+/- has always given me the impression that they know exactly what they’re doing. Even as their catchy pop has matured, like the members themselves, their songs are still crafted in fine detail; there is no filler, no fluff, and definitely no songs that were mere afterthoughts meant to only take up space. Now that is not to say that there is no passion in +/-. Au contraire, they’re only showing us the passion that they want us to see, dispensing their drug in controlled doses. Xs for Your Eyes, their new LP. will be out October 21st.
Original post from June 30, 2004:
Continuing our tour of former members of the late great Versus (and 3hive’s tour of bands with non-alphabetic names), we now hit +/-, a.k.a. “Plus Minus.” Combining the finer points of electronica and jangly (even emo) pop with their well-honed skills of crunching guitars, +/- purvey a progessive indie rock that’s catchy, hooky, and rockin’.
I’m sorry, but I get so sick of new music sometimes. It’s not that I want to live stuck in the late ‘8os or ’90s, enveloped by the past, but I need to see where I’ve been. Not to get all Nick Hornsby here, but I want access to the personal history that comes with MY music. Case in point: Sam and I went to see 
How many of us were in a band in 10th grade? And for those who answered yes, how many are still in that band? Cacie Dalager and Brad Hale started playing together in 10th grade, and, having finished school, last year added two other members to round out their lineup and begin doing this band thing for real. Cacie’s innocently earnest voice steals the show, while the music swirls around her, managing to push her higher still. That’s the danger with their formula; can the music match the level of the singing? Now, Now Every Children make it sound simple, by keeping it…well…simple. Now after listening, for those who answered no, how many of us wish we had been in a band in 10th grade?
Hot off the French Riviera and into my suburban home, a bike ride away from a large, democratic swath of California beach, via our trusty suggestion box is Hifiklub. Their album was produced by Earl Slick, best known for his guitar work on Bowie’s Young Americans and Station to Station albums. The first single, “Babe Doll” starts off with a Blur-esque dance beat, moaning guitars lead to spoken/sung vocals, the guitars go all angular, and then they’re just 
Similarities between the Upsidedown and the Dandy Warhols are to be expected. Having signed on to the Dandy’s new indie label Beat the World, they also recorded their new LP Human Destination at the Dandy’s Odditorium studio. If mockery is the sincerest form of flattery, the Upsidedown, with members hailing from Portland, Missouri, Kansas, and San Fran, flatter their Dandy mentors by their use of crisp drumming, a steady rhythm, and effects-laden guitar driving the melody. On tour now with the…you guessed it…Dandy Warhols.
Goldcure is an Austin-based group that sings about love, god and other things that keep us up at night. Though you might expect such subject matter to tend toward theatrics, there’s something calm and reassuring about how the vocals and guitars shimmer and shine around each other. Goldcure is certainly not playing to Austin’s fabled bar scene with such erstwhile calming yet expansive ditties, similar to their city-mates in Shearwater. It’s enough to remind you why you’re up in the middle of the night in the first place.
My “3hive” bookmarks folder has, sheez I don’t know exactly, hundreds of links to bands that I have bookmarked over the years. For one reason or another, most of them hadn’t made it onto our pages, the biggest reason being a lack of free MP3’s to link to. Looking back through said bookmarks folder brought me first to 
At the risk of revealing myself as A) behind the times, and B) a complete tool, I’m going to share that I’ve recently gotten back into heavy exercise. At the gym, I usually listen to (here’s where the “complete tool†part comes in) This American Life or some other talky podcast where I don’t have to worry about (tool again) consistently high-energy beats. But praise be to Pittsburgh’s Greg Gillis, whose Night Ripper from 2006 is a (the behind the times part) mashup masterpiece that (tool) keeps my adrenaline PUMPED, man! For my money, Z-Trip is still the high-water mark of such guerrilla hip-hop-classic-rock-punk-pop-whatever mixing, but what Gillis does with the riffs from The Pixies, the Strokes and Weezer in “Hold Up†helps me burn 500 calories in two minutes. Girl Talk’s newest, Feed the Animals, is available 
Sometimes while researching for 3hive, I start with an old post and start clicking links. I did that tonight, and after seemingly dozens of links, I ended up on a Leeds garage punk-rock band, the Real Losers. I couldn’t get back to their site even if I tried again. This song is so lo-fi, and such a crappy recording, it actually can’t get any better. Don’t you just love the internet?
This post marks my return from “The Last Frontier,” Alaska. Yes, I’ve spent the last couple weeks far removed from what I consider civilization, cavorting with cohos, bears, foxes, moose, and mosquitoes. And the hot-fudge milkshake at Lucky Wishbone in Anchorage (oh man, they’d burn the hot-fudge just a bit for a palate pleasing punch. Heaven!). We did spend a few days in the