Now I understand NYC is all cleaned up these days. I personally have walked in Central Park more than once over the past few years without getting mugged, despite the best efforts of television dramas like “Law & Order” to keep me paranoid of being mugged upon setting foot within any of the boroughs. So perhaps it was destiny that three friends from Norman, Oklahoma, with a band named the Muggabears would move to NYC. The band’s website describes them as a “structurally-mutilated brand of noise-pop featuring blissful interplay, sonic experimentation and song destruction,” going on to refer to influences from early 90’s indie rock like Pavement and Sonic Youth. I’ll add Superchunk, Some Velvet Sidewalk, and even Polvo while we’re listing early 90’s indie rock influences. “The Goth Tarts” is from their new EP Night Choreography out on April 24th, and the other two are from their 2006 EP Teenage Cop. Wasn’t there a Law & Order franchise called Law & Order Teenage Cops?
Hooray for Earth
Given the season, it’s appropriate that “Simple Plan,” one of my favorite songs of late, could be described as triumphant. Don’t get me wrong, ain’t nothing preachy about Hooray for Earth. Though you could say they’re on a bit of a mission. They appear determined to make every one of their songs sound freakin’ epic. They start with the big-guitars-meet-big-synths sound—then proceed to send it skyward and never look back. “Simple Plan” is a classic example. For the first 20 seconds it rumbles through low-gear grunge, then bursts into a glorious, spiraling new wave anthem that would make Icicle Works blush. “So Happy” picks up the pace, like Self jettisoning in an escape pod from his bedroom studio. Their self-titled debut is worth it if only for the ridiculously catchy (as proven by the track’s popularity on iTunes) vocal hook from “Everything We Want”: “Put on your makeup, I want to get out.”
Hayward Williams
Like most people, I imagine, I go through serious phases where all I want to do is immerse myself in the Midwest. Living in Michigan and rarely traveling outside my area code makes this quite easy. And so, the landscape (flat), the language (flat), the food (fat), the culture (forlorn) all feel like home to me. Hayward Williams is from Milwaukee, hence he’s a Midwesterner, so it’s kind of like we’re related. That’s why these tracks below, from his albums Trenchfoot and Another Sailor’s Dream sound so right, to me at least. “Redwoods” is my jam for the day, even if we don’t have a tree a third of one’s height here.
Future Clouds and Radar
The name might lead you to believe you’ve discovered a bedroom-dwelling nocturne with a sampler and a laptop, but in fact it’s an apt choice for Robert Harrison’s (Cotton Mather) lilting latest project. Harrison is a friend of the gee-tar, which makes sense for an album recorded outside of Austin. But he’s also a purveyor of all the little things that make for twinkling psychedelic pop. Floating through these catchy songs about SubUrbia and jumping from Harrison’s Lennon-esque tongue are touches of bouyant pop maestros past and present: the Beatles, Flaming Lips, Beach Boys, Mercury Rev, Wilco, and Austin’s own 13th Floor Elevators. Not that you need such name-dropping to ride Future Clouds and Radar’s wave, but you may as well know ahead of time that you’re in for an aural vacation as well as a trip.
The Like Young
“For Money or Love,” the second song on The Like Young’s Last Secrets really says it all about the Like Young: for the love of their music, for the love of the band, for the love of each other (they’re married), Amanda and Joe made sacrifices to do what they loved, despite the struggles with money. Last Secrets explains it all, and perhaps, fittingly, was their last album before they retired the band back in August. Many more songs of their duo-punk-rock from earlier releases can be downloaded from their site.
The Thermals
Like that sullen kid in high school who was aggressively straight edge and pissed off because no one else knew what it meant, the one who deliberately got every question wrong on the ACT because it’s harder than getting every question right, like Minor Threat 25 years earlier (jeez, is it already that long?), The Thermals have something to say and they want to make sure you don’t miss it. Offering loud, sloppy, aggressive “post-pop-punk” as they like to call it, this Portland band’s brand of anti-establishment, high-octane anger is gaining so much ground it made The New York Times a few weeks ago. The top two tracks below are from their most recent effort, The Body, The Blood, The Machine, recorded by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty. (See, there is a Minor Threat connection.)
The Arcade Fire
I’m not sure if you guys have heard this band yet, the Arcade Fire? They’re Canadian, and kind of popular. They’ve got this new album, Neon Bible, and more media coverage than Anna Nicole Smith (well, maybe not), and Sam forced me to go see them live a few years ago and they were really, really good. It was a small venue, and we all sang the words to the songs even though we maybe had never heard them before. Anyway, here’s the opening track off that new record. Hope you like it… I like the second song better.
Black Mirror [MP3, 3.8MB, 128kbps]
Sam’s original post: 08/02/04
Apologies for the atrocious bitrates, young audiophiles, but this was enough to sell me, so I thought I’d share… Actually, what first sold me on The Arcade Fire was the B-side off their new 7-inch, which is in fact a 1940s recording of the lead singer’s grandfather (pedal steel legend Alvino Rey) and his orchestra. These downloads, however, are genuine Arcade Fire material, combining The Flaming Lips’ theatric pop, Joy Division’s driving rhythms, Bjork’s blissful euphoria, and a million other influences into something at once exuberant and wistful. So pump up the preamp and enjoy.
Kinetic Stereokids
Kinetic Stereokids hail from Flint, Michigan (third most dangerous city in the U.S. and one of the most depressing), where I reckon they hear a lot of car alarms. But you know what they say…when life gives you car alarms, make samples. And why stop with car alarms? KSK’s debut Basement Kids is an enticing grab bag of found sounds and samples, as well as free-range rap, folk and rock guitar, drowsy ballads, garage beats, cuttin’ and scratchin’, experimental knob noodling, and other random bits. Beck employed similar means to reach a different end on records like Mellow Gold and Odelay. Here there is a melancholy, desperate, and spiteful undercurrent which makes even the rough edges compelling to listen to. It won’t necessarily get the party started but makes an excellent public transportation soundtrack.
Ford & Fitzroy
Here I was, sitting down at the computer, relatively late at night, at least for me, wondering what on earth I was going to do about 3hive, when into the suggestion box came an email suggesting Ford & Fitzroy. One quick listen and my problem was solved! So enjoy the crisp, psych pop with the pleasantly unsteady vocals. Not to be confused with this guy.
Sister Vanilla
Props to Clay for digging up the Super 5 Thor gem! Speaking of The Jesus & Mary Chain…after ten long years the Reid brothers have made nice and have invited us all to their family reunion—including Jim and William’s sister Linda. We heard Linda on The Jesus and Mary Chain’s last album, Munki, and all I can really say is it’s about time. It’s about time the Reid brothers are back (along with TJ&MC alumin Ben Lurie), and it’s about time they get their sister in on the act. Her whispery delivery fits so well with her brothers’ fuzzed-out pop songs. The family recipe has been around for years, but it’s never sounded so fresh.