The first minute of “Hey Mamma” pays major homage to the Beatles of a certain era you can probably guess by looking at the photo. After the first minute, as Hunter S. Thompson might say, it gets a little strange. But strange is good, and Kay Kay manages to toss around strings, percussion, and even what sounds like a player piano to spritely effect. The songs on the band’s MySpace page are equally confounding yet somehow appealing to the ears. Kay Kay will be coughing up a cassette-only EP soon, so pick it up and, hop in your 10-year-old Subaru and crank it until you can’t hear the engine noise.
Health & Beauty
There’s something very, very good happening on Chicago’s south side, and that good thing is called Mr. Hyde Records. To quote from their mission statement, Mr. Hyde is a record label that “focuses on making definitive compilations of the rock music being made in Hyde Park.” When I lived in Hyde Park ten years ago, it wasn’t really clear that there was much music being made in the neighborhood; it didn’t help that there was only one bar, Jimmy’s, and the local university is pretty geeky. Then again, as 3hive proves week in and week out, geeks rock. Based on Mr. Hyde’s output, like the recent Jackson Park Express compilation, the U of C scene is rich, diverse and (surprise, surprise) notably cerebral.
So, Cola Wars was our first Mr. Hyde related post, even if I didn’t really know what it meant at the time. (In true home-grown fashion, all these guys are in ten bands and running their own label.) Anyway, Health & Beauty is another band in the family; Brian J. Sulpizio even looks like my cousin’s crazy ex-boyfriend. Though his music doesn’t really reflect this craziness — you’ll find a little noise here and there, among beautiful melodies and smart, smoothly-delivered lyrics — the Health & Beauty website itself is like a psychedelic corn maze of poetry and random association. I spent at least an hour wandering around “Eraser Metropolis”, following the links and taking it all in. Over the next few weeks I’ll post a few more Mr. Hyde bands; if you like what you hear, go ahead and buy a few compilations.
Voxtrot
Another example of our diabolical scheme here at the ‘hive. Wait for every other site in the world to talk about a band, then we swoop in, iconoclastically late. Is the Voxtrot party still on? You bet it is. And there’s still plenty of time to sport Voxtrot merch and not look sooooo 2005. The Austin-based band warns there won’t be a proper album for a while. So they do what any respectable band should, keep teasing their fans with EPs. “Trouble” is one third of their next installment of American-bred, Britishy smart-pop that holds up remarkably well under all the buzz.
The How
Who: Matt from the late, great Henry’s Dress (seriously one of the best bands ever) and Stew from Boyracer. Also, The Who, the chief inspiration of Matt and Stew.
What: Self-described as “revved up Who-inspired mod-rock” that’s “in the Spirit of ’66.”
Where: Not important.
When: First released “Dreaming of Lily” on a split single with The Aisler’s Set back in 2000. “I Was a Boy” is from the current Happy Matt single out on Slumberland.
Why: Cause they can.
The How.
Frida Hyvonen
As a parting gift for the last week at my job, my coworker Lisa sent me some music recommendations—and when Lisa sends recs, I tend to listen because her mad skillz at free-MP3-mining far surpass my own. Frida Hyvönen was on that list, though with the caveat that the record was released nearly a year ago in Frida’s native Sweden (it’s spankin’ new on Secretly Canadian in the U.S.), so for you Northern European seekers, this may be old news. But for the rest of us, it’s a refreshingly enigmatic gust of cool air. Hyvönen is a sort of Scandinavian Joni Mitchell, a post-feminist proto-poet with the voice of an angel and the outlook of Kierkegaard. The track here is short and bittersweet. The rest of the album multifaceted and addictive. Take Lisa’s advice and pick it up.
Clare Burson
Clare Burson is often compared to Lucinda Williams, so clearly she’s got something good going on. The Nashville-based Burson’s very personal tales, often of searching or longing, are hypnotic and gritty and completely endearing. As evidenced by the number of free downloads, she’s a generous soul as well, offering up for easy access about half the body of her recorded work. My favorites are from her full-length album The In-Between, on which her country roots are most obvious. Like several other 3hive picks, Burson’s music has been used in a hip TV show (Six Degrees on ABC? If it’s not Dora the Explorer I don’t know about it) so we wish her luck in landing a big fat record deal and implore her to remember the good old days of sharing the sharing.
Huma
Huma started out as a duo of New Jerseyites who wanted to counter the smothering influence of malls and suburban sprawl. Their answer: Folktronic pop blessed with a childlike innocence. Score one for the good guys.
Josh Ottum
Josh Ottum’s “The Easy Way Out” reminds me of the old joke about the weather in Michigan — if you don’t like it, wait a minute. I lost track of the abrupt tempo changes after about 45 seconds and just let the song play on, digging the cute pop (think Ben Kweller) vibe. The remaining tracks available for free download aren’t quite so schizophrenic, and for me they’re actually more enjoyable. “Who Left the Lights On?” has a great groove, nice simple hooks and a thick sound, while “Freedom” sounds like a synth-ed out video game love song. With all this polished pop, all I want to know is, where are the hand claps?
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.
Every Move a Picture
Nigh on two years ago, I wrote about my wife asking me, “Are you listening to 80’s music?” whilst posting about Kawaii. When I was getting Every Move A Picture’s album Heart=Weapon from eMusic recently, she asked me that yet again. I really should have posted about this San Francisco band this time last year, but I passed. However, I recently discovered them again, filling that space between Bloc Party and Interpol. So flying back from SFO on Friday night going through Bay Area bands—reminding me how much I still miss the late great Henry’s Dress—on my MP3 player I decided to finally get around to Every Move A Picture. Their website points to their myspace page, where you can grab at a lower bitrate two of the better songs, “Outlaw” and “Simple Lessons in Love,” from their album.