Since their debut self-titled LP was released at the tail-end of 2011, Cultfever's follow up has been eagerly awaited, with pulses ready to race and feet ready to dance to their unique brand of high-powered electronic pop. 'Animals', expected to be included on their second album, was let loose back in February this year, but has been receiving deserved attention once again since a new video appeared in June.
Brooklyn-based duo Tamara Jafar and Joe Peter Durniak appear to live and breathe music, and specifically show dedication to their own creations with obsessive-amounts of time spent recording and working on new material. This commitment clearly pays off, and is enjoyably evident in 'Animals'; a beat-happy track with no small-amount of cheery synth and dynamic vocals. Durniak's arrangement and production is top-notch, and Jafar's voice moves comfortably throughout the imaginative lyrics from a breathy and sultry delivery of a verse to a sudden powerful call.
'Animals' is an irresistible, groove-filled example of Cultfever's abilities.
A few songs manage to pull me in immediately, when a wonderful intro promises something special. Sometimes, admittedly, I end up feeling that those first few bars were sadly all the track had to offer. Occasionally, I'm treated to a journey that is a constant pleasure throughout. The latest single from Norway's Making Marks (previously known as mylittlepony) definitely offers me the latter.
"Barcodes" begins with a gentle guitar riff that manages to flutter the heart within just a few notes, somehow calling up wistful emotions far easier - and quicker - that one might expect. The male/female vocals that follow are harmonised beautifully, singing of heartache and a return home, and always delivered with a smooth and modest tone.
With an album expected very soon, Making Marks have caught my attention in a gentle and fascinating way: "Barcodes" sounds like falling in love.
The latest single from London-based guitar-band The Understudies may be just a few breaths over two minutes long, but 'Erika K' can be suitably labelled as "short and sweet". The track and its video have been floating around online for a few months now, along with promises of a debut album, but this week marked the song's official release and is a perfect excuse to listen once again.
Wonderfully catchy and fun, 'Erika K' bounces enjoyably with a tale of hormonally-charged adoration. The sounds of the dinging glockenspiel and emphatic trumpet keep the spirits high throughout whilst lead singer Brian Bryden's vocal delivery is spot on.
Our Krypton Son's eponymous debut album went down a storm following its release in November last year, showcasing the songwriting talents of man-at-the-helm Chris McConaghy. With a possible new EP rumoured for later this year, third single 'Gargantuan' was released last month to keep us all happy during the interim.
McConaghy's vocals are typically restrained at first, delivering the verses with a low Bowie-esque ease that then parts to give space to a thrilling jump in register and volume for the chorus - a perfect, and smart display of contrast for a song about the immense glories and trials of relationships.
'Gargantuan' is a rousing, thumping crusade driven by an infectious piano-bashing beat, leading us to a final explanation of its march within the last lyrics of the song.
"And the whole world trembles when my love stomps
And the asphalt shatters when my love stomps"
A stand-out track from the album, this is a well-chosen single accompanied by a pair of b-sides that flaunt McConaghy's stylistic range: the acoustic and collected 'Bring the Flood', and the Procol Harum-harnessing 'How Long Must I Dream'.
Comprised of sisters Karen and Shelly Poole, Alisha's Attic were probably one of the first groups that I ever truly embraced: actively searching for all their singles, and repeatedly listening to their music. Their 1996 debut, 'Alisha Rules The World', is still one of my favourite albums and I continue to play it regularly (and not just as a nostalgic attempt to remember when I was a teenager). Soon after their third album in 2001, 'The House We Built', they were sadly dropped by Mercury Records and the duo ceased recording together.
Four years later, I discovered that a fourth self-produced album had been made available by the girls. 'The Attic Vaults 1' (a 'Vaults 2' was apparently planned) was a collection of previously unreleased songs that had never made it onto their previous albums, and so the tracks were put together as a final thank-you to their fans. Needless to say, I bought a copy as quickly as possible and soaked up the "new" music.
The penultimate tune, 'Stay Will U Stay', is the stand-out track for me and definitely deserved to have reached a wider audience, although it is difficult to find a place for it amongst the songs on their three albums. With just piano accompanying the sisters' always-beautiful harmonies, the track feels stripped back and raw, a sound that is complemented fully by the sincere lyrics. Perhaps if it had been included on a previous release then further instrumentation may have been added during production, but I am glad that it has remained as it is: a tender, gorgeous reminder of what Karen and Shelly Poole achieved together.
