The Hudsons often describe themselves as a hard-working band, making this an appropriate Labor Day post. Offering up a solid blend of folk & country, I ran across this Austin trio while researching Texas bands for my friend Tim. He’s got a friend moving there, and wanted to clue him in to the scene (which is probably pretty big, considering the size of the state and all that). I was hooked on the clean sound and classis lyrics of the Hudsons from “It Just Takes One”; that is, after all, all it took. If you like what you hear — and this goes for you too, Tim’s friend — head over to the band’s website for a half dozen live tracks, or to Sonicbids for more studio recordings.
Ghastly City Sleep
Clocking in at a hair under 30 minutes Ghastly City Sleep’s debut can be considered, to tweak a literary term, an album-ella. An itty bitty album in number of tracks only (four), the self-titled work otherwise towers in sound and scope, but leaves one wanting more. The song featured here, “Hushing Weight,” lumbers open with slow bass blows underneath haunting vocals. Layers of tones, synth and piano, sneak in and then the song rises into a sweeping Pet Sounds-like chorus, but slowed way, way down. Sweet, reverberating harmonies frequently shine through the droning, post-rock fog of these Virginian sons. From the brief glimpse their debut offers, Ghastly City Sleep are working towards re-making the Beach Boys in Sigur Rós’s image. I should also mention that anyone who buys the CD is in for a treat. The artwork is a 12 panel poster of a painting by band member Brandon Evans, which is tucked behind a frosted transparency etched with the band’s name and logo.
Plane
“Blood on the Waves” starts with a guitar melody that anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Manchester sound will know. But just in case, Plane doesn’t make a mystery of their influences: listed right at the top of their “Sounds Like” section on MySpace is Joy Division. It would be slightly more accurate if they could convey that it sounds like that uncharted territory between the premature fall of Joy Division and the far-from-inevitable rise of New Order. And that should tell you a lot about the depth, intelligence and even newness that you can expect from Plane. That first tingling guitar progression is as familiar as they come, but what comes after proves that Plane is no nostalgia act. Chicago’s still a blue-collar town, like Manchester, and Plane is workingman’s new wave—you can take your nihilism to the dance-floor without feeling even a pinch self-conscious.
Cary Brothers
So, I’m clueless enough to not have realized for at least a year or two now that Cary Brothers isn’t, you know, like a duo of siblings or whatever. Anyway, here’s the story: Lisa S. gave me a copy of the Garden State soundtrack, and I love that song “Blue Eyes” and I’ve wanted to track down the singer ever since, but I just never got around to it. (See name of record label for full joke.) And then I’m looking through the 17,000,000 bands that played South By Southwest this past spring (all those MP3s are still live, by the way) and there they — oops, no — he, is. (This might be why 3hive writers don’t get paid.) So, here’s Cary’s track from the SXSW page, plus a few live & demo tracks from his website. He’s got a fabulous sad voice, perfect for this cover of “Skyway,” and good folk-country-rock sensibilities. He can even get a little trippy, like in “Ride.” So, yeah, enjoy the product of my cluelessness.
The Bosch
I usually don’t read e-mails from publicists — sorry… I know it must take so long to cut and paste our names (usually incompletely or incorrectly) into the form messages you send out that often do not reflect any real understanding of what this blog does — but Tony’s pitch for The Bosch caught my eye. Now, I’m not usually one for crazy, mixed-up comparisons, and I almost got lost in the ones provided for The Bosch: Joey Ramone, Dick Dale and Brian Wilson, or maybe The White Stripes, The Violent Femmes and Phil Spector, or even The Clash, the Femmes, Spector, Bruce Springsteen and Man… Or Astroman. However, I like enough of these performers to download a few tracks, and I liked them enough to share them with you. This NYC quartet offers short, rich, intense songs that are better enjoyed on their own, without comparison. These are from their newest album, Hurry Up, while four more off Buy One, Get One, from 2005, are available on the band’s website.
