Wasn't I only supposed to blog once a month? Actually no, I was supposed to be giving you more free music. Instead though you'll have to excuse this most welcome of distractions. I might be bore you with the back story but I like to set the scene.
Last night I was having a little nosey at a number of upcoming gigs I might go to just to find out who was playing with the artist. I started by looking at who the lovely Ragz was playing with when she next hits London on 7th March. I found a guy called Jack Omer who really impressed me with his Ryan Adams-esque vocals. I went to search for his music, drew a blank so thought I'd check out what other gigs he was playing. His MySpace gave few clues and a Google search came up with I think an old gig but which showed who Jack was playing with. So what did I do, went and did another search to see who these musicians were.
The first I came across was a guy called Antonio Lulić musically as close to perfection for me as it gets. A quick scan of his Myspace page identified he had a new album just out. So I hit the Soundcloud player on his page and was initially impressed enough to keep listening. I flipped back to the original page I found and down the page and found a biog which I think sums it up perfectly...especially the influences.
"Antonio Jorge Lulic has been singing and playing guitar at the same time for about a decade, having cut his teeth in blues and folk jam sessions in the back rooms of bars all over the North. More recently, though, he has been sighted further afield; regularly gigging across London (or busking underneath it), and on stages as far as Europe and the US. Drawing on influences like Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco and Counting Crows, Antonio delivers a torrent of soulful and energetic electroacoustic anthems."
Note Springsteen and Counting Crows - it doesn't get much better does it?
SECOND HALF OF BLOG...
So I headed off on a rapid fire search and ended up spending an iTunes voucher I was given for Christmas on Antonio's debut EP Becomes Unstoppable and his recently released album Never or Tonight. It was quite late at night but I sat up listening to both. When they both finished, I listened all the way through again and then over the course of a week I must've listened to them both once a day at least.
Becomes Unstoppable is a majestic EP. Sometimes with EP's you get two good tracks and two bum tracks, not with this little gem, all 4 tracks are just brilliant. The songwriting and storytelling in each song is absolutely top notch, well thought through and mixed with some truly brilliantly constructed music blending together acoustic guitar, the occasional electric guitar, drums and harp. It's a simple sound yet brilliantly effective and really allows Antonio's gravelly non-British sounding voice to shine over the top of the music. The Girl Next Door and Pretty Soon Now are truly brilliant songs.
Never or Tonight is a gem of an album too, even though most of it deals with relationship break-ups. It's more a continuation of a theme than a new direction by a musician who's clearly developed a lot musically in an 18 month period since Becomes Unstoppable was released. The lyrics throughout are just absolutely brilliant and I find segments in every song relating to feelings I've experienced.
Never or Tonight is a great bridging track between the two releases and is swiftly followed by Now It's Cold, which is a real favourite. I could imagine so many more famous singer/songwriters writing and playing this song - Newton Faulkner springs most prominently to mind and that's a credit to how highly I regard Antonio. A Lost Dog and Made of Stone are really good songs too laced with more great sounds and lyrics.
Track 5 is a beautifully constructed vocal-less folky intermission. The folky theme follows on into What I Need which I just adore. It's a ridiculously good sound, mixing harmonica's, strings together, in fact the first time I heard it I thought it was an early Acollective track. Halfway through the song it changes pace and style in a way that musicians like Jason Mraz manage to do so to great effect, before finishing with that rousing bluesy/folk sound.
Tip Toe is a pretty deep song that leads into Hey It's Okay, an apology song that resonated with me deeply when I heard it, so much so I picked up my guitar and figured out the chords in about 20 minutes and sat playing along with it. The album concludes with When I Can't, another slightly sombre and deep track. It leaves you wanting more or a brighter note to finish on which is actually a really good way to leave an album, it's a musical cliffhanger.
I cannot recommend both releases enough to you, seriously, you'd be mad not to buy them and as they're on iTunes you really have no excuse!
www.antoniolulic.com
www.myspace.com/antoniolulic
www.twitter.com/antoniojl
