One of the off-shoots of British Mod music is a branch known as Northern Soul which took its cues from little known American soul bands. Now a little known band out of Costa Mesa, California is doing its darndest to revive the sound here on U.S. shores. That band, as you probably already guessed, is Suedehead and they have quite the pedigree. Singer and guitarist Davey Warsop used to sing with a British punk band called Beat Union. Chris Bradley (guitars) ran a small punk rock label called Unity Squad Records, and keyboardist Greg Kuehn did the same for punk rock legends T.S.O.L.
While Suedehead definitely has a punk rock energy and aesthetic about them, they’d be more fit at the head of dance floor than a mosh pit. They wear their affinity for Paul Weller and all things Jam on their sleeves, and that’s a good thing. Rocking out to their new EP, I’ve been asked several times if I was sure this isn’t Elvis Costello. And I’m sure, but it’s a good comparison if we went back in time and Costello was 27 again. The two treats we’re including from the band represent the second, darker half of their EP: the crowd favorite “Young & In Love,” and the video for the oh-so-danceable “Can’t Stop.” Tune in!
I have this tendency to get addicted to songs to the point that the people around me begin throwing heavy objects at my throat and knee-caps. The detox process consists of playing the song over and over while I write a little narrative of my relationship with that song. Lately, I haven’t detoxed; it’s hard to get back into that habit once you’ve abandoned it. After today I promise not to discuss my lingering absence.
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.
Today is my youngest son’s 6th birthday. Happy Birthday Jasper! What more can a six year old ever want on his birthday than a review on 3hive dedicated to him? Maybe he’ll appreciate it more in ten years. When he wakes up he’s gonna be appreciating the chocolate chip muffin I bought him from our local donut shop.
So one of the band members of Earth Program, I won’t identify her specifically, has been pestering me for this post for some time. I think she didn’t really realize that I had quietly retired from 3hive as a way to maintain sanity. Seriously, how can anyone actually listen to even a fraction of the music that’s out there and keeps on coming every day? It was her quasi-anonymous e-mail that did it; “Dear Editor, ” it began. Come on… As a disclosure, I knew this band member before there was an Earth Program, back when she was the complicated girl in the back of my high school Creative Writing class. She was as awesome then as her band is now, and I’m glad I unretired just to share some tunes I think a lot of you are going to like. I mean, just listen to “Eat Your MakeUp,” ok? Earth Program is pop enough to be bearable and strange enough to keep things interesting. Sounds like a fine time to be 20ish in Chicago. Oh, and hi Jen.
Inlets’ first full-length album has been over three years in the making, and now fans can finally hear why it took so long. Sebastian Krueger is back with a lush slice of pastoral pop called “Bright Orange Air”, a teaser from the forthcoming Inter Arbiter LP. Equally gorgeous is the accompanying video, directed by 
Sorry for the hiatus. Life got a bit hectic the last couple weeks, and since I’m pretty much navigating this ship solo (alas!) it doesn’t take much for it to veer off course. Queue The Royal Chains. I pulled this out of the latest stack of mail at random and the lack of effort and forethought paid off. They’re just a couple boys from Nashville via Brooklyn, Dan on guitar and Adam on drums and vocals, who describe their musical MO in the third person this way, “They write pop songs that are probably more rock. They write rock songs that are probably more pop.” I struggled to chose a song to post. The whole five song EP is pop rock solid. I decided on “Lucy Takes the Dare” (which leans toward the pop end of their spectrum), because I think it’s the hit. Which is funny because it’s not structured like a hit at all. The song builds slowly, taunts you with a couple pre-choruses, a meandering bridge, then finally, two minutes in, the title is sung three times, and the song keeps building right into the outro and it’s over and you have to hit repeat. There’s some nice texture looping in the background which reminds me of Howard Hello and if you mix in a touch of Superchunk, minus a bit of tempo, you get pretty close to how great The Royal Chains is/are (depending on your plural band moniker usage preference).
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). 
We just included Pocket’s Top 9 of 2009 in our on-going Best of 2009 lists from friends of the ‘hive.