So much to say, so little space / Bon Voyage Greg Holden...

It seems ages since I last posted, in reality it's been what, a couple of days. I have so much to say in fact enough for about 3 or 4 blog posts so I'm going to eek it all out over the next 4 days, so stay tuned for some interesting subjects.

I guess I'll start with the most time critical and talk about Saturday night's gig at the Luminaire, Greg Holden's farewell show before travelling off to the US for a year in search of his dream, even more fame and fortune, which I might add...he'll get in abundance.

The gig itself was a youtube thing as part of the Summer In The City event that's been happening here in London over the weekend. So Greg was I think the second or third act of the evening which included another youtube success story Blue Skies. Greg's set whilst not containing surprises, was fun and somehow fresh and brilliant. The most mindblowing thing was seeing so many people singing along to Bar On A, Art of Falling - which wowed Greg and I guess those of us who have been at some of the shows over the summer, and it shows just how far he's come in such a short space of time and just how much attention he's starting to draw to himself and his music. It was a great gig filled with a tinge, just a tiny bit of sadness that it was Greg's last in the UK for a long time but filled with happiness that he was sent on his travels with such an awesome memory of the summer.

All the videos are up on my youtube channel, which you can also access from the side bar (----> thatta way).

So Greg's now off to tour with Ingrid Michaelson in the US for a month or two playing some amazing venues in front of big crowds each night and well, his musical journey is about to get all the richer (not just financially). He's got a new EP about to hit the shelves next month so it really is a great time for Greg. The UK is a poorer place musically without him but he'll return next year, if not sooner an even greater musician than he leaves.

Right then, that's part 1 done, more to follow either later tonight...or more likely tomorrow :-)

xx

something for the weekend...

The last couple of days have been tiring to say the least and totally self-inflicted, but I wanted to drop a quick note down to say, if you're in London this weekend and you want to see something worthwhile, head on over to the Luminaire in Kilburn tomorrow night (Saturday 29th) to see the brilliant Greg Holden perform his last UK date before he heads back to the US for possibly a long, long time.

The gig is absolutely free so there's no excuse to not be there really. I can't remember what time he's on but 9pm seems to stick out in my mind.

Seriously people, you cannot afford to miss it!

That's pretty much all you're getting tonight, except to say I'm currently listening to Idan Rabinovici's album Bedroom Folk and will at some point over the next couple of days give you a review of his album.

doing something really cool...

Ok this is a slightly self-induglent post tonight, so I'm aplogising in advance but I wanted to share this with the world. Right now and inspired and helped by someone probably fast asleep right now in Scandinavia, I am writing and singing my first song. Ok well it's sort of my song, well least it will be by the time I've finished.

Let me explain the lyrics, well least the originals actually belong to a global musician, a very famous one at that. They are lyrics to a song never published by the musician but yet I have them and they are hand written and can be authenticated by anyone anywhere in the world. So these lyrics, well they needed a bit of work, god alone knows why I felt qualified to do this but anyways I've started sketching out some re-drafts, working on a chorus, chopping down a verse and adding some chords to go with it and when I nail a chorus and a middle bridge well...it might just get played to that certain someone in Scandinavia who has already had a first sight of it.

It's so cool and well, I just don't want to share with the world who the artist is, because it's kinda special to me and well I'll probably get a billion questions and non-believers, but trust me folks...when you see and maybe hear the song...if I get the balls to ever youtube it, you might realise who the lyrics might belong to.

Oh and as an aside, today I started listening to Idan Rabinovici's solo album Bedroom Folk which on first pass I can recommend wholeheartedly. I want to have another scan or two at it but you'll get an in depth review shortly.

Back to the guitar...

Nite xx

Some exciting links, some updates.....

Ok I confess I had nothing to blog about tonight, I wasn't feeling excited at all so I wasn't going to....until I logged onto Facebook and found a couple of exciting links which I felt needed sharing.

