Things have gone a bit differently for Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar since Uncle Tupelo…
Mates of State & Bagheera
Because yesterday I posted some tracks from Work Clothes, it got me thinking about some of the other husband and wife teams that I’ve been listening to lately: Mates of State, since their new album just came out a couple of weeks ago, and Bagheera, who are working on their 2nd LP.
Seamus and I saw Mates of State perform a pretty rad concert in a tiny rec-room down at UC San Diego about 3 years ago when My Solo Project came out. I’m a big fan of their harmonizing, almost screaming pop vocals because their songs are endlessly fun to sing in the shower for both of my personalities. MOS coerces such an amazing sound out of just an organ, a drum kit, and those voices, which can also be fun in the shower.
- Listen to “Fraud in the 80’s” off of their new album Bring it Back
Bagheera is a St. Louis band fronted by real-life couple Heather Dallape and Theodore Moll. The couple have been lovingly creating music together since 1999 and just last year they took a break to lovingly create a person. Rumor has it they have a new album brewing also. Heather and Theo also do the whole harmony thing and he plays drums, but she plays geetar and their sound is definitely different from MOS. The love of science is quite apparent, if not just from the song titles.
- Listen to “Long Division” from 2004’s Twelves
- Listen to “Better at Night” from 2004’s Twelves
Fun fact #1: Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel got married to the dulcet tones of Pinback’s “Loro”. Isn’t that awesome?
Fun fact #2: Bagheera is also the panther, Mowgli’s protector, in The Jungle Book. Isn’t that awesome?
This Post Has 9 Comments
Comments are closed.
The tiny rec room at UCSD is the Che Cafe and the Minders opened up for MOS. Actually their van broke down and they were late, so Mates of State played and then Minders finally showed up….
That’s right. The Minders were pretty good, too. What was the name of the first band? They had a sort of biblical sounding name; they switched instruments; they sounded kinda like the Pixies?
Do you chaps just use the comments sections to chat with eachother? 🙂
Sometimes we also chat with other commenters.
Hey, Andrew. What’s cracking?
[…] Coincidentally perpetuating the current male/female duo theme, I have been currently listening to a good-sized dosage of Brightblack Morning Light. Brightblack consists of Nathan Shineywater and Rachel Hughes, childhood best friends who grew up in Alabama, and drummer Noah Wilson, who they met upon moving to Humboldt. I am a late comer of sorts to their music considering their first full length, Ala.Cali.Tucky, was initially released two years ago next month. […]
Ah. The other band. New Bethel, methinks.
[…] I’m psychologically preparing myself for the inaugural Desdemona Festival here in Cincinnati this weekend – a festival which features some pretty fucking good bands in my opinion: Apples In Stereo, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Annie, Mates of State, Enon, The Walkmen, the Fiery Furnaces, Rogue Wave, and We Are Scientists, to name a few. […]
[…] About the music, on paper this year’s lineup was certainly impressive. On Friday I saw all or parts of shows by the Eels, the Editors, Mates of State, Stars, Violent Femmes, Sleater-Kinney, Ryan Adams, the Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, and Death Cab for Cutie. On Saturday, I saw all or parts of shows by Oh No! Oh My!, Wolfmother, The Smoking Popes, Gnarls Barkley, and the Flaming Lips. […]
[…] 8 Mates of State – Bring it Back What We Said Then: I’m a big fan of their harmonizing, almost screaming pop vocals because their songs are endlessly fun to sing in the shower for both of my personalities. MOS coerces such an amazing sound out of just an organ, a drum kit, and those voices, which can also be fun in the shower. […]