Another grey and cold day in the UK with frost hanging around all day and the prospect of freezing fog overnight. At least the weather can only get better.
The music will, I hope prove cheering with a slightly longer show this week including a track from my  "Find of the year 2008" - Luthea Salom (right).

Hesitations and Cliches - Verona Red (Chicago, IL, USA)
Chris, Mike, Tony, Taz
Date: 2 Jan 09
Venue: Martyrs'
Address: 3855 North Lincoln, Chicago, IL, 60613, US
Details: Verona Red 9:30
Dirty Blue 10:30
Cobalt & The Hired Guns 11:30
www.myspace.com/veronared

Nightmares and appointments - Jenny Gillespie (Chicago, IL, USA)
Jenny: vocals, piano, guitar
Josh Stewart: cello and bass
Alan Ollendorff - pedal steel
John Knecht: drums
Jenny has worked as a waitress, a nanny, a hair model, a bed and breakfast concierge, a poetry teacher, and currently, a children's literature editor. But music has always remained her north star. Born in central Illinois, she has lived in Virginia, Rhode Island, Paris, and Austin, Texas, and currently calls Chicago home, where she performs with her band and soaks up the seasons of a vibrant city.
In 2008 she recorded Light Year, her first full-length album, funded mostly by donations by fans, at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio with additional production by Darwin Smith at Austin's Cacophony Recordings. Anticipate a West Coast tour in spring 2009. The album which will be available tomorrow Jan. 1 on iTunes and CDbaby.
Consider it done Jenny! Those font files are elusive little chaps - hope you manage to round them up. Perhaps if any anyone spots them - probably looking a bit lost and hungry by now, they could just let us know where they are and we'll get the font warden to bring them in. ;)
www.myspace.com/jennygillespie

Gorgeous Behaviour - Marching Band (Linköping, Sweden)
Formerly known as Second Language, Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind realized their musical connection while attending college. Together, they began to play around with an array of more eccentric musical instruments such as xylophone, marimba, banjo, vibraphone and unique vocal harmonies. The result of this experimentation is found within their eclectic 12-track album.
Their critically acclaimed debut album Spark Large features an assortment of instrumentation that delivers atmospheric folk and Indie-Pop.
They have a gig at Luminaire in The King's Head in Kilburn, London on 8th Jan.
http://marchingband.se/
www.myspace.com/marchingband

Marching Band
"For Your Love" (mp3)
from "Spark Large"
(U & L Records, Inc.)

Buy at Rhapsody
More On This Album

Utopie - San'jyla (Vannes, France)
From their first album Premier Pas, which is "le fruit d'un travail commencé sur scène et dans les caf'conç du grand Ouest.”
Là où l'envie de partager des bonnes vibrations sont plus fortes que tout.
Le groupe est composé de :
- D'une section rythmique (batterie - basse - percussions - guitares - claviers)
- D'une section de soufflants (flûte traversière - sax ténor - sax alto)
- De chants (2 leads, 1 choeur).
www.sanjyla.com

Something's Wrong - Neal Fox (Florida, USA)
Something's Wrong, is a kind of primer for the song I'm not going to play this week called "Fuck the Fed". Really you do have to see the video. Follow the link to "stuff" and check out Neal's other work while you're there. Such a talent.
www.wireduck.com

Upon seeing Simone - Stewart Francke (Detroit, USA)
With hard work, great songwriting and soulful singing, Stewart Francke has found true indie success in today's rough & tumble music business. He's made ten highly praised CDs, the most recent being Stewart Francke Alive And Unplugged at The Ark, to be released in on January 20, 2009 through Blue Boundary Records and Burnside Distribution. His previous CD, Motor City Serenade, was recorded with the legendary Motown session band the Funk Brothers. Stewart has sold 50,000 records-all without a major label and its promotional muscle.
Building his devoted audience one person at a time over the years, Stewart is now known as one of the most exciting and beloved live performers around, playing his own headlining shows as well as support touring with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Warren Zevon, Steve Earle, Chris Isaak, Robert Cray, Shawn Colvin, Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Stevie Winwood, Eddie Money, Foreigner, Chicago, & many others.
Now performing with his own Detroit Soul band, Francke"s show is exciting, smart, humorous, and loaded with a warm, soulful vibe that makes every night pure magic.
www.stewartfrancke.com/
www.myspace.com/stewartfranckemusic