Firstly, ever wondered what being an independent musician is all about and what it takes and why it's important that you get out and support them, and buy their music...here's a podcast featuring an interview with the amazing singer/songwriter, Jay Nash. Click here to have a listen to it, it's well worth it, even though Jay sounds perhaps a bit disinterested, or maybe it's because the interviewer doesn't stop talking and let Jay speak. But listen to the 12 minute mark....VERY exciting news, although I still don't have the EP released months ago....damn iTunes.

Secondly, have a listen to this if you fancy having your mind blown...this is a sample from Greg Holden's forthcoming EP, it is amazing, absolutely amazing and a really nice sound. It's due out in September....go buy his album now, then when the EP comes out...buy, buy and buy more!!! Check out the sample right here.

Enjoy both xx

Worshipping the Sun...

Well what do you know? Today has been the most beautiful day here in London. I actually can't put in to words just how amazing it's been. Not the hottest day of the year but honestly the most beautiful by some considerable distance. It's been really warm but with a nice breeze and not a cloud in the sky and there was a really great urban sunset too, you know sun disappearing behind buildings and that odd way that light bends itself round things and can make even the dullest objects just look totally amazing...just stunning, a day I will remember for a while.

So I was in the car driving home and wanted to put on musically something sun related, just cos I was in awe of what the big ole star can do for us. I had a quick scan through my iPod and had this idea that wouldn't it be cool if you could do a search based on lyrics in songs or song titles and build a playlist based on that??... someone somewhere will now steal my idea and become insanely rich, so it's my idea and you owe me big time!!! anyways I found more songs than I realised with the Sun in the title.

So here's a few Sun titled songs you may not have heard of which you can have a look at/listen to and well they're not necessarily happy songs, in fact they're probably all right downers but hey the sun is why we're all here scientifically speaking, it's a huge source of inspiration...so let's give those constant raging gases, heat and light a bit of worship for making life possible and well, delivering us sweet, sweet crazy summers days that just take that little bit of breathe away from us all...

Brendan James - The Sun Will Rise
Cary Brothers - Bottled The Sun
Kid Lightning (Dave Gibbs) - Sunshine and Cinammon
Gin Blossoms - California Sun
Hafdis Huld - Who Loves The Sun
Howie Day - Standing In The Sun
REM - Around The Sun
Tonic - Sunflower
Toploader - Following The Sun
Vertical Horizon - Sunshine

I wonder how many songs on iTunes have the word Sun in it...hmmm too many I reckon and something I shouldn't worry my mind with at the time...

Nite all xxx

Walk away, come back and try again...

Hello world :-)

I just typed a massive long blog, something happened and i got logged out, it didn't autosave past the first 3 lines and well now those words are gone forever and it's getting late and well by the time i remember it all, I'll be fast asleep. So in condensed form...I noticed a lot more of you are popping by to see what i'm on about on a daily basis...hi to you all. It's really cool that you're stopping by, it means we have musical tastes which at least partially match which is really cool and by proxy makes you cool too, at least in my eyes and i hope you're buying into my vision about sharing music and the brilliance of live music.

Now I love the idea you all pop by but I want you to communicate a bit more, give me your thoughts on what i'm talking about, give some recommendations, tell me when i'm wrong, tell me when I'm right. you can do it in the comments section at the end of each post but i guess some of you probably feel a bit uneasy doing this, or maybe don't realise you can, so I've decided to give you another medium to get in touch...via the power of email: mrrichmuk@googlemail.com - so now you have no issue...go on, come say hi, I won't bite :-)

I'm working on a cool idea at the moment which will need you all to get involved. I can't say what it is yet cos I don't know if it can be done and if I can commit to it but get ready for something a bit novel.

Right now onto the music which is what we're all here to discuss. Ever get an album where you think "bahhhhhhh that's ok, nothing special, not as good as i hoped, move on"? I had that with an album I've had for about 7 months which for some reason I recently forced myself to give another airing to. The album in question is Emerson Hart's debut solo album Cigarettes and Gasoline. For those of you who don't know, Emerson is also member of the US band Tonic (which also includes Jeff Russo of Low Stars fame). So I gave the album another airing and I found it was much better than I originally thought, a lot better in fact it was actually a very good album, to the point that the good songs seem great, in particular "Flyin" which is an awesome track. Check out the video and the studio track is on Emerson's myspace page.

