Hello friends. A week ago tonight, my family welcomed 19-inch, 7.4 lb. Peter Joseph into the world, so I’ll be taking a few weeks off working through an SAT prep regimen with the new guy. Respect to admin for giving me some FMLA time (it’s healthy!), and thanks to my pal Tim Ortopan for being 3hive’s first guest deejay.
I am excited to be the first outsider allowed to post on 3hive, and I’m thrilled to be posting Joseph Arthur, who has been one of my favorite artists for the last few years. I received his album Come to Where I’m From for my 18th birthday in a record store grab bag, and it instantly became one of my most prized albums. The fact that no one I knew had heard of Joseph Arthur only added to the illusion that he was singing his songs of sadness and heartbreak just for me. In this context, he has seen me through first dates and break ups without ever asking for anything in return. I think that recommending him to you is the least I can for all the help he has given me. Arthur has had a few ups and downs in his career but the Ohio native has made some of the best music of the last few years. Download the live tracks here as an introduction to his work. I hope you like them; if not the 3hive guys may never invite me back.
The Amazing Pilots are actually two amazing brothers, Phil and Paul Wilkinson, of Coleraine, Northern Ireland (Come on you Bannsiders!), although they have relocated to Dublin. They play this amazing (sorry) pop that soars like the wonderous landscape of the North Antrim coast, providing relief from the cramped housing estates of Coleraine. This same pop is remniscent of the sounds of 
Lo-fi bitrates for this wonderful, lo-fi shoegazey duo that takes me back to L.A.’s Paisley Underground days—a gritty version of The Bangles or Opal. The stand out track here is “Sober.” It’s, as they sing in the song, “unstoppable.” You’ll end up listening to it twenty times in a row. It’s maddeningly addicting. Thanks to 
There was a time (before MP3s or listening stations) when I’d buy records based solely on the name of the band. Don’t laugh, it’s how I ended up discovering Echo and the Bunnymen and Siouxsie and the Banshees before they became ’80s household names. It’s the name that drew me to I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness which, with their shadowy, elastic heartbreakers, could have been shelved alsongside Bunnymen and Banshees back in the day. Only they’re of this decade and from Austin, Texas (with ties to 
Perhaps the name is a subliminal bit of wishful thinking, because these Montreal, uh, rockers? new wavers? Franco-popsters? never seem to stay still for too long. But the great part is that none of their many aural wardrobe changes sound contrived because they’re not mimicking styles; they’re bringing their own sound to bear on what’s out there. Their latest, “In the Beginning,” is a southern rock anthem. “Retour A Vega” is wistful even though I only understand every third word. And “Still in Love Song” is full of intelligent teen angst. So if you’re having trouble deciding what kind of mood you’re in, don’t bother with the shuffle on your iPod. Just load in the Stills and let them do the shuffling for you.
There are two good things about making an airport pick-up at one in the morning: 1) I got to see my sons for the first time in a week, and 2) I got to listen to CBC Radio 2’s 
Do not be confused by the lineup of the Positions. The list of players and their instruments reads like that of a ska band: trumpet, trombone, keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums. The Positions, however, are pop, with their own not-so-secret recipe drawn from decades of pop predecessors and perfected by producer Archie Moore of Velocity Girl. Just the thing to help calm me down after tonight’s soccer where I was blatantly fouled in the penalty area while atttempting to shoot and the ref didn’t call it. I must listen to this song again. Ah, yes, just the thing, “Back to Me.”