Murray's Wives - Ruth Theodore (London, UK)
Another track from Worm Food, Ruth Theodore's fine debut album. 13 tracks of beautifully twisted, political and personal mayhem. Her style of delivery makes you really listen and the effort is well worthwhile. You can get the album as MP3 from Jamendo but do yourself a favour and go to her site and get it in gleaming CD quality for just £9.99
www.ruththeodore.com
www.jamendo.com/en/album/17052

When I'm dead write me a song - Pie Boys Flat (Queens, New York, USA)
From their album Uproot the Island.
Pie Boys Flat hit the NYC music scene in 2003 with their unique blend of Reggae, Blues, and Funk. Their writing shows influences ranging from Bob Marley to Jack Johnson to Sublime to Paul Simon and has melded into a form of ethnic Rhythm and Blues that sits firmly in the pocket of a style all its own. Laced with soaring three-part harmonies, their music is the manifestation of a many year friendship and collective musical intuition. Patrick Hambrick (Guitar/Vocals), Fitz Harris (Percussion/Vocals), and Jason Liles (Bass/Vocals) met in the late 1990's at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia, where the trio formed a bond that is now apparent in both their writing and performing.
www.pieboysflat.com
myspace.com/pieboysflat

Accidents - Luthea Salom (New York, NY, USA)
From Luthea Salom's fine new bittersweet album Sunbeam Surrounded By Winter produced between NY and Skopje, (Macedonia) by Malcolm Burn and Luthea herself.
I think that if pushed to make a choice I'd say that Luthea is my find of the year 2008. Then the struggle is to narrow the choices to a single track.
On the face of it, just another girl with a guitar, but there is something else which I find utterly entrancing about the music from Luthea who is part Spanish and part Canadian.
www.lutheasalom.com
www.myspace.com/lutheasalomsongs

Thanks to all the artists, labels and enlightened managers who have seen the benefit in making their music available for me to include in the show over the past year. Your trust in the new way of working is appreciated.

Energy levels were running very low earlier today but 45 minutes or so of interesting music has sorted that problem out completely. It really must be the cheapest therapy available - and pretty damned effective too.
A rich mix of styles and challenges for you in this week's show including a rare phenomenon and on, and on ... - a sing-along track on Suffolk 'n' Cool, right at the end. Of course, the combination of Lauren Fincham and strong coffee could have something to do with it!
As the inspiring Ashley Brilliant says: "I have explored and rejected every other possibility, life, after all, is for having fun."

R'N'R en la radio - BadRriles (San Roque, Cadiz, Spain)
Pepe: Voice
Juan: Drums
Miguel: Bass
Andres: Guitar
www.myspace.com/badrriles  

Something in the air - Lauren Fincham (Jacksonville, FL, USA)
Southern eclectic folk artist, Lauren Fincham has performed in, and organized several Indiegrrl concerts and benefits.
Discography: Perfect Pain - 2007 Burning Tree - 2001 Show & Tell - 1997
She is currently working on new cds and songs, watching the eclipses, and seeking that ever elusive perfect cup of coffee.
www.laurenfincham.com/
www.myspace.com/laurenfincham

Sweet swing - Trafic de Blues (Chateau du Loir, France) Jamendo
From the excellent and very varied album Fin de Cavale.
Roman Stadnicki (TOURS) : Harmonica
Jonathan Truillet (TOURS) : Guitare Solo
Lénaïc Hureau (NANTES) : Guitare Rythmique
Fabrice Lecoffre (TOURS) : Basse
Fabien Beillard (AIX EN PROVENCE) : Batterie
Pierre Poussin (TOURS) : Sax Alto
Damien Brosseau (TOURS) : Sax Ténor
Vincent Foussard (CHOLET) : Trombone
Alexandre Loyau (RENNES) : Percussions
www.traficdeblues.fr.st - which doesn't seem to work so go for:
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/trafic.de.blues

Trafic de Blues featured on Jeremy Gugenheim's The G Spot - a brand new specialist blues podcast which is being crafted by Jeremy Gugenheim. The first show went up last week and I hope we can expect more. It"s really good to have someone who knows a bit to guide you through a form of music. You can subscribe through iTunes. More about how you can find the G Spot when Jeremy gets back and can tell us!

