>> Long-time readers will be aware of our great love for the wildly under-appreciated indie rock act Haywood. Our boundless affinity for the defunct Brooklyn-via-Philly-via-St. David's/Villanova/South Devon/Wherever Ariel Lived quartet is perhaps rivaled only by that we have for Johnny Foreigner. And so it was an unexpected collision of worlds when we saw that the one-show-only supergroup Kannberg 1664, which features at least one member of Birmingham, England-based indie titans Johnny Foreigner, will share the bill at an upcoming Pavement tribute show in London with a Madrid-based band called Men Call Him Mister. The latter act's name, you see, is taken from the title of Haywood's superlative sophomore full-length released in 1999 on Self Starter Foundation [buy!buy!buy!]. And so we were compelled to contact Men Called Him Mister to get the scoop on why a band in Madrid is named for what is, let's face it, a sort of obscure American act.
It turns out that indeed the three-year-old band takes its name from the Haywood record; that a British fellow named Ian who is one-fourth of Men Called Him Mister saw Haywood play while he was in New York in 1999 or so; and that Ian counts the record among his favorites. So, really, the story is quite straightforward. We checked out the Men Called Him Mister MySpace yert and were pleased to find that we dug its music, which sounds a little bit like old Notwist crossed with Crayon. Ian was kind enough to send along some music for us to share, so catch the streams below. Make sure to listen through to the end of "Thousand Eyes," which is like three songs jammed into one composition. The Pavement tribute show transpires Saturday 8 May in Brixton, it is called Pavement Ist Rad! and there are full details right here.
Men Called Him Mister's "Make It Loud" and "Thousand Eyes"
>> If you weren't glued to your radios March 14, or even if you were, you may have missed upstart Boston-based noise-pop luminaries Young Adults delivering a fizzy, reverbed-out performance on WERS, the Emerson College radio station. As we reported last month, Young Adults have only been together about six months but have already recorded an impressive demo that we first wrote about here. And now there's this entertaining, expletive-laden radio session. The trio opens with "Let Us Out," and also plays "Bummer Summer" and "Impression." There is some fairly informative interviewing as part of the in-studio visit, although our fair radio host sticks with the basics like how the band formed, its influences, et cetera. According to its MySpace dojo, Young Adults next appearance will be at something called the Boston Underground Summit April 24 in Jamaica Plain, Mass.
>> And if you did listen to the Young Adults radio session, you likely heard the band mention its indie punk and apparently Dinosaur Jr.-influenced scene contemporaries Four Eyes. The terms "indie punk" and "Dinosaur Jr." never fail to draw our attention, and after a bit of googling we found ourselves at a Four Eyes Muxtape page. After hearing the fine rock posted there we got in touch with the band forthwith. We learned that Four Eyes has only been around since November, but it has already recorded tracks for a debut 7" that should be available very soon. Nick and Will Foureyes sent along the song "Anchor Home" (posted below) to share, which based on the metadata will be on the aforementioned 7". The track is an uptempo, scritchy rocker with a bouncy snare beat and tons of fuzzy guitar, guitar everywhere like a cotton candy machine gone haywire. To kind of short-hand it for you, Four Eyes' "Anchor Home" sounds a bit like Voxtrot's "Wrecking Force" if Voxtrot had a jazzy lead player and played with a lot of balls. Four Eyes wanted us to point out that if you want to order the 7" -- and we think you do -- then you should hit them up at foureyestheband@gmail.com; tell them Clicky Clicky sent you. Four Eyes has a few upcoming Boston-area gigs that we are posting below as well.
04.16 -- Steven Tyler Memorial Pool -- Somerville, MA
04.24 -- O'Brien's -- Allston, MA
05.17 -- Charlie's Kitchen -- Cambridge, MA
Four Eyes' "Anchor Home"
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