Each dose of Meho Plaza’s quirky, hooky electro-punk takes care of business, then bolts—leaving you craving more. I’d hardly call it minimalist, only that each musical element is used cunningly and sparingly. If there is an imbalance worth noting, it’s that Mike Thrasher’s lyrics take a back seat while the Moog gets its own dressing room—but it’s all for the good. From what I’ve read, their live show’s even better than the recorded version, and quite different. Alas, I’ll never know firsthand until they get enough funding to tour beyond of their SoCal homebase…so buy this record (available on iTunes), if only for me and everyone else east of the Pacific Time Zone.
P.S. Whew, I made it to the end of the post without referencing Wire… Oops!
Compare and contrast my post of May 18, 2005, with this one. Same band. Same song title. But just as the Swedish duo of Lindefelt and Fredrik have changed their performing name from The Lovekevins to The Love of Kevin, Colour, Chaos, and the Sound of K (or “The LK” for short), they have also changed their style. “Stop Being Perfect” has gone from being a textbook Swedish guitar-pop song to a textbook Swedish electronic pop song (there’s the contrast). No change though in their ability to craft a catchy pop song, one that induces singing along and toe-tapping. For the curious, some of those older “guitar” songs from their 2005 Max Leon EP can be downloaded from the Songs I Wish I Had Written website below.
P.G.D.M. will, as the title implies, keep the dance floor packed at the silent disco. It’s fitting because the electronic instrumentation approximates The Postal Service while the lovely female vocals will be a warm wooby for fans of Cat Power and Bat for Lashes – in other words, it’s great music for dancing with yourself, even when you’re dancing with the masses. I’m giving the band short shrift with such simple comparisons because I’m in a hurry today, but I ask—nay, admonish—you to not give them short shrift yourself, because beats like these don’t often come with such pretty and smart heartstrings attached.
Apparently, in Michigan at least, spring is refusing to be sprung, so the only thing to do is get happy. Canadian bands, especially those not from BC, have extra special cred in this regard as their weather is even worse than ours. Hence Hilotrons, of Ottawa. Fun fun weird fun — lousy, whiny vocals, heavy 80s-ish synth, bouncy, boppy awesome blast. I’ve been spinning their new release, Happymatic at home a lot, and darn if it ain’t working! Alas, I can only offer an excellently representative minute and a half (“Dominika”) for free and legal download; check out the mySpace, buy the album, whatever it takes to get happy, it’s worth it.
This post has been a long time coming. Because I haven’t loved any music lately, and because, well, I’ve been so very MIA. So first things first, hello again! Some things change (i.e. the seasons, my computer [!!!]), etc but thankfully never, ever my weakness for the british accent and quirkilicious bands. I’m really glad that these poppy, punky girls and boys decided to cite Architecture in Helsinki as an influence on their own accord, so I didn’t have to do it first. Los Campesinos has the same big, bombastic, pleasantly messy collective sound and the same absolutely misleading kind of name–these seven british kids don’t appear to be anywhere from anyplace that speaks any kind of Spanish (although I could be wrong). I feel like seeing them live (which I have not) would be a blast of colors and dancing and rocking out and just a whole lot of fun. I look forward to it.
Here’s a little something I’ve been playing on my 
It was my daughter’s birthday yesterday and the major festivities happen today, so the in-laws are in town (they just walked in the door) and my hosting and fathering skills are required, but I don’t want to short change the ‘hive or this band. Lucky for me, Anne and Miles of Vanilla Swingers just dropped these tracks of gold into our suggestion box yesterday, saving me the trouble of digging through piles of mail, electronic and snail. While their name rings oxymoronic (I imagine swingers to be more of a Rocky Road or Chocolate Fudge Ripple variety) there’s nothing contradictory about Vanilla Swingers’ music. Moody, electronic tracks are the backdrop for hushed boy/girl vocals telling the story of two lovers who run away to London then travel back in time. “I’ll Stay Next to You” epitomizes Vanilla Swingers’ cinematic themes and sound, while “Danger” sounds as if the Pet Shop Boys slowed things down to about 90 bpm and were fronted by a gorgeous, brunette chanteuse. Oh yes, despite their name Vanilla Swingers sound very brunette, the color of my desire.
Before you download “On the Floor” from this group of Spain-bred English-speakers that have already invaded Europe and, if their wishes come true, will invade the United States next, you might want to hop into your Mini Cooper and drive back to 2002. We Are Standard’s brand of art-school-post-punk-cool-geek music—they cover “Waiting for the Man” for crying out loud—reached its high water mark around that time, with all of the “The” bands (Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Moldy Peaches, Hives) selling records and getting airplay on terrestrial radio (remember terrestrial radio? You didn’t even have to pay for it!). That’s not to say that they don’t sound good today. On the contrary, lead singer Deu Chacartequi almost makes me believe he really is both a sex symbol and a rock star. The thing that keeps such hubris from being too nostalgic and goofy is that you get the sense that he doesn’t quite believe it himself. But he does a little.
The Felice Brothers seem to have a good time spinning out bizarre, wistful Bob Dylan-esque songs about deals gone wrong and inevitably bad relationships. The sloppy fun of “Frankie’s Gun!” makes me wish I’d been in that studio, banging on something, making some noise as the tape rolled. Made up of three actual brothers from the Catskills — Simone, Ian and James Felice — plus “a 19 year old called Christmas,” according to the press info, these guys don’t mind playing a wrong not or two. It’s the thought that counts, right? And their thoughts seem as pure and sincere as a streetcorner singer in the middle of summer, telling everyone how it is.
As most of the music world heads to Austin, Texas this week for the annual South By South West music festival I’m stuck here in my front bedroom doing the virtual bar crawl hunting for something new to listen to and re-living