Get To Know: The Little Ones

If you want to get to know The Little Ones stop reading this, look right below and listen to "Cha Cha Cha". No wait. Don't. Download it or…wait…just go to itunes and buy their Asralwerks seven song (as they call it) "Mini Album" Sing Song. Then, get AWAY from your computer, and get INTO your car and drive with the window down, make sure there's not a lot of traffic, because you're going to want to have the wind in your hair while you listen to The Little Ones, and maybe a joint if your so inclined…just kidding officer. That's what I did late last summer. Only, there was no joint and it was their self released six song e.p, with nifty cover art by Chutes to Narrow artist Jesse LeDoux.

The Little Ones have made quite a career spiking splash since then. The quintet, who hail from Los Angeles, seem to mark the start of their whirlwind success with a July 2006 performance on Seattle radio station KEXP along with stints opening for Matt Costa, The French Kicks, and The Boy Least Likely To. I refuse to categorize them as The Los Angeles Times did by saying that they simply make "Happy Music" and should be prescribed as a treatment for depression. Though the Little Ones straight ahead indie pop rock is pretty "happy", it's also laced with airy synth sweetness and impressive balls-out drums. The vocal performance of singer/guitarist Ed Reyes is reminiscent of the best Ben Kweller or maybe even Voxtrot's Ramesh Srivastava. Though it's the sweet-sweet, seemingly simply-though-catchy-as-hell-guitar-riffs over a great chorus that keeps me interested.

It's not a wonder why Astralwerks (who's part of EMI and home to the likes of Fatboy Slim, Badly Drawn Boy, and Yoko Ono) scooped them up, re-releasing Sing Song as a mini album with the snazzy original art work and one extra song, "Face the Facts". With the do it yourself success of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and others, I would expect many more jangly pop would-be indie bands to be snagged up by the Majors. Unlike CYHSY, The Little Ones still have hints of a young, slightly immature band on the verge of something bigger. Their cutesy, not quite Dr. Suess, "sunshine and imagination" image (via myspace and website ) is verging on gimmicky. Hopefully, time in the big leagues won't stunt their already great musical growth. For now, they're just so damn fun to listen to.



Download >>Cha Cha Cha

Download >>Face The Facts

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