New Music Monday - Radiohead Has Me Hypnotized ... Yet Again

I'm having a horribly hard time sitting down to write about anything this week other than the new Radiohead album.  Since I got it, I have listened to little else.  I can't figure out why, but it seems that I've formed a little bit of an addiction to the The King of Limbs.  I'm sure I'm not the only one, so don't judge me people.  Just mentioning it makes me want to turn of what I'm currently listening to (this week's band, Bear Hands) and listen to The King of Limbs a little more.  I have to stop talking about it . . . it's just too tempting at the moment.  On to the good stuff (relatively speaking, of course).

Bear Hands, simply put, makes me happy.  How would I describe them?  Well, to be blunt, if MGMT were a much better band, they'd be Bear Hands.  The music is upbeat and seems like something I'd play at a spring time cookout on my patio.  It's lively an takes all the best aspects of MGMT's danceable sound and combines it with a sound that reminds me of Girls and Waaves playful lyricism.  The end result is a sound that is just a little spot of sunshine, a teasing musical look into the impending warmer temperatures of spring.

"Well, to be blunt, if MGMT were a much better band, they'd be Bear Hands"

For me, the stand outs on the New York four-piece's album, Burning Bush Supper Club are, first and foremost the completely addictive, "What A Drag."  The chorus will get stuck in your head and you'll find yourself singing it without even realizing what you're doing.  "you've go them long nails, i'm dreaming of your god**** long nails . . ."  The album opener, "Crime Pays" is the perfect introduction to the opus that is Burning Bush Supper Club.  Bear Hands frontman, Dylan Rau, especially likes "Wicksey Boxing," which he says is about getting plastered and fighting with your buds. "'Wicksey Boxing' is when you get drunk on whiskey and you try to say whiskey boxing but it comes out wrong," he says with a laugh. "It's happened to me a lot — I broke a rib nine months ago after boxing my friend."  If that's not a testament to the playfulness of this band, I don't know what is.


You can find them on Facebook, Twitter and on MySpace.


So, if you an tear yourself away from the new Radiohead album, venture out and give this band a listen.  You'll tap your foot and probably put, "What a Drag" on repeat.  You've been warned.


Have a good week, boys and girls . . .cause I said so.


Chris