May 7, 2006

Free Range Music: Psapp, Lemonheads, Texas Is The Reason

Psapp -- The Only Thing I Ever Wanted>>Reigning cutest band in the world Psapp Monday premieres a video at MTVu, whatever that is. Is it a network? Is it a web site? If you ask us, the world was a better place when rock on the TV came in two flavors, MTV and VH-1. Anyway, the U.K.-based duo have distro'd this currently dead hyperlink, and if you go there Monday morning you should be able to watch the video for a track we think is called "Hi" from the band's forthcoming set The Only Thing I Ever Wanted. We've enjoyed prior Psapp videos, a wacky amalgamation of animated pen and ink drawings, and we've got high hopes for this one. The Only Thing I Ever Wanted streets in the U.S. June 13.

>> Registered members of the Lemonheads forums at the UK Lemonheads fan site Lemonheads.co.uk can (and should) access a stellar live radio set from the band recorded in April 1990 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. The set spans the 'Heads catalog to that point and includes hot performances of "Stove," "Hate Your Friends," "Mallo Cup" and, yes, "Luka." It's particularly of interest to us because the set captures the band at the apex of its punky, giant electric guitar period, before chief Lemonhead Evan Dando started interspersing more folksy stuff into his records. Highly recommended. As reported previously, Dando has signed a new version of his band to Vagrant and intends to issue a new record before the year is out. We only hope it rocks as hard as this live set.

>> Here's a riddle of sorts: is rare-ish video of the short-lived '90s emo supergroup Texas Is The Reason inherently good just because it is rare and of "Dressing Cold," a tune from the band's excellent self-titled EP? Or is it bad because the sound-quality sort of blows and the performance a little stiff? We'll let you judge for yourselves:

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