Sultry, simple, and sometimes silly girl pop from the city of, you guessed it, Vancouver, BC. Vancougar split the difference between two perennial favorites from the 3hive archives, All Girl Summer Fun Band and Dressy Bessy. Word of warning: these MP3s are a bit rough ‘cuz they’re demos. From what I’ve heard, the album is a wee bit more polished—just enough, not too much.
Eliot Lipp
Tacoma, Washington. Home of the underappreciated, yet thoroughly ruling punk band Seaweed. At one point I think I had eight Seaweed t-shirts. One of them had the band’s logo on the front, and in large, capital letters “VISUALIZE TACOMA.” I’ve never been to Tacoma, but from what I hear there’s nothing special to visualize. Then there’s Eliot Lipp. His two latest releases were recorded in L.A. while he had Tacoma on the brain. So what did he do? AURALIZE TACOMA. The soulful grooves on Tacoma Mockingbird, and the new Days EP, grew from his moods and emotions while reflecting back on his hometown and friends. His output is a simple, yet simmering synth stew of well-worn breakbeats with Lipp’s retro, yet timeless, twist. His goal was to create a classic electro sound which he pulled off with his economic use of synths and beats. Think New Order pitched down to Grandmaster Five’s tempo, and drop in a lick of their rhythm.
The Coup
Matt, aka Gigahaw, reminded us of The Coup, the Oaktown rap duo who are best known, unfortunately, for “that album cover.” Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funktress do wear their politics on their sleeves (even their toned-down cover for Party Music depicts a young player at a bar enjoying a Molotov cocktail). But what they don’t seem to get enough credit for is their ability to move your butt as well as your conscience. So, with their latest, Pick a Bigger Weapon, they have turned up the funk to match the intensity of their message. The intro is even called “Bullets and Love,” which brings me to another first for The Coup… A handful of apocalyptic slow jams that include the best (and possibly longest) song title of this administration: “babylet’shaveababybeforebushdosomethin’crazy” — awwwww yeeeeaaaahh…
I Should Be Sleeping
Cold War Kids Sign to Downtown + MP3s
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
MusicalFamilyTree.com, a website dedicated to spreading the word about and sharing the music of Indiana bands, recently released the Delicious Berries compilation, and it is awesome. Fresh voices, ambitious sounds — I wish someone here in Michigan would tap into our local talent the way the MFT folks have. For my weekly posts in August, I’ll be featuring bands from the compilation, because it really is that good. The first, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, starts the disc, and with its deal on Artemis is likely one of the most commercially successful of the bands on Delicious Berries. The tracks below, full of quiet harmonies and pop hooks, are taken from their 2005 album The Dust of Retreat.
Yo La Tengo Serves Up Another Album
Sambassadeur EP and MP3
New Daedelus MP3
Spencer Dickinson
Ain’t nobody ever needs to doubt Jon Spencer and the Dickinson brothers’ blues. What they’re doing may be a tad less “blue†than the genre’s down-and-out Mississippi Delta roots, but Spencer, the brothers in the band and father Jim producing have been keeping the blues fresh (and let’s not forget Fat Possum Records) all of those years that your dad has fallen for those suburban guitar prophets with top-flight training and no sorrow. Granted, “That’s a Drag†is about as sorrowful as Spencer Dickinson’s blues get, but give me the sound of a night of hard livin’ over an AOR darling any day.