An international indie music podcast produced by Peter Clitheroe in Suffolk, England
Updated: 1 hour 46 min ago
SnC 375 – The Great Escape 1
Black Black Hills certainly grabbed attention with their street performance at TGE.
A Suffolk’n’Cool special from Brighton on the south coast of England. We’re here for three days of independent music as artists from around the world showcase their talents to audiences comprising about half and half music biz folks and real music fans. Join me for The Great Escape.
Minus the makeup – Blek (Mumbai, India)
Blek is a 3-member power pop band from Mumbai, India comprising of Rishi Bradoo (Guitar/Vocals), Jared Juan Creado (Bass/Vocals) and Varoon Aiyer (Drums).
Blek were one of 5 winners of the Ray-Ban Never Hide Sounds, a nationwide talent hunt for best emerging artists in 2011.
The band released their debut EP “Hexes + Drama & Other Reasons for Evacuation” as a free download (available on ennui.BOMB Records : www.ennuidotbomb.com ) early last year and has since been one of the most buzzing acts on the Indian indie circuit. Backed with super reviews for the EP from all quarters, Blek has gigged extensively covering most of the country. They plan on releasing their next EP this summer supported by a multi-city tour of India.
Their appearance on the Komedia Studio Bar stage was an unexpected surprise which Codger. Grumbler and I stumbled upon totally by chance. I picked up a sampler album of Indian rock music which has some absolute gems – so we’ll be hearing more on Suffolk ’n’ Cool and, I suspect on PC Podcast.
http://nh7.in/blek/ (excellent video of live performance here)
Ethereral – Hjaltalin (Reykjavík, Iceland)
We had a track from Hjaltalin last week so I was keen to catch their set at Above Audio.
Afterwards I spoke with songwriter, guitarist with Hjaltalin, Högni Egilsson
Letter to (…) – Hjaltalin
The band comprises some excellent musicians: Axel Haraldsson, Guðmundur Óskar, Guðmundsson, Hjörtur Ingvi Jóhannsson, Högni Egilsson and Rebekka Bryndís Björnsdóttir singing together beautifully along with Sigríður Thorlacius and Viktor Orri Árnason.
www.facebook.com/hjaltalinband
Far From My Arms – Black Black Hills (Brighton, UK)
A great set to stumble upon totally by chance. Mark S Aaron’s voice caught my ear along with some really interesting percussion on a solid bass. That certainly does it for me.
The band’s brooding, dynamic energy has already begun to capture people’s interest and support: Their track A Drowning was recently selected for the Radio 1 playlist
www.facebook.com/blackblackhills
One More Tear – Echo and the Empress (Adelaide, South Australia)
The first set of the Great Escape kicked things of at The Haunt – one of around 30 venues used for TGE. This is a great little space with a balcony from which you can look almost straight down onto the stage. Just as long as you’re in the first three rows!
Their first TGE and they were first on – so no pressure for Skye and Beth then! They went on to play three packed shows during the festival and have certainly done themselves proud on their first visit dates in the UK. I’m looking forward to catching them again next time.
www.facebook.com/echoandtheempress
Scientists and Cynthia – Velociraptor (Brisbane, Australia)
Velociraptor played sets at both The Haunt and the Aussie BBQ at Concorde 2.
Their 10 person line-up impresses both the eyes and the ears with drums (no seat), bass and keyboards plus seven or so guitars and almost everyone singing.
Certainly an endearing riot of a performance which should not be missed.
Main singer Jeremy Neale played a solo set in the hushed galleries of Brighton museum on Saturday evening which was a magical contract to the full band sets.
www.facebook.com/velociraptorband
You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man – The Beards (Adelaide, South Australia)
To close out the Aussie segment from The Great Escape a band that can only be described as “niche”. The Beards have an album called Having A Beard Is The New Not Having A Beard featuring thirteen tracks, every one on the subject of, and indeed, in praise of, er … beards.
They are (allegedly):
Johann Beardraven
John Beardman Jr
Nathaniel Beard
Facey McStubblington
What they really are is a group of highly skilled musicians with a beautifully developed sense of the absurd and, in Chelsea Sinnott, one of the hardest working and best fun mangers around.
On their current tour they’ve already wowed LA, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, Bearded Theory and Byron’s Bay Bluesfest. They are in the UK for a few more days so you may be able to catch their unashamedly totalitarian beard-rock shows at:
Wed 22nd May Deaf Institute, Manchester, England.
www.aeglive.co.uk/artists/the-beards
Thurs 23rd May The Louisianna, Bristol, England
http://aeglive.seetickets.com/event/the-beards/the-louisiana/698437/?src=AEGLIVEUK_LOUISIANA_BEARDS_230513
Fri 24th May Leadmill, Sheffield, England.
www.aeglive.co.uk/artists/the-beards
Sun 26th May Scrumpstock Festival, Somerset, England.
www.scrumpstock.co.uk/shop
Then they are back into Western Australia, Victoria and NSW throughout June. If you can’t get to a show, Do check out their videos on their various web presences:
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 374 – A session with Funke
A Session at The Barn this week with Funke and the Two Tone Baby. [Artwork: Ieuan Edwards]
Funke and the Two Tone Baby came over to The Barn on Friday to play a few tunes and have a chat about his music.What a talented guy (and really good company too). He’s been playing for a while and his distinctive style has developed over the past 5 years into something that seriously impressed the Suffolk ‘n’ Cool team.
He’s recently started on a UK tour that will take in both city and smaller town venues. Details are on his Facebook page for now but the main site will come into it’s own any time now.
As of June 3 his debut album “Battles will be available from all the usual download stores including Amazon and iTunes. Best for Dan though is if you buy direct from him through his Bandcamp page.
Please bear in mind that Suffolk’n'Cool goes out as a relatively low bitrate mp3 so you’ll get much better sound off the CD or commercial high quality download.
While we were recording the session, we shot some simple video.
Here’s the title track from Funke’s album, Battles.
and here’s the final song in the session Bella’s Kiss.
See Dan’s own videos and find out all about Funke and the Two Tone Baby at:
www.facebook.com/funkeandthetwotonebaby
SnC recording engineer: Jeremy Gugenheim
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 373 – Iced Aussies
An Escape queue to get in! Lots of Aussie bands on this week’s show. Most at TGE next week.
Music from almost opposite ends of the earth this week. We have the second of our Icelandic features and from round the other side and almost as far down, a bunch of tracks from Aussie bands that will be showcasing at The Great Escape next week. There’s quite a variety.
We also have news of what may be the sad demise of The Rolling Stones as their current US tour looks rather shaky.
Easy Lad – The Upskirts (Sydney, Australia)
Sydney four-piece The Upskirts are a hard band to pin down. With two 5-track EP’s under their belts they have dabbled in psychedelic textures and reverberated surf – rock guitar riffs, frenzied post-punk idiocy and garage pop grooves.
What is left is an eclectic amalgam of rock music, and a band that is excited rather than ambivalent about the music they play.
Their live shows are a swoon of highs and lows with an unmistakable dynamic energy that has turned heads and raised eyebrows.
Having played countless shows across bars, rooftops, backyards and courtyards in Sydney and up and down the east coast, The Upskirts have an exciting year ahead in 2013.
They’re here in the UK for their first overseas tour as well as playing at the Great Escape in Brighton next week.
With plans to head back into the studio again very soon, it can only be expected that the band will continue to surprise, so do yourself a favour, buy a record, see a show and disregard your expectations.
SUNDAY 12th MAY @ THE AUSSIE BBQ at CARGO, SHOREDITCH 4:30pm
WEDNESDAY 15th MAY @ DUBLIN CASTLE, CAMDEN 8:00pm
THURSDAY 16th MAY @ THE HAUNT, BRIGHTON 1:15pm
SATURDAY 18th MAY @ STICKY MIKE’S FROG BAR, BRIGHTON (Official Great Escape Showcase) 6:45pm
War Hero – Biggi Hilmars (Iceland)
Blending classical, electronic, ambient, avant-garde and pop influences, Biggi Hilmars has developed a distinctive, haunting, provocative, original music style, for which he is becoming so sought-after.
