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.
The Swayback
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!