Tender Trap
Apologies to you, dear 3hive reader, for slacking on the job. Tender Trap, an ecletic pop band whose members have been in too many great indie bands from the past to name them all so I’ll just say Amelia Fletcher is the heavenly voice behind Heavenly, and their label Matinee Recordings have dispatched with the free MP3s. No more sharing the sharing. Well, they used to share MP3s with us, but here I was, sitting on Tender Trap, just biding my time, thinking I had all the time in the world until, alas, I was too late. Or so I thought. Thanks to Spain’s Elefant Records, the driving electro synth pop of “Face of ’73” can be shared with the world, albeit in crappy 80kbps, for which I also apologize. Just think of it as really good AM radio.
Jel
Chicago-born, Oakland-based beatmaker extraordinaire, Jeffrey Logan, aka Jel, is “a man whose heart is equally divided between the clouds and the streets.” Jel made his way out West with his trusty drum machine, the SP1200, and forged an entire sound and label — Anticon — with his driving passion and skills. And just so you know, he’s a master at the SP1200. He was one of the very first to play the drum machine live as an instrument, with little or no sequencing. Judging by these two tracks, Jel’s forthcoming album, Soft Money, promises to be a monster. Not since the city of Bristol unleashed a little band called Massive Attack has any collective threatened to take hip hop to yet another level. Another FYI: Jel’s also a member of Themselves, Subtle, and 13 & God. If you couldn’t tell, we’re fans.
Podcast #16 Awaits You
Shing02
While trying to track down info on a record that I’m hooked on, Cosiner’s Bittersuites (scant info on this guy), I came across fellow Oaklander, Shing02. The two collaborated on the album 400: Cosiner as producer, Shing02 as MC. Unfortunately, none of those tracks are available as MP3s. What is available is sampling of Shing02’s work across the past several years. Born in Tokyo and raised in Tanzania, England, and Japan, Shing02 ended up in Oakland via Berkeley in the early ’90s immersing himself in its, now world-famous, hip hop scene. Bouncing easily back and forth across the Pacific Ocean, Shing02 is building a steady arsenal of recordings and armies of followers, spreading peace and respect rhyme by rhyme.
Parts & Labor
Parts & Labor is a Brooklyn trio that makes some noise — some very noisy noise. Don’t let that deter you if it ain’t your thing, because the way all that noise is organized on “A Great Divide,†well, it’s darn near rapturous. Screaming guitars, drums pulsating like helicopter blades, vocals shouted through a bullhorn, bleeps and burps and explosions like a Radio Shack under siege — and it all comes together like there’s a riot in your headphones and everyone’s invited!
The Boy Least Likely To Video
3hive’s Top 10 Downloads in December
Kids These Days
We’re all about the collective thing here at 3hive, intentionally subverting capialistic dominance within the U.S. economic system and all that… you know, sharing the sharing. Kids These Days are sympathetic to the cause, offering free MP3s and proclaiming themselves “card carrying members of the White Whale collective,” a Vancouver-based musicical syndicate comprised of, among others, 3hive vet Mohawk Lodge. While the tunes these kids are playing won’t shatter any socio-political hegemonies or even urge you to paste a “Subvert the Dominant Paradigm” sticker on the bumper of your car, they are pleasant, melodic, poppy and fun.