Born in 1978 in Reykjavik, the London based composer and artist has already made an impact on the film and tv scene composing for international films such as IDFA and Edda Oscar Awards nominee ‘Future of Hope’ (2010) and ‘Heaven on Earth’ (2009) by award winning director Deepa Mehta and most recently his music was featured on Ridley Scott’s ‘Life in A Day’ movie trailer.
Biggi fronts the band Ampop, which has written award-winning albums ‘My Delusions’ (2006), ‘Sail to the Moon’ (2007) and a string of hits ‘My Delusions’, ‘Gets Me Down’ in his homeland.
Brought up listening to artists such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, Depeche Mode, Brian Eno and The Beatles (to name but few), his interest in classical music was never far away. In his late 20´s after moving to London he started working with classical musicians, which lit his interest in writing classical music.
Here’s a live performance from the ‘All We Can Be‘ debut album release concert at Frikirkjan Church, Reykjavik on October 4th.
Crack in a Stone – Hjaltalin (Reykjavik, Iceland)
Great news for UK fans of the cinematic and splendid Icelandic group Hjaltalin – they are heading to dear old Blighty for a run of dates in May!
The group kick things off at the Social in central London on May 14th, before playing the Hoxton Bar And Grill on the following night. They then hotfoot it down to sunny (possibly) Brighton to play Above Audio on 16th and the Brighthelm Centre on 17th. For further up to the minute details, swing by the band’s Facebook page.
www.facebook.com/hjaltalinband
One More Tear – Echo and the Empress (Adelaide, Australia)
Meet Echo and the Empress, a South Australian based musical collaboration of two sisters and 4 piece live on stage. In May 2012 their song Balloon was announced as the winner in the Pop Category for the 12th Annual International Independent Music Awards. After their big win, the girls were invited to play Gorgeous Festival in late 2012 alongside other great Australian musicians such as Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan. This is where UK’s highly regarded festival booker, Martin Elbourne, saw the girls and invited them to perform at the UK’s Great Escape Festival next week. They also joined the line up for Liverpool sound city and are set for Live at Leeds.
As their performance journey continues, Sam and Elise join the girls on stage with percussion and bass that adorn the simple E&E sounds with vitality. After launching their debut self-titled album on the 31st March at The Promethean in South Australia, the girls have now released a new single One More Tear.
You can hear more music at their site and catch them live, just as I’m intending to do at TGE:
9 May Underbelly, 5 Bywell Pl London W1T 3DN, 8pm
14 May Talking Heads in Southampton 7:30pm
16 May The Great Escape Festival @ Digital at 6.30pm
17 May The Great Escape Festival @ The Hope at 12.30pm
It’s not been a good week for the Stones
Tickets for their show at Staples Centre in LA were going very slowly last week only the day before you could get blocks of 8 seats together, whole sections of the venue were very patchily sold. Thousands of seats available, but then they were charging up to $600 per seat and you had to buy at least 2 seats.
Then they caved in – thousands of seats were discounted to $85 and, of course the venue sold out with quesues around the block. Just like it used to be when concert tickets cost under $10.
Sales for further dates on their 50th anniversary tour are also weak – at those vastly inflated prices.
Then, to whip up a bit of interest they release video on their own official YouTube channel that is utterly laughable, as Bob Lefsetz said a couple of days ago, “This is The Stones. A band that can’t even play “The Last Time” as well as you did in middle school.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLRD1R8GNgY
Watch the video, if you can, and then take a look at the comments.
It’s just so very sad, seeing a once great band descend into mediocrity and greed.
But it gets worse – they need to really promote the hell out of the rest of the tour. But please, not like this:
“Mick’s Message to the Bay Area”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY1iShruBXg
To put the icing on the cake, they are just releasing ‘Brussels Affair‘ mega-package, which includes a once-rare recording of the Stones playing Brussels in 1973 (on vinyl), a tour lithograph, a Seiko lip-and-tongue watch, vintage packaging, even a book with Jagger’s signature. It’s an edition limited to 1,727 copies so it will probably sell out – in every sense.
The base price starts at $750, with the minimum shipping and tax putting the price tag at $845.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens to ticket prices. Perhaps this will signal the beginning of a return to sanity.
Oh Innocence – Dune (Melbourne, Australia)
Having worked within the confines of various musical genres over the years as a professional musician, Dune had found herself increasingly dissatisfied with toeing the line. “I needed to isolate and go deeper into my own psyche, a place that was not always comfortable,” she says. “I realised the only way I would have the freedom to do what I wanted was to build my own studio, which I did last year with my husband, and then record and release my music independently.
Dune has a love of the lineage of electronica. “Some of the tracks definitely echo the music being made around the time I was born,” she says. “My dad was active in the experimental electronic movement in the UK in the 1970s, and a lot of the synths I was using, like the Roland Jupiter 8, were his old gear from that time.”
The results are a fusion of tribal beats, eastern scales and an occasional mosey into the avant-garde. While Dune is best known for her vocal portfolio, she’s also a skilled keyboard player, evidenced by the adept nods to synth pioneers like Brian Eno and Gary Numan. Pangs of distorted reverb and analogue delay shimmer throughout the songs, which are broken down to their key components and never overplayed. It’s a restraint that belies her years spent at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Jade MacRae – vocals, keyboards and other stuff
Luke Hodgson – bass and winning shirts
Leigh Fisher – drums and samples and good vibes
Sounds Australia
“As the weather gets hotter in the Northern hemisphere, so too do the opportunities for Australian artists to showcase their talents to the world. The UK is first cab off the rank, with Sounds Australia presenting The Aussie BBQ in London on May 12 at Cargo with 12 bands for a huge 12 hours… plus the obligatory BBQ feast.
We then return to Brighton for The Great Escape, with 20 Australian artists hitting the seaside town to no doubt dazzle and delight international delegates and local fans alike.
Come May 21, we head to the even warmer climes of Singapore, where nine Australian artists will showcase at Music Matters, “Asia’s #1 celebration of music discovery”, including a keynote performance from Gurrumul and The Aussie BBQ showcase.
May is also the time for Aussie artists get applications in for local and international showcasing opportunities later in the year.
Reeperbahn Festival takes place in Hamburg, Germany from 25-28 September and application are open until July 1.
CMJ Music Marathon happens in New York City 15-19 October and applications to play close June 26.
Amsterdam Dance Event, taking place in The Netherlands 16-20 October, also has an application form to showcase (no closing date advertised).
Back home, and Brisbane’s BIGSOUND Live applications have just been extended to May 20. Apply here for the chance to showcase to local and international delegates between 11-13 September.
Keep an eye on Sounds Australia’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for updates on the action as it happens, and don’t forget to download the smartphone app for Android and iPhone for artist and industry profiles, video, audio and contact details.”
Desert – Messrs (Adelaide, Australia)
Messrs’ story officially begins in 2011, but their heritage goes way back. Having played together in various musical guises over the years, the band’s five members – Josh Moore on vocals, Justin Walker on guitar, Chad Hooper on drums and brothers Craig and Shane Lock on bass and synth respectively – took a long time to finally feel comfortable in their creative shoes.
Eschewing their skittish, scatty indie punk stylings of their earlier days, Messrs re-emerged a much more honed and focused unit in 2011.
Having toured extensively, playing festivals such as The Great Escape (UK), The Big Day Out (AUS) and Parklife (AUS) and supporting the likes of Phoenix, Neon Indian and Kele, Messrs eventually got around to putting out their debut EP in late 2012. Welcome To Nowhere dropped last November to immediate acclaim, reaching the Top 40 in the Australian iTunes Albums Chart. The EP’s lead single “Desert” also made a massive impact, racking up nearly 60,000 Vimeo views to date.
