As Joe pointed out last week with the Expos, 3hive could do with a “ska” genre. We might only post a few per year, but the love of ska runs deep here at the 3hive. Joe played in prominent Michigan ska band back in the day, and I once drove from Utah to LA mid-semester just to see the Toasters and Bim Skala Bim with Mobtown. (If any of our readers were at that show, that was me screaming “Veil of Sadness” at the top of my lungs when Bim asked for requests at the start of their encore, only for Shanty Dan to huddle with Vinny briefly before responding that they couldn’t remember how to play that song!) My fascination with German ska (see Skaos and the Special Guests) continues, so it’s time to roll out an old fave, the Busters. Still going after all these years, the Busters display the maturity of those years with “Waiting for the Sun.”
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.
The Expos
I’m starting to think we need a “ska” genre field; maybe “other” just doesn’t cut it. On the ‘hive, we’ve had German ska, New York ska, Boston ska-core, and of course the skanking from the North. The Expos naturally fit that category. When I web-searched the band, I half expected their site to show up above that of the defunct Montreal baseballers. (Those Expos were #1, these were #4.) Either way, you can go ahead and download “Little Red Hook” and put a little jump up in your day.
qr5
I was cleaning out my suggestion file from 2006 this morning, bringing the number down to a manageable 227 bands left to check out, when I came across qr5. The Canadian pop-reggae outfit suggested themselves in the sunny month of May, and I finally gave them a listen. (Sorry it took so long! Do you have snow yet? We got a little bit yesterday.) Since then, “Revisited Gone” has been the groove of the moment. Here’s what they had to say about themselves: “Introspective music you can dance to, qr5 is a singular combination of reggae groove, pop contagion, and folk sensibility. With their new album Pharmakon the Toronto 4 piece mixes a positive feel and engaging arrangements with tight rhythms and deep thoughts.” Right on. You know reggae sounds better in January anyway.
Missing Numbers
Happy New Year from 3hive!
So as I was reviewing songs I had downloaded in 2006 but never posted—you know, just to see what I forgot about last year—I came across the Minneapolis band Missing Numbers hiding on my hard drive. Haunting, dark, moody, suspenseful, and darn catchy. So much music, so little time…
Tom Rothrock
An album named after the instrument it fetishizes, Resonator (a wood-bodied guitar with a single metal coned center often called by the brand name DOBRO) is producer Tom Rothrock’s first album as a recording artist. You’ll immediately recognize the Resonator’s bluesy soul sound as the backbone of many of Beck’s early songs. You old-timers and blues enthusiasts may scoff at pop music’s grope at authenticity, re-discovering the guitar some fifty years after its heyday. You cannot, however, chide Rothrock’s passion for the instrument. This instrumental work resonates with respect and reverence. He adds hip-hop beats, live drums and strings to the equation for a cinematic mood and scope. Fitting, considering it was Michael Mann’s urging Rothrock to compose the score for Mann’s film Collateral, that set the prolific producer to work on his own compositions. Getting your hands on the entire album may prove problematic as it’s been limited to a one-time pressing of 1,203 hand-numbered copies. Not to fear, it’s just the first in a series of instrumental albums planned by Mr. Rothrock, released via his newly re-launched Bong Load Records.
The One Night Band
So this is what old school ska/reggae sounds like in Montreal. Reminds me a bit of those early Bob Marley recordings when he had short hair and wore matching outfits with Rita and Peter Tosh. “Who feels it knows it…” Singing in both English and French, The One Night Band’s debut album, Way Back Home came out summer 2006. Hey Sam, how do you say “rude boy” in French?
She, Sir
Austin-based quartet, She, Sir recently built a lovely wall-of-sound EP, stacked with layers upon layers of guitars, modal harmonies, and hushed melodies. With the subtle hooks and deep atmospherics of Who Can’t Say Yes, She, Sir drop pop music to an even vaguer level than Loveless. She, Sir beautifully fractures music for the next generation of dream-pop connoisseurs.
Urbs
Austrian hip hop and breakz DJ, Paul Nawrata, has been crafting mean sets since 1991. He’s been producing since 1997 and his first solo album, Toujours le Même Film, in a word, KILLS. Fans of film scores and other cinematic sounds are definitely gonna wanna jump in on this one. As are the hip hop kids. Quality downtempo, trip-hop for folks who are partial to Portishead, RJD2, and surround sound.
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.