What was the last album/artist that did that to you? Drop me a comment or an email, I'd love to know.

Right then, take 2 complete, shorter, less wordy and not as good but you get the idea and now I'll try and get this weary head and the pillows acquainted for the night.

happy weekending peoples xx

Maybe a bit of a flat Release from Sister Hazel???

Ok I guess since I started blogging its all been really positive, apart from the French hip hop, electric guitarist idiot from a few weeks ago at the Road Trip that needs to be locked up for what he did. But tonight in this short blog, and I mean short, I'm going to break a bit with tradition and give something a cautious thumbs down and I feel really guilty for doing this because my depth of research shows that I am probably in no position to judge.

One of my favourite finds from last year was Florida Rock band Sister Hazel. I quickly acquired all their albums including their live acoustic set and fell in love with a lot of the tracks. They're a talented bunch of musicians with a nice sound and some great songs, a few "that cut just a little too deep" (that's a line from Mrs Potters Lullaby which is a Counting Crows song - as well as a line in my blog...awesome connection).

So for months they've been building up to their new album Release, I think I saw the first promos on Facebook and on their Myspace back in April, and well I got a bit excited as I guess my musical attention has been turned elsewhere over the past few months. So the album comes out this week and here's where the caveate lies...I heard 30 second samples of each track on the iTunes store and you know, I wasn't impressed. Before you judge my musical judgement, let me tell you why not. Each Sister Hazel album has been slightly different from their last (musically the sounds change so much between albums right the way through from their self-titled debut album through Fortress and Lift, etc). Every time there's been something that makes you think, wow that's a new direction, that's a bit different, that's fresh....sort of in the way that Counting Crows can produce an album like Recovering The Satellites which is quite heavy and electric musically and then throw out This Desert Life (musically in my opinion the best album they have ever produced) which has a very different sound to it.

Release just didn't give me that feeling and you can usually get that in a few seconds. It seems like a solid album and the songs could probably nicely fit into any of their other albums comfortably. That's not a bad thing but I guess I hoped they'd continue evolving and well maybe just maybe they've found their limit and I'm getting picky. As I said I heard 30 second clips and I will get hold of a copy but it's just a bit underwhelming. I wonder what other people think...

Shorter tonight as promised and after a marathon video uploading session last night, I am off to bed early....Ciao people xxxx

Final thoughts on the past 3 weeks...

May and early June belonged to Counting Crows, June and early July belonged to Greg Holden and the last 4 weeks firmly to 7 of the most amazingly talented musicians from Israel. You know by now you're probably sick and tired of me blogging about Roy Rieck and The Medley Band or Strange Folks but just indulge me for one last time - for the moment, just because as a set of musicians, they deserve just one more shot of attention.

It's rare today that you find something musically that sounds so fresh. 90% maybe more of what you hear you kind of think "oh man, they're good, they sound a bit like.........". that's not a bad thing, not every musician or band can have his/her/their own sound and if the comparison is good all the better but it makes it so great when you find something that doesn't sound like anything else, that has its own sound - ladies and gents, these guys are that unique sound.

Last night's double-header Strange Folks / Roy Rieck and The Medley Band farewell gig at The Slaughtered Lamb was just brilliant. A great way for the guys to sign off what's been a brilliant UK stay - if the last 3 weeks of personal experience are anything to go by plus the volume of CD sales last night.

And what makes it even more amazing is that I keep finding new things musically about these guys that just wows me. They are technically as musicians nothing short of amazing...I know I've said that before and maybe it's getting boring, but it's valid so I'll say it again and again till you all believe it and buy their albums. What I found out last night much to my absolute amazement is the depth of how amazing a set of musicians they are, they just keep surprising over and over again.