They’re not at TGE this year but someone’s got to entertain the folks back home. They’re playing the Grace Darling in Adelaide in Friday night.
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 372 – Iceland calling
Arstidir make a welcome appearance to kick off our Icelandic season.
Some rather “musical” tunes on this week’s SnC and the start of a short Icelandic season celebrating a flavour of the remarkable music which that tiny island has to offer.
Also, we’ve some news about one of the long-established music streaming services – perhaps a precursor to some big shifts to the listening landscape.
I left the barn door open whilst recording this morning – the birds of Suffolk obviously want to be heard too!
Mind My Halo – Irontom (LA, CA, USA)
IRONTOM emerged at the beginning of the year with an intent on forging a presence for themselves on the Los Angeles music scene. The music exhibits a variety of styles and sounds on top of a classic sensibility for song writing. With Harry Hayes: Vocals, Zach Irons: Guitar, Daniel Saslow: Keyboards, Dylan Williams: Drums and Dane Sandborg: Bass, the personalities of each of the five musicians combine to form an undeniably powerful and energetic sound.
IRONTOM recently released their debut EP, The Loose EP, on October 17th, 2012. Produced by Alain Johannes (Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Chris Cornell). Listen to The Loose EP to hear the range and diversity of the band. The music is effects-heavy, detailed in its parts and harmonies, and honest in its message.
Look at the Light – Sin Fang (Iceland)
It’s been only three years since Iceland’s new king of lo-fi layered lushness, Sindri Már Sigfússon, began his official recording career. “Summer Echoes”, the new and second album of his solo-project Sin Fang (he dropped the “Bous”) is now already his 4th album release (including 2 records of his other musical outlet Seabear) since 2007. The album oscillates wildly unearthing glimpses of familiarity – vintage Flying Nun here, Paw Tracks there and a Belle and Sebastian pop nous – while retaining the own stark originality of this uber-talented artist and producer.
“AOL Music is shutting down. We all just got laid off.”
Last year, Digital Music News broke news of the brutal gutting and dismantling of Yahoo Music. Turns out that wasn’t an isolated incident: according to numerous tweets and emails surfacing ahead of last weekend.
AOL is now shutting down AOL Music and its subsidiary properties immediately. Staffers were getting laid off on Friday, according to preliminary (and unconfirmed) details.
AOL’s official PR pontiff has yet to confirm the carnage, but here’s a tweet directly from the inside. (Actually, it was quickly deleted, and snapped from the trash by @lorilewis).
That’s Spinner, an early internet radio pioneer transformed into an editorial, aficionado-aimed music site by AOL. Now, it’s just one of several properties getting terminated. At present, it remains unclear if any properties will remain, though it looks like AOL Radio, powered by Slacker, will survive.
As of yesterday Spinner appears to be operating normally.
Tunein radio
You can listen to Suffolk’n'Cool streamed from your iPhone, Android, Windows phone, etc
Get the free app from your phone’s app store.
Human – Valente (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
The son of an American jazz singer and an Italian opera and theatre director, Valente was born in Rome. Growing up around his parents’ work and his sisters’ punk and new wave records, he began to write music while attending Catholic priest boarding school in Switzerland. Despite his Latin teacher’s prediction that he’d end up as a used car salesman, Valente moved to Los Angeles to study bass playing and film scoring.
After releasing a few songs on Myspace, the word quickly spread. Valente caught the attention of a wide array of fellow musicians and producers. Among these was Marc Collin, the renowned producer behind Nouvelle Vague who offered Valente to record an album in Paris called Two For The Road along side Katrine Ottosen.
Today, Valente splits his time between Europe, Asia and America working on several projects as both producer and artist. He has worked with several artists as both an artist and producer, including Nouvelle Vague, Avi Buffalo, Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes), Angela McCluskey, and others. His latest album, Music for Rooftops was written while traveling through New York, Tokyo, and Paris, among other cities, and developed in Los Angeles. Music for Rooftops has been available for almost a week.
Whisky in the Jar – The O’Marleys (Exeter, Devon, UK)
A brand new version of Whiskey in the Jar from those Devon purveyors of fine reggae, rock, folk and traditional Irish tunes that mix into the sound of The O’Marleys. Taking influences from Romany music, The Upsetters, Bob Marley and Moving Hearts, it creates a heady and exciting soundscape.
In the rhythm section there is the wild yet subtle Bodhran playing of Mike Nangle and the heavy relentless electric bass of James King, complimented with electric percussion. On the top line is premier fiddle player Mac Moulton who plunges from Irish set dances into the jazz style of Stephan Grappelli with surprising ease. At the centre of the band is the rather mysterious 12 string guitarist, John Fitzsimons. His playing is a startling combination of cross rhythms/ jazz chords and counter melodies that produce completely original arrangements of the songs. With a background on the London music scene he brings many diverse influences to the band. Lead singer Mike Nangle hails from the theatrical tradition and adds rasping drama to the songs. Three members of the band sing (and make strange noises), creating rich vocal patterns and harmonies.
Their 2010 album, The Rising of the Moon, (their second) is on Idleday Records. It is available for download from iTunes, Amazon and Tesco online. You tube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHmQSFLosV0
They’ve got a few festival dates – (mostly beer festivals) coming up and a new album due out in July. Check their site for details.
Crabgrass – Manzanita Falls (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Formed in the fall of 2011, Manzanita Falls is a four-piece indie-rock group from San Francisco Bay Area. They started out small, playing local shows while developing their distinctive sound. Influenced by bands like The National, Wilco, and The Frames, their sound is comfortably familiar and also uniquely Manzanita Falls.
Originally slated to be released in November of 2012, their debut album, Vinyl Ghost was delayed after the band went through a near-fatal car accident in Abilene, TX that left drummer, Matt Coit, with a fractured neck.
Vinyl Ghost is available now, and the band are currently touring the west coast in support of the album.
5.1.13 Elko, Nevada @ DLC Gallery and Wine Bar
5.2.13 Las Vegas, Nevada @ Favorites
5.3.13 Los Angeles, CA @ Tribal Café
5.4.13 San Luis Obispo, California @ The Frog and the Peach
Ljóð í sand (Sakaris Neighties Remix) – Árstíðir (Reykjavík, Iceland)
Árstíðir is a vocal-based acoustic band from Reykjavík. The six members sing, string, play piano, and pick guitars.
Over the four years since Árstíðir’s formation the band has released two full-length records and a remix EP praised by trendsetting music critics, had two number one hits on Icelandic radio, made several TV appearances in Iceland, Sweden, Russia, Germany, and the Czech Republic, and played sold out venues all over Europe. In January 2013 Árstíðir won the prestigious 21st Eiserner Eversteiner European Folk Music Award.
Árstíðir’s arresting six-part vocal harmonies and lush instrumentation set them apart, effusing a warm tide of resonant acoustic and baritone guitars, virtuosic piano, and melismatic strings. The result is an uncommonly wide spectrum of sound, driven by the members’ exceptional vocal range.
Consequently, Árstíðir’s music is a rare composition of the clear-cut and the complex. Their songs are easy to fall in love with, yet mixed with diverse influences such as progressive rock, indie, classical chamber music, and Icelandic folk music.
Árstíðir are:
Daníel Auðundsson – Guitar & vocals
Gunnar Már Jakobsson – Guitar & vocals
Ragnar Ólafsson – Baritone guitar & vocals
Jón Elísson – Piano & vocals
Hallgrímur Jónas Jensson – Cello & vocals
Karl Aldinsteinn Pestka – Violin & vocals
Website: www.arstidir.com
If you’re interested in the music they would select as the best of Iceland – check out their Soundcloud playlist
Sleight of Hand – Paper Diamond (Boulder, CO, USA)
Another single from Boulder based – genre defying Paper Diamond’s forthcoming EP ‘Paragon‘ set to be released April 16th 2013. Paragon will feature a range of production, instrumentation, and collaborators all weaved into Paper Diamond’s signature style.
