East Hundred: Passenger

While plenty of bands seem to wait until the closing months of any given year to release new music, we are noticing an increasing number of artists choosing to wait until after the holiday rush for January and February to unleash their goods. So would be the case for today's featured music and since notification that an early copy was mailed in our direction, thanks to a certain drummer, our ability to wait for its arrival was nothing less than a challenge. Once received and opened, an incredibly professional press kit was our prize but, to be perfectly honest, they could have simply scotch taped a bar napkin to the CD and scrawled something like "play this" in crayon and we would have been no less excited. It wouldn't be the first time. East Hundred is a five piece from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania we originally featured in June 2006 with a follow up in February 2007. The lineup remains the same for a brand new full length CD, titled Passenger, which is set for a launch date of January 13, 2009. Before we begin our most recent gush-fest regarding EH, let's check out the second track from the album... ready?

MP3: Plus Minus



As if that song were not enough incentive for a mad stir to kick early 2009 into motion, we've also included a video below for the lead track Slow Burning Crimes which is an equally good view and listen for the current direction of the band. After taking some time to experience the new release in heavy rotation over the past week, some notable observations were made and we felt the need to share just a couple of them. The familiar sound East Hundred originally endeared themselves to us with is kept fully intact for Passenger, however, a new urgency emanates from all angles with more aggressive rhythms combined with an enhanced layering of guitars that will surely please most any indie rock-minded listener. This would all be well and good enough for a stellar MML review, but what ultimately sent our thoughts over the top were the enchanting vocals of Beryl Guceri which have become much more powerful as a guiding element for the band. Since the East Hundred website is currently being updated, a visit to the East Hundred MySpace page should be your destination for additional music and information from the band. The next live performance will take place tomorrow night, December 9, at local Philadelphia venue Johnny Brendas.

And now for the video. It was suggested we feature the Vimeo version of Slow Burning Crimes (which is far and away better quality) but we honestly had no idea how to embed it into the blog without sending the width restrictions of blogger into a tailspin... so here is the YouTube version for quick reference. Yeah, the above Vimeo link is what you should view for full effect. Enjoy!