REVIEW: HEARTS OF ANIMALS 7"

The Hearts of Animals 7” is the first non-mix release from local label Dull Knife, who has plenty of other good stuff in the pipeline and can’t do a live show if there isn’t a band called Psychedelic Horseshit involved. HOA completists (is there any other kind?) actually already have all four of these songs from her two 2007 releases, the occasionally sold-at-shows Lemming Baby EP and the obviously out-of-print Grey Ghost #39. Given how small the runs were, odds are you are not in the bullpen with the other dozen people who own a copy of both (or either). Plus, the vinyl mastering sounds great and you’ll absolutely melt in the cuteness when you see the improvised mic stand on the insert photo.

Indeed, cuteness could be the word you would use to describe Mlee Marie herself (Hearts of Animals' sole member), with her blueberry eyes, unintimidating sense of style and dove’s coo voice. She’s the sort of person that shows up to your house with ice cream and fresh fruit, requesting that it be consumed with Champaign (full disclosure: Mlee is a close friend and we have dragged her kicking and screaming into a discussion as to whether she is ‘cute’ or ‘hot,’ the conclusion of which being that she was both. We prolly owe her a Sophia for sharing that). But there’s a storm in there, and HOA, rather than the more folk-based output she does under her own name, is how she lets the tempest out.

HOA tracks, universally, disarm you with their simple lo-fi bedroom pop and Mlee’s pomegranate sweet and mango sticky vocals. But when you sync the lyrics to each song’s progression, you realize that she’s letting you build just enough of that sandcastle to make its loss to the sea terrible, leaving you alone on the beach surrounded by stinking rotting kelp. On opener ‘Stars Say No,’ for example, everything is chipper and playful until “the beach house” becomes “the beach house where we used to stay.” Enter the minor chords and the disconcerting reverb. Is it in the stars that love or good times will last forever? In this case, and others, the stars say no.

"Lost in the Translation" is about as straight-ahead as HOA gets, with guitar and bass pushing forward hard all the while the hands playing them are reticent and ultimately declaring she won’t “get in too deep.” "Stop Talking," with its furious saxophone squawks and disorienting guitar riff is the headache that, unfortunately, probably every woman has suffered when approached by a less-than gentleman at a bar – “Stop Talking to Me/You’re making me Nervous” are the only lyrics (do you really need anymore than that?). The whole thing couldn’t be more disconcerting if it was a musical conversation with the mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

"Underwater Staggie" closes the record and is our personal favorite, with its twilight-on-the-trail drums, grandfather clock bells and playful banjo (or maybe mini-guitar) strummed and plucked toward the end, carefree like sugarless gum. But we know it’s not carefree, is it. It’s Hearts of Animals, and while it sounds adorable and the perfect sort of thing to put on a mix tape for your young niece, there’s too much reality in what we’re hearing to pass the Tipper test.

Just a year ago, most folks hadn’t heard of Mlee or Hearts of Animals. And yet, here we are, enjoying the debut from someone who already found herself playing in enough bands to bridge the grumpy old part of the scene (The Freed) and the young fresh fellows who have recently given us a much needed injection of vitality (Young Mammals). It’s no surprise either. Mlee writes a damn fine song and is about as great a gal as they come. Like the old It Came From Nowhere comp, it’s not hard to think of this as the record that could launch a thousand bands. How ironic that there’s a single person with a pointy red guitar at the center of it. Highly Recommended.

MP3: Hearts of Animals - Stars Say No

ATTN ZOMBIES: STAR IN A YOUNG MAMMALS VIDEO!

Holy last minute casting call Batman! (F.Y.I. - we included this term so it would show up on Tom Adam’s Bat Radar! Be a zombie dude!) Houston’s own video-maker of the stars, Mark Armes, is sure not taking much time off lately. Not only did he film a video for Hearts of Animal’s killer track “Hearts Break” (our personal favorite) over the weekend, but tomorrow he’s going to be spending the day with those dime-turning kids we all call the Young Mammals. You may recognize the name "Mark Armes" from his fun-as-all hold-up video for the YM's "Delilah" and on for Satin Hooks' eternally forthcoming debut that we can't seem to find online anymore.

Though the details of tomorrow's shoot are secret, we do know three things 1) It’s for their song "Wires and Buttons," which was on their Grey Ghost release last year and may or may not be a new recording of it (they’ve been in and out of the studio a lot lately). 2) It involves zombies. 3) You can be in the video.

That’s right, if you have nothing going on tomorrow between 9am and 6pm and want to spend the day undead, hit up Mark for all the details, either on MySpace or by email (markarmes at gmail dot com). Man. Party time. Sure wish we didn’t have to spend the day working. Anyone who goes, give us the inside scoop and you will be rewarded with a Skyline Network prize pack, most likely consisting of a T-Shirt and whatever local record we went out and bought lately that was terrible and we don’t want to review.

Getting back to the video for "Hearts Break," we spoke to Mlee herself about it, asking simply “is it about freedom?” Her quick, and most assuredly non joking response was “Yes, very patriotic. Yuss. Stars and Stripes. Me, naked, wrapped in a flag. With Sparklers.” Uhh, ATTN BETSY ROSS: THANK YOU. Our Skyline Insider with the Viewfinder said the footage looked fantastic (duh), and we’re primed like a one-pull mower to see it. Keep your bookmarks here and we’ll let you know first.

THE SKYLINE 50: PART THREE

Part Three of our all-week series sharing our 50 favorite tracks to come out of the city this year.

Hearts Break – Hearts of Animals
Lemming Baby
We’re not entirely convinced that Mlee Marie didn’t just get dropped off by some well meaning spirit in the sky, complete with a back-story, back-catalog and pointy auburn guitar. A year ago, we didn’t know her from Eve, today, we can’t turn around without stumbling upon some new project she’s involved with. But this was the song that got it started for us – simple, sweet, coy; freight trains and hearts you really believe are broken. Yes, it's true, we made a Doctor and the Medics reference.


Hello Boss!!! – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
Remember when you were a kid and there were still tapes and it always seemed like the first thing you did when you tore one out of its shrink-plastic was fast-forward it to the first song on the second side – like it was the FCC mandated position for the most bangin’ radio single of all times of that week. OH SNAP! MOTOWN PHILLY BACK AGAIN! Now somewhat older, possessed of more wisdom perhaps but less likely to act on it, we tend to listen to our records straight through. That’s why we love a break you off somethin’ lead off like this one. (Excluding the intro, of course. By the way, what ever happened to that original French Kiss name-checking intro that had the back bacon references?) A total next-level departure from previous Guilloteen full lengths is stuffed in the ballot box from the get go, and isn’t it great to hear McManus in action one last time?


Honesty – Papermoons
Papermoons 7”
Sitting on a grassy little embankement watching a girl you’ll never get teach the neighborhood kids how to play kickball is not how one should spend their Sunday afternoons. You should be at home with your mates planning a tour where you take a day off to catch the Superdrag reunion show and coaxing worthwhile sounds out of an accordion you bought for a dollar off the wall of a bootmaker’s shed at a flea market. Pinhole cameras, pinwheels on beachbikes and songs like this are antidote to the too much of anything we are all sometimes seduced into feeling. Grab your kite.


I Drempt of a Terrible Adieu – Listen Listen
Listen Listen
The Listen Listen ep is made of wood. The packaging anyways. Sometimes we wonder if perhaps this is because, once the recording was complete, they chopped their instruments up with axes so as to exile the demons that had no doubt taken residence inside during the creation of such a melancholy opus. Prolly the saddest song on our countdown (oh and bonus – suicide lyrical content), only a master along the lines of Kacey Kasem could ever segue between this banjo plucking dirge and, say, an Arthur Yoria song that happened to have the same instrument in the background.