While “genre-defying” is an overused word, Paper Diamond is one of the few producers who truly pulls it off, seamlessly weaving together genres as diverse as electro, trap, funk, dubstep, house, moombahton and hip-hop, all with a whiff of ganja smoke floating through it.
Quite a few festival dates coming up over the summer:
5/24-5/26 Chillicothe, IL – Summer Camp Music Festival
5/25-5/27 Detroit, MI – Movement Festival
6/7-6/9 New York, NY – Governor’s Ball Music Festival
6/8-6/9 Baltimore, MD – Moonrise Festival
6/13-6/16 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
7/11-7/13 Mariahville, NY – Camp Bisco
7/11-7/15 Temecula, CA – Lightning in a Bottle
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 371 – Summertime / SummerStage
Voodoo Tapes, opening the upcoming season from Aquietbump. Relax and pull down the sub crossover freq.
Voodoo Tapes is strongly intertwined with the southern Italian net label A Quiet Bump, and it’s great to have him on the show this week.
We’ve news of some SummerStage performances in New York and, of course, some of the more interesting of the current crop of truly independent artists. Welcome to your breath of fresh musical air, straight from the east coast of England.
Black and White – Erica Glyn (NYC, USA)
OK. I know it’s only a couple of weeks since I played The Animal by Erica Glyn but there you go, I’m playing another one already!
Erica’s vampy, garage-pop lures listeners into “a world of the unusual and strange”, a landscape of pulsating beats, surging synthesizers, elegantly volcanic melodies, and dark, poetic lyrics. Her passion and drive for her own development exploded in her 2012 full-length release, STATIC.
Like all her work, the album was written, recorded and produced solely by Erica, with contributions from a collection of well-respected artists and special mixes by multiple Grammy award-winning master music-maker and friend, Chris Lord-Alge.
Scratching for Light – Peg Simone (NYC, USA)
The tracks on 2013’s Witch Tree Road hover in unidentified terrain: black and white photographs of someone else’s dead relatives; mildewed cellars splintered with the shards of discolored Mason jars; moth-eaten, unopened steamer trunks; upturned, spinning wheels of midnight Oldsmobile fatalities; sepia-toned text from newspaper insulation, rendered illegible by time and flour-paste glue; drunken cruelty; ageless suffering; subterranean wrath.
Throughout, Peg’s voice is a torrid whisper, punctuated by gasps that abandon the listener to solitary contemplation, to wonder whether she’s celebrating or mourning; praying or seducing. Such are the transformative powers of a blues sorceress.
Good Luck (And All That Stuff) – We Are The West (LA, CA, USA)
Hey Peter,
Thanks for playing The Hammer on your very cool show.
I also liked what you had to say about acoustical spaces and the music they are either built for or shape. When we were based in New York, we put on concerts in an abandoned convent (we worked out a deal with the priest whose church owned the building), and last year we put together a tour of nontraditional venues that included a mineshaft, a wind-carved desert amphitheater, an old silent movie theater, and an impound tow lot.
Each space seems to invite a different approach.
And you’re right: those vocals on The Hammer were done back at the underground parking garage, after our initial sessions in the barn.
Our first EP, released last spring, was recorded entirely in the parking garage where we do our monthly Underground Series. I’ll attach one of the tunes, Good Luck (and all that stuff).
We just returned from a trip out to New Mexico to track the third EP, which we’re hoping to have ready in a month or two.
Thanks again,
Brett
You can download their music from iTunes
The Underground Series takes place the Saturday before each full moon in the underground car park of an office building in Santa Monica. The next is on May 18 when Bananimal will be special guests.
Open Up My Heart – Marla Mase (New York City, NY, USA)
In September New York CIty writer/performer/producer/singer/songwriter performed this piece in China, where she was invited by the Friends of the UN to perform for UN GLOBAL PEACE DAY in Linzhou City. She was given an honorary, “Messenger of Peace” award for her visionary work as a songwriter and performing artist. She writes songs, plays, monologues, short stories, erotica, blogs, and poems. She is known for her gutsy, sexy, raw performance style and her intelligent lyrics.
SummerStage 2013 have just booked Marla’s multi-media performance concert SPEAK for two dates: June 15 and August 17 at 8pm in Herbert Von King Park, New York.
As she says, “I’m working with an amazing group of artists: dancers, actresses, film/videographers and of course the Tomás Doncker Band. I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
Also, she was written up in the Huffington Post a couple of days ago. Check out the article
Here’s the video for Piece of Peace
Also appearing at Summerstage are Marseille favourites of mine IAM
Fête De La Musique:
6.21.2013 | 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm | Central Park
Les Files D’attente – Law’ (Paris, France)
Law’ is a singer from France. This is from her first solo album, Sans gêne ni oxygène produced by The Dada Weatherman.
Find it for free download on Jamendo
Mixed Rituals feat. Breakstarr e Sonakine – Voodoo Tapes (Napoli)
Voodoo Tapes: pseudonym of Giovanni Roma (aka Blob). It began in 2011 for an irresistible impulse to perform digital dub vibrations. There is no other reason why this project was born over the trance of bass, hi-hat and spring reverb.
Available on the always refreshing AQUIETBUMP, a net label based in Irpinia, a middleland mountain and rural region of southern Italy. AQBMP produces multimedia focused on dub, digital roots, downbeat, and deep, lowend frequencies. Founded in 2005 by Paolo Picone and Carmine Minichiello, with a later involvement into the staff of Giovanni Roma, Raffaele Gargiulo and Leo Giso. What started out as a collective with a few musicians and their side projects has now become AQUIETBUMP the label.
www.aquietbump.com/release/aqbmp031-voodoo-tapes-mixed-rituals
Distance – Melissa Bel (Burlington, Ontario, Canada)
Melissa Bel, a Canadian singer/songwriter performs on stage like she’s playing host to the blues spectres of 1940s Chicago. Her powerful voice bursts out of a petit, fresh-faced 23yr old delivering notes strong enough to carry the heavy feel of her music while maintaining an air of elegance.
For her sophomore album, “Distance”, Melissa pours her heart out into six songs that are expected to bring her name and music into homes across North America and Europe. “Distance” which reached number one on Montreal’s Jazz and Blues charts, includes a stirring rendition of Bill Withers’ 1971 classic ” Ain’t No Sunshine.”
Melissa recently opened for Juno award winning artist Matthew Good in a couple of London shows. Dammit!
www.facebook.com/melissabelmusic
Touch – Brighton MA (Chicago, IL, USA)
Indie-rockers Brighton MA have come into their own through refining their signature bursting emotionality with concise song structures and expansive dynamics on their sophomore album, “Oh Lost.” In an era of hyper stimulation, the arresting clarity of the Chicago-based quartet’s latest reminds us to not lose sight of the simple beauty of life.
Brighton MA formed in 2006 when Kerstein and drummer Sam Koentopp left The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir and hooked up with arranger/guitarist Jim Tuerk, later adding guitarist Joe Darnaby and bassist Jon Ozaksut. The band has been applauded for their innate lysergic folkie, noise-pop aesthetic and bold vulnerability, garnering favorable comparison to The Walkmen, The Flaming Lips and Bob Dylan. They’ve shared stages with Spoon, The Arcade Fire and Old 97’s
On the lead track “Touch” singer-songwriter Matt Kerstein recalls how in youth we’re more emotionally available and attuned to the wonder of life. He sings with tender weariness: “Kids like us trying to live off the Touch.” Kerstein notes: “Everyone related and felt those lyrics so they could just focus on the music around the words.” Besides being a conceptual touchstone, the track marked an aesthetic one as Brighton MA hit upon a punchier approach to song arrangement. “That was a turning point because of its general simplicity. It was one of the first tunes in a fresh batch after the last album. It developed quickly and we kept it simple with driving immediacy.”
Produced by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse)
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 370 – Age of reason?
Whitehorse are among the diversity of artists this week. Watch out for them live.
