Isn’t it awful asking to hear someone’s music, only to feel like you’re bleaching your ears? To my great relief James Marple’s music was more like a gentle clean.
Under the pseudonymJames and The Jewellery Store, Marples weaves burlesque lined tracks with lyrics encompassing “the courtly-love of the Romantic poets to the dust bowls of 20th Century American Social Realism.”
I met the self exiled Ozzy before I went on holiday, and swung to his tunes whilst sun bathing in a typhoon. There are more songs available for free at his MySpace and you can expect a music video form James and The Jewellery Store at holeytonal soon. For now though, enjoy these gems:
Spontaneity rocks. I read a blog post, featuring a shop, featuring a band, went to the shop, watched the band then wasted money on CDs. Damn! It costs too.
At least it doesn’t waste my time. The Brute Chorus were worth it. Well worth it.
These East London blues punk rockers are on the verge of a brutal worldwide conquest of headphones.
Maroon 5 - who are shit - were supposed to herald a new era of blues rock. Then The Brute Chorus showed up and the new era dawned, bringing with them a great balance of grit and glee, crunch and fluff and madness and sanity.
Reading fantasy is a guilty pleasure of mine, but tells me two things: I want to be taken some place else and that I love all things epic. And despite The Brute Chorus‘ tight musical confines, their sounds are unworldly and their lyrics most certainly epic. Babylonian kings, Biblical saints and Greek heroes are even older than Margaret Thatcher, but the front man, James Steel, sings about them in a way that would even make the Iron Lady attractive.
James Steel says “St. Vitus himself taught me to dance“, so beware, you may get infected with Saint Vitus Dance Disease listening to this holeytonal exclusive:
More tracks, including their new single Grow Fins, are available to download from iTunes or order the Singed 7″ Vinyl from Pure Groove - I bought one and I don’t even have an LP player.
Be sure to join me at their gig at 93 Feet East in London on 14 August.
Part III? Deserved? Yes. I just saw Esser live for the first time. Fantastic. It was a Transgressive Records event, and no one was a patch on Ben Esser with his band (although Liam Finn came close).
Also found out the new video for the super tune and new single Headlock was on YouTube, so here it is:
If any of you ladies ever sleep with this dude, keep your dental gear safe. Favourite lyric so far this year: “Pissing on your toothbrush helps to relieve the pain”. Pure filth. Listen out for it in the this punk pop megathon:
“Reminds me of gap year students smacking bongos trying to save the planet” was my friend’s reaction to world music. Sadly, a view echoed by many.
But the world is big and music doesn’t only come from the US and the 51st State. Not even rock. BLK JKS are from Johannesburg. They rock. South African Style.
Urban music is the mainstay in East Rand, but the brave BLK JKS broke the mould. Their dubby art rock splinters stereotypes. Their charm? You know you’re listening to South African rock.
I’ve been struggling to find good music recently. But Lakeside has been stuck in my head and I can’t seem to move it. If this is the start of BLK JKS then I can’t wait for more.
August 2007 was a long time ago, but I still have vivid memories watching Revere at the now defunct Spitz. Severely impressed, I departed expecting Revere to make it big in 2008.
But, despite being lauded by the Guardian as ‘one of the best bands you’ve never heard of’, they’re still largely unknown. Despite featuring on the Hotly Tipped for 2008 iTunes compilation, they’re still largely unknown. Despite being finalists in Q’s Glastonbury New Talent competition (they didn’t win it, which is probably a good thing), they’re still largely unknown.
You get the picture, but I’m going to paint a new one. The arty and epic Revere deserve to be known and, dare I say it, revered.
Fronted by Liverpudlian Stephen Ellis, the 9 piece from north London boast instrumental forces including violin, cello, harp and trumpet. They sight influences such as Bjork and Buckley, but I’d say if you cross-bred Muse and Sufjan Stevens, Revere would come out the mongrel. Its best though not to expect anything from Revere, they are quite unpredictable.
I’m looking forward to Revere’sdebut album, which is currently in the works and will be released on their own imprint, Albino Records.
This title track from their 2006 EP Learning to Breath is simply sublime:
Fear flashes across my face when the often tiresome pair of singer with acoustic guitar walk to the stage. At Insideout in Kingston, I couldn’t have been more scared when the singer introduced himself saying he’s ill and might collapse half way through his set. How I trembled.
Then he played. He sang. The world rejoiced. Well, maybe not the world, but 30 people in a church west of London did. Luke Sital Singh stole the show.
Despite having a bad case of man flu, his voice and lyrics were mesmerising. His melodies and harmonies catchy and clever. His performance wiped the fear from my face. Only to be replaced by a glare reading something like ‘ok, so this guy is good, bloody good’.
Luke Sital Singh is being modest when he compares himself to ‘a lovely bowl of soup’. Then again my favourite dish is a Vietnamese soup called Pho. So maybe he’s not so modest after all. Soup or no soup, he’s certainly not soupy, proven in the demo he kindly agreed to share. Its a fantastic song on tape. Even better live.
Anyone got a ticket to Brooklyn? I need to go. I can’t take it anymore. I have to find out how so much good music can come from one place. Here is yet another great group from the Big Apple.
I peeped Peephole through Bell’s MySpace. Glad I did. Their main man is called Kent Odessa. What a name. Its nearly as good as mine.
Aside from great nomenclature, their music is really where its at. The currently unsigned, Peephole, draw from the legends Prince, Bowie and Serge Gainsbourg. MGMT aren’t too far from their imaginations either, with some great driving and distorted bass lines a la Electric Feel. Peephole’s USPs are their experimentalism, with some interesting use of minimalism, as heard in their song Traitor. They also receive counseling from fruit.
You can download all these and more MP3s from their MySpace, but if you’re too lazy to go there, then just listen to these:
I’ve seen Redvers Bailey perform solo at the Half Moon in Putney a few times now, but his new project, the band One could take him to new heights.
If you imagine Jeff Buckley without depression, you might get somewhere near to describing One. You can hear tinges of jazz and funk in their sound, but darker rock creeps in giving the music a grittier edge.
Considering they first performed in December 2007, I’m impressed with their current demos. Listen to these two contrasting tracks showing off One’s musical diversity:
My name is Rylan and I’ve been a homeopath for the past 24 years. Great. But how many songs are there about homeopathy? As far as I can tell, only one. It’s by Bell.
Olga Bell, born in Russia, raised in Alaska and now living in Brooklyn, has vocal and musical qualities that instantly remind you of Björk. Theres even an interesting cover of Its Oh So Queit on Bell’s MySpace.
At first I reacted against what I thought was a blatant rip off of the Ice Queen, but I kept coming back for more. Throwing IDM into the mix did it for me.
So, homeopathy? Bell’s Echinacea is the IDM infused Björkathon, with a great trippy beat, and clapping. Its a bit of a shame Bell didn’t make more use of the cheering at the opening of the track, otherwise its quite the tune:
Isn’t it awful asking to hear someone’s music, only to feel like you’re bleaching your ears? To my great relief James Marple’s music was more like a gentle clean.
