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We here at 100b try to go see every band we love that passes through these here parts, and thus we’ve had to listen to a vast plethora of support bands, from the surprisingly excellent to the embarrassingly bad. Whenever we hear that a local band will be playing we can’t help but make a face. You know the face, it’s the one people make when their friends put their kids on the phone. You are forced to listen and pretend to like it. We always support the support, because that’s the neighborly thing to do, but we rarely really mean it. It’s like someone walked through town and stopped the very first three piece band that plays for pennies in the street. I’m sorry to say it, because it makes me feel like a traitor in a way, but we’ve learned that the chances that a Dutch support band is actually worth a listen are about as big as the country.

So when we saw that the Hospital Bombers were Art Brut’s support act a few months ago we moaned and groaned as usual. Hospital Bombers?!? What a dumb name, ugh and they’re Dutch. Then they took the stage. Oh my god, what are they? Twelve? But we shut up soon when they started playing. They were actually good! These four kids had their own sound and catchy songs and everything! They were brought up with seventies rock in the background, their lyrics are quirky and fun and we liked every bit of it. I thought maybe we liked them because we were so shocked that they could actually play their instruments, but now that I’m listening to their songs online, they’re still really good. “Kittens” and “Bad Neighbourhood” especially are great poppy songs. They’re not just not bad for a Dutch new band. They are not bad for a new band, period.

Check out their myspace and official site.

So here’s another forgotten one hit wonder from the 90s, but I don’t really understand why these guys were so ignored. It’s true that Len’s one actual hit, “Steal My Sunshine” was sort of typical faux-rap-pop (incredibly catchy, but not especially groundbreaking), but the rest of their 1999 album You Can’t Stop The Bum Rush was pretty unique. It’s actually a surprisingly diverse album - they’ve got some fun pop, some old school hip-hop, a really weird German techno-like song, and Biz Markie. Dude, what else do you need??

Len kind of disappeared on me, somewhere along the way, though I did keep checking for a new album for a long time. According to their wikipedia page, they had a bit of a struggle getting the follow-up to You Can’t Stop The Bum Rush released; it was finally released last year, but only in Canada.

It’s a real shame that Len got lost. I may be the only one, but I think that You Can’t Stop The Bum Rush was one of the best pop albums of the 90s. Sadly, I’m the only person I know that’s even heard of them, let alone bought their music, but I played the crap out of this CD. (Looking for a picture to add to this post, I came across this blog that also praises the band.) “Man Of The Year” may seem like an odd song to post, but it shows their willingness to mess with different sounds. I don’t know if this album is still even in print, but if you ever come across it, give it a try and I promise you’ll enjoy it.

   Len - Man Of The Year

I was talking to Bean about how I’ve been listening to Blanche a lot these days. And I mentioned that I also have a new appreciation for Dolly Parton. I always liked her, but the other day I put on her CD Little Sparrow and loved it all over again. Then Bean said that she puts on Blanche when she feels “a little bit country” and that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling these days.

The Blanche song that always makes me want to push the repeat button is “Jack On Fire”. The creepy lyrics are perfectly sung with a menacing undertone, but then the female voice chimes in and sings the most disturbing bit of lyrics ever. Her voice is so sweet and airy and makes the lyrics that much more unsettling. It has the same effect as using seemingly cute little kids in horror movies. It’s hauntingly beautiful. The title song of Dolly Parton’s album Little Sparrow is equally addictive, but in a whole other way. It has the feel of an old traditional folky bluegrass ballad, but it’s all Dolly’s.

   Blanche - Jack On Fire
   Dolly Parton - Little Sparrow

Tam and I always seem to feel like we’re cheating when we pick a new band, as if our new bands aren’t ever quite new enough. I guess if you set yourself a theme like that, it feels like it better be a brand spanking new band who are still playing in their parents’ garage, haven’t even recorded a demo yet, and that we heard about from a friend of a friend of the drummer. But I’ve decided that we’re just being silly. I’m going to go ahead and set a New Band Day Definition, and just hope that Tam agrees with it, as I’ve just made it up right now and haven’t told her yet. Wednesday’s New Band should be one that hasn’t released a full-length album yet. Or, if they have, it should be less than two months old or so. So there, I think that covers our needs well and will solve the problem we both seem to run into.

On that note, I bring you Cold War Kids, who have released three EPs, but zero LPs. I just bumped into them this morning completely randomly and checked out a few songs on their official site. They’re the first new band that I’ve been really excited to find since Good Shoes and Larrikin Love. “Hospital Beds” is the song that I’m already hooked on; listen to it on their myspace page or download it from their official site.

