I got a package the other week from HHBTM full of new releases from the Athens, GA-based label. Mike at the label was kind enough to pass along the latest albums he’s releasing. Four records to be exact: new LPs from Eureka California, Orca Team, Sweater Girls, and Tunabunny. I’ve been a fan of HHBTM…
Tag: happy happy birthday to me records
Tunabunny: I Miss You (You Miss Me Yes) [Video]
They call it transcendental dance pop, which sounds pretty good to me. I’d add in hints of punk and plenty of noise to that description, though. Tunabunny is the latest great thing to come out of Athens, Georgia, a place that needs no introduction when it comes to great independent music. And their new self-titled…
Baby Calendar: Gingerbread Dog [Album Review]
Gingerbread Dog is the debut release on HHBTM for this Florida trio. Baby Calendar has released before, but it was all DIY. And while I have yet to crack the past album, Fifteen Year Old Sneakers, I must say that what I’ve heard on Gingerbread Dog is on the verge of brilliance. To quote their…
Sourpatch [Feature]
Bouncy, 90s-influenced, female-fronted pop band Sourpatch recently released a new album, Crushin’ on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. It’s your standard HHBTM release, filled with pop music created by bands that have affections toward a similar, 90s era punk-pop (when punk-pop was actually good).
Keith John Adams: Unclever [Album Review]
In the grunge music of the 90s we saw the mass standardization of the head-bang. For you young ones, that’s when you take your nasty, long, greasy, unwashed hair and whip it from back to front and front to back in rapid motions. The result, obviously, is brain damage. That’s what rock-n-roll will do for…
Hotpants Romance: It’s A Heatwave [Album Review]
Hotpants Romance are so perfectly strange they’re almost hard to comprehend. They boast their work as “three girls, three years, three chords”. They really are as simple as that on the surface. Yet, there are so many things from their album It’s A Heatwave that are shiny, bright, and utterly complicated in the most splendid…
Afternoon Naps: Parade [Album Review]
This may come as a surprise: Ohio is a hot spot for up-and-coming indie pop artists. There’s Pomegranates out of Cincinnati and Bears in Cleveland. Rounding out the power trio is Cleveland’s Afternoon Naps. Catchy melodies and memorable vocal hooks can be found throughout their sophomore release, Parades. But there’s much more behind the music…
Eux Autres: Cold City [Album Review]
Cold City finds the Larimer siblings that make up Eux Autres maturing as musicians and songwriters. Where Hell Is Eux Autres included many viable tracks, the recordings were stiff. Still, despite the slightly lower production value, many of those older songs remain true favorites; and Cold City packs in several new favorites as well.
Fishboy: Nom [Album Review]
In retrospect, Fishboy‘s Albatross should have garnered my #1 album slot for 2007. Seriously: the album remains one of the most-listened-to albums even today. The oft dubbed Twee Rock Opera was a truly brilliant concoction. And, as front-man Eric Michener quietly hints at a follow-up, he releases Nom, a nine-song EP consisting of rejects from…
The Lolligags: Out Of Perversity Join Hands [Album Review]
Written by Fense Okay, something has changed chemically in my brain since the last time I listened to The Lolligags (MySpace). Either that, or this band has altered the way they write songs. To be honest – completely honest, bearing my soul here folks – I didn’t really care for The Lolligags’ EP from last…