Being around my old college friends a few weekends back brought back a craving for cheap Mexican food and ska-punk, which I’ve had a hard time satiating for some reason. So I was stoked when Grant Lawrence included this scorching new (to me, at least) track from Vancouver, B.C.’s Subcity Dwellers on the latest Radio 3 podcast. Now Grant, where’s my bean and cheese burrito?
Charles and Annette May Thomas
Sunday morning gospel courtesy of funk-blog-master-deluxe, Oliver Wang. I’ll leave the description of this track to Mr. Wang himself, since he’s been there, done that. What I will give you is the skinny on O-Dub’s newest project. He’s teaming up Soul-Sides with Zealous records for a hand-picked compilation of classic soul old school style—that’s right, straight outta the blogosphere to vinyl and CD. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, a charity assisting R&B artists from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s who lack healthcare and income. Also check out the jukebox for the rest of the album. Guaranteed to fill your soul.
DeVotchKa
Theatrical like Rufus Wainwright, musically nimble like Calexico, Eastern European like my grandparents — that’s what we’re talking about with DeVotchKa. (And again with the name confusion… is it Devotchka or DeVotchKa? Filter says one, the SF Bay Guardian says the other, I say whatever.) Aram and Megan both suggested this band of Denver Gypsies (are they really Romani?) with crazy instrumentation and rollicking melodies, and I say wspanialy! Imagine the theme music for a Belgrade barfight in a Bond movie directed by people with too many consonants in their names, and the band on the stage, the one hiding behind the ripped and stained maroon curtains, is DeVotchKa.
The Special Guests
I found an old tape in my parents’ garage that I’d made for my brother years ago. While it had Wire and Yello on it, it led me down a train of thought that eventually inspired me to dig out Desmond Dekker’s song “Reggae Recipe,” which naturally led to more ska listening. Yes, it’s been a while since 3hive’s last ska post, so something special was needed. Something authentic, something true to roots of ska, something with a rocksteady soul, and Germany’s The Special Guests are the perfect fit. Plus, they’re the only thing keeping me going after 15 hours at work!
Twink
Boston native Mike Langlie, a.k.a. Twink, has quite the collection of toy pianos and he’s not afraid to use them — the last six tracks here are proof of that. On his new album he picks apart the childrens’ records he’s used over the years as inspiration for their melodies and moods and rebuilds a dusty, playful romp.
Cold War Kids
I stumbled across Cold War Kids while at the office yesterday. Once the music kicked in one of my fellow desk jockeys exclaimed, “Turbo Indie!” Indeed. With their minimal jangles of guitar, sparse percussion and fluttering Buckley-esque vocals, Cold War Kids are about as “indie”-sounding as you can get. The other offerings on their myspace page recall the “freak” folk-ishness of Devendra Banhart and friends. Either way, Cold War Kids come close to reaching that primal place where music originates in all of us.
Self
Back it up about 10 years when Sam, Jon and I were all being paid for what we do now for free, a young man by the name of Matt Mahaffey was also, theoretically, getting paid for what he now does for free. His collage of organic and digital instrumentation, pop and hip-hop sensibilities, and his playful use of harmonic and discordant elements won us over immediately. Self was an essential artist in our soundtrack of those days at Acme. With Jon’s usual sarcasm, he remembers this time as “misty watercolor memories.” It took a loyal 3hive reader (thanks Josh!) to bring us full circle, back to Self. While selfies.com offers a veritable smorgasbord of free tunes, here’s a brief sampler of his classic and newest works. “KiDdies” was a literal hit on my nightly radio show in Salt Lake City and a great Halloween track, “So Low” and “Cannon” the singles from Self’s first album. The rest are from his most current album, this year’s Porno, Mint & Grime.
Sound Directions
An extra treat for you today: Madlib keeping the funk alive with a full crew of session musicians. Members of The Dap Kings, Antibalas, and Breakestra, all pitch in and bring breakbeats to old-school jazz greats Oliver Sain, and J.J. Johnson. Snag the tracks while you can, Stones Throw links are usually good for a limited time. Heads up via: Enemy of the Crate
Matisyahu
A Hasidic reggae sensation. It sounds like a sitcom setup that inevitably ends in “Now I’ve really seen it all!” And I’ll admit that when I saw Matisyahu for the first time, the gangly visage in a black suit and hat and traditional beard, combined with a voice perfectly trained for staccato wordplay, was as disorienting as Michael Bolton bustin’ out with a rhyme that would make Jay-Z blush. Yet despite being the last guy you’d expect to find himself in a waka-waka rhythm, Matisyahu comes legit with lyrics often steeped in religious imagery which, like Bob Marley’s Rastafarianism or even Bono’s Catholicism, never cross over into dogma. It’s in those lyrics that Matisyahu’s conceit comes into focus: Zion, Babylon, salvation, temples, princes and kings — whether Jamaica or Jerusalem, reggae at its core is rebel music for true believers. Matisyahu is true, and he’s bound to make some new believers of his own.
Truckstop Honeymoon
It seems like an appropriate time to post some New Orleans levee-billy — courtesy of Mike West and Katie Euliss of Arabi, LA — with sincere hopes that Truckstop Honeymoon will still be making these wonderful sounds. Bluegrass, southern rock, country, Anglo-folk all contribute the background to the wonderful narratives presented by this husband and wife crew. Check out “Capitol Hill” and “Walk of Shame” to get a sense of the political and cultural landscape, then hit their website to buy the two Truckstop Honeymoon albums.