A pleasing variety of tracks on this week’s show … again reflecting the best of independent music from around the world in in this week’s show specifically from LA, Nova Scotia, Ontario, San Francisco, New York, Lyon, Edinburgh and Marseille.
That Voice – Cosmic Suckerpunch (LA. CA. USA)
The current single from their new EP Breathe.
There’s a reason L.A. has become synonymous with making your dreams come true. Hollywood and the Sunset Strip having been cranking out stars for more than a century, whether purposefully or coincidentally, and new discoveries come every day. Take the case of Ari Welkom, discovered as an actor before teaming up with guitarist Fabien Hameline on a movie set. The two realized their shared interests and respected talents could lead to a different kind of artistic avenue, and they first formed the musical act Ghost Robot in 2009. While that moniker’s cuteness dried up pretty quick, they eventually recruited drummer Adam Timmerman and bassist Sebastian Hameline, Fabien’s twin brother, for the full line up of what is now Cosmic Suckerpunch.
At first holed up and honing their chops in coffeehouses and small clubs, the band’s popularity grew in the city of angels and they soon graduated to historic venues like The Viper Room and the House of Blues.
The group plays up a sparkling tongue-in-cheek science fiction vibe throughout their otherwise straightforward music, with themes like robot love and time machines popping up regularly and Welkom often adopting a Ziggy Stardust like swagger when he endearingly croons and stutter-starts his lyrics.
For me the whole thing has a retro freshness about it that I find quite endearing.
www.facebook.com/cosmicsuckerpunch/
Tendrils – Paper Beat Scissors (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
What a treat to have a brand new EP from Tim Crabtree (aka Paper Beat Scissors) not just to play on the show but, I promise you, to listen to for the pure pleasure.
Tim sent the tracks over last night and at first listen to this live recording of Tendrils it was apparent that he was really exploring (and making masterful use of) the acoustic of St Matthew’s Church in Halifax. Recorded during the Halifax Jazz Festival, the EP is now available on 7″ vinyl.
The show included collaborations with NY-based contemporary classical group Clogs, sometime-members of, and regular collaborators with the National.
A-side Tendrils, a haunting contemplation on what lies just below the surface, finds new life with the added instrumentation of oboe, violin, steel drum and guitar, and features support vocals by My Brightest Diamond.
B-side, Onwards is a previously unreleased song performed with a chamber ensemble of Gina Burgess (violin), Devin Wesley (oboe) and Anna Plaskett (french horn). Building on the success of the critically-acclaimed self-titled album, Tim Crabtree sounds as unique and focused as ever in these new sound environments.
Paper Beat Scissors will be touring throughout Europe in support of this release, also available digitally as a 7-song EP.
European Tour Dates
May 8: York, UK - City Screen Basement Bar
May 12: Bristol, UK - the Canteen
May 13: London, UK - the Slaughtered Lamb
May 14: Paris, FR - le Pop In
May 15: Paris, FR - Galerie Goutte de Terre
May 16: Liege, BE - l’Aquilone
May 17: Dusseldorf, DE - Brause
May 19: Munich, DE - Theatron Pfingstfestival
May 20: Graz, AU - Scherbe
May 21: Innsbruck, AU - Die Baeckerei
May 23: Prague, CZ - Dejvická Klubovna
May 24: Berlin, DE - Cafe Myxa
May 25: Eppstein, DE - Burg Eppstein Folk Festival
May 26: Koln, DE - Lichtung
May 28: Braunschweig, DE - Nexus
May 29: Weimar, DE - House show
May 30: Mainz, DE - Haus Mainusch
May 31: Mannheim, DE - Maifeld Derby Festival
Devil’s Got A Gun – Whitehorse (Hamilton, Ontario)
With The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, Whitehorse makes good on the promise of the their self-titled debut, which officially brought their solo careers together. They made their entrance as a band in August 2011, with an 8-song collection that played to their strengths with equal parts blues-stomp and ballad, seedy tale and sweet nothing. The new album “freewheels between blues, folk and rockabilly with audible enthusiasm for experimenting with new sonic directions.
Melissa McClelland is known for bringing bloody-knuckled tales of bad apples to life. She often shares the stage with Sarah McLachlan as touring partner and backing vocalist. Victoria Day, Melissa’s latest solo album, cemented her status as an “uncommonly talented” artist in Canada, says national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail.
Luke Doucet is known for his scorching work on his signature Gretsch White Falcon. As noted in Guitar Player Magazine, “whenever and wherever Luke Doucet hits the stage, he wrestles every last ounce of Neil Young-battles-Brian Setzer twang out of his gleaming cream-and-gold companion.” Doucet’s most recent solo release, Steel City Trawler, attracted four-star reviews across the board, as well as a Juno nomination.
Individually, they have been recognized with awards and nominations from the Juno Awards, Polaris, Canadian Folk Music and Independent Music Awards. So with two strong solo careers, why Whitehorse? The theme of tempting fate appears again when considering how much the stakes have been raised: “We’re kind of breaking one of the cardinal rules. We’re getting away with murder. This isn’t supposed to work. It’s supposed to end in a hail of bullets and tears,” Doucet has said.
They are on the road right now with upcoming dates:
4.24.13 Tempe, AZ @ Sail Inn
4.25.13 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
4.27.13 Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
4.29.13 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
5.1.13 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
5.2.13 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
The title of The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss comes from a Wonder Woman comic glued to the table in a diner in Vancouver, BC.
www.facebook.com/WeAreWhitehorse
I Want My Life Back – Big Orange Fluff (San Francisco, CA, USA)
San Francisco Bay natives Big Orange Fluff’s debut EP is called Thirty Years Disinterred. Formed in 2012 Big Orange Fluff draws on a wide variety of influences, including The Beatles, Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Smashing Pumpkins, and Eric Johnson. Jeremy Gekov wrote, recorded and mixed the songs at his well equipped home studio over a six month period.
Jeremy said of the song-writing process “It has been a labor of love, to co-exist with each song from concept, through maturing versions, and finally finished piece.”
“I would start each song thinking, this is going to be a simple song, just guitar and vocals, maybe some drums, but after recording the first layers I would go back and add other textures like cello, keyboards or vocal harmonies, while still trying to leave space in the song,” Jeremy said.
Jeremy’s sister Vera Gekov also shares vocal duties on two songs. Jeremy explained “I remember when we were kids, and I couldn’t stand her singing all the time, but either she got better, or my taste improved, because we work well together now.”
San Francisco Bay Area talent is featured prominently on the EP. Rebecca Roudman plays cello on two songs, bringing cozy warmth to the music, and longtime friend Justin Huff plays drums. Muralist Max Ehrman did the cover art for the album.
If Isis – Peg+Agathe (NYC and Lyon, France)
A really interesting, mesmerising piece from Peg Simone and Agathe who collaborate between NYC and Lyon as Peg explains:
“She and I were both artists on Radium/Table of the Elements and talked about collaborating a couple of years ago during the Table of the Elements Festival which was held in Brooklyn. She lives in Lyon, France so we did this by sending tracks back and forth. More to come at some point. I’ve cc’d her on this so you can contact her if you like. Be sure to check out her work, it’s beautiful.”
Agathe has a new album called Dangerous Days. You’ll find it at
www.agathemaxmusic.com/bonjour-tout-le-monde/
Peg herself also has an intriguing album out right now, Witch Tree Road is available for listening and download from her site. We’ll have track from that next week.
The Witch is dead … and almost buried
If you’re taking any notice of the sycophantic dribblings coming from all the main-stream broadcasters in the UK (and possibly seeping overseas too), you’d think that the nation is standing with heads bowed at the demise of the Wicked Witch. Don’t you believe it. Despite the almost universal uptake of rose-tinted shades by people with either vested interests in supporting Thatcherism (mostly because they did very nicely out of it thank you), there are lot of us who just want to go on record and say that the £10m funeral show that she had planned is not in our name. Nor, I suspect in the names of many of the servicvemen and women being required to honour a politician who many will despise.
