Perhaps the name is a subliminal bit of wishful thinking, because these Montreal, uh, rockers? new wavers? Franco-popsters? never seem to stay still for too long. But the great part is that none of their many aural wardrobe changes sound contrived because they’re not mimicking styles; they’re bringing their own sound to bear on what’s out there. Their latest, “In the Beginning,” is a southern rock anthem. “Retour A Vega” is wistful even though I only understand every third word. And “Still in Love Song” is full of intelligent teen angst. So if you’re having trouble deciding what kind of mood you’re in, don’t bother with the shuffle on your iPod. Just load in the Stills and let them do the shuffling for you.
Mogwai
We at 3hive like a lot of the same artists. So we have abided by a simple by-law to help preserve our friendship: first come, first served. If you want to write about someone, do it. If you don’t, they’re fair game. What this has led to though is a sort of squatting technique where one of us will create a post with the band’s name (and not much more) and save it as a draft. That’s our way of saying “dibs.” And the system works…until you dibs so many artists that you can’t remember anymore who dibsed what. So, when we got word of Mogwai’s new album, Mr. Beast, Sean had to remind me that I’ve been sitting on Mogwai since early 2005. Here are two new instrumental tracks (“Folk Death 95” and “Auto Rock,” remixed by Errors), alongside a couple of vocal classics taken from the band website — the frenetic “Lower,” from their first ever single, and a cover of The Fall’s exquisite bummer “Bill Is Dead.” I’m glad to say I love Mogwai as much now as I did a year ago.
Oh, and check out their fancy tour site for a fun “Where’s Mogwai?” Google map hack and more.
13ghosts
If 13 ghosts weren’t a band but a married couple, the story of how they formed, disbanded, and reunited years later after the original bass player’s funeral would have already made the daytime talk show circuit. So, if anyone from “Oprah” is reading, what are you waiting for?
On to the music… There’s a saying in Michigan, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” Same could be said of 13 ghosts’ latest, Cicada, which introduces new genres, styles, instruments, formats, etc. every few minutes. However, I’d recommend against skipping ahead. While the album has its clear standout tracks (“Robert J.” among them), you really need to spend all 62 minutes with the album in order to fully appreciate it. Brad Armstrong and Buzz Russell split songwriting duties (which could explain their wandering style) and finish each other’s thoughts like the old friends that they are. Together they build a collaborative narrative — one soaked in beer and nostalgia — that would be a shame to interrupt. The number of “sounds like” comparisons I’ve read in reviews could fill the screen and I’m already running long, so I’ll just say this: enjoy the weather.
Spinto Band
Props to Shiv and Mike over at WOXY.com for turning me onto the Spinto Band. Actually, let’s talk about WOXY.com before we get back to the music—after battling the economic realities of internet radio for a couple years, WOXY.com is turning to its listeners for support. Their goal is 7,000 members to keep the music streaming. If you’re already a listener, subscribe. If not, start listening and if you like what you hear, subscribe. Sure the internet puts power in the hands of the people, but those hands gotta be generous and help foot the bandwidth bill.
Back to the Spinto Band—they’re a bunch of East Coast boys with ties to the Mississippi delta and who like a little rhythm to their pop. “Crack the Whip” is a close runner up to what I consider the most danceable pop track from last year, Of Montreal’s “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and other games).” And since Beulah called it quits, the Spinto Band make for a respectable replacement in the post-Elephant 6 world. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for an upcoming tour with Arctic Monkeys and a new album for Bar-None in the near future. Oh, and more props to *Sixeyes for unearthing the MP3s.
The Jimmy Cake
It was absolutely impossible for me to pass up listening to a band called The Jimmy Cake. I expected a bout of disposable pop, something frantic, sugary and forgettable. Not so. The Jimmy Cake is anything but. They’re (at least) a nine member band out of Dublin making improvisational rock with plenty of percussion and wind instruments that give the music a bit of an Irish flavor. Did you see that high school band performing DJ Shadow songs? Well imagine a similar band interpreting Beowulf with their instruments, or performing Mogwai songs. You’d come close to imagining the epic jamming of The Jimmy Cake.
Pink Mountaintops
We usually save our announcements for the Junk Drawer, but today is a momentous day of sorts here at the Hive. It was two years ago that our very first posting went live. Although we contributors are more likely to get excited about the birthday cake than the party, we thought we’d celebrate in our own way by bringing you a two-fer and saying thanks for checking out what we’re listening to these days. Speaking of which…
It doesn’t take long to lock a visual on the meaning behind the name of Black Mountain guy Stephen McBean’s side project, and as titillating or offensive as you might find it, the name thankfully ain’t all she wrote. McBean is a maverick one-man-band who falls somewhere along the continuum between Eels, Nine Inch Nails, Nick Drake, Self, and that dude from 13th Floor Elevators. That’s a pretty disparate list, and it still doesn’t do much to describe how Pink Mountaintops mixes bawdy lyrics with Casio-tized death metal, sweet noir balladeering, and even singer-songwriter affectation. He’s an enigma, in case you didn’t get that from the poster at the label website, and like all good enigmas, you won’t want to stop listening even if you can.
Black Mountain
Black Mountain, unlike Pink Mountaintops, is not Stephen McBean’s band alone, but that doesn’t stop it from having McBean’s self-consciously unself-conscious swagger. If you close your eyes and think hard enough, you can imagine that Black Mountain is what would have happened if Ozzie had never left Black Sabbath. But if you keep your eyes – rather, your ears – opened, you’ll hear something that has the telltale signs of ’70s accidental arena rock but that also carves out a niche for itself as the soundtrack for headbangers and spliff tokers of a different decade.
The M’s
The dilemna? Keep running with this whole anti-Valentines thing that the kids and the nation’s biggest retailers got going on and throw in a little post-Valentines Norwegian death metal today on 3hive? Or try to actually extend the blessed day–after all I do have four Valentines at home–by finding a band whose name had something to do with Valentines Day, other than the Valentines? But what’s this? Chicago’s the M’s have got a new album coming out next week, so today just had to be them and their fuzzy, psychedelic-tinged ode to the music of the 60’s and 70’s, completely unashamed of wearing their influences or their hearts (hearts, get it?) on their sleeves. Happy Wednesday!
Ex-Boyfriends
Cory over at Absolutely Kosher brought Ex-Boyfriends to my attention with perfect timing considering my re-kindled interest in XTC and the accompanying power-pop kick I’m on. Dig their Drums and Wires era vibe—mixed in with a touch of Archers of Loaf and 999. Album’s available next week and in March the band begins making rounds out West. Ready, set, pogo!
Slaraffenland
It’s been saddening for me to watch this whole Danish cartoon scandal go down because Denmark has always sat on a pedestal in my memory after I spent a few of the more peaceful and pleasing days of my life there back in 1999. Not much I can do about the recent events, except for this small gesture of distraction: Slaraffenland’s slow-burning instrumental jazz/rock goodness from Denmark, done with the effortless, artful precision Danes ought to be known for.