There is probably at least one person out there who will light up the comment boards the minute you read that The Swayback have chosen to cover The Velvet Underground’s “Waiting for the Man.” True, it’s a pretty damned iconic song and the prospect of a new version may not be your idea of reverence. Do what you will, and in the meantime I’ll keep it on repeat and will be wishing I had a car so I could blast it on the stereo with the windows down and the sunroof popped. The Swayback are from Denver and could easily fall into that retro-chic class of modster-slash-hippie bands that includes Kings of Leon and Brian Jonestown Massacre. Like those bands (and unlike others that shall remain nameless), The Swayback aren’t copping to any kind of ’60s revival — they’re claiming that way-out guitar sound and wrapping it around some libidinous vocals and a rhythm that’ll make you shimmy. And all of this just in time for summer.
Willy Mason
I’ll avoid comparisons to Bright Eyes when talking about Willy Mason, though words and phrases like “melancholic,” “soulful yet seemingly bored,” “roots rock Americana” and “barely old enough to shave” could possibly apply to both. Willy Mason is about 22 but he sounds like he could be 55, with the history to back it up, based on his repertoire of personal disasters, as heard in “When the River Moves On.” Nothing necessarily new here: life at home sucks, so is it time to hold on or time to go? But the song is delivered with such smooth motion that you roll on along with it. Look for more of the same on Mason’s second full-length, If the Ocean Gets Rough, available now.
Two Rock & Roll Poems
Detektivbyrån
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with instrumental music. As a compulsive reader, songs have often been an extension of that compulsion, and I’ve always been drawn to verbose, dense songs that have something to say aside from the music itself. And if I can relate to what is being said, then all the better. But every once in a while songs sans words manage to tickle some small place in our brains and can speak to us directly without having to say anything. I don’t know if this is that for you, but without getting into it, DetektivbyrÃ¥n is from Goteborg (Sweden’s second city) and with their simplicity, chimes, accordians and ethereal Amelie-esque charm, they have managed to thrust me straight back to the time I was in their city and I’ll be damned if this isn’t the wordless soundtrack to my time there, only discovered after the fact. And so, they must be added to the short list of musicians who work in the instrumental form who just plain old move me
E18 [MP3, 5.2MB, 206kbps]
Nattopet [MP3, 5.2MB, 128kbps]
Dansbanan [MP3, 5.6MB, 200kbps]
Page France
There are so many ways to go with this post… Let’s list them:
1. The original post ran on the weekend of our friend Serge’s wedding in NYC, and it was awesome. Old friends from all over came in (I hadn’t seen Pei or Kent in years!), and the DJ-fest at the reception was a blast. We also had our first 3hive get-together (minus Jon, which was a bummer). It was so good to see Sean and Clay again, and to meet Shan.
2. I remember writing this post late, late, late at night in the hotel room Sam and I were sharing. Sean and Pei had just left, and the room was pretty dark, and I had trouble seeing the keys on Sam’s computer. Good times.
And 3. Page France is one of the best bands I’ve posted here, probably in my personal top five, and “Chariot,” (now with a dead link) is one of my favorite songs, period. Enjoy the others, everybody, as they may have short lifespans. I especially like “Hat and Rabbit,” off the band’s latest release …and the Family Telephone.
Hat and Rabbit [MP3, 3.5MB, 160kbps]
Original post: 02/24/06
Seeing as I’m probably the least religious of the 3hive crew — I’m not Mormon, I never served on a mission, I never lived in Utah (that covers everyone else) — it feels a little out of character to post a Christian band. Then again, I loved U2 when I was in high school, and if Bono wasn’t a soldier for the Lord back in the day then I wasn’t a pudgy, insecure teenager. Ah, whatever. Anyway, the term soldier fits nicely with the steady march-beat drumming of “Chariot” by Baltimore’s Page France, and, if the end of their war is the ascencion of a happy ending, their victory certainly seems to be won.
Poison Control Center
Ian, who just signed the Poison Control Center to his label Afternoon Records, refers to this Ames, Iowa, band as “spastic pop wonders.” And that’s all you really need to know before downloading!
Brighton, MA
.jpg)
Brighton, MA, refers to the birthplace of Matthew Kerstein, and in his own words represents the sense of “going home again.” An air of nostalgia certainly wafts through the five songs on their self-titled debut EP, out next week. On “Ballad for Coolhand” Kerstein re-visits a younger, naive look towards the future, “How you planned to live free and simple/VW bus for the ride/and you chased your hopes on Down Street/live by the beach and get high.” There’s a hint of Irishness in Kerstein’s delivery and coupled with soaring instrumentation it prompts occasional flashes of U2. This sound is most prevalent on “Bet You Never Thought,” a track originally recorded when Kerstein, Devon Bryant and Sam Koentopp played with the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, but re-worked for this EP. Kerstein’s earnest singing cuts through a dense swirl of guitars. As the song progresses more guitars rush in and the Edge gives way to Kevin Shields. I suspect their folk-gazing anthems will easily win fans as the band works its way into the national consciousness.
Dinosaur Jr.
After a couple years of playing live shows together, the original Dinosaur Jr. — J, Lou, Murph — went into the studio and freakin’ took it back to the old school. Beyond is everything I loved about the original Dino Jr. It’s a noisy collection of reluctantly romantic rock and roll, both hopeless and hopeful, air guitar worthy and turn-out-the-lights-and-sulk worthy. Plus, look at the cover, a throwback to their Homestead/SST releases. It’s just like heaven.
Original post (from 12/10/2005):
As may have already been documented at some point on 3hive, Sean, Clay, and I met as college students. But ours was a college town with no college radio (unless you count 24/7 classical music and church sermons as college radio). So Sean decided one day to start a college radio station, with a more typical college radio format, and enlisted his friends — me and Clay among them — in the cause. To this day, there are songs I can’t hear without being taken back to that tiny booth with the temperamental cart machine and wobbly microphone. While my love for Dinosaur Jr. certainly pre- and post-dates those days, I can’t hear “Freak Scene” without feeling the impulse to punch out the two F words and back sell it with, “That was Dinosaur Jr. on AM960, The Student Underground Network…” Old habits die hard.
Amon Tobin
Amon Tobin has always transcended categorizations as a DJ or producer or even DJ/producer. He’s more like a filmmaker who spends so much time perfecting his soundtracks that he never gets around to making the movies. And that’s OK because, wow, those soundtracks are something to hear. Orchestral arrangements mingle with stormy soundscapes, beats without borders prop up artificially intelligent samples, sinister rhythms give way to buoyant melodies. The whole world is Tobin’s canvas, which makes it somewhat unfair to post only one track, the sublime opener to his most recent full-length, Foley Room. But hey, mathematically, one is infinitely more than zero, so take what you can get and let EMusic or another outlet feed the rest of your inevitable Tobin addiction.
Minus the Bear
A few weeks ago, Paul dropped Minus the Bear in our Suggestion Box, describing the Seattle outfit as “catchy and upbeat.” We all need a little catchy and upbeat now and again, and most of the time MTB works it in a fresh, complex way. Check out the pop hooks on “Pachuca Sunrise,” my favorite among these, off the 2005 release Menos el Oso. You can practically see the rays of sunshine filling your room. If you’re looking for something a bit heavier, though, “Dr. L’Ling” and “Drilling” (featuring Minneapolis rapper P.O.S.) the former off the upcoming Planet Of Ice, due in August, give you plenty of noise, thick guitars and heavy drums. Either way, heavy or light, thank Paul for the Minus the Bear tip.