25 posts tagged “london”
|
|
The song is a cover of the classic Cramps (myspace) 1980 song from their album, Songs The Lord Taught Us. As with the original and the cover, they both feature that distinctive guitar riff and, er, campy and moody vocals. I'm not sure what the deal is with the Chico Fellini cover, but there's about 45 seconds of "extra" jewelery box music at the end. I only ask because I had to boost up my volume to catch it.I was a teenage werewolf, braces on my fangs!
Anyway, what the song is ultimately about is "growing pains" of a teenage werewolf, and I'm assuming describes the 50s film (having never seen it myself). The 50s horror film of the same name, starring a young Michael Landon, of Little House on the Prairie fame was so successful that it inspired other films such as "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein", "I was a Teenage Mummy", "I Was a Teenage Serial Killer", and "I Was a Teenage Intellectual", etc.
|
|
|
As a bonus, here's also the most famous Wizard Rock band, Harry and the Potters (official / myspace) with their song "My Teacher is a Werewolf". In fact, here's even more Werewolfy songs from previous year's entries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10/31/2009 18:48:22 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
As you know, Australians have the best taste in music. This weekend Australian radio station, Triple J, is counting down the Hottest 100 of all time. I recall, in the past, I have made a post regarding the annual Hottest 100 that Triple J broadcast every Australia Day (January 26th).
Basically, for this event, the public were invited to vote for up to 10 songs that they regarded as being the best songs of all time. Easy! Voting was not just limited to Australians, so my first statement could potentially be wrong, but an interesting exercise all the same. It is this weekend that they are now counting down the top 100, well worth a listen.
(Although i guarantee my 10 wont be in there.... well not all of them anyway)
I'm posting this because you, right now, can click HERE and listen along. Hurry! They've started!
Footsteps is the name of the song I'm referring to. It's the pretty harmonies, the simple beat, the uncomplicated lyrics and the catchy catchy tune.
I'd like to hope that the rest of the tracks from the debut album, Flight Paths, are as this lovely, but alas i have not heard it. But you can hear some more of their tunes on their MySpace page.
The song is available on iTunes, and you can also download it free here:
Pocketbooks - Footsteps (MP3)
And you can watch a video for the song here:
Pocketbooks - Footsteps (Video)
Are you in Australia?
Well do I have some thing pleasant for you!
Sydney three-piece Where's Jerome have had their latest tune, Into The Ocean, made single of the week this week on iTunes.... unfortunately it's only available to iTunes users in Australia.
So.... Download it FREE all week from iTunes! Hurry. Click on the link below!
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=322312905&s=143460
For more info (or if you're not lucky enough to be standing on these fair shores) you can look here:
http://www.wheresjerome.com/
http://www.myspace.com/wheresjerome
That's all for today.
Sally
sally@weheartmusic.com
A little backlog seems to be building up in my earpod recently... but now it is time... to spread some love. The love i'm spreading today is for a group of english boys and one of Sydney's favourite ladies.
Favours For Sailors
It's definitely not your poncey indiepop, which is kinda of odd, because when i imagine giving favours to sailors..... no Sally, don't go there.
Not arriving on my radar until recently, it seems again, I am one of the last to know. According to their MySpace page, Favours For Sailors
are attracting quite a lot of the right sort of attention from a number
of notable British radio personalities (Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq)
and magazines (Uncut and Clash). What I have here is a delightful
set of songs from a particular radio session.... of unknown date
or relevance, but anyway..... all the same they're a set of songs with well rounded sounds, ripe for a sing
along and a little jig session. Profound lyrics? No, not really. But
still, very catchy indeed. I Dreamt That You Dreamt That I Loved You In My Dreams .... good to hear everyone has odd dreams occasionally.
So who are they? The word is Favours For Sailors are a group of four, four boys, four English boys, some from Cornwall, some from London. Meeting somehow, somewhere and there you have it. A band is born. One point I've read that gets me more interested is that Scottish band Dananananaykroyd (another band to belatedly hit my radar) handpicked Favours For Sailors to tour with them on the southern leg of their recent tour. Rumour has it that the boys are currently recording the follow up to their debut mini album ‘Furious Sons’.