I Told You Not To Write Again – Arthur Yoria
Handshake Smiles
Here’s a tip on how to get into this countdown every year. Be Arthur Yoria. Write a song about some impossibly common aspect of the human condition that had somehow not occurred to anyone was an impossibly common aspect of the human condition. Add some egg shakers. Play a banjo in the background. Arthur: please record another record soon, we need more insight into our own lives. kthanx


In Piles/Files – Bring Back the Guns
Dry Futures
ATTN T-PAIN: We got your next remix ring-tone right here. Piles/Files is a rock club shredertainer that is to the 2007 live show what apple is to strudel and unfortunate berry combinations is to Kosher wine. If this jam was cattle, it would be an entire cow made of whips pre-seasoned center-cut fillet (is that even possible?) served on a solid 28” platinum plate to Kanye West in his V inspired mothership hovering above the Source Awards. PARTY CALL ME.


James Ralph Brown Part II – Riff Tiffs
Afflictinnitus
Judging by the reaction of their fans to our review of their full length, there is an entire legion of the Riff Tiff Army that does not think it is a compliment to have your music designated as the eternal soundtrack to Puff Daddy’s voyages through the ocean depths should he ever be transformed into a Dolphin. Whatever. Those people have no idea what they’re even talking about. If they can think of a better song to glide along to should you ever awaken to discover you’ve been metamophesized into a marine mammal named Franz, we’re all flippers to hear what it is.


Legion of Serpents – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
We heard this uncharacteristically long and tempoed song was the first ever Roy Mata Guilloteens composition. This is no doubt why we are so GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT. (rewind) GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT (rewind). (Realize we have drive all the way to Juarez with this song on repeat when our intent was only to goto La Tapatia.)


Lonely Goodbye – Paris Falls
Lonely Goodbye (single)
It says something when a local band goes to the trouble of self-releasing a two-song single when they’ve just dropped one pretty aces full length and have a second all wrapped up and in shop-around mode. It’s a special song to them, to be sure - one they had to get out there in the intra-release interim for whatever reason (if we were a thoughtful site, it might have occurred to us to ask them before this moment what that reason might be). It’s a tender and warm lullaby; a blanket of leaves in a rural yard beyond the times. It’s why more musicians should get married and till death do they record.


Lucky – Paris Falls
Vol. I
Paris Falls has their own lighting rig, complete with the ability to trigger it for choreography with what they’re playing at the moment. If you have such a setup, you’ve got to bring the minerals to the water, or else you’re just going to be that group of wankers who thought they were too good for the illumination options the rest of the bands were ok with. But here’s the key – PF aren’t just great musicians and songwriters, they’re great showmen too. Not in the spandex pants kick and splits jump vein, mind you, but in the fact that they see a gig as more than just a thing – as something more akin to the original meaning of the word ‘show’. The whole thing tells the tale of a quartet who take things a bit further than just showing up. The same care went into their Vol I, and this song especially.

MLEE MARIE WANTS YOU TO HAVE A VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAYS AND SEE HER PLAY FIVE TIMES THIS WEEKEND

Friend of the Skyline and candidate for the Mike McBike Lifetime Achievement Sammie for Most Concurrent Band Memberships, Mlee Marie (ex-The[e] Freed), has plugged in the Christmas lights for yet another MySpace page showcasing both her cuckold-warming musical talent and near-crisis scheduling conflicts. Yes, as it turns out Mlee (Hearts of Animals) has, every year since 2002, put out a Christmas release much like Sufjan Stevens or nearly every pop band in Britain. Now this year, sadly, there won’t be any new recordings to share, but since most of us were no doubt not included on Mlee (Vaarg)’s naughty vs. nice lists in the past, getting the whole collection at once is akin to our having helped a lot of old ladies cross a lot of old streets all this old year long: You’ve been wicked nice and its time to reap the reward. You can get the entire Mlee Marie(Wols) Christmas recording catalog online here.

While we’re on the subject, Mlee (singing as Kim Deal with The Dimes at HOOTENANNY!) is taking it easy this weekend, playing only five different times. If you're a Beaumontian, you can catch Hearts of Animals on a bill that includes Indian Jewelry, Wicked Poseur and The Wiggins Friday night at The Vortex. Houstonians can (secretly) catch Mlee (Kidnaps) playing as herself during the Secret Show, Saturday afternoon at the Shady Tavern, or later than night during the last hurrah show for Wols (for which she, along with Will Adams are stepping in to back-up the soon-departing-for-Scotland Miss Amye). She’s also on that bill playing as herself (Mlee Marie) again. Sunday she’ll be playing as Hearts of Animals during the final night of Texas Gone Garage. Party call me.