Let me in - Stereoaccident (Noord-Brabant, Netherlands)
As of 20-04-2008 StereoAccident continued under the name Signal to Shore, Comprising of Vocalist/Singer-Songwriters Chris Valentijn and Australian Shaun S Marshall.
Signal to Shore are the lastest acoustic duo out of The Netherlands. With lilting melodies, powerful vocals and hook laden tracks they are sure to have written one of your new favourite tunes. Comprising of Vocalist/Singer-Songwriters Chris Valentijn and Australian Shaun S Marshall, Signal to Shore creates and performs songs in their purest form, 2 guitars and vocals. Cutting out all the extra bells and whistles the songs have a honest and pure feel. Take a listen to an acoustic version of that song at:
www.myspace.com/signalstoshore

Solid Ground - Poxfil (France)
I’ve played a few Poxfil tracks but I know little about the artist, except that:
So Poxfil is a collective him himself all alone, but if he thinks beer is expensive in France, he should try to UK. Three albums are currently available on Jamendo.
www.poxfil.net
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/poxfil

Spankology - AfterThem (East Brunswick, NJ, USA)
Afterthem describes their sometimes polished...sometimes raw music as "Avant Garage Funk"...Keyboardist and alleged vocalist Dave George sites Frank Zappa as one of his musical heroes .... Lead vocals are done mostly by Joy Epting but they also have featured guest singers Laurel Barclay (of New York rockers "Daddy") and Liz Matta ... who also plays sax but neither are on this track - I think.
Dave says you should hurry and buy their music while it is still inexpensive because even as you read this they will be attending conferences and seminars so they can take their music to the "next level".
Windy Jones...Bass...
D.George...Keyboards...
Joe Positive...Guitars...
Richard Johnson...Bass
Tomar DeFresco...Vocals
Giraffe is taken from their new CD Time Is Fun When You're Having Flies
cdbaby.com/afterthem8
www.myspace.com/afterthem

Lying back - Fire in our eyes - Azoora (Göteborg, Sweden and London, UK)
"Azoora" are a blend of acoustic electronica which combines that dreamy shoe-gazing feel with a charming British indie twist. They have recently released their debut EP Tall Tales in which they have two alternative takes of each of their tracks, having both an original, and respective remix to tantalise most tastes. The album Long Time Standing is well underway to being completed this year. It will offer more of a wide mix of genres, being a double album with original and remixes presented separately.
London based multi-instrumentalist John Purcell produces the band. Vocals are provided by the songwriter Paul Loader who now lives in Göteborg, Sweden and travels back to London to record in the studio with John, Ben Cochrane provides live drums and Trudi Laurence the fantastic backing vocals.
www.23seconds.org/azoora.htm
www.myspace.com/azoora

Dancing with my Brother - Entire Cities (Ontario, Canada)
Entire Cities are riding high on the success of their latest album, Deep River, the product of ten musicians using banjos, violins, flutes, pianos, minimoogs, singing saws, trombones, whatever else they saw fit to bring their work to life. The result is a heady mix of country, indie, gospel and rock.
www.myspace.com/entirecities

Can't beat fun - Thom Hopkins (Oregon, USA)
From his album Cloud Writing.
www.thomhopkins.com/

Sig tune: Happy - Jimmie Bratcher
www.jimmiebratcher.com

Still rather chilly here in Suffolk - a kind of deep persistent cold that permeates the house ... and my poor old bones! A pretty impressive sunrise this morning over the meadow with the old oak trees against the sky.

