On the Download

So I'm doing the rounds, trying to find the Most Important Content the Internet has to offer, you know, checking the traps and whatnot, and I head to Mountains & Rainbows' MySpace (myspace.com/mountainsandrainbows) for a dose of a little psych pick-me-up. And the boys don't disappoint. They're kind enough to have posted a new song called, simply, "Q" that's a stumbly, rumbly, fumbly (and other Winnie the Pooh adjectives) four-minute thump and screech. Good stuff, esp. if you really dig slap-dash basement interstellar travel.

But then I'm scrolling around and I see they're friends with a band called Rootbear. First of all, Rootbear's one of those band names you'd see in a fake band name confessional piece (avclub.com/content/feature/avq_a_imaginary_band_names), like Jazz-Hands or It's Pre-nup to You or something. Secondly, their music (oh, yeah: myspace.com/rootbearband), is a scruffy homemade ode to joy. A guy and a girl beating and strumming on things and getting as close to pop as the tools at hand will allow. And sometimes, like on the track "Bed Roar" they get pretty damned close. "Andy's Eyes" is a twisted '90s-era campfire hootenanny paean to a self-loathing bully. I've said it before and I'll say it again — Garageband demos and four-track heroes are the boon and the bane of internet jamfindery. Chalk this one up in the "boon" column. Now let's hope they achieve their dream of playing in a high school gymnasium. It'd be rad to see the look on kid's faces.

WARM BREEZ

Now that it seems that the Scrummage Kids (scrummage.net) are intent on finding a new space to showcase their sonic delights and day-glo party aesthetic, it seems like a good time to shine a light on one of the tribe's distaff members, the 4:20-friendly/sex-positive MC BreeZee One (nee Bethany Badenoch). Bookmark this shit to remind you what it feels like to have your windows down in summertime, rolling through the 'burbs, making parents grumble about those damn kids. Sometimes an artist's self-perception matches perfectly with their recorded output and BreeZee's one of 'em. Head to myspace.com/breezeeone and hear what the buzzed-up lovechild of Ween, Peaches, TLC and Wu-Tang would sound like. She loves to rhyme rough and smooth and dynamic about her pussy, her weed, her love of getting messed-up and having fun and talking shit. In BreeZee's world, go big or go home.

EXPAT BLUES PT. IV

This little side project called the Raconteurs helmed by Detroit's two most prominent census losses has some legs. And with Jack White's efforts on the Quantum of Solace title jam proving that he can still swing it behind the drums and write a dynamic song, it'd be easy to forget that his Rac's other half Brendan Benson can craft a mean ditty on his own. So, do yourself a favor and head over to his heavily-designed MySpace page for a sneak peek at songs presumably set for his next solo record (yup!).
myspace.com/brendanbenson