Thumbless DJ
Mighty Six Ninety
I must be losing it. I swear I’ve posted about Mighty Six Ninety before, but I can’t find any trace of them on the site. Feeling in a particularly ’80s mood today? Then queue up some John Hughes on Netflix and get Mighty Six Ninety rockin’ on the hi-fi. Mighty Six Ninety, an L.A. five-piece, is named after the great San Diego AM station—a Top 40 channel that dabbled early on in New Wave and post-Punk. This Mighty Six Ninety would make its namesake proud. Check the New Order bassline in “Northern Border,” and the soaring vocals complete with ’80s Alphaville-esque affectation. “Leave This World” reassembles a Freuer guitar riff and runs it head on into a more shimmering moment of The Cure. Throw in a bit of attitude from The Smiths and Ultravox synths and you’d think you’re listening to a cassette recording of Richard Blade’s show twenty years ago. Fittingly, they’re making their first waves in the UK, with two singles already under their belt.
Mighty Six Ninety usher in Summer tonight at Spaceland.
25 Years of Touch and Go
The Living Blue
Every summer, we here at 3hive look for a song for summer, you know, be it summer anthem or road trip soundtrack, etc. While the Living Blue do not offer such a song, they do offer the feel for a great summer song. They’re rockin’, stingin’, full of energy and buzz, they just sing about other topics. “Serrated Friend” is sure to keep you awake on that long drive to beach.
The 1900s
The bouncy organ riffs sold me immediately on The 1900’s. Lines like “wrap them in licorice and tie them to stones” and the strings and french horn that close out the song complete the psychedelic smorgasbord from this Chicago sextet. Speaking of sex, it sounds like there’s a few love triangles between band members. Keep those relationships in check kids! We wouldn’t want to spoil the party before things get going. Their debut “mini-album” Plume Delivery has been out less than a month. They’d make good summer mix tape neighbors with The Zombies, Stereolab, and the ol’ Elephant 6 crew.
The 1900s play with Midlake tonight at the Mercury Lounge in New York, with shows continuing in the city for the next two nights (Fontana’s and Arlene’s Grocery respectively). More tour dates here.
1.618: Fine Looking/Sounding Music Blog
Sufjan Stevens Avalanche Stream Part 1
Brian Eno + David Byrne
Today we’re going back twenty-five years to 1981 (would someone check my math on that?). Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborated to produce the album My Life in a Bush of Ghosts. The album highlights the pair’s mutual love for African pop and rhythms. The track offered here, “Regiment,” is obviously influenced by such music. Its rhythms and percussion are also reminiscent of another album released in ’81, Japan’s Tin Drum. Eno + Byrne’s album set the template for later works of world and electronic music. My Life in a Bush of Ghosts was re-mastered and re-issued this year and the complete multi-tracks to two of the songs are available for download on Bush-Of-Ghosts.com. Producers are encouraged to use the tracks in their own work, or remix the songs and upload them back to the site. The site also features archival press coverage, essays, photos from the recording sessions, a video and polaroids by David Byrne himself. A worthwhile way to spend your day procrastinating.