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
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 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!
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!
