Another Trip Through the Hype Machine 2004-06

Sorry for the long interlude. It couldn't be helped. I have been catching up with my favorite blogs today and can't help but notice a theme emerging. The consensus is the new blogger platform sucks. Since this post is my first go around with the, ahem, improvements, I'll keep this brief while trying to figure this thing out. Last time, we had a good ol' time evaluating a bevy of bands the online community hyped around 15 years ago. Here is another from a long list I have in my head.

L.A. band the Little Ones had a moment in the fall of 2006 with the release of the "Sing Song" EP. Bloggers embraced them and media outlets like KEXP and NPR touted them as well. I received a promo through the job I had at the time. The press release that came along with it said they were, "a joyous amalgam of wire-thin guitars, handclaps, Motown rhythms, the exuberance of The Go! Team and the cosmic wonder of The Flaming Lips." There wasn't always time to listen to these freebies, but the producer's name caught my eye. I knew David Newton from the Mighty Lemon Drops and had read somewhere he had been making a name for himself in Cali behind the glass.

When I pulled out this EP a couple of weeks ago, I only recognized one song title from days of yore and was quite sure this disc had not been played since 2006. Listening to "Lovers Who Uncover," however, was a ray of sunshine then and remains one today. The Little Ones were compared at the time to the Shins and newbies Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. There is nothing wrong with that, but no other song on "Sing Song" has captured my heart like "Lovers Who Uncover," and those other bands have quite a few memorable songs I find myself singing in my head from time to time. I lean towards saying the Little Ones didn't live up to the hype, but how many well-known bands out there never give us a song as good as this one? I'm including a clip of a remix done by Crystal Castles that seems to be more popular than the original.





I had in mind to do a couple of more bands today, but this new blogger tool has proved to be a more than formidable opponent. Hopefully, it will go better next time.