Instrumental Mini-Mix with Joe Goddard, Portasound, MarchFourth, and Sensual Harassment /// The Burning Ear

If any of you are studying/working/thinking deep thoughts as much as me then you might want some tunes to keep you company. Here are some instrumental jams I have been listening to lately. Tunes without those pesky lyrics to distract you but not so mellow as to put you to sleep.

♫ Joe Goddard – Apple Bobbing

Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard just dropped his solo debut, Harvest Festival, and it sounds kinda like half-baked Hot Chip rejects. To be fair, it’s clearly a different project but it just doesn’t have the staying power of his other job. “Apple Bobbing” is my jam on the album. It retains a bit of that Hot Chip flavor as it blends nicely into the background of whatever you are doing. As for the rest of the disc, there a few other worthwhilers but in general it’s not so much offensive or boring, just not a revelation. Joe doesn’t have his own MySpace but you can hear some tracks at the record label’s page.(eMusic)

♫ Portasound – Press Red For Burt Baccarach

Portasound hail from London and have named themselves after a cheap type of keyboard. The emphasis is definitely on the music here as they rip through 5 minutes of rad music without uttering one word. NME has noticed them and hopefully more will soon. These guys need a record deal and we need an album. They have quite a few more jams over at their MySpace but I don’t have the time to listen to them all so someone fill me in, yeah? (MySpace)

♫ MarchFourth – Crack Haus

The MarchFourth Marching Band are a Portland, Oregan based marching band/performance troupe who have a 2007 live album under their belt and have just released Rise Up, an album I don’t have but desperately need. These guys know how to do instrumental music. “Crack Haus” easily stands alone as an entertaining piece of music but I can imagine that combined with a killer live show and some acrobatics it goes to a whole new level. (MySpace /// eMusic)

♫ Sensual Harassment – Daddy Long Legs

Besides having the best band name of the year, Sensual Harassment are killing it with the album art as well. That kind of icing on top of a jam-cake like “Daddy long Legs” is pure sweetness. Yeah, ok, so there are some minimal vocals towards the end of this one but repeating “everybody party” shouldn’t chaff your business too much. The Brooklyn based dudes have two other jams available at eMusic but no proper release yet. Stay tuned. (MySpace /// eMusic)