Human Television is a band that came from nowhere, quite literally -- a folder of their music showed up, unbidden, on my computer last fall. Turns out a friend of mine on soulseek took it upon himself to upload a batch of the band's demos to me.

I'm glad he did! Human Television's jangly rock songs are like little bombs that explode melody shrapnel into your brain. Their music harkens back to 80's college rock in the same way that Elephant 6 stuff harkened back to the 60's. Like Guided By Voices' best work, the songs end too soon.

An interesting quality of this band is that no single element within their songs stands out over anything else. The lyrics seem unimportant taken alone, but the music and words conspire to evoke a feeling. There are no build-ups and no lulls, and the songs embrace that static quality and harness it to great effect. Case in point:

Saw You Walking By
I Forgot

These songs seem somehow related, as if they are both random 2 minute sections removed from a half hour long jam session. Both are propelled by chiming, circular guitar melodies and vocals that sound rushed to keep up with the song. Hear them once and you'll be singing them all day long.

They only have an EP and a single out so far, and a full-length album is on the way.

http://www.wearethehumantelevision.com/
http://www.myspace.com/humantelevision