Throat: Throat

We had the pleasure of hearing Mister Tim and his four other singers, Kate, Emily, Peter and Matt, onstage at the 2011 Harmony Sweeps Finals, where they performed a powerful set and won "Best Original Song" for "Monsters, Animals." Winning the Rocky Mountain Regional, Throat's Mister Tim, according to his website, is associated with a number of groups who have graced Harmony Sweepstakes stages, Mouth Beats, moosebutter (one of our favorite groups), and the 2010 Sweeps Champs Plumbers of Rome, two members of which joined Throat for their set at the Finals. The personnel changes are all pretty confusing, but the music, which reminds us a lot of another one of our longtime favorites The Bobs, is great! There are 12 songs here, the first five performed by Throat, and 6 through 12 performed by, who uses a repeat loop recording machine to sing leads and harmonies with himself. All songs are written by Mister Tim, with the exception of "Monsters, Animals, which was written by Emily Bedal. With a heavy, driving vocal percussion beat, lyrics that are funny, surreal and bizarre, great leads and background harmonies, Throat and Mister Tim kick butt and take no prisoners! Some other favorites are "ala Floyd," "On and On," "Softly," "Full Set of Heartbreaks," "Momma," "Bang on the Door," "Zombies" and "180." The songwriting is reminiscent of Bob Dylan crossed with Peter Gabriel, with a touch of a young Leonard Cohen. But don't take our word for it, have a listen-Mister Tim is a world-class poet and his Throat can sing their tails off and put Tim's lyrics out with style, power and attitude. And to us, and to the appreciative Sweeps Finals audience, that's entertainment!