As with Nik Kershaw's 'So Quiet', 'Stay Will U Stay' is on the list of music I intend to transcribe into a piano score one day.
Since Alisha's Attic, both of the sisters have remained in the music industry: Karen has successfully written for many other musicians whilst Shelly has also continued to record, both as a solo artist and in current band Red Sky July.
Who doesn't love a bit of synth, right? Oh... you don't? Well, you're wrong.
Describing themselves as, "two brothers and a friend [who] found themselves in a basement filled with old synthesizers and some guitars and figured something had to be done about it," Ontario-based electro-rock band Zords have just released their second song. With an electronic drum-loop and minimal guitar providing the beat and a slowly pulsating synth drone giving the track a wider sound, 'Hollywood' succeeds at stepping into the light a little more eagerly than its somewhat darker predecessor 'Dungeon Master'.
Whether literal or metaphorical in meaning, 'Hollywood's lyrical story remains the same with a tale of lost hope and diminishing faith when once the dreams were ambitious.
"All you wanted was to make it big
Now your dreams have flown out to the sea" With obvious nods to some great 1980s synthpop whilst keeping themselves away from plainly replicating what others have done before, 'Hollywood' shows that Zords have much more to share with us.
When Richard Branson's Virgin Records made its first fortune with the million-selling 'Tubular Bells' from Mike Oldfield, the opportunities for the next step must have been countless, astonishing, heaven-sent...
Apparently not.
The company was still seen as being too small compared to the big names, so signing other groups was proving difficult.
Fortunately for my childhood, Branson made an interesting decision when his auntie, Claire Hoare, told him about the singing talents of one of her sheep. A crew of sound engineers went sent to her flock in Norfolk, and began recording the sheep in question - plus a collection of other farmyard animals.
Via the wonders of 80's technology, the baas, clucks, quacks, and moos were pitch-altered and spliced together to form a single that was released just in time for Christmas: "Baa-Baa Black Sheep". Beginning as just an ovine version of the nursery-rhyme, it follows a chicken-based crescendo with the inclusion of drums and synth and then, obviously, throws in a portion of Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' for good measure.
Oh, and the B-side? "Flock Around The Clock"
When the record was released in 1982, I was still three months away from being born. However, it somehow avoided being thrown out once the novelty had worn off, and so I had the pleasure of listening to it many times during my early years. I recall at least one member of my family finding the song "a little creepy".
I still own the record which remains in surprisingly good condition, especially considering my clumsy ways with the record player's stylus when I was a kid. Sadly I no longer have a turntable on which to play it, but YouTube (as always) provides the audio of my past.
Their first LP, 'Sincerely', provides a bountiful eleven songs of pleasing indie rock filled with great guitar effects, expansive moments of synth, and yearning vocals, but it's the progressive opening track 'Dead, Almost' that keeps me returning. Whilst some of the other tunes may offer more thematically and lyrically - and may well be "better" songs - 'Dead, Almost' is an excellent start to the album. The minimal guitar and light background drone carries us through to the first words, where the instruments then drop back a little, preparing themselves for another go when they will be met by the drums and cymbals.
The song peaks at just the right moment - fifteen seconds before the end - leaving just the appropriate amount of time to wind down to the final strum, and avoiding any sense of aimlessness that could occur with a lengthy diminuendo.
'Sincerely', as a whole, is begging for a listen with its impressive songs, but 'Dead, Almost' stands out especially as a fabulous beginning to Your Gentlemen's story.
If you visit their BandCamp page, you can still download for free their previous release 'Play Their Songs': a five-track EP which includes two songs from the album.
Originally a project begun as a outlet for Aaron Parker's creative backlog whilst he played in other bands, Edmonton-based Cantoo is now a fully-fledged band with a self-titled debut album looming. With a select handful of talented musical friends to assist, Aaron was able to put together the music that he felt an urge to create: free, thoughtful, and with appreciative nods to the 60's.
