You’ll have to forgive us if we geek out a bit on Dischord bands. It’s more than slightly embarrassing that we’ve been running on at the mouth for over three-and-a-half years without featuring a Dischord artist (hats off to Clay for pointing this out and diggin’ up the goods). For this bunch of music geeks the seminal, super-duper DIY label has had a huge influence on the projects we’ve worked on together over the years (AM 960 The S.U.N., Sonic Garden CD Exchange, and Grid Magazine—and no you haven’t heard of any of these unless you were in college with us a good decade ago in a strange little corner of the country). I will forever associate Jawbox with our takeover of an AM signal, housed in a little shack in the middle of a cow pasture, tucked under the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. These tracks were in heavy rotation for the nine months or so we were on cloud nine, amazed we’d finagled our way into running a radio station. While the members of Jawbox have moved on to other projects and stages of life, Dischord continues its inspiring aesthetic.
Brad Laner
Add father, restorer of modernist architecture, and solo artisit to Brad Laner’s lengthy resume. Laner’s always been somewhat of a DIY kinda guy as he’s practically steered such fine musical vessels as Medicine, Electric Company and Amnesia single-handedly. Maybe it’s because he’s a father now, or maybe it’s because he’s got a place, a self-restored a 1964 mid-century modern Eichler home, to proudly call his own that Brad Laner has finally shed his many masks and is releasing his first proper solo record, Neighbor Singing. At least his son and home have both inspired and restrained him, allowing him small windows of recording time which helped him keep an objective view on the album. These two tracks hint at a sunny, summertime pop record, a loopy-Beach Boys kind of sound. A sound, Laner says, that has emerged not from his record collection, but from his own biological self: “I wanted to shamelessly utilize all of the different skills that I’ve built up over a lifetime of musical experiences.” No shame necessary. Dig this.
The Evens
To quote my friend Rick, “The best band ever.”Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina made this wonderful lo-fi pop (in punk rock style, of course), and frankly, we at 3hive have never featured a Dischord band until now. It was time to right this wrong.
Shelter Two [MP3, 3.6MB, 160kbps]Pushed Up Against the Wall [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]
Spitzer
Spitzer consists of a couple young men raised in the same house in Lyon, France. These brothers have one goal: Make you dance. Currently, the duo is working on a four song EP called Roller Coaster and if the four tracks on their myspace page are any indication of what we’re in for, we’re in for some big, bright and bold dancefloor action. I love the early Speak & Spell-like synth tones used on “Disco Biscuits.” Of course they’ve been pumped up ala Marion Jones for maximum rump-shakin’ enjoyment. The track opens with one synth riff getting overshadowed by another, high up in the mix, trampling over the first until that second riff distorts itself into oblivion as the track finally settles into its groove, a slamming epiphany imminent. Spitzer proves France still has fertile fields to harvest for yet another generation of club kids.
The Radishes
I never pegged myself as a sucker for reminiscing about some bygone era of youthful indiscretions set to a soundtrack so loud that it did permanent hearing damage. Then again, I never figured that the moment I had a child, my life before that moment would become an abstraction only referential as fragmented memories and out-of-body mental snapshots. I hope that doesn’t sound too wistful because there’s nothing better than being a parent, but on our first “official” family road trip this past week there were a couple of moments when I’d just about gotten my fill of baby-friendly playlists and was ready for a quick mental cleanse of the kind that The Radishes are fond of administering. Y’know, the kind with simple riffs repeated fast and loud, driving bass and drums (provided by the former rhythm section for Ministry!), and acidic vocals that scream alienation, anger, and irony. Alas, when the baby is sleeping in the back seat and your wife has taken the reins of the iPod, you don’t always get that instant aural gratification. But when you’re home early on a Friday morning and the rest of the family is asleep behind closed doors, you can put on the headphones, turn it up all the way and get a good dose of noise, sweet noise.
Madeline
Yesterday, Sean alluded to what’s going on with Orange Twin down in Athens, GA, so I figured I’d elaborate on that a bit. Folks from the band Elf Power have, in addition to setting up their own record label, begun organizing, as they call it, “a pedestrian-based eco-village” with 100 acres of preserved woodlands five miles from downtown Athens. On the website, you can see pictures of the community house they’re fixing up, and the approval they’ve received from local government. Neat stuff. Also neat — and totally receiving less attention in this post than she deserves — is Madeline Adams. She’s been singing her songs in Athens since she was a teenager, and already has two full-length albums under her belt. Check out the tracks from her most recent release, The Slow Bang, for a sampling of her sparse, warm, intimiate acoustic offerings; more downloads and a very pretty crayon drawing can be found at Madeline’s website.
Twink-O-Ween
Ham1
Seriously, my sincerest apologies to Jim and his posse for shellin’ out their new songs while rehashing an old review of the band. They deserve better. They deserve so much more. But, alas, this is all I could muster in the middle of night when I should only be doing ONE thing: sleeping. Besides, you can read up on the band and their label and all the good things they got going on down there in Athens, GA right here.
Hare Lipped Bust [MP3, 3.4MB, 192kbps]
I Had a Good Idea [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]
White Rat [MP3, 5.6MB, 192kbps]
[ingenting]
File under: Better Late Than Never. [ingenting] may mean “nothing” in their native tongue of Swedish, but this wonderful single, a favorite of mine since Labrador offered it for free, oh, about 11 months ago (see first sentence), is anything but. The post-punk guitar, the keyboard-driven simple melody, the disco bass, and the crisp drumming are awfully catchy and do not deserve to be horded by me any longer.
Tiger! Tiger!
This is the band I want haunting my garage this Halloween. Their simple ch-ch-chunking staccato chords, the wailing organ, the sultry, slightly off-kilter vocals teasing from down low in the mix send shivers down my spine. And oh, that fuzz! Makes me wanna shimmy and shake all night long. Bear with my L.A. bias when I say Tiger! Tiger! would make cute kissing cousins with X, Mary’s Danish, and The Gun Club. They pare down that punk-twang to its garage origins circa 1970-something. Tune into their myspace page for more fine examples.