Compared to my pals here at 3hive, I don’t know jack about electronic music. I can tell you all about country and jangly guitar pop, but deep down inside all those synths kind of freak me out. Maybe it was too much Herbie Hancock back when my dad built a pirate MTV converter in 1985 or so. Therefore, if The Egg isn’t cool, you’ll have to forgive me, ’cause I think it’s pretty kicking. At least it doesn’t give me a headache, which every other electronica track I pull seems to do. So here’s how I found out about this British quartet that’s been making records for a decade or so: SXSW. Every year, the website for this Texas blow-out has about five hundred free MP3s, and I get all download crazy for a day or two. The Egg was one of my random grabs, and it got me moving, and one click begat another… Enjoy “Funky Dube,” live from Glastonbury, and forgive me if it ain’t all that. I kind of think it is.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Here’s one that’s long overdue for an update and what do you know we’re just in time for Casiotone’s single collection due out this week. It’s called Advance Base Battery Life. The opening track, “Old Panda Days,” is classic CFTPA and highlights Owen Ashworth’s cunning command of couplets rhyming “boyfriends I shouldn’t have kept” with “stupid flatbeds we never swept.” You’ll have to listen to get the context. Not one to leave us hanging, Ashworth will quickly follow his singles and rarities collection with his fifth album, Vs. Children, of which “Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm” is part and proof that while Ashworth may be a one-man band, a one-trick pony he ain’t.
Note: Be sure to check out the SXSW Megamix from Tomlab, K Records, and Asthmatic Kitty. No medley nonsense here, just lots of full-length gems.
Old and Panda Days [MP3, 3.2MB, 192kbps]
Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In) [MP3, 2.1MB, 160kbps]
Sam’s original post 2/4/2006::
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone has been one of those monikers that kinda gives away the ending before you even press play — like Rage Against the Machine, or Insane Clown Posse. I say “has been” because now Owen Ashworth (who from some angles looks remarkably like 3hive’s Jon Armstrong, see for yourself) has joined forces with producer Jherek Bischoff to expand his sound beyond its lo-fi trappings. “Young Shields” is the lead-off single from the resulting album, Etiquette, which by all indications still speaks to the Painfully Alone, just with less Casiotone (and a lot more of everything else) than before. “Cold White Christmas” is also from the new joint… Where was this track when I was putting together my Christmas podcast? Oh well, this one defies seasonality. When isn’t a good time for some chilly melancholy?
Young Shields [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]
Cold White Christmas [MP3, 4.6MB, 128kbps]
Bobby Malone Moves Home [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
New Year’s Kiss (version) 4-track home recording [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
Graceland [MP3, 2.5MB, 160kbps]
Neil Halstead U.S. Tour
Helicopters
Man, recessions suck. It’s all work, work, work. I’ve been woefully ignorant of all of these Internet happenings except perhaps Twitter because, y’know, that’s just quick random thoughts, right? But what we could really use in these lean times are free MP3 downloads. So god bless you for going strong with 3Hive, Sean and Joe and Clay, because there’s so much great music out there and, long hours be damned, we gots to share the sharing! Like Chicago’s Helicopters, a group that got its first major exposure by winning a battle of the bands contest that gave them a slot at Lollapalooza. And they didn’t stuff the ballot box, either. Like the Chicago Man of the Decade, Helicopters offer a complex yet accessible brand of hope that is a sea change from a cynicism that has prevailed for too long. It’s no small feat considering they have three primary songwriters. Such musical trinities can lead to a garbled mess of influences. And while you’ll get a smorgasbord on Sizing Up the Distance, from synthed new wave reduxes to driven guitar anthems to emo wails, there’s a common thread of pop craftsmanship that pulls it all together. These are some finely crafted gems, and at least one of them is free. The Spring thaw is upon us, and hopefully the financial thaw is about to follow – and with Helicopters, my thaw soundtrack is coming together nicely.
