Vashti Bunyan released her album Just Another Diamond Day in 1970, so she has been around for quite some time. I honestly had trouble deciding which songs of hers to post, because they are all so good. Vashti’s music is about as carefree as folk music can get, which is why I love it. It evokes such great “spring” imagery that you can’t help but be happy when you listen to it. That being said, there are a few songs interspersed throughout the album with a more melancholy tone that act as a cloud over the sun for a brief time, but it adds to the beauty that is the whole collection.

From Just Another Diamond Day
Diamond Day – (MP3, 01:43, 2.4 MB)
Where I Like To Stand – (MP3, 04:57, 6.8 MB)
Window Over The Bay – (MP3, 01:46, 2.34 MB)
Lily Pond – (MP3, 01:22, 1.8 MB)
Hebridean Sun – (MP3, 01:12, 1.66 MB)

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Sometimes, when the random music pickings aren’t so good, I’ll get lazy and just listen to the first song of the album and decide whether or not to get the rest from there. This system is hardly effective for many reasons, one of them being that the first song on any given album is hardly going to be representative of what the band sounds like. In the case of The Causey Way’s Causey vs. Everything, which starts with Te Como Vivo, I thought they were a Latin punk band that was heavily inspired by Le Tigre. I was way off with this estimation, though; The Causey Way isn’t Latin.

From Causey vs. Everything
Te Como Vivo – (MP3, 2.8 MB)
Geo Logical Lust – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

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It’s nearly the end of March, which means it is time for another mix. All of them are free and legal, which is good news for me since then I don’t have to pay for any bandwidth. Living the good, cheap life is the only way to live… at least when you’re a cheap bastard. And don’t tell me you’ve seen a cooler picture of Christopher Walken today, because you haven’t.

Calla – Bronson – (MP3, 5.8 MB)

Calla is an awesome band that I could never recommend enough, and that should be enough for anyone (or at least those who bother to respect my opinions!) Bronson is off their latest album, and while they get more mainstream with every new album, they’ve done a good job of not alienating their fans.

Jeff Hanson – This Time It Will – (MP3, 3 MB)

As I’ve mentioned before, Jeff Hanson has a decidedly feminine voice. If you are into that sort of thing, then you should definitely give him a listen. If not, then don’t. Any possible problems: avoided!

Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground – Hey Momma – (MP3, 5.8 MB)

Hey Momma might be the best song ever. It has everything you could ever want, at least if what you want are awesome vocals, awesome melody, and awesome lyrics. To summarize, it is probably the awesomest awesome to ever be awesomed. That might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

Patrick Wolf – The Libertine – (MP3, 3 MB)

Patrick Wolf is the best young songwriter alive. This song comes from his second album, Wind Of The Wires, my favorite of his. His latest album didn’t sit that well with me overall, but I suspect that was due to my overly high expectations rather than anything Mr. Wolf did.

The Finches – Daniel’s Song – (MP3, 3.2 MB)

The notion of me liking this song makes me feel like a sappy loser, but it’s just such a nice song that I can’t help but like it, even if my name isn’t Daniel.

The Nymphets – Wednesday Morning – (MP3, 2.2 MB)

This song makes me laugh every time I hear it. The Nymphets are from Canada, but their singer sounds exactly like the singer for Bishop Allen. The main difference to my ears is that this song has a lot more cussing, but honestly… very Bishop Allen.

The One AM Radio – In The Time We’ve Got – (MP3, 6.9 MB)

This song is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard from a band I’d never heard of. It’s nothing revolutionary, but quite a good slow indie song nonetheless. It’s from the band’s ninth album as well, which means there is quite a discography for me to check out.

The Veils – Advice For Young Mothers To Be – (MP3, 3.1 MB)

I’m not sure if I’ve heard any other songs from The Veils outside of this one, but if they sound anything like this, they would be excellent. Piano-indie-pop from Britain, with distinctly familiar vocals.

Vandaveer – Marianne, You’ve Done It Now – (MP3, 6.8 MB)

Here’s a case of me saving the best for last. I actually removed some songs from this mix (you’ll hear them next month instead) just so this would indeed be the last song here. While it has lyrics like “Oh Marianne, who cut you down to size, who slashed your throat, plucked out your pretty eyes,” it’s not as scary as it probably sounds. If I could get away with it, I’d have a mix consisting of just this song looped for an hour. Really.

