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.
Charles Kamm tonight on KUCI
The 3hive 72-Hour Kit
Conner
Where’s that deliciously pouty, funky sound coming from? South London? NYC? Try Lawrence, Kansas. (Hey, they’re entitled to deliciously pouty, funky music, too, you know.) These tracks are from Conner’s forthcoming album Hello Graphic Missile which is due out June 6. June 6?? But I want it NOW…
Peter Walker
Mr. Walker’s connected. For his first album he tapped REM’s drummer, Beck’s bassist and Wilco’s guitarist/keyboardist. Then he caught the attention of Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza and Grandaddy’s Jim Fairchild. The three holed themselves up in Elliott Smith’s studio to record Young Gravity. Peter Walker sure has a lot to live up to and really it’s unfair of me to name-drop so liberally. I’m positive Walker wants his music to speak for itself. So I’ll let it do just that. Ask me though, and I’ll tell you he makes good use of his friends.
Woody Whatever
Athens, Ohio’s Erik Schmall has been recording frayed, cuddly lo-fi at a blistering pace. He’s already released over 100 songs since he first started in 2001, at age 17. Like many prolific bedroom songwriters, or any prolific songwriter for that matter, not every track will blow you away. But these ones here do, and I’m sure I’ve overlooked a few. If you’re looking for a good place to get started, hop (Happy Easter!) over to the lovely blog/netlabel Beat the Indie Drum to download Woody Whatever’s Big One Shout Out EP that just came out in March 2006.