This is one of those albums that sneaks up on you bit by bit, note by note, melody by melody. A subtle record that, after hearing it once or twice, lies dormant for a spell until you find yourself humming one of its tunes. “Empty Bottles” has been floating around in my head for weeks. The simple, rich harmonies are sweetly palpable, not unlike the sensation I experienced the first time I ever listened to Either/Or. Self-released on his own Dirty Laundry label, The Ashes Bloom will likely get lost in the glut of mass-market releases racing for your attention this year. Slow life down to bike ride speed and enjoy Reed KD.
Lemuria
Buffalo’s Lemuria has been been a real working band since their formation in 2004. Touring, touring, and then more touring. So after putting out various singles and EP’s, their debut album Get Better is out now on Asian Man Records. And their song below, “Pants,” has triggered my obsessive compulsive disorder; besides having me absolutely hooked, it’s so catchy, fuzzy, and snappy, that after Sheena sings “You never missed a word I tried to fit/Inside a chorus, inside a verse, all my intros and the bridge/That’s where I put all the awful things I think I am/And if you still respect me I guess I’ll have a second chance” I want to tell her that she leaves a great first impression.
A Weather
A Weather are a whisper out of Portland, Oregon, playing the some of the softest and easiest sounds of the year. Slow, smooth, captivating, trance-inducing — the intertwined vocals of Aaron Gerber and Sarah Winchester are hard to break away from once they’ve caught you. There is an incredible beauty to these tracks, all off the band’s debut efforts on Team-Love Records. If you like things low, lush, hushed and hazy, this is the place to be.
Hearts of Palm UK
The following is a Public Service Announcement from 3hive and Hearts of Palm UK.
Hearts of Palm UK offers a timely song this week about citizens and their right to vote, “Super Tuesday,” the (un)official anthem of (obviously) Super Tuesday, the day 24 states in our blessed union hold presidential primaries. Hearts of Palm UK are not British or Northern Irish, as the name would suggest; Erika and Ambi-D are a couple of Cali girls cranking out this peculiar indie-electro-pop. As a political science major in college, I secretly hope that they follow this up with a song discussing, dissecting, and explaining the results of Super Tuesday. Maybe they can even get invited to appear on Meet the Press. Anybody got Tim Russert’s email address?
Remember to vote!
School of Language
After their sophomore album, Tones of Town, the band Field Music called it quits, in a sense, momentarily, but not really. They didn’t break up, but instead kept working, individually, trying to be as productive and creative as they always wanted to be. I assume they have plans to make music as Field Music again. In the meantime, School of Language is the first product to surface from the hiatus. The first single, “Rockist Part 1” (there are four parts of the song on the album) finds David Brewis taking his School of Language moniker seriously as a barrage of looped and layered vowel sounds stream through the song, but thankfully not the album, in its entirety. By part 3 of “Rockist” the looped vocals take a backseat and sound like a more traditional instrument. Working by himself, the similarities between Brewis and Andy Partridge seem more prominent. If “Rockist” tickles your proverbial fancy, take a gander at the album stream. Brewis tours the States beginning in March, fleshing out his one man band with Doug McCombs (Tortoise) and Ryan Rapsys (Euphone).
The High Water Marks
1,255 days. That’s how long I’ve been waiting to post once again about a new album from the High Water Marks. And after patiently waiting for so long, today is the day. New album Polar is out now!
The Leaves [MP3, 3.8MB, VBR]
Original post 8/20/2004:
Last year my friend Matt was passing through town and I dragged him out to see the Apples in Stereo with opening act Oranger. After Oranger finished their set, he turned to me and asked, “How do you compare Apples and Oranger?”
With The High Water Marks we get to do just that. Featuring Apples in Stereo drummer Hilarie Sidney on guitar and Oranger drummer Jim Lindsay, with members of Palermo and Von Hemmling filling out the team, The High Water Marks have a rocking, jangling, cymbal-crashing good time. So Matt, the answer to your question is The High Water Marks.
Good I Feel Bad [MP3, 2.4MB, 128kbps]
Queen of Verlaine [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Pinto
Getting scooped is never a big deal at 3hive. For most of us, this job is a pleasant distraction from our real responsibilities: changing dirty diapers (Shan, maybe Sam, me), grading papers (Sean, me), hanging out with famous people (Lisa, sometimes Sam), being married to famous people (Jon) being Californian (Sean, Clay), and making huge bank (Sam). The only real competition comes from snapping up new tunes to post, and I always feel I miss out on the Swedes. Therefore, the posting of Pinto’s lo-fi pop is a kind of small victory for me. Whoo! This is from the band’s website: “Pinto is more or less a one man band but I have some friends around to keep me sane because Pinto is all about being sane… Say what?” (That “Say what?” was in the original text, I didn’t add it.)
The Heavy Circles
Well hello Edie Brickell! I won’t even mention the title of her ubiquitous late eighties/early Nineties “New Bohemians” hits, hit lest one in particular gets stuck in your head for the rest of the week and haunt your dreams. (You know which one I am talking about.) Looping music in my mind notwithstanding, I was delighted to find this collaboration between Ms. Brickell and her hubby Paul Simon’s son. She’s always had a beautiful voice, thats for sure, and it seems that Mr. Simon (the younger, Harper) has added some of what appears to be his youthful dreaminess and angst to the mix. Shall we play the definition game? Eighties earnest meets Nineties earth pop meets the offspring of Simon & Garfunkel and then gets busy with the present day and hangs out a little with French lounge pop? Maybe/maybe not, but I heart.
Figurines
I’ve been digging through the mail and scouring the net for two hours searching for that something something that will hit the spot. Figurines do the trick. The band’s last album Skeletons recently made it back into heavy rotation here at 3hive’s Southern California HQ, the wood/cork paneled office in my ’70s suburban tract home, so I figured I’d do some nop-notch investigative work on the band’s current status. I struck gold: two new tracks from their forthcoming LP, When the Deer Wore Blue, plus the video for another. At first I was let down by the songs’ slower tempo, but only for a listen or two. The slower the tempo the more they channel a lovely, laid-back Beach Boys vibe (“The Air We Breathe”). The band’s U.S. label, The Control Group, already has the album up for sale, but it won’t be out in their hometown until next month. I’m kicking myself for missing them in L.A. back in October. This calls for an exception to my no-mailing-lists-because-I-don’t-need-the-extra-emails-rule. Sign me up boys!
Hey Girl [MP3, 3.0MB, 160kbps]
The Air We Breathe [MP3, 4.2MB, 128kbps]
Christine Fellows
I’ve been holding on to this song for a long time, at least a year or two, unsure whether or not I’d post it. Obviously, here it is… The album on which “Advice” appears, 2 little birds, is out of print; Fellows asks on her website that it not be purchased digitally, if available, as she has not consented to it sale in this manner. That said, I can certainly pitch her latest work, Nevertheless, released last November, which features the same cellist heard here, Leanne Zacharias, plus Weakerthan (and husband) John K. Samson.