All a bit frantic this week having spent Friday driving north to
Richmond in Yorkshire en route to Northumberland. Fantastic hotel
in Richmond (pic) and a great time with some very old friends in
Northumberland going up a ravine to a spectacular waterfall - why
spectacular - rain all day had swollen the normally fairly placid
beck in Hareshaw Linn to something of a torrent. Why? Jenny's
birthday celebration included a surprise meeting with best part of
a dozen of her oldest friends at said waterfall. Pictures on
my
Flickr site if you're interested.
Alone in a Room With You -
Looker (New York, USA)
The Shangri-Las backed by the Pixies. "One collective stiletto heel
in the Brill Building circa 1963 and the other in what used to be
CBGB." Put the top down, turn it up, sing along.
Born from the collaboration of childhood friends Boshra al Saadi
and Nicole Greco, Looker began as a hot summer's experiment in
Manhattan's lower east side back in 2003. Since then the band has
grown with the addition of AJ Lambert on bass and Robbie Overbey on
drums.
Boshra AlSaadi-gtr/vox
Nicole Greco-gtr/vox
AJ Lambert-bass/vox
Robbie Overbey-drums/vox
http://seriousbusinessrecords.com/artists/show/13-Looker
www.lookernyc.com
www.myspace.com/looker
Guardasecretos - Cordero (New
York, NY, USA)
Ani Cordero created and fronted a new bilingual indie-rock band in
Tucson, Arizona in early 1999 and called the group by her Puerto
Rican family name, Cordero.
By 2000, Ani had moved to New York City and reformed the band with
her husband, music/art star, Chris Verene (formerly of The
Rock*A*Teens and D.Q.E. ) and a revolving backing band. Cordero
eventually cemented the line-up by adding the sensitive horn and
dramatic keyboard playing of Omar Akil (nephew of hit songwriter
Frankie Lymon) and melodic and danceable bass playing of Eric Eble
(Reid Pailey Trio).
In 2006, Cordero inked a new record deal with the Chicago-based
label, Bloodshot Records and expanded their reach with the release
of their third studio album "En Este Momento" and an ever-growing
reputation for blazing live shows. "Their marvelously rambunctious
gigs usually wind up as street parties outside the venue."
The Village Voice
http://corderomusic.com/
www.bloodshotrecords.com/artists/cordero/
Caroline - Brian Wallen
(Indiana, USA)
Brian Wallen is a very busy singer, songwriter, and
multi-instrumentalist with six albums to his credit, 100 shows a
year, and a unique sound all his own. He plays ten instruments,
having picked up his first guitar six years ago (when he was aged
ten).
Brian has arranged, performed, recorded, produced and mastered
everything you hear on his projects.
He also has a band (Blue Lightning) which he leads playing
alongside Glen Thurston, Avery Perry and Marty Price.
http://brianwallenmusic.com/
http://myspace.com/bkwallen
As I am - EMAR (Ontario,
Canada)
EMAR is an international world music artist. Born in Belgrade in
the former Yugoslavia, now Serbia) and partly raised in Canada,
EMAR's multicultural influences inspire her to sing and record in
several languages including Serbian, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and
Church Slavonic.
On her debut album, EMAR: Sacred Soul, released September
3rd, 2008, EMAR worked with three renowned producers to create her
ethereal, spiritual sound: Genie Award-nominated Sean Eyre,
Canadian Music Awards winner for Best World Music Group 2007 -
Andrew McPherson of Eccodek and noted film composer Igor Vrabac.
Playing on five of the album's tracks is World Music
multi-instrumentalist Boris Sichon.
www.emarmusic.com
www.myspace.com/emarmusic
Harry Knuckles - Project Grand
Slam (CA, USA)
PGS plays instrumental music that features great songwriting and
masterly musicianship. Melody, rhythms, grooves and skillful
improvisation combine into one special sound. It's not rock, it's
not pop and it's not jazz - it's Project Grand Slam!
Project Grand Slam's debut album, Play, features "The Captain of
Her Heart" with internationally renowned guest vocalist Judie
Tzuke. Her hit Stay With Me Till Dawn was chosen by the
British public as one of the 50 best British songs from 1952-2002.
