Office is to indie pop what Dilbert is to the comic pages. Early live shows featured the band decked out in office attire, suits, ties, blouses and sensible shoes. Each musician enjoyed an onstage secretary, ready at their beck and call. Lucky for the listener, they don’t sing about the drudgery of the 9 to 5 life (with the exception of “Company Calls” about a woman who insists on doing business on her cell phone 24/7 and the man who is in love with her), although they’re still prone to occasionally dress up on stage as if they just punched out. I won’t bother further trying to decipher what these songs are about when singer and guitarist Scott Masson explains them himself. Suffice it to say Masson does an amazing job at recreating a dream in “The Ritz” and his background notes behind “Oh My” are as hilarious as the video. The best part about Office is, of course, their music. Any band who aspires, and succeeds!, to blend the sounds of Neil Diamond and Daft Punk, The Beach Boys and Wire is plenty capable of knocking you out of your own 9 to 5 funk.
Office is now on tour with Earlimart.
Sean posted Psapp a few times, and they had a song on Grey’s Anatomy, and this post been one of 3hive’s most popular ever. Patrick Watson had a song on Grey’s Anatomy, so hey, give the people what they want, right? He also just won or was nominated for some Canadian music awards — Polaris Prizes, Juno Awards, that sort of thing. I’m thinking Waston and the rest of this Montreal quintet could call themselves M. Rufus Buckley and you’d all get the drift. These tracks are from the band’s 2006 album Close to Paradise, which had a US release the day before yesterday.
It’s fall. It may be 87 sacreligious September degrees in NYC right now, but as far as I am concerned it is fall. I want my braised meat, I want my long sleeve shirts, I want cups of tea and I want old school loungey twilight songs. Husband and wife duo Clare & the Reasons are perfecto for such seasonal urges. I think I once mentioned my secret compulsion to enjoy sappy soundtrack songs (it’s true, I’m sorry), and Clare & the Reasons (who named their album “The Movie”) are like all the joys of my secret musical vice without the any of the cringey guilt. Its plucky and sweet enough for my to get me my fix, but wacky and hip enough that I can play it for others and anticipate a jealous “wait, who is this playing??” Love that. Plus, the entire delicious album is on Emusic.
I’ve been following Oslo for a while and I’m geeked their debut album is out today via finer digital retail outlets. Next month SideCho records will release the CD. SideCho is a great label out of Long Beach and consistently surprises me in a good way with their offerings. Oslo produces moody, brooding music in the vein of early ’90s bands like Catherine Wheel. Enjoy this first bite then dig in for plenty more!
One last Memphis music history lesson. I saw Neighborhood Texture Jam at the Antenna Club in Memphis in 1988 (as nearest as I can recall), and one their most appealing features was the absurd song subjects, like “Torsoes of Murdered People” and my personal favorite, “Mall Boutique” on the life of a mall worker. The suggestion box at 3hive recently got an email about NTJ, so with their new website comes the opportunity to share the NTJ love. More MP3’s can be found at their website.
This is a fun mystery.
C.O.C.O. play funky dance music, as does their lumberjack-soulman-boss Calvin Johnson, with an unselfconscious swagger that wears its anti-hipster lameness like a faded black t-shirt, not to mention on instruments that won’t be rendered useless when the power goes out at the house party (although their propensity for dub fadeouts might get lost with the lights out). Olivia Ness and Chris Sutton are a rhythm section in no need of melodies. It’s what all the Olympia kids are dancing to these days, and with any luck these rhythms will sweep the nation and set basement parties afire from coast to coast.
My most awesome musical dream right now is of Bella and