The Winter Blues - Robin Grey (Hackney, London, UK)
I thought I had played a track by Robin a few weeks ago, but now I can't find it. I've certainly been listening ... a lot ... having been put onto him, through Jamendo, by Carolyn who points out that he was responsible for mandolin and bass on Ruth Theodore's excellent album Worm Food which we've heard a couple of tracks from on this show as well as playing bass on the Blue Swerver album which, again we've heard on SnC.
The Winter Blues is from his album I love Leonard Cohen on Jamendo. Robin is normally located in a small white room with a blue door tucked away in a leafy corner of Hackney, East London, where he makes music.
Inspired by the timeless work of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Ani Difranco amongst many others, he colours in his songs about love and life with guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, piano, double bass, organ, percussion toys, and any other instruments he can afford and fit into his little studio.
Robin has asked if I can recommend any places locally where he could come and play. He is also on the lookout for potential house gigs, so if you have a decent sized room and can muster a respectable size crowd give me a shout and I'll pass the word on. Alternatively send Robin a message through Jamendo or his site.
www.robingrey.com
www.myspace.com/robingrey

Ladylike - Amber Ojeda (San Diego, CA, USA)
I'll admit to being surprised that I really liked this. I'm not normally a great can of soul and R&B but this is magic.
Amber Ojeda is a singer- songwriter based out of the San Diego Metro area. Equal parts talent and ambition Amber has managed to precisely dial into the new digital world of music. She is continuously included on the MySpace Top 100 Artists Charts in the Jazz/Soul/R&B division. Her music can most recently be heard on the Style Networks new hit show "Dress My Nest" in addition to feature film placements.
Amber's musical approach centers around the blending of jazz and soul with hip hop undertones.. Her voice lends itself to the likes of Jill Scott and Alicia Keys with the poetic flow of Erykah Badu. With a growing fan base, looks and a distinctive voice, Amber is destined to be in the R&B/Soul/Jazz annals of music. PLEASE ENJOY FREE DOWNLOADS OF MY MUSIC AT www.trueanthem.com/amberojeda
www.amberojedamusic.com/
www.myspace.com/amberojeda

Message from Andy Fidler expressing his appreciation for the wax cylinder recording by Madam Pamita on last week's show SnC147

A message from Madam Pamita:
The pix are on the new Gallery page on the main SnC site.
I saw a production of "Marie" a one woman show which takes a look at the life of Marie Lloyd, the Queen of the Halls around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, which as a review in The Stage says:
"Elizabeth Mansfield, as Marie, describes the music hall atmosphere in three or four lines of dialogue and immediately the audience can see, hear and smell a crowded music hall.
Mansfield is as spiky and wonderfully bawdy as Lloyd was. The songs are made very much part of the narrative and many are sung, as was the fashion, with an opening spoken verse. Mansfield has the audience joining in the chorus and, at the same time, enjoying her performance and voice - the very essence of music hall. She confides in the audience just as a music hall star would.
When the play is over, the audience leaves with a greater understanding of the impact of Lloyd on popular entertainment."

Madam Pamita is planning a trip over to the UK to play a few dates and hopes that one will be near Suffolk. I hope so too.

OK This is the pops - Orpheos (Berkeley, CA, USA)
Bay Area producer Orpheos DeJournette stands poised to write the next chapter in a revelatory musical journey with the release of his debut LP, The Mirror With No Reflection. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Orpheos first broke ground as co-founder of West Coast dance pioneers, Mephisto Odyssey, enjoying both popular and critical accolades long before electronic music had hit the mainstream.
After a string of seminal original productions made their mark on dance floors and in after-hours parties worldwide, the group was chosen to remix the Jane"s Addiction comeback single, So What. The four Mephisto remixes charted on Billboard's maxi-singles chart for six weeks and remain the only remixes ever sanctioned by Jane's Addiction. A slew of remix work for Static-X, Los Amigos Invisibles, and Soul Coughing followed.
Never one to remain content with past achievement, Orpheos amicably left Mephisto to begin work on his solo artist career. Four years in the making, the LP of his new material infused with shockingly original production work, as the producer has meticulously and single handedly written, produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered every song and created each sound and vocal from scratch.
The Mirror With No Reflection LP possesses a sense of craft and an individuality sorely lacking in most contemporary music. That said, listeners will note hints of Massive Attack, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and Pink Floyd supercharged with a groove-oriented attack that is immediately accessible, but, ultimately, unique to Orpheos alone.
www.orpheos.net/
www.myspace.com/orpheosmusic

Pat Steir - Cagey House (Maryland, USA)
Cagey House has been releasing free podsafe music since 2005--through Umor-rex, Nishi, and Jamendo.
"There's a new Cagey House album on Jamendo. [which I couldn't find last month] It's called Earth Covered A-Frame. Most of the tracks have been up here before. Lots of them have computer-generated vocals. It's pretty nice, if I do say so myself.”
www.myspace.com/cageyhouse
www.jamendo.com/en/album/33394