If
you head back over to their MySpace page, you'll notice a few live
dates coming up. It might be an idea that eyes and ears are kept peeled
for word on these guys because, in my opinion, we'll be hearing more
from Favours From Sailors at some point in the near future.
A lovely young lady with an amazing voice, based in Sydney, well worth a listen or three. I wont spend a lot of time talking up Miss Blasko, I'll save that for another time. What I have to share with you now however, is a little listening treat. If you click here you will be transported to a place where you can get.... FOR FREE.... a track, No Turning Back , off the new album by the lovely Sarah Blasko. I wont say much. Just listen.
Also, if you'd like to hear more (and quite a few live shows coming up to keep track of), this is where you need to go: http://www.myspace.com/sarahblasko
Until next time.
Sally
sally@weheartmusic.com
You know, the festival is only four days, but it really seem like weeks.
While having every band in the world merge at one place might sound like a great idea... sometime their appearance conflicts with other artists that you also want to see. So one of the biggest problem I had was sacrificing who to see.
Music happens from daylight (probably closer to 10am start) until two in the morning, or even later.
I usually started my day around 8am, working out my schedule for the day. Sometime it's logistics, sometime it's time-issues, but usually I have a full day's worth of stuff to do. I don't follow my schedule to a T, but there are certain items that I absolutely cannot miss (scheduled interviews takes priority over shows).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Offline gmail. This worked! I read/did most emails offline and when I was connected, all emails were sent, marked as read, etc.
- iPod Touch, worked like a charm. I was able to grab onto various (free) wifi to receive emails or websurf (maps), etc.
- Austin Convention Center's SXSW wifi stayed up most 99% of the time. Wonderful!
- Cash (ATM) availability
- Blocking off 6th street for pedestrians
WHAT SUCKED
- AT&T Network, apparently everyone in Austin had an iPhone
- Walking......
- Sony Memory Stick not supported on my laptop
- Bands playing 30 minutes or less
- Badges are ridiculously expensive ($600-$700). I think they should make it more affordable, especially since most places don't bother to check for a badge and/or were free. If there was a cover charge, it is usually under $10.
I guess my problems are not really that bad.
DAY ZERO (Tuesday)
Travelling… nothing too exciting. My least favorite state was the one with the road tolls (I think this was in Oklahoma). We did stop in Oklahoma City to see Blackwatch Studios (myspace). We got to hear a few songs from Minneapolis' Cedar Avenue (official/myspace) band from their forth-coming long playing record. The few songs we heard were incomplete, but it sounds really layered with a variety of tracks.
By the way, if the name Cedar Avenue sounds familiar to you, it is because Kristin reviewed their debut album a while back.
DAY ONE (Wednesday)
Getting my barring was hard. I didn't know where any of the streets were. So when people text me: come over to (name of venue), I replied and ask what the cross streets were. Since walking around was my main means of transportation, I ended up crossing out outlier venues immediately.
Wednesday was evening-only, so I mostly went to see some British acts over at Friend's. These guys were all from the London area, with the exception of Liverpool's Wave Machines (official/myspace). These guys creeped me out with their masks that they wore on stage - however, due to heat and comfortableness, they took them off half way into their short set. Also caught a bit of Jay Jay Pistolet (myspace), whose singing voice is very peculiar... it's like he sounds like he's sing out the side of his mouth.
When Mumford & Sons (myspace) took the stage, it was very, very, very crowded. The audience loved them and it's apparent that these guys are going to blow up this year.
The Havana Bar had some Spanish showcase, featuring mostly Mexican bands such as Songs For Eleonor (myspace), Satin Dolls (official), Cosmopolitan (myspace), and Los Fancy Free (myspace). With the exception of The May Fire (official/myspace) and Spain's Capsula (official). We like Spanish acts, so be sure to read more Mexican Summer and my coverage of Los Fancy Free.
DAY TWO (Thursday)
I think this was the big press day, I got to meet & greet Victoria who setup the interview with Solid Gold (myspace). She was kind enough to have me in the Myspace Music event, featuring some artists that I really enjoy: Kate Tucker, Meiko and Ed Harcourt.