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HUMANWINE (all caps, no gaps!) is an incredibly awesome cabaret group out of Boston, which is unfortunate for me as I am nowhere near Boston. That’s my only beef with good cabaret bands; they are all from the East Coast, while I am from the West. Fie! It seems that whenever I bring up this band, the only people who seem to have heard of them are those who know they’ve opened for The Dresden Dolls. While that’s entirely true, that shouldn’t be their claim to fame when their music is so damn good. Oh well. They’re kicking off the Fighting Naked tour on Tuesday, which doesn’t get any closer to me than Missouri… fie, again! And for those of you near Philly, another one of my cabaret favorites, Nicki Jaine, is playing with them at their first stop. I need to move…

From Rivolta Silenziosa
Rivolta Silenziosa – (MP3, 4.5 MB)

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Imagine a guy and a girl who are inscrutably happy about everything. One bangs on the drums, and the other bangs on a keyboard, both pretty much to the same rhythm and beat. Seeing them live, even the grumpiest dudes would find it impossible not to grin like an idiot and at least tap their toes. I’ve felt like their recordings just do not do justice to seeing them bounce about in person, but it is still worth a shot.

Strangely, I have heard they have appeared on MTV (or one of its variants), and I found numerous copies of their recent full-length at the store, so perhaps they are not nearly as obscure as they had seemed. Well anyway, my mom does not like their music, so that’s sort of a plus!

I recommend starting with their videos, such as Yea Yeah and 5K.

From Matt & Kim
Yea Yeah – (MP3, 3.2 MB)
No More Long Years – (MP3, 2.8 MB)

From To/From
Silver Tiles – (MP3, 3.4 MB)
Verbs Before Nouns – (MP3, 3.5 MB)

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Anyone who knows what music I like knows that lyrics don’t matter that much to me unless they’re really good or really bad. These ears of mine tend to focus on the singing and instrumentation, and that inevitably leads me to the conclusion that Everthus The Deadbeats is one hell of a great band. Even when they’re singing a long string of “Lalalalalala” as they do on Trevor Dust The Bedsheets, it doesn’t matter because the instrumentation is so awesome (especially that damn keyboard).

I should probably clarify that though their lyrics don’t really do it for me, they aren’t at all dwelling in lyrical mediocrity. Some Terry’s has a great lyric in “Buy a few klinkadrinks and take her home!” Klinkadrinks is a word that the world needs to see more often.

From Addicts Stuck In Traffic
Trevor Dust The Bedsheets – (MP3, 4.8 MB)
Some Terry’s – (MP3, 3.7 MB)

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Sixeyes works the opposite of how I think music blogs should be; that is, their posts covering well-established bands are much longer than their posts where they throw a bunch of songs at you. On the other hand, maybe they just don’t want to write a lot about bands they’re not overly familiar with. I have no such hang-ups, which is why I will attempt to talk about Exit Clov (which I heard from one of Sixeyes’ posts where they throw a bunch of songs at you).

Just looking at the title, I thought MK Ultra was about John Vanderslice’s band of the same name, but evidently it isn’t, and both are named after a CIA mind control project. Awesome! What is also awesome is how catchy that song is, when all the lyrics are about mind control and LSD. Since Exit Clov is from Washington D.C. and I like their songs so much, maybe they are working for the government on another mind control plot. That would be quite the twist. To top it off, they have a better than passable cover of Working Class Hero, which is my favorite of John Lennon’s songs.

From Jolly Roget Sessions
MK Ultra – (MP3, 4.6 MB)
Working Class Hero – (MP3, 3.6 MB)

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I’m not usually one to like a song primarily for the lyrics, but in the case of We’re All Going To Hell by The Bastard Fairies, lyrics are most of what it’s got (”All you Mormons who like cussing, you are going to hell / All you preachers who like fucking, you are going to hell / Little boys that choke the chicken, you are going to hell / It’s the nature of evolution, the dinosaurs went to hell“). It might not be for everyone, but if you don’t mind thinking about how you’re inevitably going to burn in some fiery brimstone, it’s well worth your time. Moribund doesn’t have lyrics quite that awesome, but it’s got more going for it in terms of singing and actual music. Either way, you can download the entirety of their album, Memento Mori, from their website.