I'm always here for you - Josh Charles (Brooklyn, New York)
I played Josh"s song The Answer a month ago on 144 but thought you'd be interested to hear something a bit more bluesy with a brilliant deep south piano sound. A very straight recording with no discernable enhancement to the voice - what you hear is what you get.
"Since I was a kid, I've played the gamut -- the worst dive bars with piano keys so jagged that I cut up my fingers every night, some amazing concert halls, outdoor festivals, great clubs and even floating theaters at sea. My mentor/teacher and friend is Dr. John and I can say that I am blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from a master."
Josh has just released his debut Josh Charles EP which features members of Dr. John's band, his touring band, and was recorded in New Orleans and New York.
www.joshcharlesmusic.com/
www.myspace.com/joshcharlesonline

I want your love - Axisgallery (UK and Italy)
The nucleus of Axisgallery are Brit Nick C and Italian Paolo Baldini who met in Florence in 2004 while DJing the local nightclubs on a European Tour . Both have a leftfield approach to music and soon started working together on remixes of old rock songs such as Billy Squiers 'Stroke' and Black Sabbath's 'Neon Knights' which rocked the local dancefloors . Drafting in old friend and socialite Princess Anya LeGalle on vocals and a boozed out Scottish guitarist Pip 'maddog' Kiernan - they set out to create their first album 'Dynamics Of Synergy'
Axisgallery have just released their third album Disturbing Behavior which references their experience of 'Haut de la Garenne' and refines their sound to a more mainstream Rock/Dance crossover.
www.axisgallery.co.uk/
www.myspace.com/axisgallery

Message from Jez, guitarist, percussionist and formidable harmonica player with the Dana Wylie Band.

St James Parish Bus and One Lucky Bastard - Dana Wylie Band (England, Canada, Taiwan)
Graham Holland at It's a Frog's Life Acoustic Podcast suggest that the band contact me.
Moving to Taiwan in 2003 in search of a quiet place to write, she was surprised to find herself immersed in a thriving ex-pat music scene. When she played her demo for Englishman Jeremy Hellard, he said, "I'd have liked that better if I had played on it", and the Dana Wylie Band was born. A swinging drummer, guitarist, vocalist and uniquely expressive harmonica player, Jez proved the perfect accompanist, moving seamlessly between the various idioms in which Wylie chooses to compose.
After more than a year of touring Taiwan, including two long-term residencies in Taipei nightspots, they moved to England and joined forces with virtuosic and in-demand jazz bassist, Nye Parsons. Nye has developed a formidable reputation over the last decade, and his lyrical, melodic style hovers between jazz and folk and perfectly complements Dana's fluid song-writing.
www.danawylie.net/
www.myspace.com/danawylieband

Do Rasta Works - Jah Jah Yute (Jamaica)
From the 2007 album Words Power on Sound.
Jah Jah Yute was born with the name Steadman Shearer, in the parish of Hanover, Jamaica in a little district called Rock Spring.
His father owned a nightclub with a sound system called Sir King B. Jah Jah was first performing as a DJ, on this sound system.
One evening Jah Jah heard the Sound System of Black Star playing and during entertainer time, instead of dj-ing he started singing free style of his spiritual meditations.
Jah Jah went to Kingston and was introduced by a friend to the owner of Mixing Lab Studio where he met Bunny Wailer, Yellow Man and others.
While visiting Montego Bay he was directed to African Symbol Studio where he recorded his first couple of songs, "Do Rasta Work" and "Too Much Slackness Inna Di Music".
www.jahjahyute.com/
www.myspace.com/jahjahyute68
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jahjahyute

A really interesting selection of music again this week, quite a bit from the UK plus tracks from Nashville, New York, California and Denmark. There are a couple of rather quirky tracks that you should look forward to.
Really cold, even in the barn, as I put the show together, but probably not as cold as it is out on the Dunwich marshes by the Suffolk coast where these semi-wild ponies keep the vegetation down and where Dartmoor ponies are being used to regenerate the landscape after years of commercial forestry.