Generously, Cantoo has made three of the album's tracks available to download for free via their BandCamp page. Album opener 'Send In The Clouds' is a short (1:38) instrumental prelude that introduces some of the band's key aims and sounds, whilst 'Alabaster' is a five minute escalating crescendo of harmony driven with reliable drums.
'Ivory Eyes', however, is the track that clearly shows its 60's influences and gratitude. With some of the finest elements delicately plucked from the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, and The Walker Brothers, the song throws some carefree lyrics and guitar at you, with a slight psychedelic slant - gently encouraging you to lay back and soak up the music. Despite its keen nostalgia, it still keeps a foot held firmly in the present so that the tune doesn't sound dated before it has even had a chance to breathe.
I eagerly await the chance to hear the rest of what Cantoo's first album has to offer.
With a two-year gap since his last release, Nelson is quick to self-deprecate and offer explanation: "It's been about two years since I've gathered up the confidence to make acoustic music again... Apologies if it's not as good as previous or if there's things wrong with it, but if you stick around - I'll only try harder to get better."
Fortunately, there's really no need for him to say sorry. His latest track 'Older Hands' shows us (just as 2011's brief 'Songbook EP' did) that Nelson is a talented singer-songwriter, whose only real failing is not giving us enough to listen to. The instrumentation may not deviate far from a set of guitar strums and light picking but the sound of his voice gives us more than enough to appreciate via its rough, cracking crescendos and authenticity.
Christopher Nelson finds inspiration from the likes of Bon Iver, James Morrison and - more obviously - Damien Rice, yet manages to avoid any copycatting. The few songs he has provided us with so far show an enticing glimpse of his originality and ability, and hopefully there is yet more to come if this young man will let his guard down just a little.
Recording as Night Beds and due to release his debut LP in February on the Dead Oceans label, Winston Yellen seems to have spent the last two years searching for musical inspiration, and then making the very most of it. Despite already walking a musical path with three EPs under his belt, Yellen began feeling that his life had recently grown, "aimless [and] lacking direction." A period of moving from state-to-state and working menial jobs reached its end when a friend pushed him to return to Nashville and get himself back on track. Armed with a loan, he rented an out-of-town house that was previously owned by Johnny Cash and June Carter, and begun to write and record music once again.
The result is 'Country Sleep', an album that seems unable to deny the American roots in which it was conceived. And second single 'Ramona' is a perfect sample of Night Beds' country-inspired indie-pop/rock.
Each verse pleads, "Come on Ramona," with guitar slides and upbeat drums, all of which suddenly fall away at the chorus to isolate a set of vocals laced with a saddening distress. The instruments soon gather round once again to keep the song fighting its cause, until we reach the final glimmers of rekindled love and faith.
Compared to the more angst-ridden first single, 'Even If We Try', 'Ramona' has a more positive series of stops on its route. Even so, the emotional diversity remains and is a testament to Yellen's honed writing.
It would be easy to spend a lifetime on YouTube finding videos of teenagers-with-guitars, all vying for our attention with their cover versions. It's even easier to make quick judgements about them and assume that they are all cut from the same cloth: more often than not it seems that their persistence and ego is larger than their talent.
Trawling through the Twitter and Tumblr feeds of YouTuber Lorenzo Cook - aka Spark Alaska - you may well assume that he fits the mould of his peers. But whilst his covers are mostly average, it's his original material that deserves considerably more attention.
Made available for free on BandCamp, 'Feel The Flowers' is his most recent offering and certainly his most impressive. With the steady strumming and picking of guitar, glorious vocal harmonies, and tuneful whistles, the first minute comes astonishingly close to harnessing Simon & Garfunkel - and in the best possible way. The song soon spreads its wings a little wider with a defiant chorus that doesn't let itself be entirely restrained by Lorenzo's youth, and the lyrics somehow manage to avoid ever sounding contrived despite the flurry of imagery.
In a just world, 'Feel The Flowers' would be the start of a journey for Spark Alaska; signifying the moment when creativity overtook imitation and success bloomed as a result. Whether Lorenzo is searching for a career in music or not, this newest tune suggests that he has a better chance than many, and it is hoped that he continues to explore his own artistic abilities more regularly for our enjoyment.
It's that time of year and, once again, there is a definite slew of Christmas-themed records vying for our attention from all the latest and greatest singers and bands out there.
