Jun 10, 2009
Delighted to report that I'm back down off the roof. No, I wasn't
expecting to take the trip up their either but magpies have been
nesting in the main chimney stack and one of the fledglings fell
down the chimney a couple of weeks ago which entailed dismantling
the woodburner to release it. They've fledged now so it is a good
time to clamber up there, stand on tip-toes on the ridge and see
what needs to be done before they start on a second brood. I
couldn't resist the photo opportunity. Sorry about the camera shake
- you should have seen my knees.
Take you home - Final Thought (Barrie, ON, Canada)
Barrie, Ontario melodic pop rock foursome Final Thought released their new EP, Take This Home, (iTunes) in January and have been steadily gigging around central Ontario ever since. Their jaw dropping live incarnation has made many a fan for the young up and coming outfit. This June they will bring their live sets to more stages -including a special charity night the band will be hosting in Barrie at the Royal Canadian Legion. June 20th, Spend an Evening with Final Thought - will be an acoustic night and all profits will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
They are currently strolling through the Montreal and Trois Rivieres areas.
www.finalthoughtband.com
www.myspace.com/finalthoughtfinalthought
Rohypnol - Trolley (Halifax, UK)
From the album Very Plath.
The album description reads:
www.jamendo.com/en/album/29603
Levi Blues - Dala (Toronto, Canada)
Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala (the duo's name was formed by combining the two last letters of each artist's name) have come a long way in a short time. The two best friends, who met in their high school music class and wrote their first song together in 2002, have since performed at Toronto's legendary Massey Hall a total of six times. Darlings of the Canadian music scene, Dala are now poised to bring their fresh brand of acoustic pop music to the world.
Dala's last two albums , 2006's Angels and Thieves and 2007's Who Do You Think You Are earned them a total of four Canadian Folk Music Award nominations.
Dala's new album Everyone Is Someone is slated for release yesterday on June 9th. It is a wonderful journey for the listener, bringing together all the elements that set this talented duo apart. The first single, Levi Blues is a delightful throwback to the songs of the 50's and early 60's.F rom the very first line, "I've been waiting for a guy like you; you've been waiting to be my guy too", fans will be hooked.
www.dalagirls.com/
www.myspace.com/dalagirls
A mone Nyina - Abakuya (Paris, France)
The musical project Abakuya was born with the meeting of two musicians, Jimi Sofo (Australia) and François Essindi (Cameroon), and too k place in 2006 thanks to an exchange travel organized by the Akiba Association in Cameroon. Other musicians came in turn and decided to travel together: thus, Abakuya is a journey….
www.myspace.com/abakuya
www.jamendo.com/en/album/30682
In Knowing - Swimming in Speakers (New York, USA)
Picked up on this via a tweet from Sarah Morrison (@SarahCM) this morning. It being #faibw (Follow An Indie Band Wednesday).
From their first meeting in October 2008, multi-instrumentalist Chris Clarke and lead vocalist Meadow Eliz knew they wanted to write music together. The snowy, subzero climate of Saranac Lake, New York, lent itself well to winter days spent creating and recording in Chris's home studio, where they crafted the Swimming in Speakers demo armed with a Casio, a laptop and a hodge-podge of analog equipment. Jo Sorrell (cello) and Justin Grizzoffi (percussion and guitars) add nuance to the tracks, and local NPR station NCPR granted access to their brand new studio for additional recording and mixing.
Swimming in Speakers, the eponymous E.P. is the pair's first collection of demo recordings. From the smoothly burbling synth pop of In Knowing to the slippery delicacy of Near My Ear and the lilting twists and turns of Nevergreen, Swimming In Speakers' sound defies easy categorization.
www.myspace.com/swimminginspeakers
Mission Man - Schitzoid Club (UK)
Schizoid Club from the UK is really putting together some interesting funk/hop-hop influences together with some downtempo/breakbeat mixtures with their debut self-titled release. Sophia Lolley on vocals and Jazz T producing some fine scratchy noises ... Mission Man certainly has some strong echoes of early James Bond and the like.
Matney - Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, decks, vibes, programming, engineering mixing and production. Joe Carballo, ears and tea and interruptions for positive words.
Schizoid Club
"Mission
Man" (mp3)
from "Schizoid Club"
(Per Capita Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album
www.myspace.com/schizoidclub
Minoushe - Vagabond Opera (Portland, Oregon USA)
The curtain parts: steampunked Absinthe-era vestments, thirteen languages, an operatic encounter that puts its green-backed silver dollar where its mouth is—square in the center of a ringing high C that beckons the zeitgeist in a juicy song. The words go like this: Opera's no longer stuffy and elite; it"s for you and it brims and burns with new life, a gypsy bouillabaisse brewed of Balkan, Jazz, bohemian cabaret, Arabic maquam, vital and reinvigorating, marking uncharted territory. It's a new world opera, a global one. The curtain closes. Encores. Room keys thrown on to the stage. Opera reinvented.