I take back my criticism of the BBC whose refusal to play the number 2 song in last week’s chart show was a masterclass in hyping the whole thing up. Their explanation of why they wouldn’t play the track lasted way longer than the track itself, which, if they’d just have played it might have raised the odd eyebrow but not much else.
She’s gone, but her cronies are still active. Be afraid, very afraid. No, actually, that’s how they keep us under control, by creating fear. Don’t be afraid, let us rejoice, have a bit of a party and stand up for the memory of those, well away from her leafy suburban constituency, who she consigned to poverty, depression and social decay. Such as the people of the former mining town of Spennymoor, County Durham here in the UK.
The Mines of Spennymoor – The Deadly Winters (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Releasing their debut album in 2011, The Deadly Winters are steadily ploughing a fresh furrow into the term alt-folk, and honing their live performances into something quite magical.
Picking up play on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Scotland, Jim Gellatly’s Weekly Podcast, Amazing Radio and numerous internet stations and Podcasts from the UK to Australia, the band are steadily raising people’s awareness of how Folk-Music can still advance with the times.
Live, the band have supported The Staves as well as appearances at Celtic Connections, Perthshire Amber (Dougie MacLean Festival), The House Music Folk Festival (Kinlochard) and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
There’s a video of that track in the shownotes.
www.facebook.com/deadlywinters
Are You Steady – SHAN A SHAN (Marseille, France)
No information available on Jamendo just this tremendous album of French dub and another from 2010 that I’ve not had a chance to listen to yet.
You could try listening on this Jamendo player – although it may well not work on i devices. There are direct links to the albums on Jamendo below.
Royalty-free music for professional licensingwww.jamendo.com/en/list/a97120/dub-creation-vol.1
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/371308/shan-a-shan
Bluestep – Grammatik (NYC)
This spring Lowtemp put out its first full-length release, Gramatik’s new album The Age of Reason. Gramatik elaborates on the epic LP title, which was “inspired by a stand-up segment by comedian George Carlin. He made a joke on the fact that he was Catholic until he reached the age of reason. I also firmly believe that there comes a time in a human life when you reach the so-called ‘age of reason’ and realize that there are so many irrational beliefs, shameless contradictions and illogical restrictions inflicted upon society. Some people reach it sooner, others later, but a majority unfortunately never do. [Through my music] I’d like to guide more people to reach the age of reason sooner. Maybe. Or, hopefully at least unite the ones that feel the same way.”
The Age of Reason Tour kicks off April 2013 with dates in St. Louis, Urbana, Madison, NYC, Austin, and more.
The first single off The Age Of Reason, “Bluestep” is a signature Gramatik style genre clash.
“Lately I’ve been really into combining the vibes of raw 50′s and 60′s Blues with all kinds of EDM genres and one of the results is Bluestep. It’s a dynamic mixture of Blues and Dubstep, a plethora of screaming guitar, howling vocals and big bass, capturing the raw energies of both music worlds in a hopefully cohesive, possibly outrageous picture.”
Age of reason or reason enough, the revolution begins now.
The single is currently available as a free mp3 download and as a 24bit file which weighs in at an impressive 74MB from:
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 369 – Ding Dong
Import/Export make a welcome debut on the show this week.
A somewhat eclectic mix this week with fresh tracks from Lancashire, LA, Haifa, NYC, Seattle and Margate. We’ve got news of a really interesting little festival in upstate New York, a correction from Erk and a campaign to get a song to the top of the UK charts this week.
Liberty Girl – Heifervescent (Lancashire, UK)
Heifervescent is essentially the solo project of Andy Doran, writing, performing and producing each track. The music has often been classed as beautiful yet sullen soundscapes, laying strong simple melodies and chiming guitars onto a bed of ambient string and hypnotic electronic arrangements. This has certainly been the case of the latest offering Little Egg and 2005′s Pondlife Fiasco featuring the most downloaded Heifervescent track – Deep Sea Diver.
Liberty GIrl is taken from the forthcoming album Wake Up Sheepyhead, available from May 1st from iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and many other outlets.
Azmari Man – Tomas Doncker (NYC, NY, USA)
A prime mover on New York’s downtown “No Wave” scene in the early 1980s, Tomas Doncker cut his teeth as a guitarist with such genre-busting groups as James Chance & The Contortions, Defunkt, J. Walter Negro & The Loose Jointz and many more. Eventually he went international, touring and recording in Japan with jazz pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, and producing studio and songwriting sessions with Boosty Collins, Yoko Ono, jazz saxophonist Sadao Watanabe and Grammy-winning producer Prince Charles Alexander, to name just a few.
His latest work as a singer/songwriter and producer embraces a broader musical vision that he likes to call “global soul,” drawing influences from numerous sources, including East and West Africa and the Caribbean. Small World is the flagship release on his own label, True Groove Records (distributed by Sony/RED), and will be followed by Power of the Trinity, a meditation on the legacy of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, featuring legendary bassist/producer Bill Laswell, Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu “Gigi” Shibabaw, Senegalese percussionist Aiyb Dieng, saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, electro-dub specialist Dr.Israel, and a host of New York’s finest jazz, funk and rock musicians.
Man Near the Surface of the Earth – Détective (Los Angeles)
Named after the Jean-Luc Godard film, Los-Angeles based garage pop outfit Détective was formed in March 2012 by James Greer (ex-Guided By Voices, Roi, Complete Portion Contol, etc.), Guylaine Vivarat, an active member of the LA music scene (Useless Keys, 2 Hearts & Chemicals) and Chris Dunn from Chicago (the city).Détective has thus far released two EPs, Very Fallen World and Basket of Masks. A full length album, However Strange, was released in late August on cassette by Burger Records to coincide with a national tour opening for Guided By Voices in September. The group is currently working on an ambitious double album with Steve Kille of Dead Meadow, which they had hoped to release by March but, you know how these thing go.
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is Dead - Klaus Nomi (NYC)
In 1982 NYC-based eccentric Nomi recorded this song from The Wizard of Oz which works well as a commentary on Margaret Thatcher’s politics. We’ve been waiting a long time.
The see/hear the whole track on YouTube:
There is also a campaign to get the original version by Judy Garland (from The Wizard of Oz) to the top of the singles charts. As of this afternoon, it is at number 2.
OK, it may seem a bit childish but there has to be something to counter the pathetic sycophancy of most of the UK media and the assumption that in these times when cuts in public spending are disproportionately affecting poorer people, that spending £8m on security for a grand ceremonial funeral is OK. I bet it won’t get into ra=otation on the BBC music channels 
BTW, just so you know, I don’t want a ceremonial funeral – I just want to be scattered. Don’t bother with cremation, I’m sure farmer Mark has a suitable muck-spreader.
Squirm – Marla Mase (Manhattan, NY, USA)
A track from the very recent Marla Mase album Speak (de Luxe edition) which I’m delighted to say I brought back from a meet-up with Marla and Tomás Doncker at one of the London shows in her current European tour.
The live show was stunning, perhaps even a bit too stunning for the young Islington set but hell, can these guys rock!
This song, Squirm ended the set with Tomas giving his guitar a very thorough workout and Marla “squirming” on the floor.
April 12: From Dusk to Dawn, (London, UK)
April 14: Farnhammaltings.com (Surrey, UK) — live showcase
Sparks – 3421 (Haifa, Israel)
Working and playing since 2009, 3421 is a live dubstep, bass and glitch duo based in Haifa – the northern capital of Israel. They use an acoustic drum set, 3 synthesizers and vocals to create the sound and flow of a DJ set. Their tunes are played tightly and mixed throughout the show, preserving the energy of a live performance. They use no computers or loops, but rely solely on the fusion of skills and instruments.
Their skill as performers mean they have been at the core of the local underground scene for the past 8 years, and they combine a vast mix of electronic genres – dub, dubstep, electro, hip hop, glitch, heavy bass, breaks and jungle.
