HotChaCha

The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars, is the much anticipated debut full-length from the ladies of HotChaCha, and follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed EP, Rifle, I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol.

The full-length finds HotChaCha expanding upon many of the ideas laid out on their debut EP, and adding new instrumentation and sophistication to their arrangements in addition to naming their records with titles that are their own paragraphs.

The 11 songs presented on The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars, run the gamut from staccato sing-a-longs to slowly building atmospheric explorations. This is not your sisters garage rock band. While many of HotChaCha’s songs come in at under the three-and-a-half minute mark, are incredibly danceable, and high energy, it would be an oversimplification to classify them solely as adherents to the ol “punk / new wave” formula.

Think Pearl from Powder, the whole of Sahara Hot Nights, the mysticism of Concrete Blonde, and a hot Los Angeles night and you have a pretty good idea of where HotChaCha are coming from. It's an infectious combination that's as sexy as it is garagey. Add in a sense of hilarity for naming songs things you would never think and you have one heck of a band that's so much more than just another average garage rock revival band.

Download: Ticket Away From Prague
Download: Hookers Deserve A Life Time Achievement Award
Download: Bob Has A Better Cow

The Bullet and The Snowfox

Bullet & Snowfox was born in a quaint West Hollywood café in the late summer of 2008. It was there, at Joey’s Café, that Kristen Wagner and Josh Shapiro saw the perfect creative counterpart to one another and thus, the music making began. After both having been involved in un-fulfilling projects, they were convinced that it was time to do things their own way.

With Josh heading up the track writing and Kristen covering all things vocal, they easily established a division of labor that gives the songwriting process an element of freedom that both had been so desperately looking for. With influences that span across the map from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Megadeth, they have developed an indie-dance-pop sound that is truly all their own.

With song subjects ranging from bitter break-ups to a quirky take on neurosis, they clearly cover all the bases when showcasing the make up of their personalities. Although these two bandits hail from opposite coasts, Kristen from San Diego and Josh from Pittsburgh, they share more in common than even they would care to admit. Both were raised in middle class homes with relatively sane parents, both college graduates, both have limited tolerance for general stupidity, both are maddeningly stubborn, and both just wouldn’t settle for the painfully suburban lives they were set up for. Eventually, amongst the sea of dreamers wandering the streets of L.A., they found each other and set out to conquer the universe (or at the very least, write some great songs.)

That right there is my kind of band. The take the gloss, sheen and plasticity of Los Angeles rough it up a bit, dip it in sugar and come out with pop songs that will own you. They're seductive, hooky, and freaking really really great. If all pop music was like this Lady Ga Ga would be living in a refrigerator box!

Download: Undercover
Download: Bad Days

True Womanhood

Today's Treasure Trove comes to us from the Department of Experimental Indie Rock and Adriana Lima!

Four-foot industrial blades hanging like chimes. A disassembled church organ rigged with wires running into a computer. As much art installation as rock concert, the most conventional things on True Womanhood’s stage are the timpani drums. And these homemade instruments are not mere sonic curiosities but integral parts of the band’s tightly crafted, inventive songwriting. Grounded on friendships going back to middle school, band members Thomas Redmond, Melissa Beattie and Noam Elsner play in an instinctual style that is sonically and emotionally loud.

The trio has emerged out of the doldrums of post-Dischord Washington, D.C. with a collection of haunting pop gems that are surprisingly mature given the band’s youthful exuberance and predisposition towards experimental music. True Womanhood is not merely satisfied with merely making music as it is inventing it!

Download: Magic Child
Download: Dignitas

Billen-aires Boys Club

A lot of things have changed for Sam Billen recently. He is about to release his first solo record in 5 years with indie label The Record Machine. It is his first since leaving Northern Records who also released his decade-long band, The Billions, that called it quits last year. After the break up of the Billions, Sam took some time to focus on making his own music and starting a family (Sam just recently became a father).

