In the midst of the Black Kids’ over-hype meltdown, Idolator blasted the notion of “blogger-friendly hooks” as if such things don’t exist. But, if you reflect on the recent rise and fall of bloggerly hyped bands over the last two years, a rather clear sound/style emerges – bands like Tapes n’ Tapes and Voxtrot et al. (I realize these are rather old examples, but the most obvious that come to mind apart from the aforementioned Black Kids.) The sound is, more or less, white boy pop (to elaborate, pop primarily made by white boys and/or primarily enjoyed by white boys. Yes, I know that not only white people listen to the music. Yes, I know that not only white people make the music. Yes, I know that Black Kids are an obvious exception to this – but I’m thinking in terms of the largest portion of the listening demographic here, capiche?). This isn’t so much of a surprising thing, especially when you consider that a large percentage of music blogs (with the exception of this one! and some fine others) are, well, run by white boys. Let’s not waste time characterizing whether this is a “good” or “bad” thing – the point here is, it exists, and it exists rather clearly.

I mention this because I got an e-mail in my inbox today for a group that embodies, to me, what the blog-loved sound is all about these days: Murder Mystery.

Murder Mystery: “Love Astronaut” (download)

The name caught me, and I’ve been in a particularly patient mood, so I decided to listen, and the first thing that came to mind was, “the blogs are going to love this.*” It’s poppy, it’s mild, it’s cutesy, it’s fun. It’s not particularly offensive by way of weirdness or lack of ambition/talent. I checked on Hype Machine and Elbo.ws, and, sure enough… (keep in mind, the band’s first album doesn’t come out until January ’08, which is what the press release was about).

For this time only I’m going to waive my regular comments denoting good or bad and say simply this: a blog sound? yeah, it exists.

*yes, I know this is a blog.

House of Brothers: “Deadman” (download)

There’s something easy to like about “Deadman” – particularly the falling piano, the flutes, the violins, the maracas, the hand claps. It’s very complete, very well thought out, very whole. Nothing is missing. This is a nice little gem of a tune for fall. His self-titled debut EP is out Nov. 26th.

House of Brothers on MySpace

Bear In Heaven: “Werewolf (Edit)” (download)
Bear In Heaven: “Bag of Bags” (download)

Here’s a quick tip: if you really want me to listen to something, put “psych-” in the description. It’s not just that I love psych (which I do), but also that, in the world of indie pr, it’s generally a good indicator that I’m about to listen to something different. Different is certainly an apt adjective for Bear In Heaven, who are so all over the map that it’s hard to guess their ultimate destination. The “Werewolf” edit is meant to be the stand out track, but it’s so unstable that it’s hard not to get distracted, though it’s certainly a treat if you can keep your mind from wandering. “Bag of Bags” practically covers all the major stages of psych, which is impressive but still a bit jolting. I can’t even begin to imagine what this album must sound like, but I give ‘em props for what they’re attempting. And for this great album title – Red Bloom of the Boom is out Nov. 6th.

Bear In Heaven Official Site
Bear In Heaven on MySpace

As stated before, T-Sides doesn’t generally look to PR e-mails for inspiration. Some might call it stubborn, some might call it foolish, some might call it a plain ol’ jerk move – we call it the T-Sides way. There are always exceptions, however, so welcome to a new feature for said exceptions: In The Inbox.

A nice way to get the attention of someone who receives dozens of PR e-mails a day is to use a stand-out format. Domino Records formatted the release for Cass McCombs’ Dropping The Writ as a political memo. Thus, I actually glanced at it. (However, this was actually a bit risky, because unique as it was, I almost ignored it completely, thinking it was another cause that wanted my money.)

Introduced to the bevy of music on October 9th, the songs chosen to exemplify Dropping The Writ hold that most dastardly of qualities – promise.

Cass McCombs: “Petrified Forest” (download)

“Petrified Forest” makes me wish it was still summer, because this is just the kind of lazy-summer-days music that I was all about this year. Luckily it manages to fit into the summer-fall transition nicely (yes, transition – it was over 80 degrees in NYC on Monday!), with drooping choral, string, piano and guitar bits that echo falling leaves and rain showers. It’s not instantly memorable, but significant enough to warrant continued play.

Cass McCombs: “That’s That” (download)

“That’s That” is the more forceful of the two, and a more blatant attempt to showcase the range of McCombs’ voice. The “do-ah”s in the chorus are the kind of thing that would normally drive me nuts, but he restrains them just enough to keep walking on the thin line between uplifting and annoying. The lyrics are easy to ignore until he sings something about cleaning toilets in Baltimore – but this just makes things more frustrating because, ultimately, it’s difficult to hear what he’s saying half the time, and that line makes me curious to know.

While Cass McCombs may not blatantly stand out among the year’s top singer-songwriters, overall these tracks point towards an enjoyable release from McCombs – in other words, Dropping The Writ might be worth… picking up (da dum ching).