A place where I'll review gigs, talk about the music I like and I'm listening to and perhaps some other music and non-music related subjects...Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/mrrichmuk
One of the most fun things about going out to a gig is finding new music that you didn't know existed that you really like. Today's recommendation comes from one of the last gigs I went to back at the end of May where I discovered James McKenzie and The Aquascene (see my previous blog entry for more detail).
Anyhow, James and the band have recently released a new 4-track EP which I was rather lucky to get my hands on. So what can I tell you? I'm a sucker for strings and guitars together, a real sucker - there's something deeply entrancing about the two sounds together and on this little collection, there's plenty of that mix.
The EP shows a band still very young in its development with much progress to make but with a clearly defined musical statement of intent. The concept of the band definitely works, not just because I say so, but because the music is in its own right pretty interesting. Align with that some very well written lyrics and you get a potentially winning formula.
Each of the songs on the EP stands up to the next very well and for me the band hit the absolute head of the nail with Boat Song, the last track on the EP. Occasionally something musical leaves me silenced by it's brilliance and this track is one of those. I think it's the strings that make the song really leap out but it messed my thought processes around so much that I had to listen to it a couple more times when I first heard it.
The EP is well worth a punt. Accept it for what it is and you'll be pleasantly amazed. Bear in mind this is a band still clearly quite green, in need of a bit of fine tuning (both in terms of instrumentation and vocals) and a good producer and you won't be let down. Look at the EP more as a concept for the future, I suspect the next instalment might be quite brilliant.
I'd strongly recommend you check it out! Oh and I almost forgot, it comes in CD format in a paper bag CD case. I can't describe it any better than that, buy one and you'll probably think it's cool like I do!
By the way I can't find a link to buy the EP but once I post this, I'm sure James will either give me a URL or post a reply with a link!
Ok no this hasn't become some strange sex blog (although it'd probably get more views). Tonight you're going to get two blog posts...why, because I can!
First up, lets wind the clock back to the end of May and Greg Holden's launch gig at The Bedford in South London. Admittedly I was there to see Greg but actually (and it pains me to say it and he'll probably not thank me for saying it) it turned out that even his rounded performance was upstaged by the two acts that preceeded him.
First up was James MacKenzie and the Aquascene. Usually a Scottish 6 piece band, James travelled down with just a violinist but the two of them put on an incredible set. You all know I've got a thing for strings, there's something uniquely brilliant about a violin or cello accompanying a guitar.
There's some tracks here and if I were you I'd take a listen. They're still quite green as a band in many senses but you get the feeling there's a bag of talent which will only mature and get a lot better over the next year or so.
Next up and the real show stealer was Brighton-based Fellow Stranger a Folky/Rock band comprising former singer/songwriter Luke Sital Singh. These guys were a real showstopper. Incredibly emotive vocals (some of the best I've heard in years), brilliantly crafted songs, amazing 3-part harmonies and an array of instruments and sounds that combine to form a brilliant sound. There's nothing original about the band but yet they stand out...because they're that bloody good.
Even the girlfriend enjoyed the set so much that she bought a copy of the CD for herself...and one for me for my birthday. The CD is a 5-track live EP and it shows the band at their very best. I don't know if you can buy the CD or the EP online and quite frankly I'm not going to do all the work for you.
But...what I will do is give you the videos from the gig that night, I'd suggest you invest your time and watch the whole thing...you'll see where I'm coming from on both those recommendations. Make sure you watch both parts!
OK tonight's musical voyage is the first of a double header of FREE music? Holy eff...FREE music Rich, wow that's a revelation, it's called torrents, filesharing and ripping...get with the programme man!
No, no, no this genuinely is FREE music, legally free, not stealing it free, not doing it to make a statement to big record labels free, not denying a musician the right to earn a living free...just plain old FREE music from musicians wanting to share their art with the world.
So the first offering is from the incredible Joey Ryan. Joey recently announced his semi-retirement from music...well as a soloist and has decided to play exclusively with the equally brilliant Kenneth Pattengale. They sound incredible together see below for proof.
Anyways, Joey has decided that to celebrate his retirement, he's made all his music from the past two years FREE...yes FREE. You can download his last EP and full album from www.joeyryan.net There's the option to donate some money should you choose to...I think you should personally, put a value on your appreciation of what you're listening to, even in these difficult times! If you don't want to do that, at least add your email address to the mailing list.
You'll also see a link to buy/donate towards the live album with Joey and Kenneth, so just to whet your appetite for that one...
What about the preacher, did he download it for free? No kids, not only did I buy both the albums but they were hand-signed by Joey in London last June.
Go forth, do the right thing and in the process get some bloody amazing music!
Hello and welcome to my rapidly declining non-updated blog updates.
No excuses, no idle chit-chat on with what we're all here for...it's music review time...cue the band!
Ok so about a year ago I unearthed a little known Irish Singer/Songwriter kicking around the London music scene by absolute chance. Over the course of the year I've seen this man perform a few times and now he's all systems go, go, go or so it seems and has a brand new EP out too called Attracting Attention, I am of course talking about Patrick Plunkett.
The new EP is a collection of 4 tracks kicking off with Hooked On Desire, a track you'd have got for free if you signed up to his mailing list (yes FREE!). It's a really nice start although I have to say I still kind of prefer the original recorded version of it.
Then however we hit the ground running with the very cool title track, Attracting Attention. It's just supremely produced; ever so, ever so slightly quicker in terms of playing speed than I recalled it being and possesses a mindblowingly good guitar solo in the middle of the song from Patrick's lead guitarist Ronan McCullough. It's seriously, seriously good!
Next up we hit Millionaire, a track which until I heard it recorded I was really impartial to but it really does work and the arrangement works well. The final track "Come Home Tonight" is a slow, very laid back rock ballad which again works amazingly well with Patrick's rounded and well polished vocals.
All in all it's a very strong release, not as daring as he might have been tempted to take it, not mindblowingly incredible but a really big stride forward from New Beginnings and another mighty fine and strong release.
The bonus for all you music lovers out there though is that unlike New Beginnings, this new EP is available seemingly everywhere. I got mine through iTunes but I've found it on CDBaby and Amazon as well.
I'd strongly suggest you grab a copy, you'll not be disappointed...trust me!
...is to go out and see it first hand, then that's probably the single most important lesson I've learnt from this year.
It's odd how 12 months has rolled on by and in truth it's been a pretty ordinary year. Let's put it into perspective, particularly in terms of music...2009 was an immense year, probably the best of my life and in terms of my life as a whole it was right up there as a vintage year. I lost count how many gigs I went to, how many musical friends I made, how much great music I bought. This year was always going to fail to live up to the expectation. But then having said that I didn't help myself a lot. This year I went to a fraction of the gigs I did last year, partly because some of my favourite venues died a sad death (Monkey Chews in Camden and pretty soon The Luminaire in Kilburn), partly because the time just didn't seem to be there and partly because most of the acts I'd been so excited about in 2009 were all overseas "doing there thing" and making their dream come true.
That being said there have been some real highlights and where the quantity has been low, the quality has remained for the most part tip-top high. So to make up for a lack of activity for most of the year I've written (well am about to, a series of blogs which I'll release over the next week covering some of the music I've been introduced to this year).
Starting off tonight is a guy I saw about 6 weeks ago at The Old Queens Head in Islington who was so mindblowingly good, so incredibly talented that it took me such a long time to share it with the word...because I'm lazy, no other reason!
I'd actually been at the venue that night to see and support Patrick Plunkett and once Pat had finished his set and another act had played, on stage walked a man who had a strange aura, a real stage presence without appearing 100% comfortable about being there. The rest as they say is history, within a few seconds of bursting into life there stood before a decent sized crowd one of the finest raw Folk/Blues/Rock singer-songwriters I've ever seen in Samuel Brookes. Note the word EVER in that sentence, I'm setting the bar very high here. Now to set a benchmark here when I say how good he is, because my word doesn't count for much really, he recently supported Ray Davies (lead singer of the Kinks) around the UK on tour. That's a pretty darn good sign of talent?
Samuel's at times mesmeric guitar playing added the most rich depth to a set of songs which drew you in so close to the music you wanted to sit in silence yet all the while still wanting to tap your feet and pass "wow's" with fellow listeners. To top it off lies a seriously big, powerful, rounded yet controlled voice.
After the set, I popped over and in my usual manner parted with a bit of money for a CD, an EP (Helium) if you will of just two songs which in the space of 8 minutes defines just how good a talent he is. "Breathe Me In" is a pretty rounded rock song with some very catchy riffs without being too heavy, it just works. "In Weeks" the second song tells a really great story about a friend who disappears out of your life from time to time popping up and then vanishing again without any reason. I totally relate to it and I'm sure we all have a friend who does that, right?
The only real disappointment with the EP is the lack of songs, I got to the end and wanted more but as a first pass and a tempter, it certainly did that!
Samuel's signed to the reasonably small independent label Helium and I believe his debut album is being worked on in the studio at the moment so hopefully it won't be too long before we get more great music from him.
Right then, I now need to go and think of some other blogs to write.
Bizarrely I find this time of year a pretty reflective one. Over half a year gone, summer over half way done and yet so much time to still make an impact. It'd be fair to say thus far this year I've been down on gigs (number) and definitely down on good new music which means 2010 looks at the moment not to be a vintage like 2009 was but there's still plenty of time and that's got to be the source of optimism.
So on a bright note, last night I went to see Patrick Plunkett play at the Troubadour in West London with his new band. It was a tricky setting with a difficult Friday night loud drinking crowd rather than a music crowd but nonetheless Patrick and the guys put on a good show. The set was as usual highly accomplished and there was already a really good chemistry with the band so all bodes very well there although he has loads of exciting challenges now writing songs for a band rather than just a singer/songwriter and adapting his current songs for a bigger sound. Still I know it's a challenge he'll easily master, I don't for one second doubt it.
After Patrick's set another singer/songwriter came on with his band, a South African guy called Roland Albertson. His set was a much more up tempo affair and commanded that little extra attention from the crowd. There were some pretty sparkling moments mainly from Roland's electric guitarist who had some brilliant mesmerising solo's, although the whole thing was a bit tricky to gauge because the sound system wasn't quite right and it was an extremely noisy crowd.
Still after the set I grabbed a CD and whacked it on in the car coming home. Roland's 6 track Legends Of The Sun EP is an interesting mix of songs blending a lot of different sounds it doesn't settle on a particular genre which makes it ever so slightly difficult to connect with it. Don't get me wrong the songs are good, very polished and produced really well but there's an element of "I've heard this before" about a few of the tracks for instance "Picking Up The Pieces" sounds like it's come off the back catalogue of Coldplay maybes. I'm also struggling to pick the emotive element of the songs which I guess probably accounts for my lack of connection to the music.
BUT where the CD actually comes in to it's own is in the very last track Broken which finally lays bare a bit of emotion and is a truly beautiful song which you'd expect from a singer/songwriter. Again it's a totally different sound, back to an acoustic route and it really does showcase a very crafted and talented voice which finally gets exposed to its fullest.
If I had to surmise the CD I'd probably say that as a commercially viable exercise it ticks all the boxes. The tracks feel aimed at appealing to a mainstream musical audience whilst showcasing a number of different styles so if that was the intention then it achieved it definitely. That sounds harsh, don't get me wrong, it's a nice collection of songs and I got to the end of the CD wanting more which is a good sign but nice isn't always memorable.
Still I'd check him out, when Roland refines where he's aiming his music, he could build a pretty good fan-base very quickly and sell a decent amount of records.
So then tonight from a hot and sweaty London comes the confession of a man who has been proven truly wrong. Let's be really clear, musically, I know what I like. I'm the first to admit it's pretty niche with a few exceptions but I know what I like. So when I find that I have somehow mistakenly made a big error or rather an oversight, I'll hold my hands up and go "you know what, I was wrong".
So tonight...you know what...I was horribly wrong.
Last week I had the absolute pleasure of seeing and meeting for the first time one of my absolutely favourite musicians in the world...the brilliant Jay Nash. It was an absolute delight having waited some 18 months for Jay to return (since I missed his last tour). But Jay didn't come to the UK alone...oh no, no, no!
Jay came with fellow US singer/songwriter Joey Ryan who is another member of what I call "The extended Californian music scene of brilliant artists".
So here's where the confession starts. Now I knew of Joey before he arrived here, I'd heard some of his tracks before on TV (in adverts and programmes), I'd even seen him in a video with my friend and brilliant musician Greg Holden but for some reason (and I genuinely couldn't tell you why), I had formed a rather, ill-founded and wholly incorrect view that Joey was a rather boring musician. I genuinely don't know why or how I'd formed that opinion having never really looked properly into his music so I guess the best thing I can tell you is that my opinion has been totally changed and I now see the error of my ways.
Joey (who physically really reminds me of a younger, taller and slimmer James May, of Top Gear fame...I think it's the hair) played the most brilliantly absorbing set which had the entire crowd gripped from start to finish (videos of the whole set on my youtube channel). Needless to say that alone changed my opinion and was further enhanced with the two CDs I purchased which have been pretty much played constantly for the past few days.
The first CD, Joey's latest offering of Kenter Canyon features 5 songs which are both wonderfully engaging and full of warmth and sincerity. It's a great example of an extremely intelligent, thoughtful and clever songwriter. From the absorbing Broken Headlights which deals with the weather and releasing pent up feelings for someone, through to Permanent a song which as Joey explains talks about the perils of retail therapy and also the trevails of being a musician, the EP is packed full of beautiful heart-felt lyrics and music.
The second CD, one of Joey's albums with the imaginatively and cleverly titled "With Its Roots Above and Its Branches Below" is jam packed full of brilliant tunes. From the opening We Shall Arrive which resonates with me immensely through to the incredibly intimate and personal Like A Cloak all the way through to the fondest of ode's to Joey's homestate of California the album is bristling full of maginificent songs which'll have you hooked and more than keep your attention.
So to the world, I made a mistake, to Joey you're far from mundane, you're outstanding and the lesson to learn is as follows...don't make an assumption, get off your backside and do the research...then make a call.
Right now Joey and Jay are headed round Europe on an all too brief whistlestop tour (if you ask me) before heading back to the US. Go check him out, he really is THAT good! Oh and whilst you're at it, if you're in any doubt, for goodness sake check Jay Nash out!
Peace reigns over a stifling, muggy and still London (and this blog I believe has taken 4 hours with distractions to write!)
So I was preparing the write a blog and then I noticed a comment pop up in my mailbox and it rather changed the subject area somewhat. I had intended to talk a bit about a great week or so I had accompanying Israeli Band (and friends) Acollective (who you must check out if you haven't before) around the UK on their recent tour which took in Sound City in Liverpool as well as other destinations including Oxford and London but that'll have to wait for another day.
See when someone sends me a link, I feel compelled to check it out and I've now been introduced to The Moonband, a German-based Alternative Folk band very much in the same mould as one of my other favourite bands of that genre, Blind Pilot.
Now the odd and slightly annoying thing is I can't tell you much if anything about them apart from I think I can safely say they are based in Germany, there are 5 of them and they play a nice array of instruments...but more than that...I'm just as much in the know now as I was about an hour ago. I can't give you a back story, musical history, previously toured with list...absolutely nothing, in a way its a bit frustrating but at the same time it's quite cool because it means that the music itself is the bit that takes centre stage.
So what can I base the music on...well...a few youtube videos AND the songs on their myspace player. And from what I see and hear I like very much. I'd say it's more of an acoustic laid-back style of folk which has a fuzzy, warm and intimate feel to it, by that I mean it feels like it could almost be being played in your front room.
So that's pretty much all I can give you on this one, I like it, I don't know much about them and you can buy their album here.
At the moment, days turn to nights turn to days turn to nights and my feet barely touch the floor. It's been a manic first few months of the year, some of it great, some of it distinctly average but all in all pretty cool. The problem is that I just seem not to have time to blog that often...which hopefully will change over the summer months.
So as a short, hello world, tonight's effort comes from only the second gig I've been to since the start of December and this one actually turns out to be a matter of co-incidence find.
Back in October last year I travelled to the Bedford in South London to see the Strange Folks boys play a set. Before they played, I was stunned into bewilderment by the beautiful Ragz Nordset, so when I found out Ragz was due down in London again I was rather happy. Except circumstances between the both of us meant that we were both ill over the two London dates, meaning it didn't in the end happen. That being said, one of the gigs Ragz was due to play had a publicised list of artists. Being nosey as I tend to be about these music related things, I searched against the artists and unearthed an absolute gem of a musician, truly a complete gem...in Patrick Plunkett.
A pretty unassuming and down to earth guy, Patrick originally hails from Dublin and has been chasing his musical dream in London for the past three years. His music evokes memories of all the great male singer/songwriters of the past 10 years, people like Damien Rice, Ray LaMontagne and some of the more mainstream successes like Paulo Nutini, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson, only with a harder rock/americana edge. So having found him on myspace it was a true pleasure to see him play an acoustic set the other night at one of my favourite intimate venues in London, The Slaughtered Lamb.
Patrick's set covered a mix of tracks, some from his "New Beginnings", three track EP and a mix of tracks that will hopefully form part of a full blown album at some point in the not too distant future.
Here's a track that's not on the EP, called Come Home Tonight. It's a really great song and I cannot wait to hear what it sounds like with a full band behind it.
The EP has been on continual play on my iPod for three days...watch this space...this man is going places...FACT!!!!
January's flying by isn't it? Whoosh what was that? That's another month gone, can I do it again? Err no!
Still every day brings more and more hope and this month, more great music. For the first time in months I feel I'm ready for an intake of new music. But of course being in that position has issues, my iPod is running low on space and there's only so much music that can be compressed down to 128/44. On Saturday I finally plucked up the courage to install the iPod Touch 3.0 O/S released last year which I rebelled against because I felt it would compromise what little space I had left on the little box of magic, after 30 minutes and several reboots it somehow cleared nearly 300mb leaving me ridiculously happy. So I went on an iTunes shopping spree to celebrate.
A few nights previously the fantastic Daniela Bove (who I met at a Strange Folks gig back in August last year) and a friend of mine posted up a video link on Facebook to a guy called Charlie Winston (the brother of musician Tom Baxter), I took a gamble (as I did with a certain Omer Leshem many months ago) and was totally blown away. It's a video of Charlie filmed by some random on a street in Paris at 5am singing the seriously haunting and beautiful Calling Me.
When it finished I went in search of more music and was a tad disappointed with a mix of songs on MySpace which whilst being clever felt a bit complicated and not really what I was hoping for. But still being curious I decided to push on a couple of nights later having decided to buy Calling Me if nothing else. So I had a look and listen on iTunes and found quite a few songs I really liked. So I downloaded a fair few songs and now I can't stop playing them...
So do yourself a favour, head over to the iTunes store, go check him out...you'll not be sorry :-)
Hello and a seriously belated Happy New Year from a wintery swept, freezing, snow filled London, it's sure cold here and if there was any doubt that it was January, it's been dispelled the last week.
Still it's a new year and whilst it starts a cold one, it's a very promising one with so much cool stuff on the horizon so it's all good.
I'm back to a degree of form with a new musical recommendation to start the year off with. This is one of those odd finds that just happens to be a right place, right time thing. The other day I was checking out Joshua Radin's myspace page, mainly because he's currently recording his next studio album here in London and I wanted to see if he was playing any shows whilst he's over here. Turns out he's not which is a bit disappointing but in being a bit nosey and scrolling a touch too far down the page through the comments I found a guy promoting his new album....so I thought, what the heck have I got to lose?
As I discovered just a half hour later, I had gained...seriously gained! So to add to my plethora of unheard of unknown music which needs promoting...welcome Houston, Texas' very own Lee Alexander.
Lee's recent album Mayhaw Vaudeville (which is available as a free download through the insanely clever Noisetrade) is an 11 track collection of Folk, Rock, Country and Roots music of immense quality. The two things that struck me initially were the quality of songwriting and the outstandingly smooth and rich vocals. Interestingly Lee describes the album on his MySpace page as an experimental album, and I guess that accounts from the amazing variety in style of song, from the very country Okemah Moon through the mainstream Miles Between right through to the ridiculously beautiful Folk number Union Street (which I will hasten to add is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in simply ages and has an amazing story which Lee has explained in a blog on his MySpace) and the equally beautiful Carol Ann (which is just too short at 2:20).
But like some of my favourite musicians, what impresses me the most about Lee (apart from the quality of the music) is the array of instruments Lee uses to create his music..."guitar, piano, violin, harmonica, mandolin, fife, & eaullian pipe." That I think you will agree is a seriously impressive list?!?
The album though is a absolute must have, yes there might be a couple of songs that don't quite do it for you, but that's the beauty of an experimental album. One thing's for certain, Lee Alexander will enrich your music collection, and all for either a financial donation or simply recommending 5 of your friends to download the album....and you know if you haven't got 5 friends who'd absolutely adore Lee's music, then you're either quite lonely or well...you just need to get some new friends :-)
This man is going places...mark my words!
Good start to the new year, from a chilly London...nite all xx
Ok so this last month was a pretty quiet one on the blog front for which I eternally apologise, I guess October was such a big, bold and fantastic month with some awesome gigs including Joshua Radin, Goodtimes Goodtimes, Strange Folks that November was always going to be a lull, in fact I haven't been out to any live gigs for weeks...that's becoming quite torturous now! I will put it right soon. Aligned with that I've been a bit self-absorbed with a project which I can't yet speak of but some of you know about so consequently I haven't been at my communicative best.
But in all of that excitement towards the end of October and the distractions of late I forgot to blog about someone's album who I promised publicly to review...on my own blog...so tonight's entry and the first of a new month goes to the stunningly beautiful and totally amazing Ragz Nordset who is still winning the award by a country mile for most breathtaking and mindblowing acoustic performance of the year 2009...in the made up awards that I have yet to define or get corporate sponsorship for...
So for those of you who caught my blogs at the end of October (when I was blogging lots) Ragz played a set at The Bedford before I saw the Strange Folks guys. She came on stage, I'll admit to being a bit distracted until this about 5 seconds into the set when she began to sing and I think the expression "jaws to the floor" pretty much summed it up completely.
I'm not a big one for female vocalists, call it sexist, call it boring, call it gay, call it what you like a lot of female vocals just don't connect with me....probably because I'm a guy...but Ragz just floored me. So at the end of the set and having felt like I'd witnessed something immeasurably brilliant I sought out Ragz, had a quick chat and purchased a copy of both EPs...god I love a CD....there's nothing better than a physical CD, beats a download any day (I've said that before I think)!
So the next day I popped both onto my iPod and wanted to see if the EPs cemented my bewilderment further and a month on and having forgotten to blog about it...the answer is....YES, they most certainly did.
Little Stings (which is available on iTunes) is quite an interesting EP, there's something quite dynamic about it in the sense that it feels somewhat supercharged with a singer trying many different style of songs and different applications of her amazing vocals in search for the perfect mix either that or just purely showing of the diversity and complexity of her vocals, songwriting and music playing ability.
To give you an example Where It's Gone and You in the Back are real singer/songwriter songs, More reminds me of a classical ballad a sort of Mariah track (although a lot more understated). When I hear Run it reminds me of something very theatrical and the music has this certain Russian/Polish/Eastern European/Jewish vibe about it. Feel Something is kind of hard to place, it's a nice song but I can't put it anywhere.
Finally we come to Breathe, the last track of the EP which is a live recording. Undoubtedly in my opinion the best track on the EP. It hit me the first time I listened through that this was amazing, it was Ragz the singer/songwriter who stole a piece of me, killed it sweetly and sent it to musical heaven back in October. It's just the most amazing song, amazing vocals, it's just utterly beautiful a true gem of a song.
So then we flip over to the second EP, Love You Still which feels like we've seen Ragz grow and move forward musically settling into a formula that perpetuates amazing music in abundance...wow I'm throwing big words out there tonight!!!!
The EP truly is Ragz the accomplished singer/songwriter at her very, very best. Love You Still the title track is amazingly moving, it actually caught me a bit the first time I heard it properly, it just connected with me in a big way, the sentiments resonate with me. This theme of beautiful and mesmerising music flows right through Hold On and Oh Oh and then into No Fairytale which feels like an astonishingly personal piece of songwriting.
The all too short EP rounds off with Mitt....hold on I need to get my iPod for a bit of Norwegian...Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker...which translates to My Heart Always Wanders...no don't be daft I don't speak Norwegian, I did a bit of research and came up with this as a resource :-) Anyways Ragz here takes a psalm/hymn and uses it beautifully to show off her voice Acapella on what's actually quite a challenging track, and again pulls it off amazingly.
And you know what really truly baffles me most about Ragz, is why someone hasn't signed her on a major record deal. It's surely only a matter of time...it just has to be.
Ok that's me done for tonight, I feel I've finally fulfilled a promise I made and hopefully one day soon I'll be able to share some big an exciting news with the world...not quite yet...but soon I hope...there's an oncoming storm people...be prepared!
The immortal and now famous words of one great Jay Nash on the commencement of the Evening of the Feeling Song tour (see video below) featuring Matt Duke and Tony Lucca back in late August. The expression became shortened to TFDI and the tour spanning some 20 days as good as got renamed.
Whilst on the road, these 3 amazingly talented singer/songwriters were invited into studio in Illinois to spend the day recording a number of tracks...fast forward 2 months and released just 2 days ago in iTunes across the world...TFDI - The EP.
So it's an EP of 4 tracks, one by each artist (Slow It Down - Jay Nash, Sex and Reruns - Matt Duke and Pretty Things - Tony Lucca) and a cover of The Weight originally by late 60's - 70's (and then 80's to 90's) The Band.
Each song uniquely showcases the vocal talents of Matt, Tony and Jay but more than that it shows that when you place together three outstanding artists, their musical qualities are taken to a completely new level and the cover of The Weight is simply beautiful.
The EP debuted at #1 on the Singer/Songwriter chart on iTunes and currently sits at #3 which is a testimony both to the quality of the music but also that these three artists have managed to fuse together their talents and fanbases to form something of sizeable note and acclaim.
At $4, €4 or £3, you just can't afford to miss out on this. Go buy it now, you need to TFDI!
Paul told me some months ago that "The Chronicles" part of the band wasn't quite formed and as such the gigs, albums, etc were a short while away. So as a nice little memory jogger, someone subscribed to my youtube channel yesterday and added the videos of Paul to their favourites on youtube.
That sparked me tonight to go and see what Paul's up to and there's quite some update. It appears "The Chronicles" part of the band is now formed, there's an upcoming gig at The Lexington in Islington on 7th December and Paul has recently released 24 tracks called "Home Recordings" for FREE on Last.FM. It actually equates to just under 76 minutes of music...for absolutely nothing.
There's some great tracks in there, although I can't tell you much more than that because at 24 tracks and having only ever heard 6 there is a stack of great new music for me to listen to and pass judgement on.
Go check Paul out, tell him how great he is and if you're in London, go see him on December 7th.
So having gone quiet and having to apologise for going AWOL I find myself having to do the same again having been MIA for the past week. Truth be told I've been busy but also feeling musically rather "constipated". I haven't had a lot of time to go search for new music and I haven't found anything that's made me go wow, apart from the stacks of amazing music on my iPod.
But I found something worth sharing at last!
On a random myspace scan I came across the interesting Speechwriters LLC. Stupidly I didn't write down the path by which I got there and now I don't remember even using the back buttons in the browser doesn't help. Anyways here's a brief background ripped right from their myspace page...
Speechwriters LLC was initially conceived as a cautious alliance between West Coast songwriters Dave Lowensohn and Misha Chellam, who quickly became inseparable and have spent most of the 21st century touring the country in borrowed minivans. They've won countless, meaningless awards, and once loaned Jay Farrar their amp.
Musically they remind me of a cross between Blind Pilot and Semisonic, and a quick search has just shown that they've got 4 albums including a recently uploaded 6 track demo from their album Indifferent Cities.
You can, like me, download Regional Variations here and you can find out some more about the guys and their music here.
I'm heading off to go and do some more research right about now!
You know, sometimes in life we make mistakes, sometimes we suffer bad luck and sometimes we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time and we get treated badly. But when the chips are down and everything seems to be going against us, it's how we respond and the level of resolve we show that defines our character; and over the past 2 weeks the 4 guys of Strange Folks / Roy Rieck and The Medley Band who were let into the country have shown the most amazing fortitude to overcome an almost fatal blow.
Losing two guitarists (Emmanuel and Joseph), a lead vocalist and harmonica (Roy Rieck) would be pretty much impossible to contend with but four hard working and outrageously talented musicians stuck their heads above the parapet, walked the line (I just realised I might rename this blog post - "The cliche post") and produced a string of amazing performances culminating in a rousing, brilliant and spell-binding show last night at The Slaughtered Lamb.
I'm never short of a superlative for the guys anyway but to so quickly adapt enough songs to make a set and make them sound great let alone the bravery to add in two new brilliant songs in "Running Away and "Girls" with such important parts of the band missing, shows the most incredible depth of musical talent.
And if bravery hadn't been shown enough, when challenged by a small but raucous awe-struck crowd to an encore (twice) and after a quick discussion where the words uttered included "what should we play?" and "we haven't practiced any more songs" two more exceptional efforts were delivered which included a rare live outing of Jungle Man (a track from Idan Rabinovici's solo album, a song which I adore).
So with this mini-tour over all too quickly for my liking, the guys are heading back to Israel before playing a few shows in Paris next month and then hopefully (immigration permitting) they'll be back in full force come January.
I've now seen the guys in different guises play seven shows since July and you know what, I am not in the slightest bit bored of my favourite musical discovery of this year and I truly doubt I ever will be!
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry...I actually can't believe I've been so quiet for nearly a week, you'd have thought I could have found something amazing to talk about in a week - there is stuff, I promise you but stuff that's bubbling away just nicely at the moment and it's all pretty damn exciting and that's really why I've been so amazingly quiet, it's that immense that trying to comprehend it all is almost ripping my mind wide open. That big research project for that big and insightful blog post...oh yeah, it's still not done, but rest assured I now need to do that research urgently so it will be done.
So anyways with the apology out of the way and now we've made up and you realise I still love you all, I want to quickly before I head to bed tonight pop together an ultra quick recommendation.
Last night I headed over to The Bedford in Balham, South London (to see the London homecoming of my brilliant Israeli friends Strange Folks - yep folks...they're back - hooray!!!). The Bedford is awesome, one of the two best small live venues I've been to in London (along with the Slaughtered Lamb)...just totally amazing. The vibe is brilliant, the quality of the acoustics and the sound technicians is second to none and the attitude to music is so ridiculously commendable that I wanted to marry the place, it's a shining example of what ALL music venues should be like (big or small).
Anyways I digress and I wanted to keep it short so on with the music. First up last night and my sole focus of tonight was a girl (I never know if I should say woman or lady and if girl is disrespectful, sorry if it is) who absolutely mesmerised the entire room for about 40 minutes the astonishing, Ragz Nordset.
Originally from Norway but now living in Liverpool, Ragz is a singer/songwriter of unbelievable quality. Throughout her set you could hear not a pin drop in the room, in fact the only sound I heard was within about 15 seconds of the first song when the entire audience's jaws hit the floor in amazement all at the same time - audience captivation was taken to a completely new level last night.
I just cannot quickly in words sum up how utterly brilliant Ragz is, as I said to her afterwards "wow...just wow". Judge for yourself from the videos I shot. Oh and I have two Ragz EP's which I'll cover in due course but for tonight my work here is done. Be wowed, be totally and utterly wowed! Oh and pop a cushion on the floor first before you hit the play button, your jaw will thank you for it!
Does anyone celebrate such a thing? I think we should, why not and I intend to right here, right now and I want to do it with a bit of a personal insight into this whole mission of mine, so please bear with what might be a bit of a personal indulgent blog tonight.
I started this whole thing off back in late June as a way of writing down my muscial thoughts and recommendations with the world in the hope that it might spread the love of the music I enjoy not just with my native UK but to every corner of our amazing little planet. I wanted to help promote unsigned or unheard of artists a little so that they become more well known or at least build up enough of a following to provide them with the income and inspiration to keep them doing what they do best...producing amazing music.
The past 4 and a half months have been totally amazing. In that time I have seen more live music than the rest of my life put together, met an abundance of people I am proud and honoured to now call friends, been blessed with unspeakable acts of human kindness and hopefully inspired a few people along the way to go and check out some amazingly talented people.
I think in this short space of time I've already achieved a lot of what I set out to do and I will keep doing it today, tomorrow, next week, next year, forever...because I passionately believe in good music and I hope that by doing what I am doing I am making a difference to someone's life somewhere in the world, be they a music lover or a musician.
So tonight, in my 50th blog post I want to thank the artists who have inspired me enough to sit down and write about them, post videos, tweet, recommend and to talk about them. You are all truly amazing talents and I hope you are reminded of this every day! If you ever for one second doubt it, pick up your music, listen to it and know that people out there love and respect what you do and are inspired and moved by it! What you do for a living matters so never give up or get dis-enchanted.
I also want to thank my great friend Dave who it is a privelege to share my musical experiences with first hand, all of you who have taken the time so far to stop by to read my blog, view the youtube videos, add me on twitter, send me emails, send me recommendations...it just makes me even more certain that what I'm doing is worthwhile and that hopefully you're finding music you can enjoy as much as I do.
Finally I'm going to leave you all with a final thanks to someone who is totally awesome, truly amazing and who doesn't believe it despite me constantly telling her. So to that end and in recognition of my 50th blog I'm making a special recommendation tonight here is a first original song from the wonderful and totally beautiful Kamila who I am honoured and blessed to have in my life...
thank you all so much, in your own ways you all inspire me xx
So I said I was going into hiding for a few days to do a research project and here I am reporting back some 5 days later with absolutely no research done, because I got ligitimately distracted and haven't been able to focus since.
My favourite musical finds are the ones that just fall out of the sky and hit you and this week, I had one smack me so hard it almost knocked me out. Wednesday night with all good intentions, I sat down to research this big blog post I've been talking about for a while but before I did that a signed in to Facebook. Just as I was about to sign out, I noticed something in the highlights sidebar on the home page which caught my eye.
I thought I'd be...I guess, a bit nosey...and check it out, because my friend and Strange Folks front man Idan Rabinovici had been tagged in it. The video in question is this one:-
Within 23 seconds the idle curiousity turned into absolute fascination and I sat in complete silence throughout listening to the most amazingly beautiful song. At first I was so utterly bemused by the quality of what I had seen I actually had to watch it a second time, and after that I quickly stopped everything, abandoned all research and went off in search of some more information on another Israeli talent in Omer Leshem.
This search started with MySpace where further time was spent listening to tracks on the player and then a fruitless and frustrating trip over to the iTunes and CDBaby stores. So with bedtime fast approaching I dispatched a message via MySpace in the hope of finding somewhere to buy his album "Send Yourself Away".
The next morning, whilst I was sitting at work, I had a reply from Omer directing me to 2 sites however in the end did something quite unbelievable, totally amazing and something which I will always be eternally grateful for, he uploaded the album for me to download. I was and still am totally astonished by this act of generosity and human kindness shown by Omer towards a complete stranger...it's mindblowing!
So I immediately stopped everything, booted my laptop up and downloaded the album and within an hour I was listening to a raft of beautiful songs. That night I lay in bed drifting off to sleep listening again to the album. And I guess it was then it really hit me, how good this collection of Folk/Country songs sung by a man with a rich voice is. As an album, Send Yourself Away is so warm, fuzzy and beautiful that it just seems to suit every mood you could ever possibly be in. This is your stressful drive home made better, it's your lazy summer day spent basking under hot blue skies, your red-eye flight, your candle lit bathtime chill out, your late night under the covers, your early morning wake up, your reflective gaze on life, your momentary inspiration in a mentally challenging moment, it's all those and so much more.
You just can't help but be swept away by the rich vocals and melodies throughout the album. Musically there's definite undertones of the great Neil Young along with vocals that remind me a touch of Johnny Cash meets Ray LaMontagne without quite the huskiness.
It's a truly great album and you all need to go and check Omer out, it's music that'll lift you, move you and leave you feeling better and warmer than you were before you hit the play button. Just make sure you tell Omer how amazing it is and music industry folks...give this man a record deal for goodness sake and whilst you're at it, go and take a closer look at Israel, it's clearly got some amazing talent that needs exporting to the world.
I'll leave you with the thoughts of my great friend Dave who described the video above with this brilliant analogy so beautifully...
"I've been taken back to when I was a kid and my mum gave me 10p for the lucky dip. My hand dived deep in to the bucket of sawdust and i pulled out a gem of a prize.
Rich, thanks for the 10p....and thanks for being mum!
A few weeks ago, I sat down to do a bit of a research project and write a blog based on my findings. Since then I've been so pre-occupied with new music that I just haven't got round to doing that research or to even thinking about how to write that post.
So unless something outrageously amazing hits me in the next few days, I'm going "under the radar" and I'm likely to be very quiet. But hopefully by the time I come back, I'll have something fascinating for you to read and hopefully it'll provide you with some insight into something that, at the moment I know very little about.
But before I go AWOL, actually MIA is a better term...here's a cheeky little Tuesday recommendation...and it comes in the form of two videos...oh yeah I've now worked out how to embed youtube in here!!!
Today, my friend and all round musical hero the mighty Greg Holden posted Part 23 of the Not My Living Room series and it's a brand new song written and performed with the great Joey Ryan. The song doesn't have a name yet but I've suggested "Don't Come Looking" and in the absence of a name, I'm using that...
It's awesome, it's a new side to Greg's music and one I truly love. Send him comments, let him know how good it is!
Right then, second recommendation tonight comes courtesy of a beautiful little ray of sunshine in Sweden (yes Kamila...I mean you). When I was a LOT younger, I grew up being swept away by British band The Verve. Back in the mid 90's these guys got huge overnight and some of their songs still rip the hairs off the back of my neck. It was a shame they never stayed together longer and now they're back together they just aren't quite as good as they once were...harsh maybe but it's just an opinion.
Anyways, this song, arguably their most famous "The Drugs Don't Work" is being sung by Terra Naomi. I have no idea YET as to who she is...but a stunningly beautiful woman and an amazingly emotive version of this song. I defy you to not sit silent in amazement for 5 minutes and to not be moved, if you're not, you're emotionally stunted...end of!
Right then, this is me potentially for a few days, signing off, so unless any of you can tempt me to listen to something mindblowing I'm going off to do some research and will report back from the field in due course.
