This is Mardeen, a three-piece power-pop group from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I hear pieces of Built To Spill and Weezer, with remnants of the Canadian East Coast Pop Explosion in the mid 90’s. Their debut album (Read Less Minds) was recorded by Halifax rock veteran Charles Austin (The Super Friendz, Buck 65) and is available at Zunior.
Head to their myspace page to hear Telephones. Catchy, great lyrics.
Okay, so maybe I missed the boat on this band…. but I’m just starting to get to know them now. Take a listen to Desaparecidos from Omaha.
2003 was their last year for the band (I guess they made like their name, Desaparecidos means ‘The Disappeared’ in Spanish). The lead singer (Conor Oberst) left the band around that time to become the indie-legend that everyone knows as Bright Eyes. They put out a couple of titles in that time though (The Happiest Place on Earth (2001), and Read Music/Speak Spanish (2002)).
The song that really grabbed me (while bussing around Los Angeles last week) was a song called Manana off Read Music/Speak Spanish. I definitely hear that Pixies and Weezer sound in there.