Mister Heavenly: Eccentrically Super

With a cast that includes Man Man's Honus Honus, the Islands' Nick Thorburn, Modest Mouse's Joe Plummer, and—as a touring member—actor Michael Cera, Mister Heavenly is easily one of the more bizarre supergroups in pop music's history. Honus and Thorburn are the two larger-than-life musical personalities that dominate this outfit, instantly flying their respective freak flags and taking over songs like "Pineapple Girl" with ferocious hooks and eccentric lyricism. The two are an irresistibly odd pairing. Take the gravely Honus Honus-sung verse in "Pineapple Girl" that begins, "I don't desire to be a clueless creature / Just waltzing through the woods, waiting to get eaten." Two Honus lines later comes Thorburn's verse: "I am besieged by the vagaries of power / I'm all alone and lonely in this tower / I'm not that evil but there are some people / I might have to harm them, don't mean to alarm you." It's almost too much: the absurd metaphors, the wordy banter, the violence. But because the melodies and musicianship are so sharp and dynamic, it works. And it's damn good.

Mister Heavenly's debut LP Out of Love drops August 16th via Sub Pop.

Mister Heavenly - "Pineapple Girl" (from Out of Love)
Mister Heavenly - "Mister Heavenly" (from Out of Love)

Watch a trailer for the group's upcoming summer tour after the jump.

Solo track from the Islands' Nick Thorburn

Nick Thorburn, who along with Jamie Thompson makes far out pop music as the Islands, posted a solo song on his Twitter yesterday with a few words about the project: "I vacillate between thinking this solo jawn, 'I am an attic', is total trash or worth releasing. Here's an unmixed mp3, for your pleasure." I'm going to side with the latter.

Nick Diamonds - "Gone Bananas" (Rough Mix)

Islands - "Tender Torture"

One of the few good things about flying back and forth across the country in just a few days is all of the music you have time to listen to. And the listening didn't get better than the the Islands' new record, Vapours. From the Auto-tuned "Heartbeats" to the music worshipping funk of "Switched On" and the reggae-infused words of drug-themed wisdom on "No You Don't", Vapours is easily the band's best and most accessible effort to date.

Islands - "No You Don't" (from Vapours)

New track from Islands: "Vapours"

Islands, the project of former Unicorns member Nick Diamonds, has a new LP produced by Diamonds and Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio) due out September 22nd. The title track from Vapours is a bouncy and uplifting ditty featuring a funked-out bass riff and brass section.

Islands - "Vapours" (from Vapours)