The Loose Salute
Any friends of Mojave 3 are friends of mine. The Loose Salute is both: Ian McCutcheon, Mojave 3 drummer, and friends. Built around McCutcheon and newcomer Lisa Billson, The Loose Salute continue the tradition of modern-day Brits singing about California, its coast, sunshine and surf like it was 1973. A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of summertime gems just in time for the impending solstice and bbq’s.
Tommy Guerrero East Coast Dates w/ Bing Ji Ling
Shout Out Louds
It’s no surprise that Swedish bands hold a special place in our collective hearts here. So, like many of you who email us saying “I can’t believe you haven’t posted band xyz,” I can’t believe we haven’t posted the Shout Out Louds. Well, that’s not exactly true; we’re used to being late on the typical blogosphere darlings. It appears that the Shout Out Louds didn’t survive the Capitol/Virgin merger as Merge Records released this new EP and the new album in September. All the better since the new label facilitated pairings with The Essex Green, among others (The Russian Futurists and Kleerup provide dancefloor versions), for collaborations and remixes.
OK, so I tried really hard not to mention The Cure here, but that’s just impossible. “Tonight I Have to Leave It” owes several riffs and melodies to a twenty-two year old Cure song “In Between Days.” Moreover, vocalist Adam Olenius nails Smith’s stuttering affectation with military precision. Regardless, the song is plenty strong enough to stand on its own. But I also suspect that in the future it will stand as the epitome of the overwhelming tendency by this decade’s indie-bands to plunder and steal from Robert Smith. Not that there’s anything wrong with it…
Simple Kid
Simple Kid is an Irish-born and London-based acoustifreaktronic troubadour who can be as dry and witty with a melody as The Beta Band, whose genius-boy way with both a harmonica and a sampler would do Beck Hanson proud, and whose prodigious (and prodigiously unkempt) follicles bring to mind Badly Drawn Boy and Moses after that whole 40-years-in-the-desert thing. He can carry a tune, too. “The Twentysomething†may well be “Loser†for a new generation, while “Lil’ King Kong†sounds like a mashup of Led Zeppelin and REO Speedwagon songs that were never written, let alone merged. Then there’s “Serotonin,†which as epics go is quite unassuming but that gets under your skin nonetheless by giving you a reason to both rise up and drop out. Isn’t that what the best rock ‘n’ roll songs always do?
(The file below is a zipped EP featuring all three of the songs above. Download, unzip, and enjoy.)
Pernice Brothers
Pernice Brothers is one of those bands I assumed we’d already posted, but no, we haven’t, so behold “Somerville.” Fronted by ex-Scud Mountain Boy Joe Pernice, this collection of “breathy Massachusetts sad sacks” took first place in Spinner.com’s “25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World†contest. And while “Somerville” wasn’t the winning tune, you can hear in it the qualities that would lead to such success with despondency. If you’re looking for another good (but not free) Pernice Brothers download, and one that’s not necessarily sad, grab “Water Ban,” the second song from Yours, Mine and Ours (2003). In my mind, that would be a contender in the “Totally Shimmery and Transcendentally Beautiful” contest. Maybe we should host that one here at 3hive?
Ra Ra Riot
Art is often speckled with tragedy. I was planning to post on Ra Ra Riot beforehand, but now with the untimely death of their 23 year old drummer John Pike early this month, I have to forgo some of the general enthusiasm and lightness of these posts in favor of something a little more somber. All there is to say really is that the music made by this Syracuse band is lovely and this is a terrible loss and it just breaks my heart to hear this sad news. Hopefully the music they make in the future will be able to be a testament to the young man who helped create their sound and the music they have already made will be a beautiful reminder of him. The ‘Hive sends its love to Ra Ra Riot.
The Comas
It’s my birthday, and I was looking for something trashy and indulgent to enjoy — high fat, high sugar, high gloss, whatever. The Comas seem to fit the bill. As Sean suggested in his original post, the Comas are all about the 90s, which was, if I remember right, a decade of decadence — personal computing, stock market insanity, Monica Lewinsky, etc. So enjoy “Red Microphones” and a whole bag of sea salt and black pepper potato chips, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Red Microphones [MP3, 3.8MB, 160kbps]
Sean’s original post: 02/28/06
With their recent signing to Vagrant Records, an interesting addition to their roster in my opinion, and raving press in Rolling Stone, Magnet, and Spin I’d be a little surprised if you hadn’t heard of The Comas. I say a little surprised because even though I own their last record, Conductor, I must confess it never made the transfer to my iPod and has been regretfully neglected until a recent half-hearted attempt at organizing my music collection. The Comas are so ’90s. I mean that in a good, remember-when-indie-rock-was-still-indie, kind of way. They could have been the band who claimed the throne rightfully belonging to The Pixies if The Pixies wouldn’t have made their comeback. These days though, with so many “indie” bands making inroads into the mainstream, there’s ample room for The Comas to do the same.
These Electric Lives
By my count, These Electric Lives sent their first email to 3hive on May 25th of last year. Nineteen, count ’em, nineteen, emails later, we’ve finally snapped out of our slumber and persuaded these lads from Toronto to share a song with us. It’s only a matter of time before the arena-inspired indie rock from their debut EP infiltrates across the border into American popular media, the cancellation of Veronica Mars only delaying the inevitable. Available from iTunes and eMusic on July 25.
Scissors For Lefty
I’d be a bit surprised if, as an astute pop music aficionado (as most of our readers are), you have yet to stumble across Scissors For Lefty during your daily downloading sessions. This California quintet of bosom buddies with a hankering for The Beatles and a good boogie-down have steadily spread their sound in and around the West Coast and the UK. Their debut album hit first on British shores last October and this week L.A.-based Eenie Meenie Records is finally bringing the album home. “Lay Down Your Weapons” borrows Weezer’s guitar-attitude and mixes it with the more playful, dance-able moments of The Cure. If this song doesn’t win you over immediately, peruse their e-card and be sure to check out “Ghetto Ways.” That should do the trick. For the next two weeks Scissors For Lefty are making their way up California, then across to the Midwest. Catch ’em if you can.