Although the shuffling Gypsy cabaret of “Prove Me Wrong” may not sound like either rock or punk (or folk, for that matter — genre categories can be so imprecise) a trip through E.S.L.’s full length album Eye Contact will offer up all that and more. A rollicking Polish love song (sung po polsku), experimental strings and craziness, rock, Beastie Boys, Neil Young and Velvet Undergraound covers — this all-girl Vancouver quartet’s got it. You know, today is my birthday; maybe they’ll play at my party.
Cannonball Jane
Whenever I hear the name Jane I can’t help thinking about a high school friend of mine (spelled “Jayne”). She was one of maybe three people from my school I hung out with my senior year. When I attended a reunion recently my wife asked me, not facetiously, “Are you even going to know anyone here?” The only person I could think of was Jayne, but I knew she wouldn’t be there. Like me, Jayne was slightly anti-social. As I expected, no Jayne. But you know how high school reunions put you in that nostalgic mood/mode? Thus affected, I did some internet sleuthing and actually tracked Jayne down, an entire continent away, hoping to say hello and catch up. I left two awkward voice messages (it’s impossible to sound casual, as if I hadn’t talked to her for a week when in fact it had been years). Did Jayne call back? Nope. Made me feel even more awkward, like I was some creepy internet stalker!
I think if Jayne’s personality were more like Cannonball Jane’s music we would’ve had a nice conversation, shared a few good laughs, and traded our latest listens and reads. See, Cannonball Jane is playful, colourful (Jayne was from England—she made me use British spellings), and obviously up for some fun. By day Cannonball Jane teaches elementary school. By night Jane, aka Sharon Hagopian, fires up the beatbox, guitars, synths and gadgets and records a groovin’ pastiche of hip hop, new wave, and sixties pop. A mix of Soul Coughing and Luscious Jackson, Mary Tyler Moore and Solex. This is the kind of woman I’d trust to educate my children and school me in the ways of beats and breaks and dance party extravaganzas. Hey, sounds a lot like Alisa, the woman I married. Who, by the way, tracked down one of her old high school friends during a reunion year. And he called her back! Who wouldn’t? She’s fun like that.
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.
J. Tillman
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with J. Tillman, the Seattle-based songwriter with a melancholic voice and American Gothic disposition…and more facial hair. “Steel on Steel†is a pretty and melodic ditty that may not be the most summery of songs in the other 49, but you get the feeling that it’s the perfect antidote to that Peugot Sound Gray.
Electric President
My promo copy of Electric President’s new album Sleep Well is practically worn out already, but luckily, the release date for the new disc is just a few days away. Dreamy like the last one, but dark and brooding too, Ben Cooper and Alex Kane are still rocking the electrorganic (it does work, Sam) in the available-for-free-download, opening track “Monster,” as well as a bunch of other great spins on the disc. Check out the tinkly little piano in this song, the falsetto vocals in “We will Walk through Walls,” and the oh-so-true chorus of “It’s an Ugly Life,” all of these backed by occasional boops and bips and computer scratches.
Monsters [MP3, 7.8MB, 128kbps]
Sam’s original post: 01/21/06
Jacksonville, Florida’s Ben Cooper and Alex Kane had been collaborating as Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer for a couple years, when they mercifully decided to change their name to Electric President. They put together a five-song EP called You Have the Right to Remain Awesome which found its way to the Morr Music offices in Berlin. Morr now brings us their debut long-player which is nothing short of dreamy. Electric President’s electrorganic (just made that term up) pop fits right alongside labelmates Lali Puna, Styrofoam, b.fleischmann, and Mum. Ben also records solo as Radical Face (hence the duo’s original moniker) and should have an album out (also on Morr) later this year. He also makes really nice paintings. And he’s only 23. Yeah, I know…showoff.
Insomnia [MP3, 9.9MB, 320kbps]
Good Morning, Hypocrite [MP3, 7.4MB, 192kbps]
Label My Mind: Blown [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
O’Death
And here comes another one from the department of better late than never… I think for a long time I was resistant to listening to O’Death because, well, from my brown girl New Yorker perspective “Appalachia Punk” seemed a little far flung. Well, this week is a time for changes and a week for realizing that we are all ready to stop thinking inside our little boxes. I bought a message t-shirt that says “Obama Mama”, I signed on to O’Death’s frenetic mixing of seemingly discordant genres. Times are a-changing. But really in the end, labels mean nothing. This twanging and yelling and somber tone really just throws me back to the good old Tom Waits days. And we liked them days. Three cheers to the Tie Fighter and his fantastic quinoa-making roommate for making me see the O’Death light.
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.
Steinski
Someday, when every respectable university offers sampling/remix/mashup culture curricula and tweed jackets are replaced by hoodies, expect to find lectures devoted to a particular five minutes and 23 seconds of musical history: Double Dee and Steinski’s “The Payoff Mix.” The track, an entry by a couple of first-time bedroom producers to a remix contest put on by Tommy Boy Records in 1983, has shaped both underground and popular music for decades (two and a half to be exact) and still stands on its own two legs… The technique of audio juxtaposition and recontextualization (otherwise known as “rewind moments”) and even the specific samples the duo used on that pioneering track have become as common to hip-hop, remixes, and mash-ups as backspins and “yes y’alls” — if you can’t help but read, “And, say children, what does it all mean?” in the voice of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (even if you had no idea who you were imitating) you’ve been affected by Double Dee and Steinski.
Steinski’s musical “career” started much later than most; he was 32 years old when he created “The Payoff Mix” and didn’t make any money from the record because it was comprised entirely of illegal samples. This makes the thorough and long-overdue Steinski retrospective, What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006, all the more impressive as you take in the full range of his work — everything from “The Lessons” (the first three tracks he made with Double Dee) to his audio documentaries of the JFK assasination and 9/11 to an hour-long mashup bonanza he produced for Coldcut’s Solid Steel show on the BBC. Class is in session…