Once, Twice, Again! - Dartz! (Teeside, UK)
From the sampler album from Deep Elm "Bonfire of Trust".
"In the last few years the northeast corner of England has produced a cluster of post-punk bands with a penchant for spiky riffs and melodic vocals. The Futureheads and Maximo Park have garnered the most critical attention, but Dartz! are now making waves of their own.
Once, Twice, Again! reminds us that, first and foremost, the band is here to make you move. Still, pigeonholing DARTZ! as anything other than an extremely intelligent, complex and exciting band would be doing them an injustice. Off-kilter riffs and catchy choruses rip a melodic groove into your brain while intersecting instrumental passages are compelling enough to keep the hipsters zigging and the punkers zagging.
20 Dec Academy 2 Newcastle UK.
www.myspace.com/darts
www.wearedartz.com/
Dartz!
"Once, Twice, Again!" (mp3)
from "Deep Elm Sampler No. 8 "Bonfire of Trust""
(Deep Elm)

Buy at Deep Elm Records
Buy at Rhapsody

Enough of you - The Sugar Dames (Nashville TN, USA)
Nashville, Tennessee has long been a city revered for it's music, but if you should ever wander into the outskirts of the city you might encounter the unique and wonderful sounds of a seductive duo known as The Sugar Dames. Amongst lonely antebellum homes, farm relics and rolling hills the Dames have been hiding away--hard at work on their first project. Jenn Palmer and Christina Elen are hardly your typical musicians.
Having both been solo acts for 5 years and have been a group for the past two years, The Sugar Dames deliver music that is a hybrid of the past and present, an all encompassing style. "We're influenced by anything and everything from the alternative genres to the classics, from Debussy and Tom Waits to old black gospel and Etta James." says Palmer.
You can get the album Sirens of the broken heart from iTunes.
www.myspace.com/thesugardames

Tammy is Lez - Esiotrot (UK)
From their excellent album Seven Apples
Cat, Matt, Adey and Duncan formed Esiotrot in the late 80's when they got together to play Tortoise covers backwards. Soon Thomas Stimson joined on vibes, and they went on to perform a series of incendiary live shows, which so inspired Roald Dahl that he was moved to name his latest book after them. After the recording of their now legendary debut album "Schmesiotrot" they recruited brass section Thom punton and John Edom, to record some overdubs and play some shows, and they ended up never leaving. After releasing an EP on unpopular records, and playing a radio session for Hugh Stephens, Esiotrot went on to record their great lost album, 7 apples, which is now due to see the light of day as a series of split seven inches.
Esiotrot's first EP sold out, but now available to download on itunes and napster (under Esio Trot rather than Esiotrot, if you wonder why you can't find it!).
15 Dec (Monday) they are playing the Get Wanted night at 333 Mother Bar on Old Street, EC1 in London along with Komla, The Yakataks and Ryco Saints.
www.myspace.com/getwanted
www.myspace.com/esiotrotschmesiotrot

F for Fake - ray On (London, UK)
frank okolo (hum)
matt donovan (drum)
shane gilliver (strum)
My thanks to Jessie for spotting the band and organising the contact.
www.myspace.com/rayonmusic
www.rayonmusic.com

Slow Guns - The Homosexuals (New York, USA)
The Homosexuals are often credited as godfathers of the D.I.Y. movement, Bruno Wizard with guitarist Anton Heyman, bassist Jim Welton and a cast of revolving collaborators accumulated a treasure trove of other-worldly art-punk in the late 70s and early 80s, shunning the sniffs of big-label bloodhounds, only sporadically performing, and self-pressing tiny quantities of their own records only to disband completely by '83.
Serious Business Records proudly presents Love Guns?, the first piece of new vinyl issued by The Homosexuals since the early eighties. The band's first ever US tour recently concluded with mesmerizing original writer / vocalist / auteur Bruno Wizard fronting a young band of tough-as-nails New Yorkers.
The three songs that comprise the heart of the Love Guns? EP are "Slow Guns," a full-scale 70-s styled, hook-laden, anti-establishment punk anthem, "3AM (Pink Pony)," a sweet, slow building slice of bedroom pop, and "Don"t Touch My Hair," a future-world mutant-disco dance-floor banger.
The Love Guns? EP is being initially released as a hand numbered 300-piece 10" vinyl pressing. Bruno Wizard has hand written a story across the entirety of the 300 pieces, with a unique sentence, a fragment or a few words appearing on each copy. Fans can compare their unique inscriptions, upload photos, and slowly piece together the entire story at www.thehomosexualsloveguns.com. This pressing is extremely limited so interested parties should order their copies NOW. http://seriousbusinessrecords.com/releases/show/45-Love-Guns-