"The Captain of Her Heart" was an international Top 10 hit in 1986
for the group Double. "Captain" was produced by Haim Cotton and Jan
Roeg. An instrumental version is also included on the album.
The rest of Play features 11 original compositions by Project Grand
Slam produced by the legendary Frank Filipetti (Grammy Award for
James Taylor's Hourglass).
The musicians of Project Grand Slam are:
Robert Miller - electric bass and composes.
Haim Cotton - keyboards and composes.
Ron Thaler - drums
Gilad Ronen - saxophone
www.projectgrandslam.com
Low Tide - O Death (New York,
NY, USA)
New York outfit O'Death's third LP, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin,
feels like a giddy junkyard hoedown, from the panicked fiddle
screeches of opener "Low Tide" to the celebratory gallop of closer
"Lean-To." At times it sounds morose or contemplative, but
underneath the melancholy is a gospel fervor - bashed from paint
buckets, banjos, guitars and anything else in kicking distance -
that defines their sound. Since 2007's buzzed-about Head Home, the
quintet, which contains vocalist/guitarist Greg Jamie,
vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Gabe Darling, fiddle player Bob
Pycior, bassist Newman and drummer David Rogers-Berry, has evolved
the possessed americana-meets-gypsy-punk of recent years into a
more urgent, unrelenting celebration of life, death and everything
in between.
http://kemado.com/
http://odeath.net/
www.myspace.com/odeath
Hasa - Abiyou Solomon (Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia)
AIT Records proudly presents the celebrated Ethiopian musician and
arranger, Abiyou Solomon, and his latest CD, In Search of My Roots.
This one-of-a-kind recording truly captures the soul and spirit of
eight distinct Ethiopian tribes. The traditional songs and
harmonized sounds demonstrate the beauty and diversity of the
Ethiopian people, comprised of many tribes that have lived in peace
and harmony for thousands of years. In Search of My Roots is Volume
1 in a series of CDs showcasing unique tribal songs from throughout
Ethiopia.
AIT Records, Inc. is the first and leading producer of Ethiopian
music outside of Ethiopia. The melodies, rhythms and instruments of
Ethiopia have forged a rich musical tradition - one of the oldest
in the world. Since 1990, AIT has sought to shine a spotlight on
our unique culture, offering Ethiopian performers the opportunity
to showcase their talents and share their country's history with
the global community.
Available now as a six-CD set or as individual CDs, The Ethiopian
Millennium Collection features breakthrough performances by Mahmoud
Ahmed, winner of the 2007 BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music; and
Alemayehu Eshete. The complete set immerses the listener in an
eclectic mix of signature Ballads, Chic-Chic-Ka (Iskista), Dance,
Instrumental, and Traditional Ethiopian music that blends Ethiopian
and Western instruments.
www.aitrecords.com/
www.myspace.com/aitrecords
3 for 10 - SaReGaMa /
Triplexity (France and Israel)
Put out as a single this is a product of the ever fruitful
collaboration between Nikila, SaReGaMa and Hamelin Bérengnier. This
is actually the enhanced version in Triplexity's album Between
Light and Shadow.
SaGeRaMa says on his Jamendo page: "I'd like to say special thanks
to all those listeners who have expressed their appreciation
through donation. Besides that it's really encouraging it also
helps me to purchase instruments and equipment and improve the
quality of music. The best method is DONATING DIRECTLY TO ARTIST ,
because this way the artist gets your donation immediately with
less fees."
The word Triplexity is combined of two words: triplex and
complexity. Triplexity is a virtual band, its members never met
each other face to face, all the collaborations came to live thru
the Internet. Every member comes from a different musical
background, together, they blend their knowledge and inspiration
and give life to their unique music with a fresh new sound.
He also points out that "Audio quality of the music offered on
Jamendo in best case reaches 190 kbps, which is quite reasonable
for evaluational purposes but definitely not enough to
experience the richness of original sound (1411 kbps). If you'd
like to feel how this music sounds for real you can obtain a
lossless FLAC version of this album on my website."
http://saregama2.blogspot.com/
http://triplexity.blogspot.com/