One of my favorite bands when I was 17 or 18 was the Mommyheads, a band out of first NYC then San Francisco. Actually, the first time I ran across John Vanderslice or Tiny Telephone was then because the only website that had anything about the Mommyheads was the old Tiny Telephone mp3 site. They were very hard to track down because they ended up releasing five albums on five labels, including some that went out of business.

I first songs I heard were two songs on a mixtape my friend Colin made for me. They were from their major label (Geffen) debut The Mommyheads and the album right before that, Bingham’s Hole. I branched out from there, slowly acquiring all of their albums except Acorn.

I love(d) their “unapologetic pop” (JV’s words). They had interesting way of approaching song instrumentation without any directly melodic instrument, just a bed of chords with Adam Cohen’s amazing tenor on top. There were so many hooks you could catch a school of fish (or, insert some other dumb metaphor here).

Here’s a sampling of their music.

“I Started Breathing” is a quirky song off of one of the Mommyheads quirkier earlier albums. I love the vocals, as always, but the instrumentation makes this song, from the interesting mandolin to super-fast-strummed string instrument, whatever that is. The harmonies are also very Beatle-like and cool.

The Mommyheads - I Started Breathing (mp3, from Coming Into Beauty)

“In the Way” is an upbeat pop number about the depressing aspects of love. This is just pure pop done right.

The Mommyheads - In the Way (mp3, from The Mommyheads)

“Jaded” is possibly the first Mommyheads song I ever heard and it’s still one of my favorites. Pretty standard instrumentation (good electric piano parts and slide guitar, though), but Adam’s tenor vocals and the harder middle part really work in this song.

The Mommyheads - Jaded (mp3, from The Mommyheads)

“Bingham’s Hole” is an off-kilter pop song with a bass + guitar lead that loop and interweave. There’s plenty of tension-and-release just from the rhythmic aspects of this song.

The Mommyheads - Bingham’s Hole (mp3, from Bingham’s Hole)

You can also pick up a rip of a rare early cassette at this blog.

You can pick up their albums pretty cheap at amazon.

“Love Money” picks up where the Mommyheads left off. Clever lyrics in this song that with a bass lead melody, guitar hook, and harmonies in abundance.

Bonus mp3. Adam Cohen, the lead singer and songwriter of the Mommyheads, released one album under the name “Adam Elk” called Labello. It continues where The Mommyheads was leading.

Adam Elk - Love Money (mp3, from Labello)

You can also pick up Labello at amazon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 8:22 pm Posted by adrian in SF bay area, mp3s. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.