Belleisle
In college I was a creative writing major, and that same subject was my favorite class ever to teach in high school. Were I to still be teaching the class, I think I’d probably use the text to Belleisle’s track “Talks a Lot” as a classroom sample of the “every poem is a song” idea. The song, from the 2008 album Longstanding, exhibits a narrative sense that I just love. Speaking of love, I’m starting to feel that way about Belleisle, (and it’s not just because I used to go to the Frederick Law Olmstead-designed Detroit park of a similar name when I was a kid). The Montreal-based team of Rebecca Silverberg and Tasha Cyr make up the core of Belleisle, and their smooth delivery and surprisingly tasteful moments of dissonance are making me smile a whole lot, making me want to wax poetic.
New Phoenix Single
I like Phoenix. And they like you. To prove it, they just released their new single “1901” as a free download. Gotta go here to get it. No email or log in necessary. The band will issue their full album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix on May 25th.
The Chap’s First U.S. Tour
Papermoons
It started in October. The holiday season kicked into full swing with Halloween, which might be the most anxiously awaited holiday of the year at my house. I suffered a serious knee injury the week before Halloween, but we had the November elections, Thanksgiving, and Christmas arriving before we knew it, with all the hussle and bussle that go with them. It continued into January with my wife’s birthday and some major issues at work, and then we finally got to February where they continued. It feels like we’ve been running non-stop since October. Prior to this weekend, we’ve been out of town for five weekends in a row. My music choices have been changing as I’ve tried to keep up the pace. Faster, faster, if it didn’t have enough BPM’s or pounding energy, I wasn’t working for me. I found myself listening to a lot of Black Flag, Bad Religion, the Specials, and the Projects on the train ride to/from work.
Don’t get me wrong; it has been good times, a whole lotta fun with family, friends, and great places. But it was all starting to catch up with me. Last week I was on my fourth cold of the season, my knee is in bad shape as I’ve been doing hard rehab in a final attempt to avoid ligament reconstruction surgery, and my body has felt like it’s falling apart. On Saturday, finally at home for the first weekend in six, I downloaded the Houston duo Papermoons’ “Follow the Sun,” a delicate, melodic song of peace and tenderness, fell asleep at 9 pm, and had the best night of sleep I’ve had in months. Coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not.
Milke
My mother prides herself on being “with it.” And compared to 99% of mothers I guess she probably is, as far as any mother’s “with-it-ability” goes. People are still often surprised to find out that she’s my mother since she looks too young and flashy to have a son who looks as old and frumpy as I do. And she was quite the early Facebook adopter amongst her friends and her generation. Speaking of which, this morning she expressed dismay at the fact that one of our mutual friends would use a photo of herself with her tongue sticking out as her profile picture. “It’s sexually suggestive,” my mother said. She may be up to date on technology, but her sexual boundaries are still quaintly old-fashioned. No mother, Shari’s picture is fun and sassy, this is sexually suggestive and *gasp* highly androgynous.
This is the artwork to Milke’s new single, “Love Get Out of My Way.” The duo mix French electro with soulful pop vocals for a sound that’s sure to be burn its way through the club scene and get the blog-o-kids all geeked. The two principles behind Milke are from opposite ends of the music world: producer Andrew Friendly has been DJing and remixing his way around the world, remixing the likes of Justice, LFO, and Darren Hayes, while singer Ra has been holed up on his own, flying way below the radar, until Friendly heard his work on the Black Grass album. Now with Milke they’re writing tracks that transcend their former domains. It’s big, bold, and yes, suggestive, synth-y disco. My mother will love the music, but loathe the artwork. I’m bracing for the response she’s sure to fire at me on Facebook (Hi mom!) Speaking of which, here’s a reminder to join us there too.
The Very Most
I don’t think anyone suffering through a harsh winter would think it’s too early to start dreaming about Spring. Boise’s The Very Most has been planning for this Spring for some time. In fact, they’ve got the next year planned out as four EPs celebrating the next four seasons. Spring is available now and Summer hits on May 1st.”Today It Is Even Better” shimmers as bright as any song ever posted on these pages. Warm and fuzzy indie-pop good the whole year round. They even take on Morrissey, the king of melancholy, and sweeten up the Smiths “Cemetry Gates.” If you think this sacrilegious, then you especially need a dose of The Very Most. Prepare for an imminent cheering up by the band that makes dying sound like a jangle of a good time.