Back in the UK again after a quick visit to Ibiza to visit Jessie,
take a short break and catch the closing night of Roger Sanchez at
Amnesia. It was all rather surreal with the first rain since May
starting the day after we arrived and delivering violent
thunderstorms every evening. The orange lightening miles out to sea
was spectacualr and quite beautiful.
Piggy in the Middle - Sean Kershaw and the New Jack
Ramblers (Brooklyn. NY, USA)
Started on a whim in 2001 playing country covers in a small bar in
Brooklyn, Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers have evolved
into the biggest and best country band in the NY area with their
unique sound and Mr Kershaw's formidable songwriting. Their debut
album was engineered and co-produced by none other than Rick Miller
(Southern Culture on the Skids) who also contributes a guitar solo
on one song.
www.seankershaw.com
www.myspace.com/seankershawandramblers
Short Song - Mo Rooneh
(Netherlands)
From the album "Micro".
Mo Rooneh is a minimalist and avantgarde composer, working with
repetition and noise as basic elements.
The phylosophy behind the use of those elements in a composition,
which in itself is mostly fictional, is to reinstate a sence of
reality.
Repetition as a refural to time and noise as the reflection of
incoherence and disturbance that characterizes our daily life.
Starting out, some twenty-five years ago, as a singer in several
bands, Rooneh explored the popular music spectrum.
After a small decade he concluded the pop scene didn't bring that
much fulfillment, music wise, as he had hoped for.
Taking a break from performing for almost fifteen years, he
explored numerous art disciplines. Several musical and non-musical
styles inspired Rooneh and led to a reinvention of the self.
Encoutering 'new music' from artists like John Cage, La Monte Young
and Steve Reich made him realize that the way of the experiment was
the right basis for his compositions.
In 2009 he recorded three albums, 'Songs that might be', 'Micro'
and 'Cinematographic'.
Using the world wide web as means of distribution for his work, he
tries to expand his audience.
Mo
Rooneh
"Short
Song" (mp3)
from "Micro"
(Monochrome)
Buy at
Rhapsody
Stream from
Rhapsody
More On This Album
www.mrooneh.com
www.myspace.com/morooneh
The Rain Became the Clouds - Emanuel
and The Fear (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
An extraordinary 11-piece orchestra-rock band that focuses on
intertwining the modern day pop song with extravagant and complex
composition.
Drawing from romantic and modern composers like
Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Glass; and then fusing in a modern
rock sound like Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, Daft Punk and Sufjan
Stevens; Emanuel & the Fear displays a true understanding of
sound all-the-while capturing audiences with their climactic
electro/orchestral arrangements and quivering, poetic lyrics.
www.myspace.com/emanuelandthefear
www.papergardenrecords.com/shop/item/46
Going all the way - Glideascope
(London, UK)
Glideascope tangles computers, intriguing samples, and orchestral
composition to make music for this digital age. With sounds as lush
as classical composer Pachelbel on one track and up tempo Jamaican
Patois vocals driving the next, this is a true kaleidoscope of
sound.
It would be easy to create a laundry list of styles to define
Glideascope--Dub Reggae, Trip Hop, Classical, Electronic, World
Music—but that just won't do. The best person to define the work is
Glideascope himself. He calls his music, "The soundtrack for a
movie never created." Hearing it brings to mind some visually
stunning films like Blade Runner, The Last Samurai, and Cry
Freedom.
Glideascope's work is heavily influenced by the works of Bob
Marley, Craig Armstrong, Afrika Bambatta and Massive Attack
(particularly their first album) to name a few.
www.glideascope.com
www.myspace.com/glideascope
Rainscape extended - Shardik's
Walkman (Berlin, Germany)
Littl;e I can tell you aboiut Shardik's Walkman but you can
download the music from Jamendo
www.jamendo.com/en/album/51301
http://momo4.jamendo.net/
Bikes - Rubblebucket (Boston,
MA, USA)
Rubblebucket is a Boston-and-Brooklyn-based nine-piece polyrhythmic
dance/rock band led by trumpeter Alex Toth and fronted by the
alluring vocals of Kalmia Traver. Comparisons have been drawn to
Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, Bjork and James Brown, but Rubblebucket's
afro-beat inspired, trip-rock soul experience is beyond
classification.
Alex Toth- trumpet, vocals bandleader. He loves Kalmia.
Kalmia Traver- lead vocals, tenor sax. She loves reverie,
berry-picking and skinny-dipping, pennywhistles and making
artwork.
Adam Dotson- trombone, vocals. He won an international euphonium
competition at age fourteen and never wears shoes when he
plays.
Craig Myers- percussion. He began playing percussion at age
thirteen, and he has studied West African percussion extensively
for ten years and traveled to Senegal, Mali, Cote Ivoire and
Guinea. He's also taught and directed percussion groups in Hawaii
and throughout Europe.
Dave Cole- drums. Has also plays guitar and keyboards and has an
amazing beard and smile. He also has a cyclops mask.
Darby Wolf- keyboards. Darbstar has a plan. And he uses Goff organs
and leslie speakers and is a vintage keyboard enthusiast.
Ian Hersey- guitar. He lives in Brooklyn and recently bought a box
of at least 15 Casio keyboards, and he takes them apart and fucks
with them.
http://rubblebucket.com/
www.myspace.com/rubblebucket
Streets Crimes and Strife - Rau
(Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Producer-Composer Stuart Rau creates multi-textured rhythms and
grooves whose branding falls somewhere between trip-hop and blues.
With his strong debut "Streets Crimes and Strife" album he blends
atmospheric international timbres with bruising bass lines and a
myriad of sublime beats.
A rather good video on his MySpace front page too. Take a look.
www.myspace.com/sturowe
Love letters from a fool - Kristen
Cothron (Nashville, TN. USA)
From her album
Love letters from
a Fool.
Kristen's voice is reminiscent of classic jazz singers, but the
songs are edgy and smart and cut right across the lines in an
interesting way.
Since the release of Love Letters from a Fool in May of 2006
Cothron has been touring regionally and is currently celebrating
the release of her music video, Dangerous. Whether she's singing a
jazz standard, a classic soul tune, or one of her eclectic original
songs- Kristen's sound is undeniably her own.
www.kristencothron.com
www.myspace.com/kristencothron