He's in the Jailhouse now - Madame Pamita (California, USA)
"In the spirit of bounteous munificence, Madame Pamita presents the most tantilizing, most mesmerizing, most edifying experience of augury and prognostication the world has ever known. This mystic seer and musical prodigy does nothing less than spiritually transform those who witness her act. The powers of the vibration of unselfconscious music coupled with the mystical science of fortune telling allow her to access the depths of the human soul and once there to tranfigure it with the power of divine light."
She travelled to Long Island, New York to make 13 wax cylinder recordings.
Enter into the curious and sublime world of Madame Pamita's Parlor of Wonders, an old-time medicine show filled with mysticism, music and melodrama: an entrancing array of spectacles both quaint and queer!
Madame Pamita plays songs written both by herself and by those who have moved on to the great beyond - rural blues, old time, jug band and proto-jazz numbers about romance and revenge and mirth and mayhem.
www.madamepamita.com/

Låter fra Selsø - Selsølåter (Denmark)
Selsølåter
"Totur fra Selsø" (mp3)
(GO' Danish Folk Music)
Buy at Rhapsody
More On This Album


Chicken on a Raft - Pyrates! (Exeter, UK) direct
Pyrates! was finally formed properly as a band during the summer of 2006, an offshoot of the pirate nights we've been having around Exeter for the last 3 years, there are only so many verses a group of drunk people can remember during a night out!
Pyrates! are a sea shanty, folk, drinking, rock, songs of the sea type band, performing a variety of traditional, revival and alternative folk music all in our very own musical way!
www.myspace.com/ukpirates
www.pyrates.co.uk/

Out of it - Brad Sucks (Ottawa, Canada)
Title track from the album recommended to me by equalconquest over on Jamendo.
With his cheeky, disillusioned, home studio-recorded folky yet rocky songs, Brad, a 31-year-old musician from Ottawa, inevitably gets compared to Beck quite often. As much as it can be a compliment, no artist likes to be told they sound like another; but by now Brad has gotten to terms with the parallel. "It used to bother me, I took it as 'hey you're a crappy Beck impersonator with no ideas of your own!' But other musicians told me they get compared to Beck all the time also. So maybe it's the musical equivalent of 'tastes like chicken'.
On the other hand, getting compared implies getting heard. Brad started posting demos on the internet a few years ago, then released his first album, I Don't Know What I'm Doing, at the beginning of 2007, which started getting him some attention pretty far away from home. That's even how he got around to exotic places like Jamendo: "I started selling a bunch of albums to Europeans and got some emails suggesting I put my stuff on Jamendo. After I got enough, I finally checked it out and it looked like an interesting crowd of people. Lately I've been digging Professor Kliq a lot, for example."
Eventually, his music circulated in ways he wouldn't have imagined, ending up in ads for cars and condoms, or with "heroes of mine saying they like my music" and "artists doing well these days citing me as an inspiration. That feels awesome."
So now would probably be a good time to take things to the next level professionally. Brad has been considering getting help with press and booking gigs. But in the meantime, he's managing everything alone, while hoping that the new album, Out Of It, makes his music income go up (he's also into web design). "I'd like to do a bit of touring in the new year but Ive got to figure out if it makes sense money-wise. Other than that, I've got a lot of music I'm working on, as well as some stories and a few other things that I'm excited to get to."
www.bradsucks.net/
www.jamendo.com/en/album/31187

Sig tune: Happy - Jimmy Bratcher
www.jimmiebratcher.com

A couple of electronica tracks on this week's show from a very cold Suffolk along with some fine music from around the world. A call from one of our featured artists gives an insight into the life of a hard-working independent musician.
Most of the leaves on the trees outside the barn are gone now.

