Today's Hotness: The Superman Revenge Squad Band, Joey Sweeney, Heyward Howkins

>> The brilliant Ben Parker doesn't owe us a damn thing, of course, but jeepers it is hard to keep up with his various enterprises. Our admittedly weak recollection was Croydon, England-based Mr. Parker had lately been working within the band The Jonbarr Hinge [link] and having his plays produced in various theaters. So imagine our surprise to learn that the assumedly moth-balled Superman Revenge Squad project has over the past year been resuscitated once more, expanded, and rebranded The Superman Revenge Squad Band. The act, which features Parker's brother and former Nosferatu D2 bandmate Adam as well as a host of others, will release via Audio Antihero Oct. 14 a new collection titled There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time. The eight-song set will be on offer in a limited edition of 140 compact discs, and a promotional track has already made its way to the Internerds. The song is "A Funny Thing You Said," and it is something of a Parker classic, as different versions of the tune were released on Superman Revenge Squad's self-titled 2007 EP (which, actually, we can't prove ever existed -- maybe these were just songs we got off MySpace?) and a bootleg, Live At The Green Dragon, released the same year. While those older iterations of the song were spare and raw, the arrangement of the new version practically bursts with melodic ideas thrumming off of tense accordions and wandering saxophones. In one way it sounds like Parker has gone off the deep end finally, but in another it is pure genius. You may recall we've done things like proclaim Parker England's greatest contemporary lyricist, or characterize him here as "startlingly talented," all of which still holds true. You can pre-order There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time via SRS's Bandcamp wigwam right here. The official release date for the digital single is Sept. 16, but it is a pay-what-you-like download already at Bandcamp, so why delay? While you're listening, read the rest of this blog post, then read this interview we did with Parker five years ago.



>> In the early days of August we dropped knowledge about the forthcoming solo set coming from Philly indie rock lifer Joey Sweeney. To review, Mr. Sweeney's new collection is titled Long Hair and it will be released this fall by Delaware Water Gap, Penn.-based label La Société Expéditionnaire. We now can add to this knowledge base by sharing with you the first full preview track from Long Hair, a nostalgic, piano-punctuated, mid-tempo ballad called "Kate Moss Hologram." The tune -- which we know will be track two of nine, based on this Facebook post -- kicks off with a tossed-off, funny lift from Elton John (you won't miss it), and its rich reverbs and sway-inducing organ evoke memories of long-gone days at the dusty roller rink in the suburbs. But "Kate Moss Hologram" quickly catches up to a relatively more modern remembrance of watching MTV's "120 Minutes" and wanting to get out of town. The latter sentiment is a fairly universal one for kids, and the former for kids of a certain (approaching middle) age. Sentiment and sentimentality -- fortunately always far shy of schmaltz -- have always played a big role in helping Sweeney land emotional punches with his music. Long-time readers will recall our previous reportage indicating Sweeney previously helmed acts including Barnabys, The Joey Sweeney Rock Band, The Trouble With Sweeney and Arctic Splash. There has still been no release date announced for Long Hair, but we imagine that will be coming along soon. While you sit around waiting, stream the excellent "Kate Moss Hologram" early and often via the Soundcloud embed below. We would be remiss if we did not also mention here Sweeney's former The Trouble With Sweeney bandmate Heyward Howkins, who is preparing the release of a beautifully conceived sophomore set of baroque folk rock titled Be Frank, Furness. While a stream of the record was available for a short amount of time earlier this month, presently the only track publicly available is the gentle pop strummer "Nogales," which we highly recommend to your attention. Howkins' solo debut The Hale & Hearty was issued in June 2012 and we reviewed it right here. Stream the new winner "Nogales" via the second embed below.

That Was The Show That Was: The Hush Now | Great Scott | 6 March

[UPDATE: Now includes The Hush Now's South By Southwest schedule below. -- Ed.] Some serious woodshedding in recent months and key lineup changes have elevated Boston-based indie pop concern The Hush Now from surprisingly-good-under-the-circumstances to downright formidable. Where previously the band in the live setting somehow over-achieved while admittedly under-rehearsing (typically due to a revolving door of sidemen), Saturday night the band was confident and more than capable. In short, they killed it. If bandleader Noel Kelly and his cohort can recreate Saturday's spirited set six times over during that many planned gigs at South By Southwest, The Hush Now may finally garner the level of awareness -- even acclaim -- that it deserves.