To kick off the party was The Real You (myspace), a power-pop band from Seattle, Washington. According to their biography, they've been on constant tour since forming in early 2007 - so I'm sure you'll run into this young band eventually.
I haven't been keeping up with Kate Tucker (official/myspace), but apparently her latest project is with a band called The Honeydove (myspace) - who debuted at SXSW! Unfortunately, I had prior commitments, but I would've liked to have seen her new band play at the Beauty Bar.
Anyway, the nicest bit about her set was that she wanted everyone at the event to get a copy of her last album, "I want to give you my music!"
So if you weren't at the event, you missed out. Hey, maybe you can stop in and say hi to her in Washington:
- 04/05/09 Sunset Seattle, WA
05/21/09 Chop Suey as honeydove Seattle, WA
Meiko (official/myspace) had a guest trumpet player on for most of her set (she requested him on for the rest of show because I guess she felt more comfortable with having someone else with her). She actually started her set with "Piano Song", which ironically just her and her guitar... She made some funny comments, such as "I've never played to a bunch of porta potties before".
You get the impression that she was happy to be there, and maybe it's yellow-iest dress combined with her orange/red dyed hair, but she looks gorgeous.
Ed Harcourt (official/myspace) was very engaging…. During "Until Tomorrow Then", he got down to the audience and walked around, singing and putting his hands around people while everyone was filming and taking pictures. Enclosed is a video evidence.
Harcourt is releasing a new six-track EP called Russian Roulette out on May 5th, but SXSW audience were privy to some of his new songs courtesy of Dovecote Records and Directv. Pay close attention to "Caterpillar", as this is a personal song about his newborn daughter being placed in an incubator as they helpless sit and wait.
Went to an open-door new talent showcase, this was not an official sanctioned SXSW event (you'll find that there are many, many unofficial events), so I don't have a listing of who played at what time. They were all giving away their CDs, but I couldn't bother to pick them up (this would require me to carry around stuff, and I didn't have a hand bag ready). Reminder for next year: bring a man purse.
Also went over to check The Elevaters (myspace) and Rumspringa (myspace) at the Hi-Lo venue. While Elevaters were fun and energetic, it seems the drums/guitar duo of Rumspringa had a lot of problems with their equipment. They had to cut their southern-sounding melodic set short after four (?) songs, quote from the singer, "my shit ain't working."
DAY THREE (Friday)
The busy day. Walked all over town basically. My only out-of-the-way venue was at 3 o'clock to see Superdrag (official/myspace) at Guero's, which I thought was far walking there. I ran into one of our RV family, who we'll call Rose because she looks like a pint-sized Pippettes, complete with dress and all. We walked back across the river so I can make it to my Asteroids Galaxy Tour (official/myspace) interview (this was delayed because of some miscommunication).
Afterward, headed over to Beauty Bar to see Solid Gold play, mustache and all. I can tell the audience was having a good time, especially the girl at the backstage.
Then snuck over to see this punk(ish) band that MTV was covering. I didn't catch their name, but it sounded something like Dirty____ Something. The singer had bleach blonde hair and eye shadows.... and likes to walk around with no shirts on.
Evening was spent mostly at the Scotland show: We Were Promised Jet Packs (myspace), Dananananaykroyd (official/myspace), Camera Obscura (official/myspace), The Proclaimers (official/myspace), Glasvegas (official/myspace), Primal Scream (official/myspace). I was in-out so I did end up missing Glasvegas & Primal Scream, but thanks to Bob for sending in some pictures.
DAY FOUR (Saturday)
Saw a few bands in the daytime at the Press Here Garden Party at the French Legation Museum across the Freeway (this is actually closer than it sounds). The walk there was interesting, and I discovered a no-seating Wendy's on the right side of 7th Street. Yep, I ended up having dinner there since they were making these chicken things that's not available in Minnesota.
I got to the Garden just in time to see Jeremy Jay (myspace), and enjoyed the most of the day with The Soft Pack (myspace) and Diane Birch* (myspace) before heading over to 900 Red River to see Jeremy Jay again.