The band's line-up features trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor saxophone, cello, violin, musical saw, banjo-lele, stand-up bass and drums.
www.vagabondopera.com
www.myspace.com/vagabondopera
Do Wah Di Di (Youth remix) - The Dirty Strangers (London, UK)
The West London suburb, postcode West 12, begins where the M40 haunches and flies into the capital on an elevated stretch called the Westway. From there it spreads south and east to its snootier neighbours in Chiswick and Notting Hill. The borough is home to the BBC, HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Queens Park Rangers FC, the Dark Compass podcast and (as alleged by themselves) the greatest little rock"n'roll band in the world.
The Dirty Strangers are:
Alan Clayton: Guitar & Vocals
John Proctor: Bass Guitar
George Butler: Drums
Scottie Mulvey: Piano Accordian
By one of those quirks of fate a bunch of guests have been jamming with the core band for over 20 years. The new album W12 to Wittering also features Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and a fine musician who I now recall I once did a UK tour with, Joe Brown.
Keith plays piano on 5 tracks and on All Away is joined by the legendary Joe Brown playing banjo. Ronnie Wood's slide guitar is on two tracks, South Of The River & Gold Cortina. Joe Brown's son Pete produced the album except for Real Botticelli (co-written by Keith as was Bad Girls) which was produced by former Damned founder member, Brian James.
As Kris Needs wrote in Record Collector, "Though the group have some handy mates, it"s their unpretentious zest, veteran chops and ability to plug into rock'n'roll's primal essence which makes them so refreshingly uplifting in these clogged up times."
Take a listen to more tracks on the band's MySpace
www.myspace.com/dirtystrangersw12
Take you home - Final Thought (Barrie, ON, Canada)
Barrie, Ontario melodic pop rock foursome Final Thought released their new EP, Take This Home, (iTunes) in January and have been steadily gigging around central Ontario ever since. Their jaw dropping live incarnation has made many a fan for the young up and coming outfit. This June they will bring their live sets to more stages -including a special charity night the band will be hosting in Barrie at the Royal Canadian Legion. June 20th, Spend an Evening with Final Thought - will be an acoustic night and all profits will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
They are currently strolling through the Montreal and Trois Rivieres areas.
www.finalthoughtband.com
www.myspace.com/finalthoughtfinalthought
Rohypnol - Trolley (Halifax, UK)
From the album Very Plath.
The album description reads:
So, this would be the 3rd of the 3
Trolley albums. This is the one where it all came together
quite nicely, and is still one I'm rather proud of. (Despite
it's rather sketchy opener "Affluenza" - Why do I never manage to
do satisfactory opening tracks? Too much enthusiasm to get
going, perhaps).
My personal faves on "Very Plath" are "Holy Mother Hindlay" which is built on a simple ominous loop which builds and builds throughout the main body of the song, before switching tack and coming to quite an anthemic close). "Song 7" which has a slightly caribean feel to it but manages to take a trip through about another 5 genres before it finishes, without sounding too forced or pretentious, and "Sisters At The Wheel", an industrial dance affair with a huge heart and sing song chorus.
"Very Plath" as a whole does what "Pedigree Joey" did in its finer moments and manages to condense them into more manageable 4 minute chunks - Without the schizophrenia, but with all the adventure left intact. It took me a long time to do this one, but I enjoyed every minute."
www.myspace.com/theremedialsetMy personal faves on "Very Plath" are "Holy Mother Hindlay" which is built on a simple ominous loop which builds and builds throughout the main body of the song, before switching tack and coming to quite an anthemic close). "Song 7" which has a slightly caribean feel to it but manages to take a trip through about another 5 genres before it finishes, without sounding too forced or pretentious, and "Sisters At The Wheel", an industrial dance affair with a huge heart and sing song chorus.
"Very Plath" as a whole does what "Pedigree Joey" did in its finer moments and manages to condense them into more manageable 4 minute chunks - Without the schizophrenia, but with all the adventure left intact. It took me a long time to do this one, but I enjoyed every minute."
www.jamendo.com/en/album/29603
Levi Blues - Dala (Toronto, Canada)
Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala (the duo's name was formed by combining the two last letters of each artist's name) have come a long way in a short time. The two best friends, who met in their high school music class and wrote their first song together in 2002, have since performed at Toronto's legendary Massey Hall a total of six times. Darlings of the Canadian music scene, Dala are now poised to bring their fresh brand of acoustic pop music to the world.
Dala's last two albums , 2006's Angels and Thieves and 2007's Who Do You Think You Are earned them a total of four Canadian Folk Music Award nominations.
