The Positions
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.”
East River Pipe
Mr. Cornog doesn’t take himself too seriously. While his bio riffs on and on about the drug references in his new album, and rightly so, you’d expect his moniker to be a similar reference. Not the case. East River Pipe is an allusion to a broken pipe he once witnessed spewing sewage into the East River. “I imagined myself to be the pipe,” he admitted in a recent podcast, “the sewage to be my songs and the river to be the world—so i was essentially spewing out meaningless pop songs into an already polluted river.” His modesty is appreciated, but one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. You never know where you’ll uncover hidden gems. F.M. Cornog has spent almost two decades with his Tascam 388 recording so-called disposable songs that you may not ever be able to get out of your head.
Podcast #18 Up in This Mug
Mogwai
We at 3hive like a lot of the same artists. So we have abided by a simple by-law to help preserve our friendship: first come, first served. If you want to write about someone, do it. If you don’t, they’re fair game. What this has led to though is a sort of squatting technique where one of us will create a post with the band’s name (and not much more) and save it as a draft. That’s our way of saying “dibs.” And the system works…until you dibs so many artists that you can’t remember anymore who dibsed what. So, when we got word of Mogwai’s new album, Mr. Beast, Sean had to remind me that I’ve been sitting on Mogwai since early 2005. Here are two new instrumental tracks (“Folk Death 95” and “Auto Rock,” remixed by Errors), alongside a couple of vocal classics taken from the band website — the frenetic “Lower,” from their first ever single, and a cover of The Fall’s exquisite bummer “Bill Is Dead.” I’m glad to say I love Mogwai as much now as I did a year ago.
Oh, and check out their fancy tour site for a fun “Where’s Mogwai?” Google map hack and more.
Charles and Annette May Thomas
Sunday morning gospel courtesy of funk-blog-master-deluxe, Oliver Wang. I’ll leave the description of this track to Mr. Wang himself, since he’s been there, done that. What I will give you is the skinny on O-Dub’s newest project. He’s teaming up Soul-Sides with Zealous records for a hand-picked compilation of classic soul old school style—that’s right, straight outta the blogosphere to vinyl and CD. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, a charity assisting R&B artists from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s who lack healthcare and income. Also check out the jukebox for the rest of the album. Guaranteed to fill your soul.
13ghosts
If 13 ghosts weren’t a band but a married couple, the story of how they formed, disbanded, and reunited years later after the original bass player’s funeral would have already made the daytime talk show circuit. So, if anyone from “Oprah” is reading, what are you waiting for?
On to the music… There’s a saying in Michigan, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” Same could be said of 13 ghosts’ latest, Cicada, which introduces new genres, styles, instruments, formats, etc. every few minutes. However, I’d recommend against skipping ahead. While the album has its clear standout tracks (“Robert J.” among them), you really need to spend all 62 minutes with the album in order to fully appreciate it. Brad Armstrong and Buzz Russell split songwriting duties (which could explain their wandering style) and finish each other’s thoughts like the old friends that they are. Together they build a collaborative narrative — one soaked in beer and nostalgia — that would be a shame to interrupt. The number of “sounds like” comparisons I’ve read in reviews could fill the screen and I’m already running long, so I’ll just say this: enjoy the weather.
death vessel
Death Vessel is Joel Thibodeau, a slight New Englander with a face that could tell a story all by itself. But since you can’t see him, what you’ll remember is his singular falsetto, an energetic chirp with the Celtic gusto of Gospel Oak era Sinead O’ Connor and the front-porch personality of Gillian Welch. It’s all in service of lyrics with a Dylan-esque, both Bob and Thomas, sense of the fantastic and the melancholy in this thing called living. Sit with him for a few and let him sing you some songs.