With that in mind I've ignored the whole lot of them and gone back almost a decade to enjoy 2003's release from Goto80 - a Swedish chiptune musician who works primarily with the Commodore 64 computer (my own personal favourite). Although listed as a 2005 release in his discography, Goto80's cover of Wham!'s 'Last Christmas' was included on the 2003 compilation 'The 8bits of Christmas' from 8bitpeoples, a collection of eight Christmas songs created by artists on a variety of different classic machines (NES, GameBoy, Spectrum, VIC20, etc.).
I've chosen to highlight Goto80's song because it not only gets my nostalgic juices flowing for the Commodore 64, and I also happen to quite like the Wham! original anyway, but because it's a pretty good cover version within the chosen medium. Naturally - considering the limitations of the equipment used - there are no vocals, but the tune progresses nicely from a relatively simple interpretation of the chorus before introducing different elements to vary and fill out the sound. The verses are mostly ignored, but I think that was the right decision to take in this case where voice cannot be included.
All in all, this is an enjoyable and festive song from a highly regarded composer within the chiptune scene and well worth a listen by anyone with a hankering for something a little retro.
The sheer volume of music produced and published every day is both a blessing and a curse. It means that, statistically, even scratching the surface of what's out there is impossible. But it also means that you might hear the latest song from an artist you'd never heard of before, then go on to investigate who this chap is, and suddenly discover a decade's worth of back-catalogue. At which point you naively ask yourself, "How have I managed to miss this for so long?".
Which is exactly what has just happened with the new song from Phosphorescent; the recording name of Alabama-born and Brooklyn-based musician Matthew Houck.
Taken from his seventh album 'Muchacho' (the fourth LP with label Dead Oceans) due for release in March next year, this first single hints at a departure from previous album 'Here's To Taking It Easy's more traditional folk/country sound. A simple but echoing bass and drum line gradually guide the song along its course, helped in no small part by a soaring violin that takes centre stage whenever Matthew's vocals take a moment of silence. Speaking of which, his delivery (often compared to the likes of Springsteen, Waits, Oldham and Petty) is pleasingly gravelly and relaxed while still focussed with every honest word. And it's this obvious openness of his lyrics, combined with the majestic instrumentation, that gives 'Song For Zula' a welcome hold on its listener... and is therefore responsible for me hitting the 'replay' button more times that I can possibly count.
"See, honey, I am not some broken thing I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee No my heart is gold. My feet are light And I am racing out on the desert plains all night" (full lyrics: http://bit.ly/VuZyV6)
I do tend to arrive a little late to the party. It's almost the end of 2012, and today I discovered what Rhonda Merrick spent each day of 2011 doing.
Born in New Orleans but currently living here in England, Rhonda Merrick - having decided that becoming a musician was something she really wanted to do - made it her mission to record a song everyday throughout 2011 and as a result has given herself several hours of material to sort, review, critique, and possibly rerecord to a standard suitable for broadcast. Given the nature of her undertaking, the often improv-style of her writing, and the raw setup of her own home-studio the quality of those daily musical moments varies in both the audio and the content, but there's no denying her motivation and commitment, and her thousands of fans appreciated her perseverance and frankness when watching her go through the whole process.
Her music is bluesy, soulful, jazzy, and she lists many of the greats as her musical inspiration: Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Marvin Gaye. When it comes to what she writes about Rhonda is sparked by everything around her from news reports, celebrities, and self-harm to natural-disasters, sexuality and throwaway messages online. The song that struck a chord with many of her listeners and has since been rerecorded with a video to accompany it, is '27 Club': a song written on the night Amy Winehouse died.
Of the few tunes that I have made my way through so far, the one that I have particularly enjoyed is 'They Said Bon Jovi Died Today'. A song written following a false online report, it speaks of the lies within a relationship and the positivity in moving on, and was the 354th song for that year. I like the Jovi reference, I love Rhonda's soulful vocals, and it feels more substantial and complete that some of her other work.
As far as I am aware, 'They Said Bon Jovi Died Today' has yet to be rerecorded or shared anywhere else except on Rhonda' own website. The link below directs you to the page featuring the audio player and lyrics for the song, though I must sadly warn you that the website isn't the easiest to view or navigate. However, it is well worth ignoring the site's aesthetics and instead just take notice of the music whilst remembering that it is just a demo so the audio is a little rough at times.
