I have to admit I’ve been squatting on this one for a while. Leaving a blank post in ol’ Movable Type just to keep my 3hive colleagues from posting The Black Neon before I do. But blank posts aren’t a very effective way of sharing the sharing, so here goes… The Black Neon’s first full-length is called Arts and Crafts. It’s a regular appetizer tray of styles, as evidenced by these two tracks — one a nostalgic psych-pop ballad, the other a searing electro-rock instrumental. And there’s even more goodness if you dig deeper on the album, which I’d love to play for you in its entirety but that’s your job now, isn’t it?
Favourite Sons
You get the idea when listening to the Favourite Sons that at least one of them owns a beat-up denim jacket and that at some point in his life he wore that spindly thing even in the dead of winter. The Sons’ rock ‘n’ roll oozes with such self-imposed discomfort. They’re the guys who, rather than pretending to have a life story actually went out and got one. Ken Griffin was tending bar and contemplating his musical future when Matthew Werth and Justin Tripp, both formerly of Aspera, ventured up from Philly to find the former Rollerskate Skinny member and talk him back into the business. Good thing for us. Griffin has the cynically assured swagger of Ian McCulloch and can curve a hook as good as a fisherman. In Werth and Tripp he’s not only found a perfect rhythm section, but some people who care about his unpretentious brand of art rock as much as he does.
RIP: WOXY.com??
Pagoda
Super low-key, starry, fuzzy music from DC, good for cool, late summer nights, waiting for fall. (Sorry if the blurb here is a little too thin; work beckons. If anyone wants to editorialize a bit, go ahead and hit the Comments.)
Play It As It Lays #250
The Prids
Sure, this whole 80’s thing is still going on, but let’s just remember there was more to the 80’s than the Clash and the Thompson Twins. There were many European bands who straddled the lines between post-punk and goth/industrial, as in Clan of Xymox, Trisomie 21, the Cassandra Complex, the Legendary Pink Dots, New Order, etc. The Prids update this sound for the new millenium, with a whole boy-girl interplay that provides a freshness to what they’re trying to do. And considering the boy-girl, David Frederickson and Mistina Keith, were married, then divorced, and still play in this band together, well that gives a whole new meaning to sexual tension.
Squeeze More Lemonheads
Justin Rutledge
I was listening to the always excellent CBC Radio 3 podcast a few weeks back while flying cross-country. Maybe it was the altitude or lack of non-peanut sustenance but Justin Rutledge’s live, sing-along rendition of “Don’t Be So Mean, Jellybean” made me bust up a cryin’. Here’s hoping it makes the cut for his new album due out in the fall.
Spearhead
Michael Franti is the one of those rare singers whose boomin’ growl can start a party as quickly as it can a protest (probably about time for him to update his 1992 cover of “California Uber Alles“). His latest Spearhead joint comes on the heels of his self-booked trip to Iraq, which is documented on the DVD I Know I’m Not Alone. His experience, which included performances for U.S. soldiers and Iraqi families alike, clearly shaped the album’s compassionate (“I Know I’m Not Alone”) and passionate (“Yell Fire”) flavors of rebellion.
Feathers
Raised on bands like The Pixies and The Smiths, Eddie Alonso’s musical boundaries broadened upon hearing Can’s Ege Bamyasi. From that point forward Alonso worried less about using his music to tell a particular story, and instead concentrated on mesmerizing the listener. With his work cut out for him Alonso honed his recording skills and hoarded music gear with his “Canned” inspired musical theory in mind. Writing music with his bandmates, Matt Crum and Eric Rasco, under the moniker Feathers, the trio merges all styles without working towards any sound in particular. What emerges are riveting instrumental tracks suited for a world where Esquivel and Bacharach are worshipped as pop idols.