ASTHMATIC KITTY & DIVERSEWORKS TEAM UP TO BRING YOU A WHIPS FREE SHOW

At SXSW this year Asthmatic Kitty (home of such notable as Sufjan Stevens and Castanets) pushed the artists on it's more experimental Unusual Animals imprint out of the studio and on to the stage. It went off well, and now after similar events in Indianapolis and Brooklyn, there are two this Saturday, including on in Portland and the other here at DiverseWorks titled Unusual Animals: Houston, Our Ears Depend on you.


The event, which is all ages, free and kicks off at two, features sets by some of Houston's besterests, along with recent Ashmatic Kitty signees Future Rapper and Cryptacize plus Austin's Moth Fight. Peep the set times:

Hearts of Animals 3PM
Future Rapper 3:45 PM
The Wiggins 4:20PM
Cryptacize 5:15PM
Space City Gamelan 6:15PM
Moth Fight 7:15PM

KTRU DJs will throw down tracks between the sets. With the lineup and the setting, it promises to be an afternoon of weird and wonderful, plus with the debut of the mysterious Secret Show series just a few weeks away, it's time to start acclimating to the Saturday day show habit. Get up and get things done early, you've got ears depending on you.

THE TRUE HISTORY OF GREY GHOST – PART TWO: THANK YOU PAIN TEENS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU DID FOR US ALL.

Yesterday we begged John Sears for a confectionery treat in the form of his telling of the origins of the Grey Ghost cassingle series. Today, we’re back with part two of the story, the lore and legend of how the we, now in the Cdrsingle era, came to be gifted one again with such a weekly bounty. The Tale unfoldeth:

About a month ago I was talking to Russell (of Domy) at the last Jana Hunter show and he asked me if I still did stuff. I said "Yeah". He said, "You should bring some up to Domy like you used to do at Sound Exchange". I said, "man, that was a lot of work".

Later on I started thinking about it and I said to myself, "john, remember how you got started? Remember the inspiration you got from buying your first Pain Teens cassette tape from Vinal Edge when you were 15? It blew your mind that local bands were writing and recording a putting out their own music. You liked it so much you sent the Pain Teens a fan letter asking them how they recorded. They responded by telling you they started off with a 4-track and then moved up to an 8-track by that time. So you went and bought a four track on your 17th birthday and you never looked back. You should put some recordings of local bands up at Russell's store for two dollars each and maybe some 15 or 16 year old kid in there will buy it and be totally inspired to start their own band. That would be awesome."

After this conversation with myself, I sent Russell an e-mail with my demands. 13 copies. different local bands. color laser copy covers (if the band wants color, punkin pie gave me black and white images). and most importantly, the releases are going to be two dollars each. oh yeah and i only sell them for a week each.

Russell agreed and so I started working. I'm lucky enough to know a lot of local bands, so I just asked them if they wanted to participate. Everybody's being really generous giving me their music and art knowing full well they aren't getting any money out of it. Some of the releases are going to cost more than two dollars a unit to make, but that's how it goes when you are punk.

Our hope is that at least one band will start as a result of this project. That is all. and yes, i picked the number 13 in honor of the garage band Poison 13.

Tremendous. Sears, though he will blush when we say it, is about as crucial a local cat as they come. The recording, the records, the bands he’s been involved with over the years are part of why we’re here in Houston still – it’s certainly part of why we care. And to think - it all came from the Pain Teens. For us, it was the deSchmog Fairy Tale tape – what was yours? While you sift through your memories (and old tapes) to try and pin down what got you locally stoked, we’re gonna drop some surprise on what’s in store for the rest of the current phase of the series, currently planned for another 13 week run of one band a week. We’re told that the next Cdrsingle will be none other than Pasadena WTFpunks Cop Warmth. Also in the pipeline are new releases from Blades, Hearts of Animals, Ben Murphy (Pop Deflation, Lucky Motors) and Dan Smith (Port Vale).