The New Pornographers
The New Pornographers were one of the earliest posts on 3hive, back three and a half years ago when Sam and I tossed up a handful of MP3s from some of our favorite albums from the year previous. We didn’t offer much in the way of commentary back then (not that we do presently either), so for those who’ve been hiding under a rock for the last three years, and have missed out on The New Pornographers, here’s a bit more to chew on. The sequence to their new album Challengers threw me off on first listen. It starts off with “My Rights Versus Yours” a familiar, subdued type of Carl Newman tune, complete with a french horn (used, surprisingly, for the first time in a New Pornographers’ song). It builds like a rock opera opener and sets up me up to bounce around to a frantic track like “All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth” or “Mutiny, I Promise You.” But my patience is tried and I have to wait through three more songs, including Dan Bejar’s “Myriad Harbor,” before my expectations are rewarded. Dont’ get me wrong, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Each song is great! It’s just going to take repeated listens before I can appreciate the album as a whole, unlike the first listen ecstacy I experienced hearing Electric Version. Considering today’s song-based attention span, I must sound like an old man, talking about spending time with a whole album! Well, this codger appreciates the fact that Newman, Case, Bejar & Co. continue to create whole albums worth those repeated listens.
Mirah and Spectratone International
Observations of insects are typically rendered so clinical that you may as well be studying accounting or, on the flipside, so elementary that you’re dealing with plush caterpillars whose sole purpose is to teach your child how to hug. Share this Place: Stories and Observations is, well, a creature of a different stripe. The multimedia project commissioned in 2006 by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art features music by Mirah (repeat after me: We love Mirah) and her longtime collaborators Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson, AKA Spectratone International (also with Jane Hall and Kane Mathis), and stop-motion video by Britta Johnson. It sounds like something that could easily become child’s play, and in fact the chamber pieces are indeed playful and alive — Spectratone’s arrangements give a subtle bounce to Mirah’s ever-airy vocals, and Johnson’s stop-motion insects are made from all manner of found objects and wander around rolling dung and other fun things. But it’s also serious literary entomology thanks to its source material: Jean Henri Fabre is considered the father of the study of insects and is most remembered for telling his tiny friends’ tales as first-person narratives. So it is that in “Credo Cigalia†(video below) a cricket addresses us with “you’ve no choice but to listen to my song.†And on the fantastically delicate “Community,†rather than a standard lecture on the group habits of six-legged creatures, you get a lullaby so sweet and smart that you’ll want to sing it to your sons and daughters all the way to MIT.
Lavender Diamond
Where’s the “Easy Listening” genre when you need one? I remember seeing Lavender Diamond once on The Lawrence Welk Show in 1977, when I snuck out of bed to hide behind the couch and see what my parents were watching. Then again, Becky Stark almost certainly wasn’t alive in ’77, so maybe it’s just the big yellow smiley-face sound that’s taking me back. These tracks are from the band’s 2005 EP The Cavalry of Light; a full-length album, Imagine Our Love, was released by Matador in May of this year.
Deer Tick
My first experience with Deer Tick was a prime example of the “please listen more than once phenomenon”. Upon first listen, I was impressed by the intro’s twangy vibe… and then singer John McCauley’s voice began to sing. My heart sunk. “Too raspy,” I thought. “Discordant!” I proclaimed. Then I gave it another shot. And another. By the fourth play, I was not only digging the delicious twanginess behind the singing, but I was swooning on McCauley’s gritty voice and stylistic odes to a day long gone. I got on board whole hog–music, lyrics and voice. I was passing the song to friends. I was soliciting Shan’s advice. (He said of “Art isn’t Real”–“its a great summer twilight tune” but then wanted to make sure “Art isn’t Real” wasn’t the band name. It’s not.) And so in this, the twilight of our summer, the ‘Hive gives you summer twilight tunes to ride out on the August wave to. Do me proud and listen no less than three times.
Nyles Lannon
Mr. Lannon needs to make up his mind! He’s released music under N.Ln, N.Lannon, and now, finally, under his full name Nyles Lannon. Whichever moniker he chooses you can expect moody, alluring songs with amazing melodies. Straight forward folk songs like “Did I Lose You?” quietly recall the work of Elliott Smith while “Next Obsession” punches a little harder and is not unlike another favorite of mine: Calla. It was news to me that he split from his band Film School, but now that he’s focused hopefully he won’t suffer from any further bouts of identity crisis. Because I’ll tell you right now Mr. Lannon, after this post, I’m not going to dedicate another one to any further name changes. As it stands I believe you hold the record here at the ‘hive with four different pages. And just in case anyone mistakes my tone: I jest. It’s all good. Thanks for the fine tunes __ Lannon.