Late in 2009 Mr. Kelly was faced with yet another vacancy in the lineup when the band's former bassist decamped to Philadelphia. Only months prior he had to replace a lead guitarist, and fortune certainly shined upon Kelly when he was able to bring affable, imaginative lead player Adam Quane aboard. But perhaps an even more important acquisition was bassist Pat MacDonald, whose playing Saturday night reminded us of how a good rhythm section should work. In indie rock it is de rigueur for bass players to do their own thing, which usually means players foregoing the rhythmic portion of their role in favor of filling out the low end and occasionally augmenting melody. However, Mr. MacDonald thrilled us by not only being completely fluent with the repertoire, but even more so by playing directly to (and at times smartly against) The Hush Now's brilliantly understated drummer Barry Marino. We literally hadn't seen this sort of ball-in-socket playing since the short-lived career of the incredible Joey Sweeney Rock Band in the mid-'90s, which featured Brian McShane on bass and Rob Viola on drums. With MacDonald and Marino playing as a unit, The Hush Now now has dazzling sonic dimension over and above (or more accurately, under and below) the Kitchens Of Distinction-style wall of guitars and synth and impassioned vocals. As nice as the band's two self-released full-lengths are, suddenly The Hush Now is a band that needs to be seen -- and heard -- live.

As the evening was intended to celebrate the release of Constellations, The Hush Now's sophomore set released locally in mid-2009, the performance Saturday drew largely from that collection. The single "Hoping And Waiting" was given a lively reading, as was the title track and the under-rated album cuts "Smokescreens" and "Thorns" (a download of which we are offering below). Later in the set The Hush Now pulled out "Traditions," a highlight of the band's debut self-titled set, and if memory serves the band closed with a new track ridiculously titled "Stu-stu-studio." Kelly tells us that the band intends to post video blogs from South By Southwest, and we are hoping that a fair amount of live footage makes the cut. We don't yet have the band's Austin appearances in hand, but we hope to post them soon. The Hush Now plans at least two stops on the way to Austin to promote Constellations, and those live dates are posted below.

The Hush Now -- "Thorns" -- Constellations
[right click and save as]
[download the entire record here]

The Hush Now: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

03.12 -- Uncle Mike’s -- New York City, NY
03.14 -- The Khyber -- Philadelphia, PA
03.17 -- Black Ice (5:15PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]
03.18 -- TRF Outdoor Complex (12:00PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]
03.18 -- The Side Bar (4:00PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]
03.19 -- Pure (2:00PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]
03.20 -- Mugshots (5:00PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]
03.21 -- Cheapodiscs (In-store, 4:00PM) -- Austin, TX [SXSW]

Previous Hush Now Coverage:
Review: The Hush Now | Constellations [MP3]
YouTube Rodeo: The Hush Now's "Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas"
YouTube Rodeo: The Hush Now's "Constellations"
Today's Hotness: The Hush Now
Back To Now: The Hush Now Interview With Noel Kelly
In The Studio With... The Hush Now

I Only Talk About You: Muxtape Numero Cuatro

We're a little late with the weekly Muxtape, but we hope you'll agree the extra time resulted in an incremental increase in quality. We've unearthed rarities, elevated the under-known or under-appreciated, and celebrated the obviously worthy. Click this link to listen in, and read below for the play-by-play.

1. Mclusky -- She Will Only Bring You Happiness -- Mcluskyism
(at first it is a bit hard to believe that this is from the same band that brought us the undeniable and apocalyptic screamer "Light Saber C*ck Sucking Blues." But the band reveals its true colors with a snicker at the end of this relatively breezy pop gem when it confesses its old singer is a sex criminal. Everybody always asks us whose track this is whenever it comes on. It's that good.)

2. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A Start -- Janet Bateman -- Girls Names EP
(not the track we intended to upload -- all those girls' names get mixed up in our head. That said, every track is a winner on this Jersey band's EP, and on most of their EPs and records for that matter.)

3. Superchunk -- Unbelievable Things -- Indoor Living
(Is it a coda? Whatever it is, when Mac gets to the part where he sings "I'm starting to believe," it is transformative. We're still not sure when exactly indoor living was all the rage, but we expect it is popular with different people at different times. No Superchunk album as a whole thrills us the way On The Mouth did, but Indoor Living certainly has its share of high points, although we have to confess weathering some dissatisfaction as the pop tendencies began to creep into Mac's music around this time.)

4. Seaweed -- Bill (Live) -- Internation Pop Underground comp
(this song immediately inspired in us a desire to like Seaweed a lot. But besides this track and the cover of Beat Happening's "Foggy Eyes" on the Fortune Cookie Prize comp, we've never been able to get on board with the band. But the fact that the band has recorded what we consider to be two monumental tracks is no small feat.)

5. The Replacements -- Left Of The Dial (Live) -- More Sh*t For The Fans
(a very nice recording and performance of one of the most important rock songs ever. We hate when people cordon off the so-called "post-punk era" when making such claims. This song doesn't need to be handicapped, it doesn't need you to lace your fingers and give it a boost: it's Beatles good, it's Stones good, it's Zep good, it's Pistols good...)

6. The Joey Sweeney -- Pull The Lever Down -- Girl's High
(oh how we wish this record was released. We finally got nice digital files a couple years ago so we could rock out like it was 1995 every day. Mr. Sweeney had many great performers at his side over the years and a number of notable lineups, but he never rocked before or after like he did when he had a Radnor High School-bred rhythm section.)

7. Vehicle Flips -- Steelers' Fight Song -- In Action
(this song is heavily associated with autumn for us, but it is so good we can't ignore it the other nine months of the year. Perhaps the cold, wet weather this weekend has brought it prematurely to the fore of our mind. In Action is out of print and we had to beg the wider BCO population for a copy several years ago and thankfully someone obliged us. Sturdy indie pop, a bit more grown up than twee. Incidentally, we like to believe there is some nexus between the Vehicle Flips track "Potomac" and Eggs' "Evanston, Ill.")

8. Varsity Drag -- Summertime -- For Crying Out Loud
(we've covered Ben and Lisa Deily's Varsity Drag in recent months, and this song is strong evidence why. The funniest comment about the Drag's 2006 set For Crying Out Loud is "Wow, you can really tell the record was recorded in a...er...metal shipping container." Even the blunt recording can't dull the hooks in this tune, and as the weather warms up, we can't help but sing along even when it isn't on.)

9. Superman Revenge Squad -- Angriest Dog In The World -- God Is In The TV digital single
(unbridled emotion. Remarkably, this song about the angriest dog is among the saddest of the many sad songs written by England's Ben Parker, whose work is regularly stunning and whose musical accomplishments should certainly be more widely celebrated).

10. Hypo -- Nice Day
(this very pleasant electronic track came off a compilation whose title and derivation has long since escaped us. But Google reminds us Hypo, which we think was Japanese or at least included a Japanese singer, recorded for the small Parisian label Active Suspension, which also has released recordings by Domotic. Google also reveals to us that the Active Suspension web site now features a delightful animated Bigfoot. Check it out.)

11. The Warlocks -- Dreamless Days -- Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
(we wish this song was an hour long. So sleepy and reverby and yet riveting.)

12. Shannon Worrell -- Deep Sea Swimmer -- The Moviegoer outtake
(we've never understood what Shannon Worrell is talking about here, but the track itself seems like a lullabye. This track didn't make it on her 2000 release The Moviegoer, and we wouldn't have even known about it if it hadn't been for Mr. Mystical Beast having encountered some CDs out for the trash one day in Brooklyn and deciding to pick them up. Time was we were whiling away our early 20s in Virginia and Ms. Worrell was our boss' wife. Certain folks may recall she formerly was the songwriting and guitar-playing half of the duo September 67. We just learned that she is finally recording a new record; we'll have more about that later in the week.)