I’d been wanting to film Team Genius ever since I heard their Hooray EP last year, and thanks to the band’s willingness to brave the cold, and drummer Scott Dyer’s intention to take his drum kit outdoors, the Winter season of Secret Garden’s going just swell. These guys seem to have a knack for writing songs that you sing along, clap and stomp to, so it’s only appropriate that they’ve managed to gather themselves into a unit of eight, even though of one them, Emma Firth, was missing when I went to see them at their rehearsal space in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

After warming up with a few songs indoors, and drinking and talking about Icelandic beer on the day that nation’s government collapsed, the band found a cable long enough to run through the window, so we decided to film the songs on the street outside, right past a pile of trash bags, which front man Drew Hermiller thought was an apt scene for any New York musician. The trumpet, the accordion and the saxophone quickly succumbed to the low temperature and went irreversibly out of tune, but there was still a lot of clapping to do!

Secret Garden is a video series produced by Hooves on the Turf, in which we meet with a band to film them performing a few songs outside the context of a regular show. You can view the full video archive here.

And remember, it’s not nice to embed this video without linking back to this page.

Websites: Team Genius Myspace, Team Genius Official

Where I open the treasure box of goodies that come via email. This time around, three delicate songs, one good-feel, one spunk’d.

“Blanket” by eagleowl

From Edinburgh, Scotland, a song to play for a relentless seedling, destined to sprout, out in the abandoned junkyard. Just like in Wall-E. You know, for all the fragile bits we build our weighty worlds on. The EP’s called For the Thoughts You Never Had.

“Gypsy Curse” by Tom Thumb

A lone traveler’s song where the gypsy might as well be riding the wind and the stars might as well be pirates. Andy Arch’s voice is a pretty sweet match for the crisp banjo that plays over the steady bass drum. From The Taxidermist.

“Take Me Home” by Team Genius

Stirring pop with a little bit of spunk, Team Genius is an ensemble of seven from Brooklyn. This one’s from their self-titled self-released.

“Up the Long Tracks” by Beatbeat Whisper

Of the songs I’ve heard from their upcoming Wonder Continental, this one’s probably the least ambitious. But it’s also the one where the singing’s just so good, “like a morning slipping away”. There’s more over at Daytrotter.

“Meet Me in the Garden” by Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

What a lovestruck soft boy in Mississippi sounds like when he spends too much time with his magnificent ukulele, I guess. From the upcoming album, aptly titled, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele.

Websites: eagleowl, Tom Thumb, Team Genius, Beatbeat Whisper, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele