The Hippodrome

Turbo Broom Scene:

From the classic film Breakin’, this is Turbo’s coming out dance. I think I’d like this less if you couldn’t see the string on the floating broom.

DJ Jubilee:

A friend turned me on to this dude last year, and I’ve since watched this video upwards of 30 times. DJ Jubilee coined hundreds of dances, and managed to make this incredibly high budget film showcasing a bunch of them.


MTV Breaking

MTV hit their high point in 1985 with this commercial. This is a Tim and Eric goldmine.

Kitty Dance

I really had no idea cats could break dance, but just like I didn’t know hot girls did virtual hula hooping, Youtube proved me wrong.

Fire & Ice – Ski Dance

Two things I love: skiing and breakdancing. The tongue move is the highlight.

Ready for the four hippest bands this fall? Instant cred, go!

The Band: Miracles of Modern Science
The Single: MR2

Miracles of Modern Science (or M.O.M.S) might look on first appearance like just another space-rock bluegrass band. But actually, they play really fucking catchy pop songs that call to mind vintage Andrew Bird or Final Fantasy.

The Band: Women
The Single: Black Rice

Women have been mentioned on Pitchfork and the big blogs, but still haven’t hit the way they will in a few months. Jagjaguwar just picked these dudes up, so expect a publicity blitz very soon.

The Band: Guatemala City
The Single: Kim Chee Soup

Guatemala City just dropped Yolanda, and if you call yourself someone into creative electronic music, this is for you.

The Band: The Craters
The Single: Samba Party

The Craters just put out their first proper album, Kissing/ Samba Party, and will tour the Northeast in November. Think Animal Collective 2.0..

Now you and your girlfriend have something new to talk about. Phew!

Double Dragons are a duo from Exeter, New Hampshire, composed of Peter James and Josh Picard, childhood neighbors. Starting as a crude Hella tribute band, DD has evolved into a noisy and technical (but still concise) band that hasn’t had alot of opportunity to play live due to its members being in different states.

But when they do play live, DD is wonderfully true to the recordings. “Four” is the most popular track, managing to still be catchy despite its machine gun flurry of scales and snare rolls. Most DD tracks manage this same feat, making the experience far more than a demonstration of virtuosity.

Tours and future plans are up in the air, but a strong childhood foundation makes a DD breakup unlikely. So write Marnie Stern an email now and tell her you got her next tour opener.

Audio: 4
Audio: 8
Audio: 5c

Rarely in indie-pop do you see an artist using their name as the band. That appears to have disappeared long ago in the early to mid 1990s. But, with artists like Shawn Fogel rising up, it may be making a comeback. But wait! Jeremy Sparrow is not in the band. Is it a made-up name? Or is it a moniker taken from a novel, as that of Harper Lee?

Jeremy Sparrow is a made up name and a fairly new discovery. The band messaged me several… err… months ago about writing a little feature on them, but I never got around to it other than sticking it on my “things to do” list. When I finally checked them out, I found their music to be the hefty style of pop I tend to associate with countries like Denmark (their home) and titles like “experimental” (well… slightly experimental).

While it’s nowhere near as monumental as fellow Denmark cohorts Mew, or not nearly as experimental as The LK side-project Fredrik, Jeremy Sparrow does know a thing or two about crafting a good pop tune. There’s an 80s element to the music, often found in the guitar riffs, bass lines, and jumpy percussion. Just listen to “The Rent’s Due” and you’ll hear it.

Audio: The Rent’s Due
Audio: Outrunning Paper Tigers
Audio: Suburb

“To get to authenticity,” Meredith Monk said, “you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.” A group of Monk’s most unknown protégés, Lurch and Holler, make music so imminently sincere that it’s hard to do anything but just sit down and listen.

Liz Downing and Michael Willis, the folks behind the moniker, are from Baltimore and make music together on weekends. Since 1985, their songs, or “confessionals at the family picnic” as Downing likes to call them, are unpretentious, carefully written, and full of lyrical provocations, challenges, and stories.

Downing tells me that Hank Williams was a drinking buddy of her granddaddy’s, and I believe it. Clearly, this is a family with a rich performance history. Lurch and Holler started out as a performance art group called Lambs Eat Ivy, touring around, playing short musical plays with sets and costumes.

“A couple of our more successful plays were ‘Dance the Flaming Tongues of Carpet’ and Dream Bardo,’” Downing says. “’Tongues of Carpet’ was a reenactment of a faith healing that took place at my family’s motel, the Heart of Dixie, in AL. ‘Dream Bardo’ was of a librarian who fell off her ladder, broke her neck and went through the 49 days after death as instructed by the Tibetan Book of the Dead.’”

None of these eccentric themes seem lost in Lurch and Holler’s music. Their uncanny brand of songwriting seems unfounded at first, but a closer look at the storytelling and songwriting shows their experience. Distribution seems like a nonissue for the band, as Downing’s art teacher chops show on each beautifully handmade release. “At this point,” she says, “we would like to give our music to as many people as would have it.”

It was hard to only put up three songs from this prolific all-American band, but if the music gods are real, then Lurch and Holler will hit it big. This is Edith Piaf doing American cabaret, Joanna Newsom without a harp, or Anne Sexton confessing her most twisted daydreams.

Audio: Companion If You Please
Audio: Vertical Stripes
Audio: Walt Whitman’s Letter to Lincoln