Listened to Camera Obscura afterwards with those Peelander-Z, as I previously mentioned.
Headed back to the Garden to see Melissa Auf De Maur (official/myspace), who started her set with three cover songs: Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang", Danzig's "Devil's Plaything", and The Smiths "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before". Although the first two went off pretty well, she totally messed up on "Stop Me" - which is understandable because that song has a lot of Morrissey's lyrics and also they had only practiced it the night before in their hotel room.
It wasn't long before people started filling up the seats at the Garden to see Laura Marling (official/myspace). She was joined on stage by Marcus Mumford, I think. He played percussions and sang backup, although I have to say that Marling would've done just fine with her lovely voice and acoustic guitar.
Saw Late of the Pier at the Bat Bar later that night. Since it was being broadcast live on Directv, I think the pressure got to the band and it was just embarrassing to watch. Towards the end, they seem to not be so nervous, and the (rather long) setlist ended with men in death masks coming on stage to carry the band offstage. I don't have Directv, is there a way for non-subscribers to watch this?
Honey Ryder (myspace) was really happy to be Austin, I think this was their first ever US appearance or something. I believe also that their name came from a James Bond girl ? I don't know much about them, but they seem to have a wider audience and following in the UK, where their single "Fly Away" entered the UK Top 40 at #31.
GoldieLocks (myspace) is 75% English and 25% Swedish from Croydon (South London). She raps to DJ Sports (?), who is wearing this Skeletor T-shirt. After the show, she wanted to give everyone in attendance her EP, which actually went pretty fast. As I previously mentioned, keep an eye on this one.
There's no denying that The Gin Riots (myspace) have quite a few hardcore fans here, as evident by a bunch of Gin Riots T-Shirt in the audience.
It's been a few years since The Crimea (official/myspace) toured in the US, so I was happy to be there for them on their second and last SXSW appearance. They were the last band on my list, so it was kind of a relief when it was all over.
And as corrected by superfan Christopher, Tara Blaise shared the stage to sing backup for the band.... Highlight of the show was then Davey Macmanus stepped down and sang in the center of the audience.
* A note on Birch is that she has these incredible legs, but too bad they were well-hidden behind her piano on stage.
03/29/2009 17:50:12 ♥ vu ()
♥weheartmusic.com♥podcast.weheartmusic.com♥news.weheartmusic.com
Celebrity Chimp
With an intriguing name, Celebrity Chimp are... let's see... bluegrass? rock? indie? punk? all of the above? I'll let you decide. If i was going to say "ooh this band sounds like [insert band name here]" i would have to say "ooh Celebrity Chimp remind me of Mclusky"... in some respects anyway. Celebrity Chimp are quirky, both musically and lyrically. Listen to the track, Murderer, if you get a chance. I love the logic behind it. Brilliant!
Well that's it for me. I must admit after listening to Kingsbury, it's time for some cheesy britpop to re-energise my smile.
It's all for one, it's all for love
The theme of the day was love (being valentines day and all) and there sure was a lot of love floating around in that room. With guest appearances from Bruno (Peabody), Bow (Front End Loader) and a couple of the guys from Kid Confucius, the set list was just amazing.
I wont name them all, but off the top of my head, soft rock classics from Toto, Billy Joel, Bryan Adams, Elvis Costello, Hoodoo Gurus, Foreigner and a lovely rendition of Holiday Road by Lindsay Buckingham were just some of the gems. Put it together one leather vest, one cake stall, one raffle, one hilarious reaction by the guy that one a signed Australian Idol poster and one heart warming feeling i had knowing that $1 of every beer i bought went to the Bushfire Appeal, made me thankful that i didn't succumb to my body's wishes and go back to bed.
Just three things to remember:
1. Please think about donating to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal to give a little hand to those that have been caught up int he Victorian Bushfires that have killed so many and made even more homeless.
2. Keep your eye on the Annandale Hotel website for info on any upcoming Annandale Allstars shows.
Desire is the debut album for the Melbourne-based singer/songwriter, Andrew Keese. Recorded in 2007 with the help of Australian producer, Tony Cohen (of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Go-Betweens, The Beasts of Bourbon and The Cruel Sea recording fame), Desire is a beautifully written and performed album. Thick with sound and well-constructed melodies, this album is perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon (which is right now!).
