At the album release party for their debut "Up From Below" at LA's Roosevelt Hotel in July, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros raised money for the Gulu Widows Group of Uganda. The women used the band's donation to start a farm to sustain their community. They recently had their first harvest; to celebrate and show the band their appreciation they made this video in which they sing the band's song "Home."
"Home" in Gulu from The Voice Project on Vimeo.
Singing in to a hair brush, stood in front of a mirror in just a towel is probably not how you want to be remembered by millions of people but when you hear this track you can't help but think of Macaulay Culkin, sorry Kevin MacAllister, as he relaxes in the knowledge he has made his family disappear.
Barenaked Ladies' take on Christmas and 'the holidays' is pretty hit and miss. I wasn't expecting much when Pia, my Canadian blind date (don't worry wife if you're reading this it was purely a music fling briefly last Christmas) sent me my Christmas CD that was peppered with Barenaked Ladies tracks. However God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen stood out straight away. While they may be a band that don't take themselves seriously they did for this track and it works so well - OK maybe there was a small bit of tongue in cheek. Anyway enjoy God Rest Ye... and the other end of the scale with Carol of the Bells.
Scrooged has got to be up there with the best Christmas films and the opening music sets the scene perfectly, a Christmas feel with a hint of terror, well mild peril. No surprises then that the music features on an album called Music For A Darkened Theatre Vol 1...
As it's Schonberg's birthday I thought I'd post a track by one of his favourite bands. This was a track given away by the BBC last year and was one of the most downloaded tracks off this web site in 2008. So for those of you who haven't got it enjoy Glasvegas' version of East 17's 'classic' Stay Another Day.
As Elf hits our screens today I thought I'd post the main theme from it. I got hold of this after my Elf post last year so I've not posted it before. Don't worry after some Christmas themed posts I'll return to the debate that's been raging on Facebook, Album of the Decade!
Have I gone on about this track enough? I don't think so. It's got so many elements to it, one second a great bit of bass and then next second I think I hear a bit of Suede. A track like this is just the reason I got in to writing this blog, a song that without reading blogs I wouldn't have discovered and that, because of the way the music industry works, is not being played in the mainstream. My aim has always been to share tracks I like that aren't getting the attention they deserve. Sit up and take notice, this should be in your collection.
As always with the blog, I comment on music as it comes to my attention, it doesn't matter whether it was recorded 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, if I'm playing it now then I talk about it. What's Wrong With The Mainstream's EP of the Year only came to my attention this year but I believe it was released last year. Who cares.
Deciding on the album of the year has been a difficult one this year, some years an album just takes it by a country mile. This year it's not been so simple, no one album has stuck out that much for me. There have been a lot of notable albums from already established artists such as Doves, Muse, Kasabian, Reverend & The Makers, The Maccabees, Jarvis Cocker and returning The Prodigy. Add to that debuts from Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros , La Roux, Florence and the Machine and The Airborne Toxic Event. It gave me a whole heap of albums to look at. Before you say anything I was disappointed with Green Day and Arctic Monkey's latest albums, I hope you are enjoying them more than me, that's all I can say.
This band were recommended to us and so I thought I'd open it up for discussion. I think they show real promise so I thought I'd let Schonberg and Sas have a listen and see what they thought. Schonberg thought Mansfield Holiday had elements of Art Brut and Pigeon Detectives, perhaps lacking the wit and catchy choruses of those two. However he did say that "any band that quote The Wedding Present and The Smiths are alright by me." Sas felt they needed to work on their lyrics more, feeling no connection to them. I think they show potential and a band that are only just making their first steps in the world (2000 listens so far on Myspace) could surprise us when they hit that killer track. I look forward to you, Mr/Mrs Reader, adding your comments.
Quick one for you all today. This landed in my inbox last month and I've only just got around to checking it out. Wild Palms are releasing this track on Popular Recordings on 23rd November and it's a bit different from what I would usually post. It's got an eighties feel to it but beyond that I admit I don't know what I'm talking about. It's not an era that's a big favourite of mine but I like this track and I can feel the influences coming through. Anyway, I'm tired, that's all the gibberish you're getting today.
I think a lot of people from the UK will have a similar relationship to me as far as Eels go. After hearing Novocaine For The Soul and Susan's House in '96 there has not been much mainstream coverage apart from Hollywood film soundtracks - OK that's major mainstream but you get what I mean. The weird thing is you may think that from these tracks, such as Mr. E's Beautiful Blues, that Mark Oliver Everett (Eels is his project) is a happy go lucky kind of guy. Sadly this is not the case, he's had a tough time of it and this comes across in his songs. They tend to either be somber numbers or rocking out tracks. His story is something I may cover another time but let's stick with the music for now.
