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Great New Eclectic Folk Pop

By aardvarchaeology on February 20, 2009.

i-941743117687444e344742cc8cadd658-Kahchee Moochee.jpg

Back in 2006 I gave Silver, the then latest album from Philadelphia folk rockers Maggi, Pierce and E.J., a rave review. Since then the band has put out a collection of covers, a documentary DVD, a side-project duo album, and last fall a new trio album mainly of original songs. I just bought it, and it's great!

Kahchee Moochee is named after Pierce's mom's term for good food. It has ten tracks, and the trio's signature eclecticism is much in evidence. There's folk, folk rock, bluegrass, jazz, power pop, boogie rock and punk rock on this disc, there's three-part harmony and there's some serious guitar. Cover tunes have been borrowed from 40s blues man Jimmy Liggins, Australian rockers The Hoodoo Gurus and an unsigned 80s Stanford college band named The Druids (at least I'm guessing it's that Lyle Zimmerman).

MP&E are a low-budget outfit -- they may have recorded half of the album in Berlin, but the CD folder is a folded sheet out of a photocopier and the print on the disc looks iffy. But the sound quality -- engineering, production and mixing -- is top notch. Following up on yesterday's blog entry, MP&E is a fine example of great hard-working underground bands who have little to lose from music piracy. If you're into folk and power pop -- Essex Green, Big Star, A Camp -- and if you don't mind every song on an album sounding different, then I suggest you order your own copy of that savoury disc, Kahchee Moochee! And who knows -- maybe you'll get lucky like me and also receive a free copy of the band's 1995 debut album?

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I first heard MP&E on Pandora - the track was "Kennison". Great band. And yes, another example of some fantastic musicians putting out albums on their terms. Nice review.

I also heard them first on Pandora -- "Snowed In With You". Loved them instantly! But I've never come across them anywhere else. They don't put much resources into marketing.

hey there...this is Maggi, from MPE. Just came across this page. You can find info on the band at MPEband.com and anything else you wanna know, send me an email. mpeband@aol.com Thanks for listening to our stuff. peace