For example, you can't help but be envious of anyone who sings, plays the guitar brilliantly, can play the lap steel whilst playing the xylophone and is a classically trained concert pianist - how Idan can do all that is way beyond me and now he's adding to that the pedal lap steel. For one person to have that much musical talent is just unfair. But it extends right the way through the band from Roy's Harmonica all the way down to Nadav on the drums and Hamudi on the Saxophone.

So for those of you in Israel who are heading to see Okkervil River next month, do yourselves a big favour and get to the venue early, get a beer and get inside and watch these guys, then buy the CDs and well you'll see where I've been coming from for the past 3 weeks.

"Guys - thank you for the CD, for the warmth and friendship and for the amazing music. See you in October and keep in touch!!!"

Right then, I promise not to mention anymore about the bands just for the moment. So I'm going to move on to something else. Playing after the guys last night was a band called Animal Kingdom who are signed to Warner Bros (who incidentally REM are signed to - that's not impressive as a fact in the slightest I know, but I thought I'd throw a bit of trivia out there). Anyways, they've recently been supporting Snow Patrol and they played a good set. They're still a bit raw and there's something quite newish about them but they have a nice slightly raw sound and a distinctive vocal which is really good. They have a single out now called Tin Man, which I bought last night and they have an album coming out in September. Well worth a listen to and if nothing else, have a look at the video header on their myspace for Tin Man which is seriously impressive.

Oh and one final exciting tidbit for tonight. I've decided with my videos to go a bit more upmarket with the production values...ok slight bend of the facts. You'll notice if you take a look on the latest videos I added to YouTube that I've started adding title sequences to the beginning and end of each video. I don't know why I decided to do that but it just seems to be quite cool and I guess helps give the musician a bit more publicity in case the casual viewer doesn't see or can't be bothered to view the info in the sidebar. It does throw up a bit of a problem though...I have to be extra careful now to make sure that the titles match the song and as I just found out, I made 1 mistake already...so a bit more attention to detail than normal is needed in Adobe Premiere Pro.

On that note, from a hot and humid London and from a man who's thighs are burning from an overheating laptop and who has rambled on long enough, I'm done for tonight.

Night night people, wherever you may be!

Rich xx

Wow...just wow!

It's odd. A couple of months ago, I started blogging, I have no idea why, I guess I just wanted to put down somewhere my thoughts and feelings about music to go along with my videos on youtube.

I checked the hit counter today and it's gone over the 200 mark today and shot up in the past week which is really awesome. I haven't yet worked out if it's the same 1 person other than me viewing the blog over and over or if it's lots of you but a big thanks for stopping by and reading whatever you've found...rest assured, I have loads more to say. Also thanks to Roy Rieck who I know published a link to my blog on his MySpace site.

I think I started two months ago by moaning about the lack of synchronisation between Itunes stores around the world...two months on, I'm moaning still. I just want Jay Nash's EP, is it so hard for you people to stick it on the store? Just get this into some perspective Itunes people whoever you might be and the music industry as a whole, you don't want people to illegally download music, well make it available so people can pay for it when they want it. I want to pay for this EP, give me the means to do it will you please?!?!?!

Right onto the next bit of news, the last post I said that the Strange Folks / Roy Rieck and the Medley Band were heading back to Israel to support a band "something river", having forgotten what the "something" was....I can now confirm it's Okkervil River. I still haven't a clue who they are but I will add it to my homework list.

And finally...(for those of you in the UK, I feel very Trevor MacDonald like right now and for those of you who haven't a clue, this will explain - just the first 4 seconds!)

Well through the power of the internet, (which I believe we take for granted) I have found many things and through those things I have found people around the world who share in the things I enjoy and consequently made friends with these people. One is a very recent friend who I sort of met without ever saying hi to, but who shares some of the same musical tastes as me and is also a big fan of the mighty Greg Holden. Her name is Kamila and well, this evening I found a cover version of hers of Greg's song Bar On A. You have to see it, she has such a sweet and beautiful voice.