Have an excellent afternoon
Sally
sally@weheartmusic.com
I generally like more established bands, as you may have probably figure out why I never do coverage on up-and-coming, hot buzz bands, etc. So many bands are here today, gone tomorrow.
Here's a band that I see a lot of potential in, The Joy Formidable. You probably know as much about them as I do, which isn't much.
What I can tell you is that this is a London based band, by the way of North Wales, and they have a debut single, Austere to be released August 18th on Another Music=Another Kitchen. I believe there's only going to be 500 pressed 7", that's a pretty limited number... but if my prediction is right, you will regret it later if you don't get it now and when they become massive and the 7" is selling for $500 on ebay.
I don't normally get videos (we're not a video site), but I was given a DVD-R with some cryptic "TJF official video" written on it. You know what though? It was pretty good. I thought it was a well made black and white video and show off some kind of Alice in Wonderland theme. Isn't that "Ritzy" girl adorable or what? She kind of reminds me of KatieJane Garside, but I'm sure only more sane.
Anyroad, I wanted to mention them quickly because they are playing in a few days:
- 07/11/08 Club JOIE DE VIVRE Kilburn, London
07/18/08 Latitude Festival Suffolk
They look and sound fantastic, so hopefully that is the case live in concert. See them now and you can brag about how you knew them when they were nobody. You'll still have to wait for the debut EP in August. In the meantime, they are allowing a few songs to be downloaded on their 'space and the facebook.
Links:
myspace.com/thejoyformidable
|
|
When I say I like folk music it is because, more than anything else, I like lyrics. So when I receive an album labeled folk I have certain expectations. With the exception of Banhart, I don't take kindly to nonsensical mumbo jumbo song writing. My other gripe is this singer-songwriter genre aka bland songs about why you ain't getting regular oral sex or love...mostly about love.
Of course, none of these criticisms can be lodged against Eugene Francis Jr; I just woke up in an armchair surrounded by cheap beer; with the shopping network trying to sell me something that looked like a sex aid but turned out to be a gas powered candle. My eyelids were pretty heavy and the flame wasn't lit. Again, nothing to do with EFJ, who releases his latest album, The Golden Beatle, on 28th April 2008.
The album art is pretty cool, depicting EFJ as a Native American riding on the back of a dog while being hunted by a gang of men and hounds. To explain what is at first glance an absurd piece of art, EFJ has Native American and Eskimo blood and he loves his dog.
The biggest criticism I have against The Golden Beatle is I've heard it all before, a great singing voice and ability to play instruments are no substitute for original content. My favourite song on the album is 'Poor Me', with the lines like 'I favour tigers but I celebrate cowards' followed quickly by 'don't want a world where religion is power'. What can I ; I am a sucker for any hint of atheism in a song. However the best line in this song and the entire album is, '...it's not a story where boy meets a girl, more like a story boy encounters world'. For this line alone I am grateful.
I could relate to 'Mistakes I Have Made', by all accounts a breakup song. While the songs isn't a gritty hard hitting attack on the girl (or guy) who smashed your heart into a thousand pieces before running off with some singer in a second-rate band; it is a pretty decent song about the fear that the mistakes made in one relationship may echo in all future relationships.
The theme of mistakes continues in the next song, 'My Own Pollution'. To me this is a song about the human condition, dealing with the thoughts and feelings that make us all human. It's an optimistic piece, set to a nice electronica tune.
Another track on the album is Kites. I'll admit I looked up the word 'Kites' in google, hoping for a less obvious definition. As an interesting piece of trivia, the name Kites was "applied to the goddesses Isis and Nephthys in the Osirian cult but also represented women who were hired to accompany or greet the coffins of the deceased at funerals (professional mourners)". Disappointingly, this is a song about actual kites or the metaphor of a kite representing the freedoms and failures of life. Strangely, the song then moves on to use a metaphor of a river to represent a similar idea.
