The Eighteenth Day of May
This London 5-piece mixes Celtic folk with ’60s psychedelic pop with old REM-style vocal murmuring for a sound that’s light, tight and user-friendly. Check out the band’s website for a few live tracks and clips of about a half dozen other songs.
Play It As It Lays #238
Pony Up!
With all the recent focus on the Mexican border we’ve taken our eyes off the one above us. We shouldn’t let aliens like this in unnoticed. There’s great energy in their sing-along melodies and deceptive naiveté. And now for a totally random metaphor: you know how when you’re steaming vegetables and you keep the steam on too long and the brocolli gets all soggy and mushy? Well Pony Up! isn’t like that at all. They’re perfectly past that raw point to keep things crisp and snappy.
Cornershop
3hive reader Saud dropped a wake-up call in the Suggestion Box about Cornershop. He wondered if we’d heard of them. Yep. Heard of them, seen them play live, even worked the term “everyone needs a bosom for a pillow” into a conversation once…but, as so often I do with bigger acts, assumed they didn’t have a free and legal MP3s to share. My face is red; I stand corrected. Here’s some material from a couple years back, including the wickedly infectious MIA remix of “Topknot.” New full-length due out in June. So keep it locked.
A Few 3hive Graduates
Blonde Redhead
For the past 10+ years Blonde Redhead has delivered some of the finest textured music from the indie world. Each release brings their old-world pop sounds, complete with orchestral flourishes and whispery vocals, into crisper focus. Fortunately for us, we’re at the tail end of down time between records. It’s been over two years since their last album, and it sounds like the band is in the process of recording a new record that’ll be available early next year. Too long of a drought in my opinion. But I ain’t gonna complain. Not when they’re the kind of band that enlists David Sylvian for vocal duties (for an alternate version of their song “Messenger”). I’m including the video to my favorite song from the band, “Equus,” below. For some reason the song’s buried at the end of the album Misery is a Butterfly and it’s easy to miss. Don’t miss it.
Tons of Covers of Love Will Tear Us Apart
max Min
Austrian singer/songwriter Max Tertinegg, a.k.a. max Min, writes romantic, modern pop (that’s right, I’m on a pop kick… I’ll soon recover) replete with dreamy strings, horns, synths, harmonies, flawed English…whatever the moment calls for. It’s rather magical stuff. He’s got a political side, too, having crafted this amusing device that allows you to play speechwriter to The Decider himself (a little nod to “The Daily Show” there). Fun for the whole fam.
Bing Ji Ling
Let’s start the weekend off right with two fine examples of this new Bay Area Soul that’s been brewing up North for sometime. First, it’s Bing Ji Ling. Loosely translated it means “ice cream” in Chinese. Not many east Asian influences in his music, but sweet and creamy grooves abound. His record, Doodle Loot Doot Doodle A Doo, has been out a couple years now and he’s been busy in the meantime. He’s remixed the likes of Quannum’s Curumin and Blackalicious and has collaborated with Darondo and Tommy Guerrero. Bing Ji Ling is 100% party music and he’ll get you going like it’s 2099. Watch for a new album this year, and catch him live to enjoy tasty ice-cream treats courtesy of his hot-bodied entourage.