As Bean mentioned before, we made each other Mix CDs a few months ago themed ‘what we listened to in high school’. We were both in high school in the nineties, so it’s a great overview of what the nineties sounded like. Well, let me tell you that they sounded like fun. One of the songs I picked was Imani Coppola’s “Legend Of A Cowgirl”. She hasn’t made big ripples in the music industry since that song, but it was a big hit in 1997. I love the strong independent woman lyrics combined with rap/storytelling and a catchy chorus. I also remember thinking that she combined so many elements of pop that she was destined to be a big shiny pop star for sure. I imagined kid’s bedrooms plastered with her face and eventually maybe even an Imani doll. Sadly, the world seemed to forget about her as soon as the song was over.

   Imani Coppola - Legend Of A Cowgirl

Today is a very special day, ladies and gents, because it’s Tam’s birthday. Now, I know you guys aren’t lucky enough to know Tam personally, but she kicks ass. I hope you have a friend as awesome as her. A few weeks ago, Tam sent me a New Kids On The Block song to celebrate my own birthday and I doubt I can top that, but here’s a special song to celebrate Tam’s Big Day, from 1972’s Free To Be … You And Me album.

   Marlo Thomas - Glad To Have A Friend Like You

With a name like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names I’m more than willing to give them a listen, because you have to applaud creativity like that, especially now that every single noun seems to be taken by some indie band. So if there are new bands out there reading this, take it from me, weird works. This Swedish duo is definitely as quirky as I expected them to be. Every song of theirs I’ve heard so far seems to have a range of influences, from calypso to country. Meanwhile they sing about how pointless life is with giant Disney smiles on their faces. I like it. You can listen to them over on Labrador and on their myspace. Their first full album #3 came out last year and it features their uber catchy single “Rent A Wreck”. Before you listen to it, you have to know that it’ll have you ba ba ba-ing all day. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

   Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Rent A Wreck

If there are any readers out there that use emusic, you probably already know about this, but did the rest of you know that Goldie Hawn recorded an album in 1972? It was news to me and, boy oh boy, was I excited! I actually downloaded this from emusic about two months ago, but I’ve been hoarding it as a Poptastic Day entry. Lucky for you, the time has come.

I find it suspicious that there’s no mention of Goldie Hawn’s Goldie on her imdb page, nor her wikipedia entry. Consipiracy? While Tam and I were sitting around today, we were discussing my Poptastic choice and wondering what I could say about it. We decided that it pretty much speaks for itself, so here’s Goldie’s Van Morrison cover from her little-talked-about 1972 release. (Go buy the whole album from emusic here, you won’t regret it.)

   Goldie Hawn - I Wanna Roo You

Finally, after an unusually long, boring, dreary winter, the sun has come out! The effect it has on people in the street is incredible. They smile more and they seem so much nicer. And I, as always, want to hear the old classics that fit the weather so beautifully. One of the songs I always long to hear around this time is “Blister In The Sun” from 1982 by the Violent Femmes. I wait for the part where the singing goes down to a whisper until it finally bursts out louder than it was. The song has been covered by a bunch of bands and it’s been on a movie soundtrack or two, so I’m always scared that it’s going to get played out, but so far I still can’t get enough of it.

There’s an ugly rumor going around that it’s about, ehm, pleasuring oneself. I refuse to believe that. My favorite sunny anthem cannot be about masturbation. It just can’t. So I looked it up and thank God, Gordon Gano, the lead singer, says he wrote it about a girl he had a crush on in high school. I’m not sure where the “Body and beats, I stain my sheets” and “Big hands, you know you’re the one” lines come in, but I’m satisfied with that explanation, and I don’t ask questions like a good soldier. My other favorite song is The Divinyls’ hit “I Touch Myself”. Heh heh.

   Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun

I didn’t really have a new band in mind to write about, so I had a look through some of the backed up Fierce Panda Noosletters that haved piled up in my inbox. Dirty Little Faces aren’t actually on Fierce Panda, but Mr. Bongo is always nice enough to tell us about good non-Panda releases. Anyways, Dirty Little Faces were the first band mentioned in those letters to really catch my attention, so here we are. Their first single, “Finding It Hard”, was just released last month on Label Fandango and it’s already sold out. It’s very much the sound of “today’s” indie: danceable and ridiculously catchy. It reminds me a wee bit of Razorlight in places, and something 80s that I can’t put my finger on. Since we’re all too late to get a copy, you can listen to it on Dirty Little Faces’ myspace page.

