The last time 3hive.com saw Miho Hatori, she was singing some samba with Smokey Hormel. But that was ’04, and things have moved on a bit. On Ecdysis — Miho’s debut solo album released on Rykodisc last October — the multilingual chanteuse hops from genre to genre and continent to continent. Looking for Caribbean rhythms? How about Southeast Asian? African? Just keeping skipping through the tracks on the album; eventually you’ll get there.
The Busters
As Joe pointed out last week with the Expos, 3hive could do with a “ska” genre. We might only post a few per year, but the love of ska runs deep here at the 3hive. Joe played in prominent Michigan ska band back in the day, and I once drove from Utah to LA mid-semester just to see the Toasters and Bim Skala Bim with Mobtown. (If any of our readers were at that show, that was me screaming “Veil of Sadness” at the top of my lungs when Bim asked for requests at the start of their encore, only for Shanty Dan to huddle with Vinny briefly before responding that they couldn’t remember how to play that song!) My fascination with German ska (see Skaos and the Special Guests) continues, so it’s time to roll out an old fave, the Busters. Still going after all these years, the Busters display the maturity of those years with “Waiting for the Sun.”
Sparrow House
It seems that with all this frantic social networking going on in the world (umm, the internet?), musicians are following suit. One search leads to the other in an endless maze of “who plays with who.” Sometimes you find yourself following the trail until you end up at a Lynard Skynard tribute band and you wonder where you went wrong. Not so with Sparrow House (which is actually just Jared Van Fleet, of keyboards and guitar for Voxtrot). When I finished following the trail of crumbs, I just listened, smiled and said “sweet!” Apparently, we were a little late on sharing some Voxtrot with you all, but this time I think we’re right on point. The track below reminds me of Elliot Smith, and since I pretty much wish that man was alive every day, I say, yes, Jared, lets please revisit. But the rest of the EP is varied, folky, dark and stormy. The kind of stuff you can close your eyes and be happy to listen to when you just need a moment. The cool kids totally love him and me too. Thanks Jared, I totally needed a moment.
Corwin Trails
So Rob M. suggested this one because his cousin’s roommate’s best friend’s brother is in the band, or something like that; I coudn’t keep it straight. What I do get is the ambient beats and noise laid down by Corwin Trails. Pleasant melodies, event bouncy at times, coexist among fractured and warped samples and scratches. Walls are built and crumble, time stops and starts — it all reminds me of this paper I wrote in college about how, in his poem The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot subverted the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (Sure he did!) Providers of the soundtrack to the film version of this epic battle between physics and literature: Corwin Trails.
The Expos
I’m starting to think we need a “ska” genre field; maybe “other” just doesn’t cut it. On the ‘hive, we’ve had German ska, New York ska, Boston ska-core, and of course the skanking from the North. The Expos naturally fit that category. When I web-searched the band, I half expected their site to show up above that of the defunct Montreal baseballers. (Those Expos were #1, these were #4.) Either way, you can go ahead and download “Little Red Hook” and put a little jump up in your day.
Summer Hymns
I ‘m brand new to Summer Hymns, so the huge back catalogue of free, downloadable tracks on both the band and label websites might take some time to work through. Also, the critical commentary, like the idea that their recent album Backward Masks is “the Summer Hymns record you always thought they’d make” doesn’t do much for me because I don’t know what they’re supposed to sound like. In other words, this blurb for the band is essentially useless. That said, “Pity and Envy” and especially “Start Swimming” are textured, mellow pop songs that seem to fit the band’s name, and are perfect for dreaming of those June days when the sun sets closer to ten o’clock than five, and that much I know for sure.
Buildings Breeding
This low-key, low profile band with an impressively obscure background has dropped their album into the vast ocean of popular music with all the power of a pebble. The ripple is small and subtle, but if you slip off your sneakers and dip your toes in the water Buildings Breeding will delight your whole soul. Their name connotes the roar (or maybe moans) of earthquakes, but their restrained guitar work, soft melodies and gently doubled vocals make up the sweet sighs of dreams. A slight 60s flair and random acts of atmospherics add just the right amount of spice to the songs.
MudKids
Perhaps many of you are too young to remember the “Super Bowl Shuffleâ€, that perpetual answer to a trivia question that took the nation by storm in 1985, the last time Da Bears were in the big game. Sweetness talkin’ about how “runnin’ the ball is like makin’ romanceâ€; Jim McMahon, who is so white and uncool that the Utah high school where he graduated is named “Roy,†wearing his glasses and rappin’ anyway; Mike Singletary trying hard not to look like Urkel before there was even such a thing—in other words, it was to 10-year-old boys and 40-year-old men what “We Are the World†was to 10-year-old girls and 40-year-old women a year earlier. But that was two decades ago. Rex Grossman? Sorry dude, but you’re no Mac. The real QB is down the interstate in Indy, and now he’s got a fight song by Indy homeboys the Mudkids, part of the capital city’s Musical Family Tree. This sorta-crunky version may not feature any of the players, but when you’re droppin’ lines like “We love the Colts ‘cuz the blue’s the hottest part of the flame,†you don’t need no stinkin’ Chi-Town shufflers!