The manager of this unsigned band recently got in touch and claims to manage "the best unsigned band". I asked him to send me their signature tune and he had a problem, he couldn't decide from all their new material which is their best track. He eventually came around to this track and it's certainly a good introduction to the band.
Dhani Harrison is the main man behind thenewno2 but you may be more familiar with his late father George. Dhani and Hecks, co-founder of the group, chose the name so the band weren't always associated with Dhani's famous surname (sorry boys). I read somewhere that Dhani had a big hand in The Beatles version of Rock Band and the Yomp track was available as a download as part of that. As a person who was in to The Beatles when Anthology came out I was interested to hear what sound a Beatle son would create. Once I heard the track I could see why they wanted to be anonymous, the sounds good but the hype does it a disservice.
I'm a bit disappointed I never caught B.R.M.C. live at their height, tracks like Whatever Happened To My Rock and Roll (Punk Song) and Spread Your Love would have been awesome, in fact most tracks of their first album, Red Eyes and Tears is another one, would have been great to hear live. They are such big and dirty tracks that I can imagine yours ears would be ringing and your whole body shaking from the bass.
I had a friend request on Myspace from The Twees recently and where possible I try to check out the bands that send me a request (www.myspace.com/3wtm if you want to add). I read the blurb that had been written about them while I listened to the first song, Full Circle. The description was "...a mixture of The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand" and whoever it was who said that certainly hit the nail on the head. Mixing the dance style nature of Franz Ferdinand with the vocals of The Strokes The Twees have certainly created a sound that will appeal to many.
As you probably know we have a bit of a liking for songs used in adverts. The advertising men who only used to listen to Genesis have now caught on to the idea that the right song can sell big time. It can also hamper your advert. The latest Halifax advert had the excellent First Day Of My Life by Bright Eyes but the same images have been replaced by a much more mainstream song in "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson. I actually think it works much better and fits with the images of people being lifted up by the bank's staff.
A quick search for Pistol Kicks has them listed as the most exciting and promising band in Sheffield. Yet when you look a bit further that dates back to '08 but the band do seem to have been busy since. They've released an EP in June and I contacted them in August to see if I could get some more info to post. The band told me they were really busy with gigs and got hundreds of emails each and every day - they really should get a spam filter.
Hopefully regular readers will notice that I feature quite a few Sheffield bands on this blog. I was brought up just outside Sheffield but I now live in Bristol. Sadly access to information on unsigned and new bands in Bristol is pretty scarce and so I can't give you as much info on them.
I was contacted recently by Ste of humanizer to see if I would be around at In The City. Sadly I won't but humanizer will be and they will be rubbing shoulders with some top artists. ITC, being held in Manchester, seems to be similar to the Tramlines event run earlier this year in Sheffield. With a cross range of bands from unsigned artists such as humanizer, to more established artists such as Frightened Rabbit and Jon McClure.
I think I've mentioned before my mixed view of be introduced to a band by a cover version. While it makes it easier for the listener to accept the band on the first listen it can lead to false expectations and perceptions of a band. However, what it does allow a band to do is show what kind of style they have and lets you pigeon hole them without having to state influences.
Whenever I put together a mix tape (CD) for someone who's not that in to their music I nearly always put A-Punk by Vampire Weekend on it. Of course it always goes down well and so it should, for me it's the highlight of their debut album. The rest of the album for me is a bit hit and miss and while they've created a sound not common in mainstream music at the moment it's not enough just to have a different sound.
Since we last checked in with Call The Doctor they've come on in leaps and bounds. I saw them at the start of August (did I mention that?) and they'd become much more accomplished performers, no longer smiling at each other when they messed up - perhaps they just didn't mess up? After that they headed to the big smoke to record their debut mini album and apart from gigging their little hearts out I think that brings us up to date.
| mother’s ruin w/ the brownies | bristol | ||
| kit kat club @ the crew | nuneaton | ||
| stb bristol bands cd launch alldayer | bristol | ||
| scruffy murphy’s | birmingham | ||
| ten feet tall | cardiff | ||
| st james wine vaults | Bath | ||
| the quicksilver mail | yeovil | ||
| the skiving scholar | plymouth | ||
| CAMDEN DUBLIN CASTLE | London | ||
| winchester | bournemouth | ||
| album tour | BOOK US NOW!!! | ||
| the croft | bristol | ||
| the cooler | bristol | ||
| camden barfly | LONDON |
Some how I've managed to put together this months playlist and it's a corker. Admittedly I've written the posts in the early hours so they're probably filled with mistakes and while the writing quality might not be there, it certainly won't be found lacking in the music.