Not enough? Lance of Skyline Network favs Tambersauro just laid down a few tracks with a new band (so new they don’t even have a name yet) that will be coming your way in the s to the h to the o to the r to the t. Hell, there’s even talk that the elusive Black Congress might put something to tape to contribute. No member of this band could be reached at press time. Regardless, be sure your weekly vigil to the Westheimer/Dunlavy confluence includes a stop at Domy to pick up the latest Grey Ghost. Freak Out.

DUMB QUESTIONS/SMART ANSWERS: HEARTS OF ANIMALS

Every Thursday we subject a band we dig to some of the most boring and typical journalism 101 questions we can think of, because, frankly, we aren't that good at interviewing people. Fortunately for you, however, their responses often inform and entertain and go well with your morning cofee. This week we had the zoological pleasure of speaking with none other than Mlee Marie of Hearts of Animals.

What are some of your favorite records lately?
Lots of sadish jazz... Holiday, Mingus... some Astrud Gilberto... Serge Gainsbourg. Plastic Ono Band. Crass.

Are there any Houston bands who you've been digging lately?
Kable, Rapeworm, Question and the Marks

What's your secret Houston place?
Dona Maria taqueria.

What is the first sentence of the page you are on in a book you are reading right now?
Right now I'm reading some book about the controversial 'face on Mars'. I'm afraid if I post the sentence on here the reptilian overlords might come after me... sorry.

What's the best thing you have spent money on in the last year?
Visiting a friend in San Francisco. I have a crush on that city.

What is the best thing you got for free in the last year?
You know the most craziest thing happened the other nite at The Generic Tribe cd release - I was talking with Mojo and Scantron and my parents and we already know that we have mutual friends due to having all grown up in the Galena Park area (East Syyde), but then we somehow came to talking about one of my dad's best friends Mike from way back, and how he was one of Mojo's best friend's dad, so my dad asked if Mojo had ever heard of the group Wolf Rabbit - my dad and Mike's experimental, avant gardeish band from the 70's - and Mojo was like, yeah Scantron just remastered the tapes! I had been wanting to do this for the last year, but for some reason or another wasn't able to aquire the tapes, and how freakin random that I have been playing shows with these guys who have been mastering the music that my dad made 30 years ago!! So, that will probably be the coolest thing I will have aquired for free so far this year.

What question should we ask the band next week?
What five SONGS (name the performer as well, please) would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island?

What do you and Hearts of Animals have going on right now?
Just made mewsounds with my little brother - it was a one day project we did in one take. Also doing some random projects with my friend Mark - also known as Oculust Sinister..... Working on mastering my Lemming Baby cd for Hearts of Animals.

You can catch Hearts on Animals, along with Panda 84, Wols, The Pixel Panda and The Wiggins, tomorrow, May 4th, at the White Swan.

SPRINGTIME FOR HEARTS EVERYWHERE

HEY YOU KNOW WHAT WE LIKE? Springtime, which officially began yesterday. HEY YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WE LIKE? Good shows. AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? Unusual places too see said jams. Yes, though our heady and virile and totally still in their 20s staff is just as guilty as anyone as sticking to the trusty trifecta of Montrose venues, it doesn’t hurt to get out once in a while.

CONSIDER THEN seeing Hearts of Animals at HBU tonight, where she’ll be doing a set of her fun-in-thee-springtime-sun guitar and drum machine pop as part of the University’s Awareness Concert Series. Totally free. The show is in the MD Anderson Student center at 8pm and also has the impossible-to-Google Sam Jones on the bill.

CAN’T MAKE IT? Then spend about four minutes visiting HOA’s MySpace, download some tracks (SO ACES when bands let you do that), insert into iPod and go take a nice walk down to the dog-park, the vacant lot with all the birds or atleast the pet store. Enjoy your spring – it's not going to last.

PS: After Hearts of Animals, get back to Walters on Washington to catch Dischord Records’ Antelope, along with local kids Bring Back the Guns and Dizzy Pilot.