In the not too distant past, I somehow managed to get invited to the première screening of Imogen Heap'sDVD which showed what went into the recording of her latest album, where she revealed herself to be ridiculously talented and absolutely insane, but in a good way.
What does this all mean? Why do I care about this you may be wondering? Well, it was at this screening that I met the wonderful Grace Banks.
Head over to her MySpace page and you'll see that she's been real busy and has got hella tracks. I counted at least 10, but numbers over 4 and I'm struggling so you may want to double checck. Sounds like enough for a Bandcamp album.
Mixing folky styles, occasionally with a hint of jazz and the odd touch of Americana that reminds you of a time when people liked Kings Of Leon. Songs like 'Cough Cry' and 'Yesterday's Favourite Song' are among my favourites with their intricately played guitars that positively shimmer accompanied by soothing lyrics. Tailor made for fans of Markus Perttula, you could say.
I stumbled across this little gem when I was browsing the shelves at Rough Trade. I had never heard of them before, but when the label had the words 'electronica' and 'shimmering neon synths' I was intrigued, to say the least.
There seem to be elements of chilled nu-disco, especially on 'Forest Of Fountains' and 'Crystalline (Be Again)' and it's quite hard not to at least notice the 'krautrock' influences running through the album on numerous tracks.
This is generally not the sort of music you expect to come out of Ireland, but this is what the boys of Solar Bears have done.
The album is out now on Planet Mu, but possibly not from your nearest record shop, but definitely all good ones.
Now and again, I check in on MySpace (say hi, if you really want) like a dead-beat Dad coming round every weekend to see the child he never really wanted and is keen to get rid of asap.
However, this kid has paid off and done something good for a change, like get in the football team. I received an 'add' from Pendentif. Straight away I was impressed with the old school, hipster-style low quality photos and photos cut into circles, and me being all about the outside, I was sold.
But, then I listened to their music and I was equally impressed. 'Pendentif' is a nice and gentle piano driven pop song which was just made for chillaxin' with your bros/hoes on a balmy evening. Then comes the even more summery and aptly named 'Riviera' which is very Drums-ian and is a way better song for riding your bike than, er, The Bike Song.
Obviously, if you did quickly mosey on over to their MySpace, you may have noticed they sing in French. But who cares, man. It still sounds good, miles/kilometres better than it could in English and those female lead vocals are so easy on the ear.
First up, is Australian up-tempo folk 5-piece Boy & Bear, who manage to combine the intricate melodies of First Aid Kit with rockier guitars and drums pretty well on upcoming single 'Mexican Mavis.' I'd personally love to hear them make a track in a similar vein to the first 45 seconds of 'Mexican Mavis,' but that's just me being super-picky.
Anyway, their 5 track EP, With Emperor Antarctica, is out on 6th December. If you're in the British Isles between now and December you may be able to see them live. Their sets have been described as 'storming.'
Boy & Bear ‘With Emperor Antarctica’ UK/Ireland tour November:
Sun 28th Belfast Black Box
Tues 30th Dublin Academy 2
December:
Thurs 2nd Glasgow Captains Rest
Fri 3rd Manchester Night & Day
Sun 5th Bristol Louisiana
Mon 6th Brighton The Hope
Tues 7th Oxford Jericho Tavern
Weds 8th London Luminaire (EP launch)
Still here? Good.
Next, is The Heartbreaks, who make their very own brand of English rock'n'roll that combine fun and danceable music with rather slightly more depressing lyrics which always makes me unsure as to how to enjoy it, but enjoy it I do. They make me think that this is the kind of music that The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart might make if they were from England and that is definitely something that I, and you too, would like.
If my support wasn't enough to persuade you, the fact that they are supporting the Grandaddy of 'indie' Carl Barât on his upcoming tour may just do that.
October:
Fri 15th Brighton Coalition
Sat 16th Cambridge Haymakers
Sun 17th Stoke Sugarmill
Mon 18th Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Thur 21st Glasgow Oran Mor
Fri 22nd Leeds Cockpit
Sat 23rd Manchester Deaf Institute
Mon 25th Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
Tue 26th Bristol Thekla
Wed 27th London Scala
When it comes to picking out future music goodness, I don't tend to get much right, which is why I'm still coming at you via blogspot, but that's not to say I don't like what I write about. I do. If it's on here I like it.
But, I have managed to get no less than 2 bands/artists super-mega-right. A well known German beer producer has been holding a competition with Phoenix to find a 'new' band to support them, and two bands that you probably didn't hear here first, Fez and The Good Natured have made it into the final 10.
Yay.
You can probably find out how to vote here or here.
Todays musical offering to you, my wonderful public, comes to you all the way from New York, so you know it's cool. To be more precise though, it is The Knocks.
Comprised of the magnificently named B-Roc and JPatt, they've been around for a while providing mega-remixes for Passion Pit, Peter, Bjorn and John and Britney Spears, to name but a few.
Now, they've made the switch to the other side of the booth and if all of their tracks are as good as the breezy and whimsical 'Make It Better,' then they are worth getting a bit excited about. Another winning track is 'Blackout' which is fairly Chromeo-esque, which is definitely good.
Anyway, be sure to catch them on the road this Autumn/Winter.
Nov 4 PARIS CASINO DE PARIS w/ Scissor Sisters
Nov 6 TRONDHEIM BRUKBAR
Nov 10 LONDON XOYO (FREE ENTRY)
Nov 12 AMSTERDAM LONDON CALLING FESTIVAL
Nov 13 MANCHESTER WAREHOUSE PROJECT w/ MIA, Sleigh Bells (DJ only)
Lately, my twitter feed has been filled with plenty of talk about a Cardiff based quartet called Islet, so I thought I should sort myself out and listen to them.
And listen I did, and it was good. The opening track from their EP Celebrate This Place opens with a rather schizophrenic 'We Shall Visit.' At times it definitely has a bit of a dark edge to the music, or maybe I'm just listening to it wrong. The warbling cries in 'Jasmine' over the heavy bass guitar and crashing drums is pretty cool, and the quite eerie fairground sounds that close 'One Of These Worlds.'
Sometimes you've just got to hold your hands up and accept when a song is going to be popular. Such occasion has arisen for me when I was sent a new track by Jessie J with a remix by that guy out of the Tinie Tempah videos, Labrinth.
I'm probably not going to listen to this much, but if this isn't all over London's West End nightlife over the next few months, I will be surprised. But, hey, you guy(s) might love it. And actually, it is kind of growing on me after a few listens. I can definitely imagine people much more confident and less self conscious than myself bouncing along to this in a club and I actually don't think I'd be too surprised to hear this east of Bishopsgate.
I hope this doesn't seem too awkward, in that I'm promoting someone I, like, totally know irl. (I know, who'd have thought I'd know real human people!)
Anyhows, you should all click here and listen to the magical and dreamy soundscapes delivered by this guy. I obvs won't reveal his name incase in the future he decides to employ a Daft Punk-esque level of secrecy surrounding himself.
Also, why not download some tracks here for absolutely nothing?
It's very wet today. In fact, I'm not sure that it has actually stopped raining at all, not that that is stopping the five-0's from patrolling the corners.
If you too are stuck in a wet, miserable and crime filled world, why not listen to some dreamy and chilled out Finnish pop, or more specifically Shine 2009.