Produced and recorded and made entirely by Sam himself, Headphones and Cellphones sees him adapting rather nicely to being away from the band dynamic. He's still got the ability to write quirky pop songs but now they're purely his creation and come off sounding a bit like The Postal Service. Yeah, I know that's a bit cliche, but Sam does have a voice that would make Ben Gibbard blush and if the songs are this good, then who cares.

Headphones and Cellphones is music with a heart and soul and I guess that's bound to happen when you become a dad. Good stuff indeed.

Download: Different Lives
Download: Made Concrete (Republic of Tigers cover)
Download: Spritle (Deastro cover)

Max Justus Is Busy

The latest post from the Treasure Trove comes to us from Wisconsin...

Since age fifteen Max Justus has been working on various projects in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin when he released his first album and opening for illustrious artists Tortoise, Daniel Lanios (solo artist and producer of bands ranging from U2 to Bob Dylan), and Bob Mould of Husker Du. At nineteen he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he now resides completing two albums, Ophelia and Talk to Strangers , which are only available digitally on Myspace. At twenty-one Max released his first record with Kansas City based label The Record Machine entitled Five Leaping Leopards to much critical success. He has also completed remixes of Kanye West, C & C Music Factory, and Rainbow Arabia.

In just three short years Max Justus has released five albums. At that pace Max Justus releases a new record every seven months. It was just seven months ago when Max was releasing his remixes of Kanye West and just a few months before that he released Five Leaping Leopards. On his newest album No Mercy we find Max taking his mixture of electro, hip hop, and dubstep in new directions.

That's what makes this guy fun to listen to. Not only does he refuse to slow down, he refuses to conform to the parameters of the genre. At times weird, at times pure pop bliss, Max Justus is all over the place in the best possible way. It probably shouldn't work, but it does and it's a testament of just how good this guy is. It'll probably be a week before his next album, so get busy and listen to all the tracks below!

Download: Bending Space and Time
Download: Sweat
Download: Ctrl Alt Dance (Coulson's Cheap Arcade Edit)
Download: Queens Club - Nightmarer (Max Justus Remix)

I And I and You

Weird Animals is Adam Sarmiento's fourth release under the name I and I and it continues in the genre defying modern pop mode that made the last album (White Noise/Black Music) so compelling.

With a name like I and I you would think that Adam would be doing some sort of reggae thing. Admit it, you're thinking I and I is going to crank up the Rastafarian jams, turn up the dub-meter and get in touch with your consciousness. Now you're thinking why they hell would that be on here. Well, I and I is 100% free of all frat boy love for reggae.

Instead, I and I is the sound of a Casio being programmed by Wall-E and then David Gahan singing very dryly on top of Wall-E's creation. It's a bit chilly, sparse, and dark but he has this knack of finding a melody amongst all that. It's twisted stuff that at times seems a little dire, but Adam always finds his way back to something that you can latch on to and that's what makes Weird Animals an enjoyable listen.

Download: Only Grey
Download: Weird Animals

Wallpaper Hangs Another Roll

Wallpaper. just dropped their new video for "Gettin' Drip". With effects and backgrounds that look like something out of a video game from 1989, the video features drummer Arjun Singh and the frontman Ricky Reed strolling throughout various scenes as they try to get their party on.

"A lot of time and money was spent on this video," Singh says. "We had originally projected a budget of $0.00 but due to some unforeseen last minute expenses, we ended up paying $11.82 (and this came out of pocket, mind you)."

"In order to get the video textured just the right way, our director Todd Berger played the video from his computer, filmed it with his camera phone, imported it to his Facebook, had his mom download it as a .wav, recorded it over his Grandpa's 'Magic of David Copperfield III' VHS and then submitted the tape to the Internet," he adds. "That's some real magic."

These guys are one of my favorite bands at the moment, simply because they have their tongues firmly planted in cheek. They're hilarious (just watch the video) and they actually write some pretty decent tunes without even trying. These guys bring the party because they are the party!

Download: Get Drip
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