Somehow, unintentionally, I have found myself listening to (and commenting on) the output of bands from Oxford. ToLiesel, Message To Bears, Perfect Fiction: they all hail from the city of dreaming spires, which also just happens to be the place I was born. I've stepped from one to the other via links between them so it was inevitable that they'd all be from the same area, and Oxford has an excellent musical history, so I could do a lot worse than focus my attentions there. Thus I have no qualms in mentioning Family Machine's acoustic/indie-pop.
It's been four years since their LP was released, "You Are Family Machine", but they have kept their audience interested since then by releasing the occasional single track. 'Sleep' was short but unwaveringly sublime. 'Quiet As A Mouse' kidnapped We Aeronaut's Anna Log for some sweet vocal work. And, on October 31st, they released a new free download: 'Skeletons And That'.
Although the lyrics do talk of ghosts, monsters, and skeletons, the link to Halloween ends there - this is not a song of thrills and horrors. No. This is a song of loss, growing up, and regret. Whilst certainly mournful, the vocal delivery is so beautifully sincere and the instruments so softly bridled, you can't help but think that there's an adjacent joy being expressed at the existence of memories. As the guitar strums the final chord, it is clear that Family Machine weren't trying to throw us head-first through three-and-a-half minutes of forced forlesing; rather, they were nudging us gently with an acceptance of loss and grief. Through subtlety this band have achieved more in a single acoustic song than some do on an entire album of angst-ridden blues.
A friend of mine on Facebook had an upcoming gig, and mentioned the other bands attending. That's how I came across the music of Message To Bears. Later, browsing Message To Bears' Facebook page showed me a similar list that they had provided, with some bands they'd been sharing the stage with. That's how I discovered the song by ToLiesel. And then, recently, the guitar player from both those groups followed me on Twitter. Viewing his profile, I saw that he had his own solo material...
And that's how I found Perfect Fiction - the music of Adam Harvey James.
It's rare for me to explore the details of my (currently very few) Twitter followers, mostly because there tends to be a lot of accounts that come and go which mainly exist for the purposes of spam. However, on this occasion I did take a look. And I'm glad I did.
Adam's music stands defiantly, and happily, within some classic genre labels: raw, stripped-back, and acoustic. In the same way that so many have done before him, the songs consist of just him and his guitar, but there's no shame in following the mould set by his influences (Neil Young, Jose Gonzalez) if the final result is worthwhile. And when it comes to this particular song, "Another One", I feel it is.
As the first track of his debut EP 'The Sound Of People', "Another One" is a wonderful start and also my personal favourite. Later songs explore Adam's lower register, or cover potentially more sombre themes, but this song is far stronger musically, lyrically and - crucially - vocally. Adam's key talent clearly lies in his strumming and plucking; a skill that is wonderfully showcased during the lyric-less guitar portion of this song. His singing style throughout the record is appropriately rough and untouched but, in this particular song, it deals out the words with a glorious aptitude that outshines the others on the EP.
Whether he focuses on his own work or chooses to concentrate on the bands he is involved with, Adam James is proving that he has a lot to offer.
I was a late-comer to Coldplay: game-changing debut Parachutes had been and gone, and second album A Rush Of Blood To The Head was nearing the end of its shelf-life. Their third album, X&Y, was looming on the horizon. Although I had certainly heard their music here and there, my own musical journeys had somehow kept me away from exploring it further - partly because, prior to this point, I hadn't been particularly overflowing in the wallet department, and so very much relied upon the music I already had.
But then I started having singing lessons. And Coldplay's In My Place was the first song I worked on. I really liked it, and felt that it would make sense for me to explore their back catalogue. And thus, a new Coldplay fan was found in me. I began trying to get copies of their old singles so that I could listen to different versions, or b-sides. I continued this habit with X&Y, buying the single of Speed Of Sound. And it was there that I heard this song for the first time.
I can certainly see why Coldplay chose to leave out Things I Don't Understand when choosing the tracks for X&Y. It can easily be compared to Speed of Sound and, whilst it definitely 'fits' with the rest of the songs on the album, I think it would have unbalanced it a little. Nevertheless, it ranks as one of my favourite Coldplay songs.