All-in-all, Golden Beatle contains exactly what you would expect from this sort of album, the passing references to love, a mention of poetry and some witty lyrics (Or, at least, I think it was wit; my witdar hasn't really worked since I watched the 1997 pirate comedy, Captain Butler). It won't change your life. It won't really teach you anything you didn't know about yourself. It just sounds pretty nice.
Vincent Vincent and the Villains - Gospel Bombs
This one is a hard one to put my finger on. Gospel Bombs, the latest release and debut album by Vincent Vincent and the Villains, takes snippets from a wide range of genres. Although I can see where they get their influences from, it's not easy to pin them down into one genre. Not that you really need to, I guess.
I heard I’m Alive quite a few months ago (another acquisition on a free CD attached to a certain magazine) and expecting the rest of the album to be as poppy and uplifting, so I thought I’d say “yup, send it my way, I’ll review it!” Now, I’m not saying I was disappointed to find that the each song on the album is entirely different from the next. If anything, it’s intriguing, and is the reason why it has been on repeat on my hand-held-music-machine for the last week since it arrived.
Gospel Bombs has elements of flamenco-type guitars and dance-hall style ska/reggae/rockabilly spattered within 50’s early rock’n’roll stylings. The album, as a whole, takes me back to a time of where dancehalls where the place to be. For example, Sweet Girlfriend is a cute little barbershop quartet-esque track about a guy and how grateful he’s not single. I imagine the girl he’s talking about to be wearing clothes similar to those of the cast of Grease and sitting at a 50’s diner drinking a strawberry milkshake.
The main
thing I love about the group is that they aren’t a same old indie rock band.
They’ve captured something different and although it’s not original in any way,
it’s a style that these days, there’s not a lot of in the main stream (but tonnes in all the right places, of course).
Ooh and they appear to be touring quite heavily around the UK, so go check 'em out for me, ok?
Official Website: http://www.vincentvincentandthevillains.com
The Enemy - This Song
In contrast to what I have just written above, the new single from Coventry-based band,The Enemy, This Song, is exactly what I mean when I ever refer to bands that have jumped upon the indie bandwagon. This Song sounds just like a song by Embrace… and when I first heard Embrace, I thought it was Oasis. I guess that sums up this single.
It’s quite
grandly a produced single, with a brass section and what sounds like a string
section (but most probably is synthesized); lots of echo and a feeling that something
very important is being said, but I’m not sure what that message could be.
There would be a wide berth of kids that The Enemy would appeal to though (an album debuting at No. 1 in the UK album charts confirms my suspicions of this... and I admit, i quite liked). This Song has a good tune, I’ll give it that!
The b-side however, a techno version of This Song, I kept expecting it to break into a round of “We’re gonna rock down to Electric Avenue”…. But it didn’t.
Prove me wrong and have a listen to them on their MySpace page. They're also currently touring so hop along and see them and let me know if they put on a good live show. I can only imagine that it would be, at least, 7 times better then their recordings.
alright..... back to it: Sally
|
Discography
Band Members
Trivia Singer Muffin Spencer is the sister of Jon Spencer. Yes, that Blues Explosion guy! |
|
|
I recently picked up Brassy's Got it Made to complete my two-album collection of this band. The band sort of broke up in 2004-ish, and their official website (brassy.com) is not available.
Anyway, for some reason, I've always thought Brassy came from New York or somewhere in uban USA. The fact is, they were based out of London.
I saw them a few years ago, I think they were opening up for Peaches and Gonzales. I didn't really know who they were at the time, but I was impressed with Stefan Gordon's (the guitarist) fancy foot movements and their funky sound that I ended up picking up their Gettin' Wise album.
I also got to see them a second time (this time they were the main act, not the opening band).
The song you're listening to is "Hit 'Em Hard", I think kind of represent the band with their DJ-style mix and unique sound.
Since I just got their first album, Got It Made, I quite like "Playing with D". Apparently a lot of their fans love this song too - as according to their discography, this was their debut single from Wiiija Records.
01/02/2008 17:56:35
vu
my♥posts
www.wiiija.com
My Groups
-
Zik! Updated: 49 minutes ago
-
Voxaholic Updated: 56 minutes ago
-
Music = Life Updated: 56 minutes ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
