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.

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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.

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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.

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Laura Gibson

Since everyone else is doing it — all the other reviewers and critics and press types, that is — I’ll avoid comparison when discussing Laura Gibson, and instead just say that her smooth, precise, detached vocal styling should appeal to anyone who likes an eccentric female singer-songwriter. “Spirited,” off the forthcoming Beasts of Season, suggests an orchestrated lushness to this young Oregonian’s songs, as opposed to the more classic shuffle of “Hands in Pockets,” from 2006. Speaking of the new album, NPR will feature it next week in streaming audio as part of its Exclusive First Listen series.

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The Von Bondies

Yeah yeah, you’re thinking, the Von Bondies, something about Detroit rock ‘n’ roll, the lead singer got in a fight with that White Stripes dude, their big song a few years back “C’mon C’mon” was in some American car commercial (Detroit, right?), give me something new, 3hive. We here at 3hive have often shared some guilty pleasures with you over the years, and the Von Bondies do that for me. There’s just something about their simple, hook-filled rock with the anthem-like lyrics you can shout along to that gets me going.

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Faunts

On their second full-length, Alberta, Canada’s Faunts reign in their epic song structuring, meandering less while managing to maintain their expansive sound. Their new album tends to use more electronics (a more dour Postal Service?) without sacrificing the ringing guitars. In “M4 (Part 1)” guitars loop repeatedly a la Michael Brook’s infinite guitar and Faunts’ ethereal tendencies in many of their songs remind me of similar moments in The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds. Faunts get plenty of comparisons to The Cure, but unlike many of their contemporaries the similarities lie with the instrumentation rather than Smith’s warbled vocals; however, bald-faced comparisons to any band do a disservice to potential fans, because Faunts transcend simple analogies to any band that’s come before, and Feel.Love.Thinking.Of raises expectations for any band choosing to follow Faunts’ lead.

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Jason Holstrom

Clay recently wrote about not being able to post the bands you’d really like to, and I can sympathize. A few years ago I wanted to share The Hazzards, a ukulele-playing pair of girls from, of course, Brooklyn. Alas, nothing was available. If you’re looking for a uke fix, though, a little Jason Holstrom can do the trick. While decidedly more island-themed than The Hazzards, who were, you know, ironic (from Brooklyn), Holstrom plays it kind of straight, dishing up clean pop songs with some palm-inspired lilt. A veteran of a bunch of Seattle bands I’d never heard of, Holstrom gave us a travelogue with his 2007 album The Theives of Kailua. Uke it up!

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The Submarines

You’ve heard the Submarines by now. They’re getting a lot of buzz nowadays, but even if you haven’t, just think of the commercial for a certain fancy cell phone that everyone seems to have these days. See, you have heard them.

Our motto here at 3hive is “Sharing the Sharing,” where we share free and legal MP3’s. And there are so many times when we want to share an awesome band, but they don’t have any free MP3’s on offer. I’ve been wanting to share an old fave of mine since the start of 3hive, Jackdrag aka Jack Dragonetti, for ages. “Aviating” is one of those songs I just keep coming back to over the years. But no MP3’s to share. Then he formed the Submarines with Blake Hazard, moving on from his eccentric folk-pop to more electric, pure pop. Their song “Peace & Hate” from their Declare a New State LP is one of my faves from 2006. But no MP3’s to share. However, the day of sharing has finally come. For their current tour with the Morning Benders, this now husband-and-wife duo has released a free single covering the Benders’ song “Waiting for a War.” Patience pays, eventually.

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Bishop Allen

Bishop Allen may very well be the first band that’s been reviewed by three of us. Yeah, we’re pretty geeked about them. Take a look at the artwork for their new album Grrr… Do you like what you see? Do you appreciate its colorful, simple whimsicality? Then you’ll love the new tracks; the music marches hand-in-hand with the visual. Notice the clean white space. The music has that same crisp, airy feeling. I quickly donned headphones, wanting to squeeze my brain in between the bright melodies, the bouncy bass, snappy guitars, and the lyrics’ ‘ancient commonsense’ poetics. The question is, will the songs last the replays while I wait another month for the other eleven songs? I’m highly suspicious the answer is yes. Songs like these remind me why 3hive exists: must…tell…others… The new album and tour begins March 10th. But a pre-order ensures you get the goods a week in advance.

Dimmer [MP3, 4.1MB, 192kbps]
The Ancient Commonsense of Things [MP3, 4.7MB, 192kbps]

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