The Maughams
For years I’ve avoided saying aloud the name of this band, shared by (or maybe taken from?) W. Somerset Maugham, author of The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage and a bunch of other novels. Is it Mawm, like lawn but with an m? Or Mao-ham, two syllables? I assume the gh is silent… Anyway, these silly Canadians are causing me this trouble again, even worse than before, because I want to tell way more people about their wonderful homage-to-the-’70s lo-fi sound than I ever wanted to about W. Somerset’s psychologically searing social dramas. Check out “Jay Bird” for a catchy end-of-summer theme song.
Kiss Me Deadly
Regular readers of 3hive will recall Sam mentioning on Monday that he should be tested for OCD (although I would replace “tested” with “treated”). You will also recall my many posts that taken together demonstrate my own obsessive compulsive behavior. It’s music; how could we react any other way? The focus of this week’s OCD-ness is another Montreal band on the Alien8 label, Kiss Me Deadly. Formerly emo/math rock, KMD have moved towards a dancier sound that’s still deeply EMOtional, full of earnest energy and rather dependent on the ’80s. If only KMD had been around in the ’80s, I might have actually enjoyed years of school and church dances. These songs from KMD’s tour-only EP Amoureux Cosmiques provide a glimpse into their full-length due out this fall.
Google iTunes?
The Free Design
Early in its conception, Seattle-based, Light in the Attic Records acquired the re-issue rights to The Free Design, an obscure pop band straight outta the ’60s. Over the past year the label has offered up 12″ remixes by the likes of Peanut Butter Wolf, Super Furry Animals, and Stereolab. After completing the three part series you can now find all the remixes and more on one CD: The Now Sound Redesigned. This is some of the best remix curating I’ve heard in a long while and available just in time — before summer ends…
Ezekiel Honig
Who’d have thought the “hook” stuck in my head for the past few days would be the sweet rhythm of what sounds like a printer feed tray being lifted and dropped? I know, I know, I should get checked for OCD. But Ezekiel Honig does have an ear for the latent musicality in such found sounds, which he uses to infuse his minimalist headphone techno with a real warm-blooded feel.
Thee More Shallows
Ahhh, it feels great to be back sharing the sharing. We were having some ugly hosting problems, and during the downtime many of you dropped us lovely “missing you” notes. One letter, from Ander W., expressed sheer dismay at the fact that we hadn’t posted Thee More Shallows. As I mentioned to Ander, Thee More Shallows and their beautiful, Bay Area blend of whisper rock was at the top of my to-do list. At the top of your to-do list should be “purchase More Deep Cuts by Thee More Shallows.” Dee Kesler and company spent almost three years working on this album, so if you buy it for, say, thirteen dollars, you’re paying the band .011 cents a day for their efforts. A small price to pay for this work of art.
Solvent
I originaly posted Solvent 16 months ago. In fact, they were one of the first bands featured on 3hive. Just days after, Ghostly pulled down their full-length MP3s due to bandwidth constraints and there went my Solvent post. As Sean points out over in the News section, Ghostly’s recently found some bandwidth in their hearts and now offer, among others, this gem from Solvent’s latest, Elevators and Oscillators. For the record, my original post was one line: “Proof once again from the Ghostly Massive that machines do have souls.” Still holds true today.
Ghostly’s Back w/ Mobius Band and More
The Unicorns
These Montreal hipsters do — oops, I mean, did — play a lovely brand of ’80s-tinged rock/pop/dance music. Slated as the next big thing, they instead split up. What can I say? It happens to the best of them, but that’s still no excuse to pass over these songs. Get those feet a-dancing!