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.
Sunday morning gospel courtesy of funk-blog-master-deluxe, Oliver Wang. I’ll leave the 
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.
Boppy skater-pop from Sweden, courtesy of My Orchard. “A List of Things” is taken from their new EP Silhouettes, while “Something New” can be found on 
Sam from Iron Hero got my attention with two words and one number: Athens, 40, Watt. Although I’ve never been there, the 40 Watt Club is a hallowed place for me since my teenage years spent worshipping Love Tractor, Pylon, and many other Athens, Georgia, bands who played there. Iron Hero, you see, had a CD release show just recently at said 40 Watt Club. Then Iron Hero got my adoration with two things: delightful pop and some oh so delightful fuzz. With songs like “Heart of a Ghost,” surely Iron Hero’s days of self-releasing albums will be a thing of past, ie., there’s a label somewhere out there who has gotta snatch them up soon.