Right, it's getting very, very late, you've had a mixed post tonight...a moan, a recommendation and I've cleared up a few minor details and found myself some more homework to do.

Thanks again for stopping by and feel free to drop me a message on here, youtube or whatever.

Night all xx

"We like to see how many people we can fit on a stage at any one time..."

...says Idan Rabinovici of Strange Folks...."the most we've ever managed is 16, tonight there's just 7."

And 7 works just fine for me, it's a good number, it sounds good on paper, it sounds awesome to the ear (although I'd love to see 16 of them play together). It was a fantastic show last night, its a simple as that.

Before I delve further, today I wrote out on a postit note all the things I wanted to put in the blog tonight, and I left it on my desk in the office...so I'm working off the memory banks, which is risky.

Back to business. The guys played a set of 7 songs last night including one of my top 3 songs of the moment "Jared's Blues". I absolutely adore this song, I can't tell you exactly why apart from musically it's just perfect and it resonates with me. It's been on in the car, on the iPod, just about everywhere, infact as I type this I have the video playing on youtube. It seems from the video that the place was dead in this video but when they broke out into Thinking Cap, the place seemed to completely change with people dancing all over the place. Videos of the entire set are on my youtube channel (which is in the sidebar - i love writing that, I sound like a pro).

The real shame of the evening was that the set went by so quickly. Half an hour just doesn't seem long enough, and the camera had plenty of room for more videos and the battery was up for the challenge too.

As my friend big Dave S said last night, "some raw bands beat the hell out of their instruments trying to outplay the rest of the band, these guys are just so comfortable playing as a band that it just works amazingly well...they have a great sound." - He knows what he's talking about and I know this because he turned to me at one point and said that it reminded him a bit of Cat Stevens or Yusuf as he's now known. Turns out the gig guide on this website agrees.

So I knew going last night, that it was going to be their last gig in London, but now I know why. They're heading back to Israel to act as support to an American band who are touring there next month (the name escapes me, I think it was something...river - I needed a postit note then too). What I didn't know was that the guys had to go back because of visas too. That's sad in a big way, but Idan and Roy tell me they'll be back in the late Autumn / early Winter and that is great news.

So from a humble fan to a great set of musicians...guys thank you so much for 3 brilliant nights of music and two brilliant CDs. Safe trip back to the holy land and see you in a few months.

Musically this last few weeks has really proved my point, if you don't go out and listen to live music and support it, well then there's a good chance you'll miss out on great music, just as I might have had I opted not to make it to Monkey Chews that night.

Night all xxx

PS. - I can now clarify something that people keep asking me about the whole Roy Rieck and the Medley Band and Strange Folks two bands in one thing. Here's the crack, its exactly the same set of guys, except the lead singers alternate between Roy Rieck (Medley Band) and Idan Rabinovici (Strange Folks) AND yes, they play two different sets of music and they actually sound somewhat different.

Never leave home without...

I have a confession to make. Last night I made a bit of a fuck up, I let people down, I maybe even failed the world...I went out and left the camera at home. To be fair, I didn't go out with the intention of seeing any music, it was supposedly a drinking night and it just so happened that three of us ended up in the Bar Music Hall in Shoreditch and they had several live acts.

So what I'm trying to say is, there was music, I didn't video it so I can't accurately share with you through the power of youtube what I saw, so you'll have to do some more of the work this time...sorry!!

First up was a girly called Thea Ford who sort of reminded me a bit of Sheryl Crow meets Avril Lavigne meets Alanis Morrisette with perhaps even a bit of Shakira thrown in. She played with a largeish ensemble of guitars, keyboards, drums and two backing singers. A nice set if a little dampened by an over aggressive bass through the sound system. Anyways all of this comes to you from the memory banks and the little flyer sitting next to me. She has an album coming out very soon called "Monkey to the West" which she's launching at the Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush on 21st August. Check her out, she's not bad at all.