The guitar riff, particularly in the intro, always puts me in a good mood despite the fact that - conversely - the lyrics talk of confusion and despair. Indeed, I find the whole song's sound to be rather uplifting even though the content of the vocals might suggest otherwise. Perhaps the key to this juxtaposition is that the final words are:
"But I love this life"
Even though the world can be difficult to understand, with so much that can fall apart around us, life can still be (and should still be) worth living. Generally speaking, if a Coldplay song sounds morose and forlorn, or positive and joyful, then the lyrics will reflect that. However, I think this song deserves recognition for stepping out of that mould a little by pulling us along with words of unsettling uncertainty, accompanied by a relatively exhilarating melody. It's only really when we hit the end of the chorus that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
"The guitar is such a great friend, easy to carry from room to room, from house to house." - Pete Townshend
After writing the previous blog post about Message to Bears' song Wake Me, I visited their Facebook page. Scrolling through the latest posts, I saw a link to a recent gig that listed the other bands that performed with them. I searched one of them, ToLiesel, clicked the link to hear their song, and very quickly fell in love with it.
Sometimes it is tough to put a finger on exactly why I like a particular track. Other times I can easily declare, "The chords are wonderful!" or "The voice is heavenly!" or "It fills me with joy!", etc. etc.
In this case, I am ashamed to admit that much of my enjoyment is because it reminds me of another band. Making comparisons seems to be a staple of music commentary, yet usually frowned upon; it is often considered lazy, and too reliant on the reader's knowledge. And yet music is sometimes phenomenally difficult to describe in words that the only way around it seems to be, "They sound like [this band], only rockier/funkier/darker/...".
ToLiesel's The Light reminds me of Big Country, a Scottish band that were mostly successful during the eighties. The similarities were first obvious to me in the vocals, but even the guitars take me back to songs like Look Away and Wonderland. Yet it is important to note that, firstly, I may be the only one that even thinks they sound similar and, secondly, it isn't a bad thing. I could also, just as easily, suggest that the guitar is reminiscent of Parachutes-era Coldplay.
The Light is ToLiesel's only output so far, but I am certainly keen to hear more from this band. The harmonies are unforced and gentle, the guitars ring out with the comfortably familiar indie-echo, and the heavier sections of the tune remain focused and in-keeping with the rest of the tune. It's impossible to make any judgement of a band based on a single track, but I look forward to what comes next.
Oh, and they have kindly made this song free to download. So do it!
Previously, I mentioned how I have changed some of the ways that I look for or discover new music. One of them was: "A friend on Facebook is in a band of his own, and mentioned the other bands he is sharing a gig with". That is exactly how I heard this song for the first time. Outrageously, I don't even remember which friend it was that led to me arriving at Message To Bears' website. I recall reading a list of bands playing at one particular gig and, of the bunch that were mentioned, it was definitely the music of Message to Bears that seemed to stand out and, in particular, this track.
The song begins with the sounds of a woodland: birds singing, a stream bubbling away, and it is almost as if you can hear sunlight coming through the treetops. An acoustic guitar is quick to join in with a slow and gentle series of notes. As the tune continues, the pace picks up a little with further instruments joining in, some simple vocals build the sound, and we soon find ourselves at the crescendo. And then everything suddenly falls away and we are left with the guitar occasionally providing a note, a cello carrying us through, and the final "aaaahs" of the vocal line. Some songs follow a similar progressive pattern to this one, and yet end up with the listener feeling like they haven't really experienced anything - as though it has just been pieced together with little creativity at all; more of a block-by-block approach to music. Jerome Alexander (the multi-instrumentalist behind Message to Bears) has avoided this and, whilst the tune does seem to pass you by almost without realising it, you do reach an ending that leaves you feeling content and satisfied. For me, the biggest surprise was that the woodland sounds continue throughout almost all of the track, when I was expecting them to just act as an introduction and soon fade away. As the title perhaps alludes to, Wake Me is the perfect soundtrack to starting a day... albeit the kind of day when you have no job to do, and are perhaps vacationing in some idyllic log cabin at a forest's edge. Regardless, it should serve to calm even the most frantic of minds. http://messagetobears.com/ "The function of music is the release us from the tyranny of concious thought"
