6/15 - The Hundred in the Hands

We'll entitle today's pick "One to Watch," because I can't rightly make any sweeping swaths of praise for a band that only has one 7" containing two versions of the same song to offer us. However, I will stick a brightly colored pin in The Hundred in the Hands (THITH to those in the inner circle) as a band I'll be keeping my eye on. The debut single, "Dressed in Dresden" is a thumping little jewel by Jason Friedman and Eleanore Everdell formerly of the band The Boggs. If the mention of The Boggs doesn't exactly prick up your ears (as it certainly didn't mine), it seems as though they were a "critically acclaimed" band that at one time or another also featured members of Holy Fuck, Enon, and Au Revoir Simone - all of whom I've not only heard of but even like to various degrees (a scale from quite a bit on the former, to "nice nap music" on the latter). A little research on The Boggs brings to light an interestingly avant-pop-rock band of the kind that you find pleasing, but probably won't make you faint with joy like a Japanese Michael Jackson fan.

THITH, however, seems to have a little more muscle, added by some very pleasing rhythmic, echoing vocals by Eleanor, and a great B-side called "Undressed in Dresden" that replaces the staccato guitars with some ear-hugging horns.

Additionally, the THITH pair have a pretty nice music blog/eZine on their site wherein they point you in the direction of some good sonic snacks, and offer up some tshirts that may one day give you that "chuh, I've had this shirt since, like, the "Dressed in Dresden" 7" " kind of cache. To boot, the shirt design is actually appealing, so there's that as well in case you also happen to be a fashion forward sort.

And for the thrifty music conoisseurs, THITH gets huge points for making both the A and B side of this single available on their website for 0 dollars and 0 cents per download. So, visit them at http://thehundredinthehands.com/thith-downloads/ today.