The Valentines
Two events, no, three events have created this post about the Valentines. One, WindyLou, a 3hive reader, asked why my year-end list did not include more Memphis bands. Two, my friend Vince made a submission about the Valentines, a Memphis band who moved to Washington state. Three, the Monday holiday completely messed up my schedule so I’m a little late today. I really thought it was Tuesday.
So the Valentines (formerly the Dearest Darlins) make fun music with simple keyboards, guitars, and a crappy microphone. A little indie, a little rocksteady, a little toe-tappin, that’s what the Valentines are all about.
3hive Readers’ 2005 Year-End List
Madman Moon
A good friend of mine used to regularly harp on me using the line, “Sean, you don’t know anything about music before 1979.” He was referring to the year XTC released their album Drums & Wires, the first album I ever bought with my hard-earned, paper-route cash. In a way he’s right. I didn’t have older siblings whose album collections I could pilfer from. I started with XTC and moved forward, not looking back much. Admittedly, my ability to reference back to classic ’60s and ’70s rock is lacking. Had I ever gone back and done a bit of homework I’d be able to better situate Madman Moon in that spectrum, because they fit in there somewhere. Shades of Bowie, ELO, and even The Doors come through, but there’s another connection or two in there that I just can’t nail down. Anyone else care to take a stab at it?
The Presets
2006 will be a good year if we keep getting MP3s from Australia’s Modular Records. Home to a wide range of goodness — from the epic rock trip that is Wolfmother to the Avalanches’ turntable bricolage — Modular is set on opening the world’s ears to Sydney duo The Presets, whose dark, moody (and sometimes sleazy) electro funk gets remixed here by labelmates Cut Copy. Sounds like they dialed up the “Underworld” setting, if there is such a thing. Now, if we could just get Modular to offer up a Cut Copy original, that’d be one more band I could cross off my 2005 wish list.
Shan’s 2005 Year-End List
Cub Country
Cub Country is Jeremy Chatelain who’s done time with bands like Jets to Brazil, Handsome, and (taking it way back) the SLC hardcore band Lumberjack — a band I interviewed on my first radio show, a little punk rock thing called “Unrest on the Seventh Day.” All-around quality this kid Jeremy. Cub Country began while Jeremy was living in Brooklyn as an outlet for his own songs that had no home. Ironic that a move out east initiated his western sound. It’s 2006 (a new year for all of us, have a happy and safe one!) and Cub Country is now situated in Seattle and should have a new album tracked and ready to go soon. Email Jeremy and tell him you like what you hear and can’t wait for more. Oh yeah, and tell him I said hello.
b.fleischmann
As I was putting together my best of 2005 list and got to the “artists we wish we could put on 3hive but who don’t offer fre and legal MP3 links so alas…” section, I instinctively started jotting down all my favorite Morr Music artists. Then I double-checked b.fleischmann’s website and realized, while Morr continues to embed their music in that damn lovely, illustrated Flash site of theirs, the artist is a bit more giving of his wares. Working bottom to top, these tracks demonstrate our man’s evolution from laptop glow to a richer blend of analog and digital textures. “Phones and Machines” is a fine example of the latter, a preview from The Humbucking Coil (pre-order from Boomkat). Here’s to more Morr in 2006!!
White Hassle
I first heard White Hassle on the Grand Life compilation for the Soho Grand boutique hotel…because that’s how we roll in the 2-1-2. I wanted to share “Watertank” with y’all but the whole thing is not available for free online (head over to eMusic and pick it up for some well-spent pennies). In the meantime, here are three tracks that show off Marcellus Hall’s smartypants roots (he’s also a fantastic illustrator): part Cake’s John McRea and part the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt. “Resolution (Resolution)” will help you kick off your new year on a reflective note.