September 7, 2010

Today's Hotness: The Hush Now, Partied Hard Comp, Clean Equations

The Hush Now -- Vietnam Giraffe single and Shiver Me Starships EP
>> New in town? No plans this evening then? Well scrape together what passes for your forms of ID and beer money and head over to All Asia Cafe in Cambridge, Mass., where beginning at 8PM or so you can participate in the filming of a video for The Hush Now's forthcoming discoteca-tastic single "Vietnam Giraffe." The single and the EP it comes from, Shiver Me Starships (art above), will be self-released by the dream pop quintet Sept. 28. Both will be available digitally for free from TheHushNow.com, and for local currency at local retail music concern Newbury Comics. Also on Sept. 28 The Hush Now perform live on WMBR's legendary local music program Pipeline! The band plans two record release shows, one at The Living Room in New York on Sept. 24, and the other a ticketed, intimate and exclusive performance at Allston, Mass.'s Mad Oak Studios, where Shiver Me Starships was mixed. Clicky Clicky will be giving away via Twitter one pair of sure-to-be-coveted passes to the Mad Oak release party later this month, so you'd best start following us now, eh? In the meantime, and we're not 100% certain this is kosher, but some chap has posted the entirety of Shiver Me Starships to Soundcloud. In the interest of science, we're embedding the whole thing below. Dig.

The Hush Now - Shiver Me Starships EP - Advance Stream

>> Congratulations to Big Scary Monsters are in order, as the Oxford, England-based indie today announced its breathtaking 100th release. Not unlike Darla Records' Darla 100 in terms of ridiculously awesome scope, BSM 100 is Partied Hard [art], a 20-track DVD/nine-track CD combo release that is available now but will only be sold through Oct. 24, at which time the release will be deleted, wiped from the face of the Earth, rendered kaput, you dig? The DVD features performances by BSM luminaries such as Walter Schreifels, emo superlatives Grown Ups and Irish spazz-core standouts Adebisi Shank. The full track listing and pre-order information are at this link.

>> Because we grew up in the Philadelphia area and whiled away important portions of our young adulthood in that city's fine rock clubs, we are pre-conditioned to like a lot of the music that comes out of The City Of Brotherly Love. Our eyebrows elevate when we get an email from a Philly band in our inbox, and we're particularly gratified when we find something we like. And we certainly like the reverb-cloaked dreamer "Buried Translations" by the double sextet Clean Equations, which is led by "noisemaker/chemical engineer" Michael Nyhan. A little East River Pipe, a little Galaxie 500, and all compelling, the shimmering chamber pop track is from the band's debut full-length People/Variables. One should at least download the ballad to hear the wondrously sweet string arrangements that bring the song to a swirling, vertiginous close. The 10-song collection was issued by State Capital Records last month on limited-edition blue and black vinyl and digital download; Clean Equations released a self-titled EP in 2009. The double sextet is slated to perform a vinyl release part at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia Oct. 2.

Clean Equations -- "Buried Translations" -- People/Variables
[right click and save as]
[buy People/Variables from State Capital right here]

No comments: