Stardom beckons

When you have friends, you want to see them do well. When you love music, you want everyone else to love it too, so tonight's blog post is nothing but an absolute pleasure to take the time to sit down and write since it merges the two streams together beautifully.

Back in the days when I used to blog regularly and got out to lots of live gigs, I stumbled across two bands in one called at that time, Strange Folks and Roy Rieck and The Medley Band. It was the same brilliant seven musicians but playing two different sets of tracks and splitting setlists.

After two years of trials, setbacks (thanks to a certain UK Border Agent) and hard work, these seven brilliantly talented men have finally released their debut album under the now final adopted name of joined band...Acollective.


As a huge fan and friend, I've seen and heard the guys in every formation playing music from the very beginning of their evolution (Idan Rabinovici's Bedroom Folk, through to Roy Rieck's Never Trust The Holy Gracious Medley Band, the Strange Folks - EP plus much more) right through to this latest offering which I cannot evangelise about enough.

Onwards, the 13 track beauty was recorded late last year in their native Israel and produced by the quite brilliant Chris Shaw (yes, he of Leonard Cohen, Super Furry Animals, Guillemots, Bob Dylan and Weezer amongst many others fame). What's magnificent about the album and what's been produced is that whilst being true to the roots of the band's humble musical beginnings, this is a totally different sound to anything they've produced before. If you listen closely you can still hear the screaming harmonica solos of Rieck, the mesmeric keys from Rabinovici, the brilliant Sax bursts from Roy Rabinovici, the guitar and bass solos from Shoham, E-Shine and Slonim and the downright intense drumming from Luzia but this somehow feels bigger, bolder, rockier, edgier, louder and prouder. For the first time in a recording, as a group and with Chris's help, they've managed to almost capture that breathtaking "wow factor" that you get from seeing them live.

The arrangements throughout just work in every way. A lot of people don't understand how complex that is but when you've got so many different sounds to contend with there's often a fine line between nailing a song and totally destroying it. In the up-tempo songs like Whisky Eyes and the very commercially pleasing Better Man everything jumps out so vibrantly not over-powering any other part of it's make-up, just working perfectly in tandem. In the more laid-back songs such as Lewknor Arch and Working Title the sounds blend to form a hazy warm fuzzy glow rather than a clash and even in Home Office, a song I was initially skeptical about when I first heard it live a year ago the arrangement makes sense and lifts a good song to greatness.


On top of brilliant arrangements there's also really nice pull-backs to the music that drew me in to the guys nearly two years ago. Turn To Cry is a wonderful Middle-Eastern sounding track which would've sat as a headline track on a second Medley album had it happened and there's even a complete and quite astonishing re-mix of Stolen Goods, the lead track from the Strange Folks EP.

I just cannot recommend this album to you highly enough. I know I like to hype the music I like up a bit but quite honestly, I believe this album will project the boys to massive stardom. They've managed to craft an album which is so uniquely and distinctively them into a commercial footing which will serve them well, not just in Israel but to the wider world.

This is a band about to enter a whole different orbit. On March 10th, you'll be able to get your hands on physical or electronic copies. You'd be mad not to get hold of it and spread the word.

Here's the full album for you to listen... http://acollective.bandcamp.com/

Marking the first landmark....50th blog post!

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

Random and amusing...

It's a slightly off subject offering today but something of personal amusement so indulge me. You know how something often reminds you of something else, possibly not musically it could be a place, person, anything really? Well a piece of music has been bugging me for about a week and I couldn't place why, until today.

The piece of music I refer to is a short Sax solo from Roy "Hamudi" Rabinovici in Roy Rieck and the Medley Band's song Pick Up The Phone (04:52 to 05:48) and it had bugged me for ages why it reminded me of something. Then it struck me today whilst I was driving...The Pink Panther and I do mean the Peter Sellers films which I still absolutely adore!!

So I had to figure out how close my random thought was to being reality...so by the powers of Youtube, iTunes and Video Capture, I produced something to test my theory and you know...it works in a big big way.

Not only has it amused me greatly but I am officially starting the campaign for Roy Rieck and The Medley Band to be appointed as THE band for any further Pink Panther movies, although to be honest any films will be worthless because the brilliant Peter Sellers made them outrageously brilliant and no one will ever surpass that but that is a whole different subject.

Enjoy my sillyness!!!

By the way, if you want to see the real opening, click here to view it on YouTube.

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.

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!

Lots of Strange Folks and the Chronicles of Paul

Last night I asked the fantastic Lucy Rose and Simba if eARMusic ever put on a bad show. 6 shows in and the answer I keep forming in my own mind is NO!

Last night just confirmed again what I always say...there is nothing better than live music. Turned up to what's fast becoming one of my favourite places, the very cosy, homely and relaxing Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm with not a clue of who was performing, apart from Lucy would be hosting the evening so in my mind sub-conciously I set my expectations low...Greg Holden, Chloe Temtchine, Lisa Mitchell, Lucy Rose that calibre isn't easy to beat or come close to...but it was equalled again.

There were five acts but two that really stood out. First up was a total unknown, least to me...Paul Cook (and the Chronicles). As I now know Paul played in 2 previous bands...Brinkman and The Vessels and is sort of in the throws of forming a new band (hence the chronicles bit). Paul has a really good strong yet subtle voice that sort of reminds me a bit of Elvis Costello...maybe more than a bit but its cool either way. Anyways he played a great solo set and I stupidly didn't get more than 2 videos...which was a huge mistake. Anyways...check these out...

Bye Bye Him and Guilt

He also has a youtube channel...where there's some more videos of Paul playing in the bathroom. Go check him out, he is very cool.

Now my other little discovery, a band well two bands in one. So let me set the scene. There's one band (of 7 members) but then there's another band featuring half the actual band (3....so technically a lie....42.8% to be precise), playing under a different name....confused.com???? yep!!!!

I'll call them firstly by the collective name and then for the purposes of not confusing myself...I'll call them by the form the sub 43% form they took last night for the rest of the post...

Full Name - Roy Rieck and The Medley Band
Small Band - Strange Folks

So these are 3 guys I believe from THE Holy Land of Israel who all moved over to the UK a few months back...for the better weather of course...obviously to try and make some good music. I'll start by simply saying that the guys last night were three of the most talented musicians I have seen in a long time. Two amazing guitarists, one of whom simply owns the Lap Steel guitar whilst playing the Xylophone...impressive. The other is a vastly talents Electric guitarist of the highest order. Backing this up is Roy Rieck who sings and plays a beautiful Harmonica.

As a three-piece band they played a mix of electric and part acoustic folk/rock songs and judging by the CD I listened to and added to my iPod today, as a seven-strong unit they play the same but a bit more jazzy. There's some great tracks in there and if you're in London they're playing a few gigs near you soon...check them out.