There are a number of releases in the works for the rest of 2007, but none I am anticipating more than the second album of South Carolina-based trio Lunch Money. It's approaching three years since the release of their debut CD, the small gem Silly Reflection (review), and that's just way too long, y'know? Their lo-fi songs, slightly remiscent of Yo La Tengo or Spoon at its most minimalist, have stayed fresh after repeated listening...
So thanks to Gwyneth, who caught the band's set at Chicago's Summer on Southport Festival a couple weeks ago, and preserved this new track for the world (or at least the world with access to YouTube) to see. "Cookie As Big As My Head" is another instantly catchy melody (though the bass seems particularly high in this mix) married to sharp lyrics ("By the way, my cookie policy is / I'm a chocolate chip girl / We can [something] Pecans and walnuts / [something else] Is winter coming? / Are you trying to tell me that I look like a squirrel? / I want a cookie as big as my head...") OK, I'm sure the lyrics will be sharper on disk. [Note: Thanks to Lunch Money songwriter extraordinaire Molly Ledford for setting things straight in the comments.]
Listen To This: "Hop Hop" by Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke
No, not hip-hop, though I'd love to hear what Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke would come up with in that genre, too (I'm thinkin' De La Soul). Instead, we have '50s guitar mixed with some Brian Wilson-esque vocal layering. Lots of fun, just like every other song they've let us listen to. (Track #6 on the player linked above.)
It includes -- twice -- the non-sequitur line, "A potbellied pig in every backyard." A pot-bellied pig is not the first animal that came to my mind given the song's title, but maybe it's a eulogy in honor of Max, George Clooney's pig. (That obit, by the way, is one of the funnier things I've read in quite some time.)
Listen To This: "Night Mantra" - Renee and Jeremy
"Night Mantra" is one of the standout tracks on Renee and Jeremy's It's A Big World CD. On Mother's Day it'll be available at their Myspace page. That and a hand-drawn CD case and you're good to go, right?
Listen To This: "Little Bird Hops" - Elizabeth Mitchell
Ahhhh... a new Elizabeth Mitchell mp3, just in time for Mother's Day.
"Little Bird Hops" would've sounded great on You Are My Little Bird -- mellow, with nifty guitar work, and less than 90 second, pfft, it flies away.
Listen To This: You Might Be Tired of Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke...
... but I'm not. The latest song from Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke tells the gently bouncy story of Sylvester the Pig. It's a fun enough song, but it's the shouted questions and comments in counterpoint that make me want to listen to the 2-minute tale over and over. Track #5, "Big Pet Pig".
By the way, it sounds like they're posting a new song every week or so, so I'll see you here next week.
Listen To This: New (Really New) Music from Mr. David
I know that Mr. David has had a new tune -- "Hey It's Lunchtime" -- available for listening or downloading on his Myspace page for awhile. It's kind of an angular post-punk tune delivered in his loose style.
That tune is growing on me, but his new single -- the title track from his upcoming Jump in the Jumpy House album (tentatively scheduled for an August release) -- is an immediately accessible and fun track.
And, courtesy of Mr. David, I'm proud to offer it to you for your own enjoyment.
Mr. David - Jump in the Jumpy House
That nifty, insistent guitar lead comes courtesy of Greg Lisher from Camper Van Beethoven. If you, or someone you know, is getting one of those bouncy houses (sorry, I call 'em "bouncy houses") for a kids' birthday party, you need to have this as the soundtrack -- nails the pogoing aspect of those things to a T.
