Someone left a tip for Penny Century in the comments to my Peter Walker post last week. I liked them enough to pull them up out of the comments and give them a proper review. Penny Century, their name lifted from the classic Love and Rockets comic book, is a five-piece from Sweden writing stripped down, almost fragile, pop songs lead by the charming vocals of Julia Hanberg. You know how Eskimos are supposed to have 100 words for snow? I think Swedes do too. Case in point, the lyrics to “Season of Mists:” “We drove through blizzering snow / I tried to warm my hands on a cigarette-lighter.” Spring is not the time you want to be reminded of blizzering weather, but that’s life. Sometimes the worst blizzering hits in April, crushing spirits and spoiling picnics. Here’s to a strong Spring for everyone. If it gets blizzery in your neck of the woods, be sure to snuggle up with Penny Century and a cigarette lighter.
The Wombats
This Liverpudlian marsupial is a distant cousin to the sorely missed Los Angeles marsupial, Possum Dixon. Note the similar lyrical delivery, a kind of snotty, melodic talking. The two species also share a certain jerky jangle in their guitars. The resemblance is most notable on “Derail and Crash.” The Wombats are known to travel as a trio and were first spotted in the wild, open myspace. Everyone here at 3hive looks forward to this fine specimen arriving to this continent for a prolonged stay.
Children of the CPU
Look at the cover. Look at the band name. WYSIWYG (a little tech nerd reference of my own there). Warm, synthy pop with sweet, disposable lyrics. Perfect for an analog road trip with your windows down.
Grizzly Bear
Sorry for stepping into my own head a little to describe Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear, but it occurred to me that the pop-ish noise at which they excel is the polar opposite of the explosions you hear coming from Parts & Labor, another Brooklyn band (borough represent, yo). Where P&L is controlled chaos at light speed, GB is a molasses meltdown. “Don’t Ask” has a subtle hint of the Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town,” and the rest is pretty noise made with pretty instruments. Also check out their Gentle Ben-esque website and listen to “Deep Sea Diver,” which, ahem, isn’t available as an MP3 download…yet.
Gossip Has It: I Can’t Stop Dancing
Soltero
Life has been good lately, (especially if you don’t pay attention to anything related to domestic or international politics). Just last night, Tim O. was talking about how he went to buy some cd’s at the record store — Alligator by The National and the new Rainer Maria album — and not only are they his new favorite spins, but the store gave him a mystery discount too. I feel the same way, in finding The National and Soltero within just the last few weeks. With Soltero, it’s like I’ve been listening to Tim Howard’s catchy, pretty, ultra-intelligent, Billy Bragg-Lou Barlow-inspired pop gems for my whole entire life. Start at the bottom, maybe with “Communist Love Song,” or in the middle with anything at all off of the Defrocked and Kicking the Habit album, or with the full-band, newest tracks at the top, it doesn’t matter. It’s all that good. And hey, Ya-Wen: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the suggestion!
Butterfly Explosion
Irish and Swedish bands. I’m a sucker for them. Irish caused I lived there for two years (even saw Bono’s house/castle/mansion on a road nicknamed, what else, Millionaire’s Row). Swedish cause they have some unexplained disposition to creating great pop music. Is it nature or nurture? Personally, I blame ABBA.
Butterfly Explosion are Irish, are unsigned, and recently played at SXSW. One reviewer names Duran Duran, Sigur Ros, Smashing Pumpkins, and My Bloody Valentine as comparisions. While I reject the MBV link (for reasons we won’t go into here), I would add Lush as a strong starting point. “Sophia” will be on a soon-to-be released EP.
Oh No! Oh My!
If you haven’t lately, why not stop by our links page? There’s a few of the usual suspects as well as some sites you may not be familiar with. Lots of good stuff to discover, like this gem I found via You Ain’t No Picasso. What I like best about Oh No! Oh My! is what they don’t put in their songs. They use their white space well. Not that there’s empty spaces in the music, it’s just that every instrument counts. No filler. The best way to describe them is clap your hands and say yeah. I’m not talking about the band. Imagine if that was a sound, a genre: clap your hands and say yeah. That’s where you’d file Oh No! Oh My! Listen to “The Party Punch” and you’ll get it. I bet they’re a ton of fun live. A total jam band vibe…if by jam band I meant The Boy Least Likely To instead of Phish.