My introduction to Her Space Holiday was several years ago when a friend of mine passed along the 2003 release The Young Machines.  It was an instant hit for me, with stand out tracks Tech Romance and My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend being played out on every mix tape I had made that year.

Oddly enough, up until a couple of weeks ago, The Young Machines was the only album I had from Her Space Holiday.  Until couple weeks ago*, I was on my weekly new music hunt and I stumbled upon their newest EP, Sleepy Tigers**.

Yes, the title of the EP is great and the artwork is perfect (see below please), but the title track steals the show.  Granted it’s a blatantly obvious declaration of love, but there is nothing wrong with that.  It’s a fun little ditty (yeah that’s right, I said ‘ditty’) that’s already made one mix-tape of mine and will probably make a couple more before the year ends***.

Regards,
H

* I apologize for the delay.

** I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a huge fan of anything that falls into the category of wild felines.  I promise, I’m not trying to drive the point home, all of these feline related posts are just coincidence really.

***Wow, the ending to this post is blatantly obvious too and perhaps a bit cheesy.

I wanted to share some of the albums that I have been buggin out to lately. All of this stuff is old and some of the bands are broken up. But the music is still Bodacious as ever.

DJ Shadow – Entroducing

This album is a classic and the first album to be 100 % compromised of samples. DJ’s are always biting this albums style. All of DJ Shadow’s stuff is good except for The Outsider, that one is weak.

Björk – Vespertine

By far the most emotional album she has put out. The beats are random and slight. Favorite Track right now “It’s Not Up To You”. Also check Homogenic and the music video collection Greatest Hits: Volumen 1993-2003. I wish I could be magical like Björk.

 Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters, Big Me Single, (Late! – Pocketwatch)

I busted the Foo’s 1^st album out a couple of weeks ago and it’s actually really good, much better than the corndog music they put out now. The big hit off that album “Big Me” was released as a single and has bunch of b-sides from the 1^st albums recording session. I also started digging on Dave Grohl’s first solo tape under the pseudonym Late!. You can’t buy it, but go to the myspace www.myspace.com/latedavegrohl and you can get directions to download it in the blog section.

 June of 44 – all 6 of their recordings

 If you are obsessed with Slint & Rodan (honestly who isn’t), Then check these guys out. All 6 of their albums are amazing. The music may seem kind of one dimensional at first but, I’m telling you this band is the top of the pops. Best song “Of Information and Belief” off of Four Great Points. Too bad they broke up in 2000. Check out all the offshoot bands especially Shipping News. www.myspace.com/giugnodel44

 Mineral – EndSeranading

This band sounds so similar to Sunny Day Real Estate that upon listening to the bands final recording before they broke up in 1998, You might think that you are listening to a long lost SDRE recording. Only problem is the original bass player for SDRE, Nate Mendel (he’s my favorite) is much better then Mineral’s bass player Jeremy Gomez. But it’s cool, I won’t hold it against him. www.myspace.com/mineralmusic

So thar it be!! A bunch of old Bodacious music to bug out to!!

I didn’t put any links on the album covers, because I decided I have been pimping amazon.com too much!!

Jon 

The Heavenly States was formed from lesser bands in a lab outside of Silicon Valley. They just had a new album drop not too long ago called Delayer. The CD case artwork is rather unique. It is made up of semi-transparent paper with the lyrics and song titles from the page underneath showing through giving it a layered look, hence - Delayer. Check out the interview and check out their myspace.

So I used to be really into progish instrumental bands like Rumah Sakit, Don Caballero, Tarentel, The Cancer Conspiracy etc…  

While I still enjoy these bands. You can only listen to their albums for so long until all the mathematical tech tapin starts giving your ears the business. This music is way demanding on your attention span and is hard to listen to on a regular basis.

Then one day I discovered Trees, Swallows, Houses by Maps and Atlases and all of my indie math rock dreams were realized. Maps and Atlases is the perfect combination of off time wackiness and straight up pop action. This is one of only a few bands I have heard successfully pull of having vocals over the top of complex fast paced music. The band keeps the compositions short and so far has only released two E.P.’s. Enabling the band to keep the number of tracks per release down to no more then seven. Which is to there advantage by not demanding too much from the listener and making them enjoyable to listen to on the regular.

Their second and latest E.P. You and Me and the Mountain, does not deviate from this formula and will not disappoint.

Maps and Atlases are bananas and so is You and Me and The Mountain. Check it!!

www.myspace.com/mapsandatlases

Jon

After a few major van problems, The Hanks have continued their tour in support of their new album - Distance. We caught up with them for an interview and impromptu photoshoot. Check it out.