From Memento Mori
We’re All Going To Hell – (MP3, 2.6 MB)
Moribund – (MP3, 2.3 MB)

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I realize that most of what people want out of SXSW has been covered by now, but that’s only if you were interested in the Cold War Kids and whatever other huge bands that everyone already knows about. Which isn’t to say that you’ve never heard of any of these bands, but that is largely besides the point! So, here’s some of the songs I enjoyed using SXSW’s music player.

Ane Brun – To Let Myself Go – (MP3, 3 MB)

I’ve meant to talk about Ane Brun on here for quite some time, and finally there’s a song I can post. She’s a folk-pop songstress out of Norway who’s won a few Norwegian Grammies, and yet she doesn’t suck. I guess they just have better taste over in Europe.

Art in Manila – Our Addictions – (MP3, 3.3 MB)

For the fans of Azure Ray out there, this one’s for you, as Art in Manila has one of their members. For the non-fans of Azure Ray out there… this song’s still great.

Calla – Swagger – (MP3, 4 MB)

Calla’s another band I’ve been meaning to talk about. They’re a great band out of New York that plays atypical rock, in the sense that you haven’t heard (much) music like theirs, but it’s still immediately accessible. They also have the distinction of being the 2nd band that 3hive ever posted.

Dawn Landes – Bodyguard – (MP3, 4.4 MB)

This is a nice alt-country banjo ditty, and is not all related to the Kevin Costner movie… hence why I like it.

Hank IV – Hole In My Eye – (MP3, 6.7 MB)

This song is fairly representative of why San Francisco bands are so awesome. Which isn’t to say Hank IV is my favorite band from San Francisco, but even if they were my least favorite, they’d still be awesome. Must be something in the water down there.

Hymns – It’s A Shame – (MP3, 5.2 MB)

I can’t think of anything to say about this band, other than that they do not actually play hymns, unless you can have alt-country hymns. That would be wild.

Jessica Fichot – Le Grenier – (MP3, 4.1 MB)

Hands down my favorite song in this mix, and it will be yours too if you enjoy saucy French vocals with some jazz backing (the music reminds me of Paolo Conte). But then to make it even more awesome, there is an accordion.

Melissa McClelland – Passenger 24 – (MP3, 5.6 MB)

Here’s my second favorite song on this mix… you’ve got great singing and enough music layers to interest you without so many that it overwhelms you. Pianos, guitars, banjos, oh my.

Rafter and Friends – Zzzpenchant – (MP3, 6 MB)

If you don’t find this song to be disconcertingly catchy and fun, there is definitely something wrong with you. Seriously, it is infectious.

The Ettes – No More Surprises – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

The Ettes remind me a lot of The Epoxies, what with the cute lead singer who sounds cute, and then the punx music.

Uncle Monk – Mr. Endicott – (MP3, 2.7 MB)

This song reminds me a lot of some song that I can’t think of at the moment, unfortunately. Regardless, it is pretty smooth country… and yes, it has a banjo.

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For some reason, there are three things that are quite popular in indie: Sweden, Canada, and bands made up of other bands. Henri Fabergé And The Adorables satisfies the latter two of those requirements with their Canadianness (not a word) and members from Born Ruffians and The Bicycles, among others. They have an alluring ability to mix catchy indie-pop with some of the most hilarious sex-related lyrics in the history of sex-related lyrics. In case I somehow have to prove my point, they have a song called Rub & Suck & Tug (’Til My Vacation’s Over), and then one called Afternoon Delights, which is my favorite one lyrically: “I would love for you to get me off, even once or twice is enough, but then honeysugar, I must be gettin’ hoooome!” That line might not get me anywhere with the ladies, but at least it’s good for a chuckle.

From Henri Fabergé And The Adorables
Crawl Back – (MP3, 3.3 MB)
O! Ella – (MP3, 6.1 MB)

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