Music is my boyfriend

Why didn't someone tell me ages ago just how much I'd love The Hidden Cameras? How I should just ignore the hype that so offends my contrarian nature and given em a whirl? These last few days I've been making up for lost time, buying old albums and regretting the fact that we're not on the list of whichever PR person is passing out advance promos of Awoo. The embarrassing thing is, I posted a Hidden Cameras track last year with some Rough Trade covers and that cover was of a Clean song. Talk about your 20 foot high billboards. Oh well, better late than never. So now Awoo is officially my most anticipated album of 2006 (due August in Canada and parts of Europe, September in the US and UK).

I'm probably already preaching to the choir here, but just in case, The Hidden Camera are pop savants along the lines of Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian (for those keeping score at home, I'm not a B&S devotee, though I'm fairly down with the new one). And like those bands, THC's music is informed by a gay sensibility. Did I say informed? Ha! Try explicit gay sex! Often anonymous! Play-by-play kink! Water sports! Safe to say these songs will never make their way onto a mix CD for my mom. Not that you have to listen to the lyrics. They often get drowned in the mix, especially on THC's earlier low-fi recordings. Mostly, you're swept away by the tunefulness and drama of the productions. I like to think of a kid stuck in some intolerant backwater hearing these and feeling a little better about who he or she is.

He Is The Boss of Me - The Hidden Cameras

Ban Marriage - The Hidden Cameras

Learning The Lie - The Hidden Cameras

From Ecce Homo (eMusic, iTunes), The Smell of Our Own (Amazon: US, UK, iTunes) and Learning The Lie (eMusic, iTunes).

Entirely different. Actually, entirely different from anything I've ever posted and possibly anything you've ever heard. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but download the track first, then visit Dr. Joel's MySpace.

Ravenous Like A Tiger - Dr. Joel

Or stream from here. Dr. Joel is in fact a medical doctor. And I have it on good authority that he encourages live audiences to roar along when he performs "Tiger." As if you need further encouragement, be sure to stream "Howl Like A Wolf" and "Infinite." You will never be the same.

Dr. Joel, if you're reading this, will you marry me?