Tahiti 80 “Big Day”
Phoenix “On Fire”
The Push Kings “Sunday On The West Side”

I went through a little angst about whether to post about Tahiti 80.

The group was brought to my attention by a couple publicist-type folks, and up till now what I write about has been decided pretty much by whim. The apt introduction to the band: “I know you don’t necessarily do new music, but I’ve snooped around your blog a bit and I think you might like them.”

And I indeed like what I’ve heard.

So: it’s my blog, and to coin a phrase, “I don’t care. I do what I want.”

For me Tahiti 80 fits in the context of other recent skinny indie kids reviving an amalgamated AM Gold/yacht rock/disco crossover style–dudes with a residual affection for George Michael, Hall & Oates and Bread (it can’t be just me, right?) making smooth sounds for the now times.

Exhibit A–”Big Day.”

This sounds a bit like the Bee Gees during the recently-mentioned days of white suits, but Tahiti 80 is really scratching the same itch for me that Justin Timberlake, or Q and Not U on Power, or the Scissors Sisters scratch. I’ve already confessed my weakness for music carrying affirmations, and while “the big day waiting for you” in this tune is a come-on, it also feels like perfect waking-up music as I try to shake off the daybreak grog.

So their record Fosbury dropped stateside yesterday. Apparently they’re also touring the U.S.–with a bear suit. (Don’t tell Kanye. He’s been kinda touchy lately.)

Tahiti 80 are from Freedom, so the mind trips to Phoenix, other Francofunky purveyors of Amalgamated Smooth^tm. “On Fire,” off their 2000 debut United (which also gave us Copollatastic hunk of mellow yearning “Too Young”), attains the almost perfect lulling groove, promises “it’s gonna be alright” over and over while organ and clavinet choogle along.

On the one hand, I think there’s sort of a sly undercurrent of real turmoil here, the implication of a medicated zombie of a b/f who perhaps deserves to ultimately lose the gurl. I mean, after all the lovey-dovey, how can he say, “baby left me for another/don’t you know it’s gonna be alright”?

On the other hand, I invite you to imagine this as the story of lovers falling to pieces during the 1968 Paris student riots (an event that the Phoenix crew would have to be too young to remember) or during the 2005 Paris riots (the future at the time this recording was made, if that doesn’t blow yr mind).

If we go a little further back, to 1998, we get the sexy Moore Garety bros, of the Connecticut Moore Garetys (their daddy’s rich and their momma’s good-looking, legend has), leading the Push Kings through “Sunday On The West Side,” one gem among an unbelievable trove of Amalgamated Smooth^tm to be found on Far Places.

It’s really a cute, almost Romeo & Juliet stylee tale of a suburban boy limited to weekend bus-trip sojourns to romance his city girl. There’s even a precious tinge of “parents just don’t understand” on the breakdown starting at 2:28.

The production on this one is minorly ridiculous and wonderful–the song as song has sunk enough into my consciousness that I have to remind myself to notice the flute, the wikka-wikka record scratches, the vibes.

Beneath this wash, just for a moment, we get to feel teenaged again, but with none of the grief.

Fosbury at ArtistDirect. (and at iTunes.)
United at Newbury Comics. (and at iTunes.)
Far Places at Gemm.

Sugar “Your Favorite Thing” (fu:el)
My Blood Valentine homage as desperate plea from Bob Mould and his post Hüsker Dü buzzsaw pop outfit. That riff is gigantic, ironically happy sounding.

Sloan “Sugartune” (peppermint)
A veneer of shoegaze on this one too, but even on their first EP, Sloan’s a pop band at heart. In the inspirational vein, this song is ostensibly about itself (”I wrote for you a sugartune”).

The Jesus & Mary Chain “Some Candy Talking” (psychocandy)
The candy here is something a little more dangerous, as danger’s always been JAMC’s stock in trade. Hell, there’s even a “Waiting For The Man” nod (or dozen) in the song, if that’s not too on-the-nose. Genius use of a few minimal elements to give us that hollow, hungry feeling.

The Strangeloves “I Want Candy” (nuggets)
More of a bubblegum bamboozle than a red-blooded ‘Murican garage rock group, the Strangeloves still knew their way around a swingin’ tom groove accented by sax bleats. It’s a jingle, it’s a New Wave hit, it’s the wellspring of many things…

The Push Kings “The Girl Who Only Loves Candy” (far places)
Speaking of bubblegum, the Push Kings first struck me as indie rock’s answer to Wham!–and you know, for me, that’s a good thing. This warning against vice feels more like an ode to the things we gorge ourselves on. I’d pick out a favorite part–the big-riffed chorus, the disco bridge, the overdramatic breakdown, that thing about “beads of sweat on yr turquoise underwear”–but let’s just say the whole thing’s my favorite. Toothache sweet.

Wilco “Candy Floss” (summerteeth)
Wilco in pop production full-throttle, slathering on keyboards and harmonies. It takes Jeff Tweedy to write an homage to early-day Beach Boys that’s about doubt and reservation.

Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers “All I Have” (falling into place)
Straightahead power pop from the Bostonian who, it turns out, is partially responsible for the song from That Thing You Do. Don’t hold it against him though.

Sweet “Teenage Rampage” (best of)
Bubblegum don’t get much tastier than Sweet, and with a surprisingly long chewing life. They’re starting to bridge from their T. Rex-ier times to latterday Queen-iness here. I don’t know why, but the feeling that their revolutionary call to arms is pure hokum–this isn’t actually a live recording, is it?–is a big part of the charm. Too good to be kitsch, but in the neighborhood.

Echo & The Bunnymen “Lips Like Sugar” (s/t)
Somewhere I heard that, as a UVa undergrad, from outside his dorm Pavement prankster Steve Malkmus could regularly be seen in his room lip-synching to Echo & The Bunnymen and prancing around in front of the mirror. I don’t know about sidewalk voyeurs, but I’m pretty sure I’ve done the same to this song.

The Mountain Goats “The Recognition Scene” (sweden)
Lovers on the run! A daring candy heist goes awry! News at 11! (I want to say that the candy is just candy and that the problems–and there are almost always problems between lovers in Mountain Goats songs, especially if they’re on a road trip of any sort–are for an altogether different reason. But that “hot caramel/sticking to our teeth” bit makes me doubt my reading, and I’m not sure why.)

The Spinanes “Halloween Candy” (imp years)
Unsettling and softly seething, this song reminds that “sometimes sweetness is not what it seems.”