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!
3hive Nominated for a Bloggie
Mason Proper Video–Monkeys, Bicycles, Death, and Sexy Dreams
The Beauty Shop
Two things: 1. Good drumming really stands out sometimes. Think “The Bleeding Heart Show” by the New Pornographers, and all those great, tight drum fills in the last half of the song. The Beauty Shop’s “Monster” is kind of like that, at least with the fills. It’s a good, solid, catchy track reminiscent of Blue Mountain’s alt-country or maybe even The Promise Ring. 2. The other thing this Champaign, IL, band reminds me of is another Illinoisian, Chris Mills. In the mid-1990s, Mills was opening up for Wilco in their earliest gigs. (I was the guy always yelling for Jeff to play “Gun.” Sorry I was so obnoxious.) He had a deep, rich, twangy voice that seemed far older than his actual age, and I used to listen to his promo CD on the El all the time and stare forlornly out the window. (Sorry I was so obnoxious!) The Beauty Shop’s lead singer John Hoeffleur has that kind of voice and it works well on the re-release of their 2004 album Crisis Helpline, due in late February.
Welcome
I love it when I walk into a record store, hear something playing and am curious enough to buy it. It doesn’t happen often enough. And when I find myself bopping to something I’ve never heard despite an apocalyptically foul mood–well, shoo-oot, bring it on! Well, Welcome was that band for me this past weekend. These folks are a girl and boy band, of Seattle, and to me they sound like the English or maybe a little Twee-ish or, wait, is that some pixie-ish guitar? I have no idea. But it’s a happy mish-mash of influences that I was glad to add to the soundtrack of my downer day. The bummer? Not available stateside until March, so I didn’t get to buy it. But the rest of the world is currently enjoying it now. Can you say import? Oh and be sure to check “This Minute†on the myspace page when you are done with what is here.
Boy/Girl
Wow. It’s not hard to see why members of the JSBX seem to be fighting each other over getting the chance to produce Boy/Girl. Hmmm, who would win Judah Bauer vs. Russell Simins? The straddling-the-line-between-lo-and-no-fi fuzzed-out blues-inspired duo-rock of Boy/Girl interprets what the JSBX would have been like on downers.