Then we saw a band called goodtimes goodtimes who had a nice sound and some outstanding guitars, 3 maybe 4 of them. I can't really say much about them apart from they put together a nice set, sort of reminded me in places musically of, dare I say, Coldplay (who I loathe) mixed with Toploader meets the influences of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, blah blah blah blah I'm name dropping bands now. So anyways, they were good too.

There were a couple more acts but couldnt tell you who or what as we moved on to another place shortly after, but damn am I sorry I didn't take the camera with.

Anyways excitingly tonight I'm off to see Strange Folks play the Hope and Anchor in Angel, now the camera will be in tow...fact!

Wherever you are, have a good day :-)

Peace x

Sublime to ridiculous...

So Wednesday night I went to see Roy Rieck and The Medley Band play at the Road Trip. They were as it turned out last on / the headline act and absolutenly nailed what was a brilliant set. There's videos from their set on my youtube channel (which you can also access from the links panel on the right).

Before Roy and the guys came on, there were 3 other acts. Two were solo female musicians who put on nice sets but were seemingly easily forgettable I guess due to the noise in the place. That forgettable I didnt even get a name for either.

However what caught my eye for the wrong reason was something abhorent. This guy turned up on stage with what I can only describe as the worst act ever. To put this into perspective, Simon Cowell would have taken out a shot gun and plowed this buffoon down if he'd appeared on a talent show. This guy turned up with a loop recorder, electric guitar and a his own personal beat box and played a routine he described as "I improvise everything, I get up and I have no idea what I'm going to play". It was awful to say the least, I had no idea what he was playing either...some people really need to be told that music isn't for them and they need to go and get a proper job. I wish I had taken a video just to show people what music isn't except space was running short on the camera and I thought I'd save it for Roy and the boys.

So I learnt another valuable lesson on Wednesday night...not all unheard of musicians need to be heard!!

Two days, two gigs...

Tomorrow I'm embarking on a first, two gigs back to back...(swigging on a drink I sound so pretentious) infact I almost sound like the rock star, yet all I'm doing is standing and watching, drinking and capturing some songs on camera...still it's hard work in my book ok?!?!

First up is a night with the newly found and much listened to Roy Rieck and the Medley Band playing at the Road Trip in Shoreditch (incorporating Strange Folks...I still can't get my head around that one, I will try and get that one nailed tomorrow night with a quick chat with Roy or Idan). So that will be very cool indeed.

Thursday night will be a trip back to the cool house that is Monkey Chews to go and see yet another eARMusic night...I really must buy one of their season tickets and save myself a fortune. All I know is that Kicaberry are playing. I briefly saw these guys (well guy and girl to be precise) once back in early July when they played a set after Greg Holden and Chloe Temtchine.

So the camera will be on double overtime this week and there's a few minor and major logistical problems trying to clear the camera down from Wednesday night for Thursday's onslaught. I haven't yet figured out how but I need to find 4 to 6 hours that don't exist to get the vids off and process them...challenges...but nice challenges.

Anyways that isn't even remotely close to a recommendation, a review or anything more than a random splurge so to balance it out nicely...

I've been sitting here listening via myspace to a band called The Wishing Well. Never heard of them and I actually don't know how I stumbled across them. But their music is quite nice, nothing standoutishly brilliant but nice and quite mellow I like it, maybe not enough to think "damn I need this record" but it's good. Actually in continuing to listen I can sort of see a distant, very distant similarity to Five for Fighting (not in the vocals) but just the music itself, I can imagine Jon's voice belting over the top...now there's a band I haven't heard anything from for years...time to dig the CDs out, although I see I've missed 2 or 3 albums....hmmm.

Apparently they're a bunch of Aussies, thus proving that there is something better than Kylie, Jason and Savage Garden on the other side of the world.

Anyways there's an offering of a review...and now I get to the end I remember how I found The Wishing Well...they're playing a gig on Saturday night with Roy Rieck and The Medley Band...

Night night you random visitors whoever and wherever you may be xx


PS - Oh shit, I almost forgot something exciting, Will Hoge has put up on his myspace player the title track from his new album which is called "The Wreckage"....the song and the album. Check it out!