Day Glow Whore – IMPORT/EXPORT (Seattle, WA, USA)
IMPORT/EXPORT will be announcing a west coast tour in the upcoming weeks in support of their new album Dayglow Whore.
In addition to multi-colored vinyl, Dayglow Whore is also available via a generative art iPhone/iPad app on iTunes. The iPad app generates over 92 million morphing images of fine art by Katrina Yakovich and photos taken by each band member that would take over 43 years to view (no, that’s not a typo). The iPhone version features over 655 years worth of viewing set to the soundtrack of Dayglow Whore. Both were designed by IMPORT/EXPORT keyboardist Vince Tafoya with programming assistance by Kory Twaites.
“The philosophy behind IMPORT/EXPORT is to release and perform multimedia experiences. We played with the idea of converging old recording concepts like using tape and new technologies like digital apps because our fans will want to experience both,” comments bassist and front man Chris Cullman.
importexportband.com
www.facebook.com/IMPORTEXPORTBAND
Erk puts me straight. So it seems Wagga Wagga sounds funny but the city of Wogga Wogga is just fine? Huh, Aussies eh?
Love Knock on Wood – Elephant 12 (UK & Canada)
Elephant 12 is back in action with their raw brand of Rock n’ Roll at it’s best. Hailing from the United Kingdom and Canada, respectively, the band brings their own brand of heavy hitting Indie Rock laced with a tinge of Hip Hop to the mix; truly a brilliant experience. Making waves with the singles “Holiday,” and “Renegade,” late last year, Elephant 12 have just released Sold Out, their new stunning EP that will stop you dead in your tracks, and have you dancing around the room at the same time. The standout single, “Love Knock on Wood,” is filled with incredibly catchy harmonies, enthusiastic handclaps, and laced with punchy guitars that will draw you in immediately.
Jerome Cooke’s unique vocal styling is one that you will not soon forget. His voice provides the perfect blend of Rap with a tinge of Jazz in the background, and a dash of Indie on the side. Truly a captivating sound.
Elephant 12 is known for making their own brand of unapologetic punk rock with Electro and Indie Hip Hop undertones, which bring a whole new outlook to an often predictable music scene.
Check out their site, that track and more are available for free download.
Move Festival (Albany NY)
Albany ranks as the nation’s 9th largest breeding ground for new music and is the location for this year’s MOVE Festival for the second year running. For those that couldn’t afford the price of a ticket to Austin last month, MOVE Music Festival is the alternative. Move is an indie music festival that premiered last spring and is completely focused on spotlighting diverse and emerging talent, much akin to the early days of SXSW. It takes place on Saturday, April 27.
SXSW grew from 700 attendees in 1987 to over 300,000 in 2012 and even beyond that this year. In the same way that SXSW started out as an organic stage for showcasing and promoting indie music and film, and encouraging progressive dialogue within those industries, MOVE is attempting to do the same.
General admission wristbands cost $15 plus shipping and handling. Check out the Pledge Drive where you can pledge for early access & discounted packages to MOVE 2013!
Battles – Funke and the Two-Tone Baby (Margate, Kent, UK)
The riveting Funke and the Two-Tone Baby has a new single coming out in a few weeks, and we have a preview. There’s also a rather fine video for the same track here.
If plans come together Dan (aka. Funke) will be here at the Barn to record a live session and interview for us in a few weeks.
His next serious tour runs throughout May. Do get to at least one of these dates if you have half a chance:
May 2 – Maidstone Fringe Festival 2013
May 3 – Woodnestock 2013, Wingham
May 4 – Man Of Kent, Sweeps Festival 2013
May 5 – The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
May 6 – The Crown, Sweeps Festival 2013
May 7 – Hidden Away Music, Wimbledon, London
May 10 – Session at the Barn, Suffolk (Oh – that’s us)
May 11 – The Emperor, Cambridge
May 12 – The Boathouse, Cambridge
May 16 – Ort Art Café, Birmingham
May 18 – Haffod Hotel, Devils Bridge
May 19 – 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff
May 21 – The Prince Albert, Stroud
May 22 – Café Rene, Gloucester
May 23 – The Beehive, Swindon
May 24 – The Winchester Gate, Salisbury
May 26 – Hobo Fest, Honeystreet
May 28 – Malt Cross, Nottingham
May 29 – The Old Roan, Liverpool
May 30 – The Verve, Leeds
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
SnC 368 – and a lot of it
Emporers open the show in fine style this week and not a v-neck T-shirt in sight!
A diverse selection of music this week and a lot of it. Tracks from Australia to Iceland and LA to France. There’s also some surprising news on the effect of piracy on legitimate music sales.
Plastic Guns - Emperors (Perth, Western Australia)
Emperors’ debut album Stay Frosty has arrived with a bang. Widespread Australian airplay, US iTunes Single of the Week AND Rock Song Of The Year for Be Ready When I Say Go and tour supporting Everclear have been some of the highlights since Stay Frosty’s April 2012 release.
Stay Frosty is noisy pop at it’s best, played by a band unashamedly stuck in their own bubble of musical influences and unlikely to become the darlings of Pitchfork anytime soon. No song titles are spelled incorrectly or without vowels, and there are no traces of synthesizers or keys. There is no content which should inspire reviewers to use genre names such as “chill wave” and “glitch hop”, nor any music written whilst wearing a v-neck t-shirt.
Emperors first made their mark on the Australian music landscape in 2010 when they were ‘Unearthed’ by national alternative radio station Triple J shortly after forming. This led to a slot at the Big Day Out, a Rolling Stone feature and the release of the EP Sam. Along the way there’s been Australian tours and support slots with Manic Street Preachers, The Big Pink, Silversun Pickups, Ladyhawke and many more.
They’re a hard working band touring this month with Grinspoon and Kingswood:
April 5 @ Prince of Wales, Bunbury (WA) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 6 @ Capitol, Perth (WA) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 11 @ Waves, Wollongong (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 12 @ Capital, Wagga Wagga (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 13 @ ANU Bar, Canberra (ACT) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 14 @ New Albury Hotel, Albury (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 17 @ Entrance Leagues Club, Beateau Bay (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 18 @ Panthers, Newcastle (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 19 @ Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour (NSW) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 21 @ Cooly, Gold Coast (QLD) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 24 @ Bended Elbow, Geelong (VIC) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 25 Pier Live, Frankston (VIC) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 26 @ Inferno, Traralgon (VIC) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
April 27 @ Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully (VIC) w/ Grinspoon & Kingswood
www.facebook.com/emperorsnewband
www.twitter.com/emperorsnewband
The Backbone - Lay Low (Iceland)
LAY LOW is the alter-ego of Icelandic singer/songwriter Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir.
Born in London to a Sri Lankan father and Icelandic mother, LAY LOW’s musical abilities stretch as far as her geographical heritage. Starting out as a pianist and bass guitar player; she has jammed on keyboards and synthesizers with Benny Crespo’s Gang, found her voice in blues folk and a little honky tonk bop collaborating with producers such as Liam Watson. Although her new material is taking on a new trip hop twist, LAY LOW’s distinct musical journey can still be felt at its roots, producing a honed yet experimental sound that is all her own.
LAY LOW came about in 2006, after Lovísa was contacted by a local label that picked up on a raw demo that she had uploaded onto MySpace. Not one to waste an opportunity, LAY LOW’s debut album ‘Please Don’t Hate Me’ was released that same year. An intoxicating take on classic Americana sounds, the record topped the Icelandic charts and became the bestselling original album in the country, winning no less than 3 Icelandic Music Awards.
Piracy Has Zero Impact on Legit Purchasing, European Study Concludes…
This is one of the biggest debates in music right now, and it goes far beyond morality and artist rights. Because what if pirates are simply buying more stuff?
What then?
That’s actually the conclusion of a new study just published by the European Commission’s influential Joint Research Centre, one that involved more than 16,000 participants across five EU countries. And at a top level, the survey, conducted by the Centre’s Institute for Prospective Studies, found very little cannibalization between illegal and legal. ”Perhaps surprisingly, our results present no evidence of digital music sales displacement,” the report concludes.
“Our results suggest that internet users do not view illegal downloading as a substitute to legal digital music.”
So, they wouldn’t be buying, anyway? Pretty much. ”In other words, music consumers are found to substitute legal music consumption for illegal music consumption, but much of what is consumed illegally would not have been purchased if piracy was not available.”
“This means that although there is trespassing of private property rights (copyrights), there is unlikely to be much harm done on digital music revenues.”
Source: www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/20130318study
Sky is the Limit - SaReGaMa
SaReGaMa is the pseudonym of Serge, an independent sound artist, muasti-instrumentalist, composer and producer.
Sa, Re, Ga and Ma are the first 4 notes of a seven notes octave in Indian music, equivalent to Do, Re, Mi, Fa in Western music.
“I had a big passion for music but not enough means to afford musical instruments, so I learned how to build them. Most of the instruments I have are homemade. The instruments I play today are : keyboard, guitar, different kinds of ethnic flutes, didgeridoo, percussions, kalimba and jews harp.
His first album was published on Jamendo in 2007 and since then he’s been listed there among the top artists and his albums have hit number one several times. His work is featured in various large scale projects around the world and he’s a member of the excellent Triplexity whose music has been featured on SnC quite a few times.
There’s a very succinct description of the track on Jamendo:
“Trip-Hop styled composition with classic and modern influences. Dirty drums and aggressive synth lines get along the jazzy piano, funky guitar, dreamy vocals and trumpets.”
Take a look a the video below of SaReGaMa playing Kalimba solo for Lotus - and note how many views it has had. Remarkable.
saregama-music.blogspot.co.uk/
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/4812/saregama
They can’t tell me nothing - Paper Diamond (Boulder, CO, USA)
“They Can’t Tell Me Nothing” is the first single from Boulder based – genre defying Paper Diamond’s forthcoming EP ‘Paragon‘ set to be released April 16th 2013. Paragon will feature a range of production, instrumentation, and collaborators all weaved into Paper Diamond’s signature style.
While “genre-defying” is an overused word, Paper Diamond is one of the few producers who truly pulls it off, seamlessly weaving together genres as diverse as electro, trap, funk, dubstep, house, moombahton and hip-hop, all with a whiff of ganja smoke floating through it.
Paper Diamond continues his nationwide tour with Excision. The remaining tour dates are:
4/04 – Norfolk, VA @ NorVa
4/05 – Richmond, VA @ The National
4/06 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
The Animal - Erica Glyn (NYC, USA)
New York City based artist/producer, Erica Glyn, is an amplifying force in the music industry. From her self-made creations to her songwriting/production work, she’s becoming a well-known entity and making fans across the globe. She produces a unique and intriguing sound, mixing elements of trip-hop, rocktronica and a splash of psychedelic rock with her captivating vocals and commanding lyrics. Erica leans towards the unconventional, experimenting with instrumentation and tonal effects, which garner her comparisons to boundary-pushing powerhouses like Florence Welch and Fiona Apple.
Erica’s vampy, garage-pop lures listeners into “a world of the unusual and strange”, a landscape of pulsating beats, surging synthesizers, elegantly volcanic melodies, and dark, poetic lyrics. Her passion and drive for her own development exploded in her 2012 full-length release, STATIC.
Like all her work, the album was written, recorded and produced solely by Erica, with contributions from a collection of well-respected artists and special mixes by multiple Grammy award-winning master music-maker and friend, Chris Lord-Alge.
The Hammer - We Are The West (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
We Are The West uses sound and space to create an experience that is welcoming and honest. The Los Angeles-based duo has recorded in storm drains, performed on sheep farms, and now hosts a concert series in the underground parking garage of an office building the Saturday night before each full moon. This February they release the second in a four part album of recordings, handcrafted with love and care in a barn in Western New York during the summer months. ’The Hammer’ is the opening track.
Fill Yourself - Mia Dyson (Melbourne, Australia)
You are Mia Dyson and you’ve worked your ass off the past decade to be heard on the Australian continent. That work has paid off. People know your name. Writers gush about your whisky-tinged voice and liken you to Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan and the Boss. You’ve headlined shows, played the festivals, cut three records and received plenty of radio play. You’ve been nominated four times for an ARIA, winning one. You’ve toured with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Stevie Nicks.
But there is this dream you’ve had since you were a child listening to your parents’ vinyl collection and reading E Annie Proulx. Get to America. Tour across the States playing music, soak into the American culture and ultimately, make a lasting record.
So you sharpen your teeth and sink into that dream.
Well, Mia Dyson, welcome to America. It’s 2009 and nobody knows your name.
In the next three years you’ll separate from your long-time partner, you’ll go broke, lose your band and your management will try to change your name and sell you out to reality television.
And what is your response to it all?
You make the most gutsy and revealing album of your life. You reclaim the helm of your career, building a community of players and friends, touring the vast cities and big sky country you’ve heard achingly described in your favorite songs, revelling in America the way you dreamed of it.
“The Moment” is the kind of album America meant for Mia Dyson to make all along and Australia has responded with a standing ovation. Released in the fall of 2012 in Australia, “The Moment” has captured the hearts of new fans and connected her more deeply with her existing supporters. Dyson toured the country, playing to capacity crowds and nabbed her fifth ARIA nomination – this time for Best Blues/Roots album.
Now it’s back to America.
With the wind at her back from a trip home, Mia returns to the US this spring to release “The Moment” in the states on April 23, 2013. An album release tour will put her in front of audiences on both coasts, and the work of holding up her artistic mirror to a mythic land of musical opportunity will begin again.
Don’t Let Me Dubbbb - King Dubby (Angers, France)
“Montez les basses !!!!!!
Ici point de fioritures, du dub du dub et encore du dub
dans la plus pure tradition tubby’esque.
Si vous scotchez sur les echos interminables, les réverbes
qui claquent comme des coups de tonnerre et autres phasers
alors ces albums sont faits pour vous.
Play Loud”
So there you have it.
http://kingdubby.hautetfort.com/
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/1025/king-dubby
More dub with Pete Cogle at The Dub Zone
August - The Hollows (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
The Hollows are a group of multi-instrumentalists; a freewheeling hootenany of a band. A veritable junkyard of mandolins, banjos, guitars, accordions, horns, harmonicas, and various other musical doodads are in constant rotation. With no frontman (or six frontmen), everyone writes and arranges material, creating a diverse and uniquely blended sound. The live show is a high-octane, unpredictable barn-burner. Check out the music video for August off their self-titled EP – it’s playing in the shownotes.
The formation of The Hollows was a very gradual process. Erik Saxvik (Illinois), David Paarlberg (New Jersey), Jeffrey Kurtze (Indiana), and Daniel Kwiatkowski (Michigan) all studied theatre together in college during the mid-2000s. The four friends would spend many a night playing music in living rooms, bonding over their love of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Waits and all things strange and spooky; but it wasn’t until the foursome relocated to New York City and met Rob Morrison (North Carolina) and Justin Aaronson (the only native New Yorker) that The Hollows sextet was finally complete.
After receiving high praise such as The Deli Magazine’s Artist of The Month, TimeOut NY’s Critic’s Pick, and rave reviews from The Huffington Post, CBS Radio, My Old Kentucky Blog, Relix, The Wild Honey Pie and more, The Hollows show no sign of slowing down in 2013 with the release of the album Neverending Show on April 23.
04/4 – New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2)
4/23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl – Album Release Show
5/17- Brooklyn, NY @ Littlefield w/ The Future Laureates, The Third Wheel Band, The Woes
Categories: Download New Music Podcasts, Latest AMP Member Shows
AMPed at iTunes
Go to our Facebook page
Go to our last.fm page
