What does it take to to wake me from a 3hive coma? One simple tweet: “@diplo: i wish atlas sound would ask me to make them a mixtape.” Which got me thinking, How friggin sweet would that be? Which got me thinking, Wait, none of us have posted Atlas Sound on 3hive?? Which got me thinking, Where’s my login??? So here goes…
Atlas Sound is what the crazy prolific Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox calls himself when doing the home recording thing. It’s hard to put a finger on his steez cause it morphs based on his mood and whatever’s moving him at the time. To get a sense of his wide range of influences, just check the playlist to his latest “micromix“. The common thread is a drowsy, droney, and often messy sheen to surprisingly tuneful and hypnotic song structures.
“Doctor” covers an obscure single from ’50s/’60s doo-wop act The Five Discs. “Walkabout” is a pop chant that’ll shimmy its way into your head and stay a while. And, given the season, I threw in Bradford’s oddly sentimental “holiday” tune from 2007. Now, I’m heading back to Twitter for more inspiration…
3hive’s Top 50 of 2009
Noise Pop 2010 Dates + First Round of Artists
Netherfriends
After a few days of obsessing over categorizing Netherfriends’ sound, I realized such efforts were unnecessary and that the six tracks on this EP were strong enough to stand alone. As vain as my attempts at classification may have been, I still have to try. Here goes: the majority of the Netherfriends EP is an exploration of pop possibilities. It’s an addictive mix of Animal Collective’s meandering instrumentation and the Elephant Six Collective’s tendencies to pay homage to ‘60s era pop. “Mom Cop” leans towards the latter. However you decide to categorize them, listener beware: I ended up memorizing the lyrics to all six songs in a day. Netherfriends exposed the addictive side of my personality.
– By Brie Roche-Lilliott
Follow 3hive on Twitter
F&#ked Up Christmas Benefit
Patrick & Eugene
Don’t hit the download link unless you adore:
1. Ukeleles
2. Banjos
3. Bongos
4. Slide whistles
5. Bells
6. Super cheery pop music
7. Trombones, clarinets and a variety of horns
Because those are the tools that Patrick & Eugene use to transform Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” into a bouncy klezmer romp. When left to their own songwriting devices P&E create equally breezy tracks, varied in tempo, but not tone. These are happy songs. Sunshine songs. Glass half full songs. Dixieland jazz songs. If you’re old and jaded, grumpy, too cool to smile, or maybe just mean you’ll want to hit someone after hearing the twin songs “Altogether Now” and “The Birds and the Bees,” but maybe, just maybe if you listen long enough you’ll offer a hand to the poor soul you just floored with your fist. Post Patrick & Eugene as the marching band to next month’s Afghanistan surge and Obama very well may start bringing troops home in 18 months. They’ve got that kind of feel-good power.
Shout Out Louds Announce Album Date + MP3
Neon Indian
Does time seem to move too slow for you? Do your days and weeks drag on? If you’re interested in making time move faster I’ve got a piece of advice for you: make some babies. Probably not the best solution for everyone, but let me tell you the last thirteen years of my life have skated by. Yesterday I worried whether or not my kid would keep breathing throughout the night; today I worry whether or not he’ll be able to find and hold down a job. It’s not the economy that makes me anxious, but the teenagers I’m surrounded with everyday and their work ethic or lack thereof. So lately I’ve been on the lookout for tips on teaching kids how to work and why they should care about the quality of their work. Let me share what I learned today: don’t introduce your child to Neon Indian!
One quick glance at these track names and I think you know where I’m going and what Neon Indian, né Alan Palomo, is selling. These playful, lilting pop songs and their psychedelic synth flourishes will do nothing but encourage your youngsters to raid your medicine cabinet, string up a hammock out back and sway their days away. He uses subversively cheerful melodies and samples of bird songs to lead your children away on a breezy headphone trip, far away from their duties and responsibilities. I’d like to see you get your children to make their beds to this music, let alone pull a shift at Mickey D’s! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s perfected the aural aura Cornelius has taunted us with for years. Whatever you do, don’t listen to this! And be sure to keep your iPod and prescriptions locked up tight.