Looks like the Hot Damn Jamz crew are off on vacation somewhere this week. Last we heard they were jetting off to scenic Buffalo, NY to spend time with the in-laws. (Stay away from angry hockey players, guys!) To help ease the pain of no new Jamz this week, how about a blog blast from the past? How about a Crush Band?! I have a huge infatuation with the new single by the duo of Marina & Soko…..

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There’s something wonderful going on in Spain these days. Something light, frothy and fabulous that gives the impression that the country has taken over as the happiest, silliest, mod-est place on the map. Spanish label Elefant Records has been documenting this shift over the last couple years by releasing some amazingly good pop records from their home country’s best groups. Most of these bands have a sound that borrows from the easy listening boom of the ’60s and the smooth sounds of A&M records in the early ’70s, adds a sweet and slinky bossa nova undercurrent, and then a helping of the gooey goodness of the early Cardigans. This breezy concoction sits happily on top of some of the hookiest, giddiest pop tunes anywhere.

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Are you like me? Do you often sit around pondering what might happen if one band were suddenly mashed into another seemingly incompatible band in a “you got peanut butter in my chocolate” kind of way? I guess Cash Cash at some point started wondering what it would sound like if Jimmy Eat World and Daft Punk were playing at their house and the shockingly great emo-dancepop anthem “Party in Your Bedroom” is the answer they came up with. The group is emo-pop with none of that sticky and uncomfortable emotional baggage attached; they burst with bubblegum-flavored kisses instead of hot tears. Their shockingly good album Take It to the Floor sounds almost exactly how the Archies would sound like if they hung out at Hot Topic instead of Pop Tate’s Chocklit Shoppe. If that sounds silly to you, you’re probably right, but to me it’s the kind of silly that rock & roll has always been about and hopefully always will be about.

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When you get tired of the more refined sounds of the new noise brigade (Times New Viking, Sic Alps and Tyvek to name a few) and need something that really offends your sensibilities on every sonic level possible, turn to the UK trio known as Black Time. They’ve been around a few years so they aren’t jumping on any bandwagons, except maybe the Kingsmen’s recorded on one mike in a bathtub on the drunkest day of your life wagon, they make most of In the Red’s roster sound like Peter Cetera and their new record Double Negative is so insane, so really and truly in the red that I had my favorite local record store employee talk me out of buying it. Well, you’re wrong this time because Black Time has just the right balance of fuzz and menace, pop and crud, beauty and scuzz. 

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It’s pretty shocking to me that K Records has been around for as long as they have. 1982? Is that possible? What’s even more astounding is that while the quality control may waver now and then, you can pretty much count on a K record being at least a worthwhile listen and sometimes something quite amazing. Look at the past year or two with Saturday Looks Good to Me, Jeremy Jay, the Blow, the newly signed and quite awesome Desolation Wilderness, and now LAKE.

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It’s been far too long since Mazzy Star imploded and all the participants scattered. Hope Sandoval recorded a dark and mysterious album in 2001 (Bavarian Fruit Bread) and then nothing, David Roback pretty much disappeared from sight, and that was that it seemed. Until now anyway. Suki Ewers may not be the person you think of when you remember the brilliantly melancholy of Mazzy Star but the keyboardist was in the band from the beginning, back to when they were Opal and featured the vocals of the similarly AWOL Kendra Smith. This autumn Ewers finally released a solo album; Kind of Hazy on Mind Expansion records. Can you guess what it sounds like? Did you say slow, quiet, warm and sad? Or gently psychedelic with a slight C&W feel? Maybe tender and slightly fragile female vocals singing sad as the end of summer songs? All correct. Ewers isn’t Sandoval (or Smith) in the vocal department and the musical backing isn’t as well-constructed as when Roback was in charge, but the album is quite lovely anyway and definitely worth checking out if you miss the exquisitely hazy sound of Mazzy Star.

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The break up of Out Hud in 2005 was pretty disapointing all around. They had just released the shockingly good Let Us Never Speak of It Again and seemed poised for greatness. Most of the band went back to their gig with !!!, but cellist/vocalist Molly Schnick started over with Jean on Jean. She spent three years recording her first record, recording layers of vocals and strings over hushed acoustic backing and coming up with something really nice. Some of the album is folky, some is singer/songwriter-y, some is very poppy, but all of it is sweet as pie. The song that caught me first was “Tonight” - it has a feeling like the Softies at their peppiest or Heavenly at their calmest, but also has an innocent and quiet charm all its own.

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The idea of indie pop sweetness blended with heart-lifting girl group harmonies, punchy Northern Soul beats and lush Brill Building strings is one that needs no defending. Bands like Comet Gain, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Belle & Sebastian and many others have used that template to spin pure gold sounds. Now add the School to that list. On “Let It Slip” (from the group’s debut EP), Liz Hunt’s powerful vocals and melancholy soul drive the song, but the rest of the band and producer Ian Catt surround her with enough cotton candy to soften the jagged edges of heartbreak.

The video is nice too; you can never go wrong with the “band playing in a cramped living room” scene! (See also: the video for Comet Gain’s “Strength“)

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