Those Damn Things - Ahmond (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Ahmond is a singer-songwriter and instrumental composer. He has just released a self-produced debut album called A Boy You Once Knew.
On the album, and in live performances, you will hear Ahmond playing a variety of folk instruments such as mandolins and woodwinds, as well as heavier electric guitars.
Violins, cellos, and percussion often accompany Ahmond's haunting voice like on the epic track Go to Africa, which is getting Graceland comparisons.
www.ahmond.com/
www.myspace.com/ahmondband

Littleblood - Jenny Gillespie (Chicago, IL, USA)
Jenny: vocals, piano, guitar
Josh Stewart: cello and bass
Jenny Lee: violin
Wendy deBias: bgv
John Knecht: drums
Oops. Correction: Jenny just got in touch to point out that the above is the live band line-up.
Jenny has worked as a waitress, a nanny, a hair model, a bed and breakfast concierge, a poetry teacher, and currently, a children's literature editor. But music has always remained her north star. Born in central Illinois, she has lived in Virginia, Rhode Island, Paris, and Austin, Texas, and currently calls Chicago home, where she performs with her band and soaks up the seasons of a vibrant city.
In 2008 she recorded Light Year, her first full-length album, funded mostly by donations by fans, at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio with additional production by Darwin Smith at Austin's Cacophony Recordings. Anticipate the release in January 2009, along with a West Coast tour in spring 2009. The album which will be available Jan. 1 on iTunes and CDbaby...and if you want to be alerted to it, to email Jenny at begtodiffa@gmail.com.
If you really can't wait, get along to Green Genes in Chicago on 18 Dec to catch Jenny live.
www.myspace.com/jennygillespie

A clip of a well known song …

Fly like a beagle - Transient (Gloversville, USA)
A prolific artist with loads of stuff for you. a sudden soft implosion of noiselessness is a special release for Dusted Wax Kingdom by Transient - your ticket for a colourful journey from oldschool breakbeat worlds through experimental trancy ambience to glittering IDM planets in new downtempo and trip-hop dimensions.
I was put onto him my a fellow traveller in the land of Jamendo "sapiensfx” who describes the album as "10 stars, great tunes and a must have" He (or she)'s dead right. I could have played any track from the album, They are all quite different but hugely engaging.
www.noisyvagabond.com

Join Jamendo (free) and not only will you have access to more music than you'll ever be able to listen to (currently a little over 13,000 albums) but you could go to my page at www.jamendo.com/en/user/clithers click to add yourself to my friends and we share links to interesting finds. I know I'll never find all the good stuff on my own!

Kick and Holler - Dare Dukes (Savannah, Georgeia, USA)
The songs that make up Dare Dukes' new album, Prettiest Transmitter of All, are a striking combination of incisive intelligence and sweet, doleful hooks. Looking past the shiny surfaces of American life, the singer-songwriter chronicles the everyday world, mining the margins for the eccentric characters and bizarre events that are the heart of his music.
"America is a crazy, scary, and fascinating landscape," Dare says. "The reality is a lot more interesting to me than what the nightly news depicts. The way I see it, it's a place filled with eccentric characters, all on their own strange mission--some nuts, some saner than the rest of us. These missions, these people, they are what my music is about."
I was chatting with Dare earlier and he was telling me that he's off to Vietnam for 3 weeks to eat lots of delicious food! He's also got a couple of great shows coming up in Athens, Georgia in the new year with a couple of great bands, Producto and Don Chambers + Goat, the latter of which is a Valentine's day extravaganza, whatever that is, but Dare's going to have to try and write a few songs for the occasion - he says his songbook is sorely lacking in love songs.
www.daredukes.com
www.myspace.com/daredukes

Sandy - Grace Valhalla (Nancy, France)
Great to hear that Grace Valhalla has a new album out on Jamendo it's called Summer Camp.
http://gracevalhalla.hautetfort.com/
http://myspace.com/gracevalhalla
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/grace.valhalla

Terje Nordgarden called in from Bologna, in northern Italy…

Path of Love (piano version) - Nordgarden (Oslo, Norway)
Almost an extra track on Nordgarden's current album, this minimal piano version of the title track just blows me away.
If you have suggestions for places Terje could play, perhaps around New York next spring, let me know and I"ll pass on the word to the man himself.
www.myspace.com/nordgarden