Baltimore [MP3, 9.1MB, 192kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.stephenmalkmus.com

Dead Meadow

Somehow, this holiday season snuck up on me. No more pigs in blankets! No more cheap red wine! I revolt. I can’t listen to DJ’s play the greatest hits of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s anymore! I revolt! I am deeply desirous of a comfortable pair of pajamas, a cup of tea, some only-me-and-no-one-else time and the piece de resistance… new Dead Meadow playing on repeat. Shan called it way back in ’05—“blissful rock and roll melancholy”. I couldn’t agree more. What better place to escape to in the midst of small talk, velvet dresses, candles and fake snow? These guys had it right when they took their fifth-album making selves to rural Indiana to create these tunes—there is something deliciously escapist about them.

What Needs [MP3, 5.9MB, 192kbps]

SHAN'S ORIGINAL POST (7/1/05):
Stephen Malkmus is a big fan of this L.A. trio/quartet — and why shouldn't he be? The alluring meld of overamped guitar, under-enunciated vocals and warm aural fuzz is blissful rock and roll melancholy — think My Bloody Valentine in the age of Black Sabbath and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It's the perfect soundtrack, or antidote, to Fourth of July fireworks.

The Whirlings [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
I Love You Too [MP3, 6.7MB, 128kbps]
Everything's Goin' On [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.deadmeadow.com

The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers were one of the earliest posts on 3hive, back three and a half years ago when Sam and I tossed up a handful of MP3s from some of our favorite albums from the year previous. We didn't offer much in the way of commentary back then (not that we do presently either), so for those who've been hiding under a rock for the last three years, and have missed out on The New Pornographers, here's a bit more to chew on. The sequence to their new album Challengers threw me off on first listen. It starts off with "My Rights Versus Yours" a familiar, subdued type of Carl Newman tune, complete with a french horn (used, surprisingly, for the first time in a New Pornographers' song). It builds like a rock opera opener and sets up me up to bounce around to a frantic track like "All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth" or "Mutiny, I Promise You." But my patience is tried and I have to wait through three more songs, including Dan Bejar's "Myriad Harbor," before my expectations are rewarded. Dont' get me wrong, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Each song is great! It's just going to take repeated listens before I can appreciate the album as a whole, unlike the first listen ecstacy I experienced hearing Electric Version. Considering today's song-based attention span, I must sound like an old man, talking about spending time with a whole album! Well, this codger appreciates the fact that Newman, Case, Bejar & Co. continue to create whole albums worth those repeated listens.

Original entry 2/17/04:
A sampling of favorites from 2003. A mad rush of hooks to the head.

Use It [MP3, 7.9MB, 320kbps]
Twin Cinema [MP3, 6.8MB, 320kbps]
Mass Romantic [MP3, 5.8MB, 192kbps]
The Laws Have Changed [MP3, 4.80MB, 192kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.thenewpornographers.com

Lavender Diamond

Where's the "Easy Listening" genre when you need one? I remember seeing Lavender Diamond once on The Lawrence Welk Show in 1977, when I snuck out of bed to hide behind the couch and see what my parents were watching. Then again, Becky Stark almost certainly wasn't alive in '77, so maybe it's just the big yellow smiley-face sound that's taking me back. These tracks are from the band's 2005 EP The Cavalry of Light; a full-length album, Imagine Our Love, was released by Matador in May of this year.

You Broke My Heart [MP3, 5.8MB, 224kbps]
Rise in the Springtime [MP3, 5.5MB, 192kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.lavenderdiamond.com

Jennifer O'Connor

For some reason, I thought I'd already posted Jennifer O'Connor. I remember looking at her website, and the older songs she has available for download there were already on my iPod. Ah well, my apologies to Jennifer and her fans, and here you go. If you work her song selection from the bottom up, you can see O'Connor's development from girl-with-acoustic-guitar to full-on rocker, especially with the track "Exeter, Rhode Island," off her next album, Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars, due in August on Matador. Until then, she'll be touring through July with 3hive faves Hotel Lights and Liz Durrett.

From Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars:
Exeter, Rhode Island [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
From The Color and the Light:
The Color and the Light [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]
Hole in the Road [MP3, 3.8MB, 160kbps]
From Jennifer O'Connor:
Sister [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
From Truth Love Work:
Laughlike [MP3, 3.1MB, 160kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.jenniferoconnor.net

Brightblack Morning Light

A few helpful things to know about Nathan Shineywater and Rachael Hughes, aka Brightblack Morning Light: 1) They live in tents in the summer, a small cabin in the winter. 2) They're from Northern California via Alabama. 3) They pal around with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. 4) They care about the world around them. 5) They roll out amazing, narcotically tempered grooves. 6) If only "punkers" were as punk as these hippies...

Everybody Daylight [MP3, 6.9MB, 160kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
www.thebrightblackmorninglight.com

Mogwai

We at 3hive like a lot of the same artists. So we have abided by a simple by-law to help preserve our friendship: first come, first served. If you want to write about someone, do it. If you don't, they're fair game. What this has led to though is a sort of squatting technique where one of us will create a post with the band's name (and not much more) and save it as a draft. That's our way of saying "dibs." And the system works...until you dibs so many artists that you can't remember anymore who dibsed what. So, when we got word of Mogwai's new album, Mr. Beast, Sean had to remind me that I've been sitting on Mogwai since early 2005. Here are two new instrumental tracks ("Folk Death 95" and "Auto Rock," remixed by Errors), alongside a couple of vocal classics taken from the band website — the frenetic "Lower," from their first ever single, and a cover of The Fall's exquisite bummer "Bill Is Dead." I'm glad to say I love Mogwai as much now as I did a year ago.

Oh, and check out their fancy tour site for a fun "Where's Mogwai?" Google map hack and more.

Folk Death 95 [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]
Auto Rock (Errors Remix) [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Bill Is Dead [MP3, 3.4MB, 128kbps]
Lower [MP3, 6.8MB, 160kbps]
Close Encounters [MP3, 4.6MB, 160kbps]

www.matadorrecords.com
mr.beastmap.com
www.mogwai.co.uk