On Tuesday I finally got a chance to see Jared Micah and Hats - the band played a free in-store at Grimey's to celebrate their freshly released album, TCHTOB, which just came out on this week. Sadly, I missed both their performance at Next Big Nashville on Saturday night and then at 8 off 8th on Monday (with corpse paint!), but I was happy to see that despite a certain lead-singer's (completely empty) threats, they didn't break up before Tuesday's in-store.
I've been listening to the album quite a bit over the past few weeks and seeing parts of it performed live cemented my love for the record - it's alternately quirky, spooky, hypnotizing and completely enchanting, while constantly changing and always, always keeping you on your toes. It can be a challenging listen, for sure (and like I said two weeks ago it's certainly more experimental than most of what I tend to listen to), but there's something about it that's just captivating. I think part of it is Jared's voice, which is gorgeous and reminds me a bit of Air Picker from Lost in the Trees; his vocals are the most straightforward thing about the album and god knows I'm a sucker for a great voice.
The performance at Grimey's was "fully orchestrated" and included cello and violin players, which was a definite treat. Grimey's shows are always a fun experience and this show was no exception - the full band crammed in amongst the vinyl with their giant cardboard castle and huge rainbow was a sight to behold and definitely added a visual aspect to the music that is still floating around in my head as I listen to the album.
"Giddy Up"
"Precious Needs a Spoon In Her Mouth"
And speaking of the album, I was thrilled to hear that the band is streaming the entire thing over on their site (just be careful if you head to the actual site, cause it is totally NSFW). They also included a handy little thingie so I can embed the player so you can listen to it right here:
TCHTOB is available now - you can pick it up at Grimey's here in Nashville or Grand Palace down in Murfreesboro; it's also available online at DiscRevolt and should be on iTunes soon too. And check the band's myspace page for dates - they have a few coming up (mostly house parties, I think).