When you listen to Millie Small’s My Boy Lollipop from 1964, you wouldn’t guess that it’s more than just a cutesy, super sweet song. But it really is important in the world of ska, reggae and in a way, even music history. According to the wikipedia, it is the first early overseas ska hit. And it was Jamaica-based Island Records’ first hit ever, which gave them the funds to stay standing, so they could later sign none other than The Wailers. In a six degrees of seperation sort of way, if it wasn’t for this song we might never have heard of the late, great Bob Marley. That would have been a tragedy of ginormous proportions, so thank God for Millie Small and her boy lollipop.

   Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop

So, is it true? Are the Soledad Brothers no more? This would be very upsetting news if I could confirm whether it’s true or just some cruel rumor started by someone trying to break my heart. The rumors are all over the place, pointed out to me by my good friend Tam, but I can’t seem to find anything even remotely official. I’ve checked all the major music news outlets, stereogum, The Modern Age, all of the Soledad’s labels, their official site, google searches, and various forums and myspace pages. Several posts and blogs mention the break-up rumors, but the closest thing to official that I can find is on the lovely Ben Swank’s myspace page, where he’s posted, “i need a band. email me if you don’t suck.” Hmm, it sure don’t look good.

100b loves the Soledads. We love them. We’ve been fans for a good long while now, and we’ve been to see them twice, thrice? I’m not sure. No matter who we go see, and how great their shows are, the Soledads will always be one of our all-time favorite live bands. The foot-stomping, heart-pumping feeling you get from them is like nothing else. As amazing as their albums are, they’re nothing compared to these guys live. If this break up is real, it will be crushing to know that we’ll never see them play again. I could go on about this for a long time but if you’ve seen them, you already know what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t, I don’t want to make you feel bad.

So this is my wee tribute to the greatness of the Soledad Brothers. If you’re out there fellas, know that we love you. We hope this all blows over, but you all rock anyway.

Check out the video for “Good Feeling” (their last single?) on the Bomp Records site, or download this classic and remember the good times.

   Soledad Brothers - Prodical Stones Blues

Ok, I’m the first to admit that sometimes I cheat a little bit on New Band Day. Sometimes the bands aren’t exactly new and they’ve been all over the bloggeration. I justify it with the thought that if I have socks older than them, they’re new. I think today’s band The Enemy is new every which way you look at it. Heck, I have cheese older than this band. It has a slightly green hue, but that’s the way I likes me cheese.

They’re three British eighteen year olds that started the band three months ago, because as they say on their myspace “we’re bored of our shit jobs and all the shit people round here”. Ah, such passion for music warms my heart. Ok, so their little introduction didn’t exactly invite me to listen to them, but the beauty of myspace is that they don’t care, they make you listen to the songs whether you want to or not. So when I heard “40 Days And 40 Nights” I was pleasantly surprised and a little pissed (NOT jealous) to be honest. There are people out there who try and try for years to make a catchy song that would have people dancing the night away and never succeed. These boys decide one day that their jobs suck so “hey why not form a band”. And wouldn’t you know, they put together a song that’ll have indie kids fighting to get to the dancefloor, just like that. Psh, punks. Listen to three of their songs on their myspace and find out what boring little towns are good for.

As I mentioned a while ago, Tam and I made CDs for each other of the music we listened to in high school. We’ve swapped CDs now and it was such a smashing success, we’ve already planned our next swap. While I was making my CD, I was dying to use some of the songs for posts here, but I didn’t want Tam to know what songs I was using. So here’s one that I was especially anxious to post.

OMC’s “How Bizarre” was incredibly popular while I was in high school; it even got through to people who thought they were too cool for it. It’s catchy and sing-songy and summery and actually sounds a little different from most pop (something unheard of now, one of my greatest pet peeves). It’s actually much less corny than most Poptastic entries. I bought the CD single at a flea market somewhere but it was packed in a box in the attic until I dragged it out a few weeks ago, so I hadn’t heard it in years. It’s still as fun as I remembered it. You can try really hard to resist it, but it’s futile. (And is it me or is the theme (that things bizarrely work out well sometimes) kind of like Modest Mouse’s “Float On”? That’s just something weird that I noticed.)

I don’t know what became of OMC, but a short version of their story can be found on the wikipedia, which I actually found kind of interesting. Wherever they are now, we can still enjoy this 90s Poptastic classic.

   OMC - How Bizarre