Dala's new album Everyone Is Someone is slated for release yesterday on June 9th. It is a wonderful journey for the listener, bringing together all the elements that set this talented duo apart. The first single, Levi Blues is a delightful throwback to the songs of the 50's and early 60's.F rom the very first line, "I've been waiting for a guy like you; you've been waiting to be my guy too", fans will be hooked.
www.dalagirls.com/
www.myspace.com/dalagirls
A mone Nyina - Abakuya (Paris, France)
The musical project Abakuya was born with the meeting of two musicians, Jimi Sofo (Australia) and François Essindi (Cameroon), and too k place in 2006 thanks to an exchange travel organized by the Akiba Association in Cameroon. Other musicians came in turn and decided to travel together: thus, Abakuya is a journey….
www.myspace.com/abakuya
www.jamendo.com/en/album/30682
In Knowing - Swimming in Speakers (New York, USA)
Picked up on this via a tweet from Sarah Morrison (@SarahCM) this morning. It being #faibw (Follow An Indie Band Wednesday).
From their first meeting in October 2008, multi-instrumentalist Chris Clarke and lead vocalist Meadow Eliz knew they wanted to write music together. The snowy, subzero climate of Saranac Lake, New York, lent itself well to winter days spent creating and recording in Chris's home studio, where they crafted the Swimming in Speakers demo armed with a Casio, a laptop and a hodge-podge of analog equipment. Jo Sorrell (cello) and Justin Grizzoffi (percussion and guitars) add nuance to the tracks, and local NPR station NCPR granted access to their brand new studio for additional recording and mixing.
Swimming in Speakers, the eponymous E.P. is the pair's first collection of demo recordings. From the smoothly burbling synth pop of In Knowing to the slippery delicacy of Near My Ear and the lilting twists and turns of Nevergreen, Swimming In Speakers' sound defies easy categorization.
www.myspace.com/swimminginspeakers
Mission Man - Schitzoid Club (UK)
Schizoid Club from the UK is really putting together some interesting funk/hop-hop influences together with some downtempo/breakbeat mixtures with their debut self-titled release. Sophia Lolley on vocals and Jazz T producing some fine scratchy noises ... Mission Man certainly has some strong echoes of early James Bond and the like.
Matney - Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, decks, vibes, programming, engineering mixing and production. Joe Carballo, ears and tea and interruptions for positive words.
Schizoid Club "Mission
Man" (mp3)from "Schizoid Club"
(Per Capita Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Albumwww.myspace.com/schizoidclub
Minoushe - Vagabond Opera (Portland, Oregon USA)
The curtain parts: steampunked Absinthe-era vestments, thirteen languages, an operatic encounter that puts its green-backed silver dollar where its mouth is—square in the center of a ringing high C that beckons the zeitgeist in a juicy song. The words go like this: Opera's no longer stuffy and elite; it"s for you and it brims and burns with new life, a gypsy bouillabaisse brewed of Balkan, Jazz, bohemian cabaret, Arabic maquam, vital and reinvigorating, marking uncharted territory. It's a new world opera, a global one. The curtain closes. Encores. Room keys thrown on to the stage. Opera reinvented.
The band's line-up features trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor saxophone, cello, violin, musical saw, banjo-lele, stand-up bass and drums.
www.vagabondopera.com
www.myspace.com/vagabondopera
Do Wah Di Di (Youth remix) - The Dirty Strangers (London, UK)
The West London suburb, postcode West 12, begins where the M40 haunches and flies into the capital on an elevated stretch called the Westway. From there it spreads south and east to its snootier neighbours in Chiswick and Notting Hill. The borough is home to the BBC, HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Queens Park Rangers FC, the Dark Compass podcast and (as alleged by themselves) the greatest little rock"n'roll band in the world.
The Dirty Strangers are:
Alan Clayton: Guitar & Vocals
John Proctor: Bass Guitar
George Butler: Drums
Scottie Mulvey: Piano Accordian
By one of those quirks of fate a bunch of guests have been jamming with the core band for over 20 years. The new album W12 to Wittering also features Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and a fine musician who I now recall I once did a UK tour with, Joe Brown.
Keith plays piano on 5 tracks and on All Away is joined by the legendary Joe Brown playing banjo. Ronnie Wood's slide guitar is on two tracks, South Of The River & Gold Cortina. Joe Brown's son Pete produced the album except for Real Botticelli (co-written by Keith as was Bad Girls) which was produced by former Damned founder member, Brian James.
As Kris Needs wrote in Record Collector, "Though the group have some handy mates, it"s their unpretentious zest, veteran chops and ability to plug into rock'n'roll's primal essence which makes them so refreshingly uplifting in these clogged up times."
Take a listen to more tracks on the band's MySpace
www.myspace.com/dirtystrangersw12