Monthly Archive for November, 2007

‘Elijah Drop Your Gun’ best of 2007 !

Elijah Drop Your Gun - Mieka PauleyIt finally arrived ! At the end of October, the postman left in my PO box a small pack from Miss Mieka Pauley. Driving the kids home from school, we were already singing out loud ‘Run, Run, far beneath the sun, Elijah Drop your gun‘ : the precious pack attracted all the kid’s attention, it moved from hands to hands … ‘Papa il est signé ! exclaimed Morgane - I have to confess that I was more than proud, like a young fan ! We were all eagerly awaiting to insert the cd in the computer drive…

Two weeks later, ‘Elijah drop your gun’ is at the top of my autumn playlist : all tracks rated from 5 stars - All The Same Mistakes and Run - to 3 ! I was under Mieka’s charm while discovering her website, streaming the available samples and buying her first album and EPs. Now I am totally addicted.

Mieka’s style is so personal that it’s a risky challenge to draw comparisons even if a couple tracks such as ‘Fate Day by Day’, ‘Run’, or ‘Left to God’ shared the same soulful folk vein as a “Ray LaMontagne” has previously explored in the “Trouble” album… 7 years after her first release, changes are things such as piano, cello, drums, bass and percussions. Mieka’s songwriting has gained in maturity without loosing an ounce of sincerity. ‘Devil’s got my secret’, ‘Be like a Man’ or ‘9:45′ are simply great rock composition. The album intro song : ‘All The Same Mistakes’ is a perfect summary for her new release both spellbinding and rocking !

 
 All The Same Mistakes - Mieka Pauley [4:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hope I have found enough arguments for convincing you. Both your ears and her voice deserve more than this simple audio-streaming !

Artist : Mieka Pauley
Buy : Elijah Drop Your Gun

The Sleeping Years - Dale Grundle

Dale GrundleAfter couple years of silence, Dale Grundle, the ex-leader of the Catchers is back this year with the unexpected release of a trilogy! Under the name of ‘The Sleeping Years’, the Northern Irish singer songwriter, gratified us with three 5 tracks EPs : ‘You and me against the world’ in March, ‘Setting fire to sleepy towns’ in June and ‘Clocks and Clones’ this late October. Three remarkable limited editons Eps mailed to you, dedicated and with handcrafted sleeves… Don’t wait too long !

Dale confessed in an interview to Attica, that the name of his new band is a wink to his past years of pause. It appears that the recovery is really prolix as a first full length album is only awaiting for a label to be launch early 2008 !

A voice rather close to Andy Whittle’s, a purified pop - solo work forced, turns his new composition into a real folk sound with predominance of cords and piano. : sure you will enjoy !

 
 Dressed for Rain - The Sleeping Years [5:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Setting Fire To Sleepy Towns - The Sleeping Years [4:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Artist : The Sleeping Years
Label : None
You should also enjoyed : Andy Whittle, Chris Garneau.

Matt Nathanson - Live at Fingerprints


I went to see Matt Nathanson last week at Fingerprints. I had a chance to meet him before the in-store started. He signed my CD and kept my stolen navy blue sharpie. It’s always great to meet an artist and find out that they are down to earth, he was like the boy next door.

This by far was the most enjoyable in-store I’ve seen. He made me laugh so much. I posted a youtube video, you can find more of the performance from the same recorder. I was next to the girl taking video, you can hear tell him to grab the towel behind him.

I grabbed the set list before I left, had him title and date it. I love this song Still (aka Hotel Sheets). The album is really good, it’s a little different than what I typically listen to but I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Emily Loizeau - L’autre bout du monde !

Emily Loizeau

Time for me to introduce you couple artists from the French scene. Ladies first, let’s start this serie with Emily Loizeau !
With a double french-british culture, her music is a subtle result of eclectic inspirations from Brassens, Moreau to Dylan, Waits or R. Newman. Be sure this mixture brings unique and varied compositions based on piano, guitar and double bass !

In 2005, she has been signed by Fargo Records - an excellent french label - who allowed her to both released her first full length album ‘L’autre bout du monde’ and produced a surprising duet with Andrew Bird : London Town - a delicious french/english ballad.

 
 L'Autre Bout du Monde - Emily Loizeau [3:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Leaving You - Emily Loizeau [2:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Artist : Emily Loizeau
Label : Fargo Records
You also should enjoyedMark Berube, Vincent Delerm, Alela Diane.

Laura’s song of the week

This won’t be a long post. I’m going to let the music speak for itself. My roomie popped the Soulsavers “It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land” disk on my desk a couple days ago, and I can’t stop listening to the track “Revival” featuring Mark Lanegan. This song grabbed me from the first note and its been in my head for days now. Will definitely be on my top tunes of 2007 list. The video is equally visually stunning as the song is beautiful.

Watch it:

Buy it:

iTunes
Amazon

Listen to it:

 
 Soulsavers - Revival: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Wild Horses

I woke up this morning still thinking about the music on Bella. Towards the end of the trailer I posted below there is a song by The Rolling Stones called “Wild Horses”. Found some great covers of the song. Enjoy!

 
 Tori Amos cover Wild Horses [6:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Garbage cover Wild Horses [5:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Iron & Wine/Calexico cover Wild Horses [6:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bella The Movie

Bella Poster

I was on my way to work last week and happened to catch the tail end of an interview with the actor Eduardo Verastegui and a local radio personality. Eduardo was talking about this upcoming movie called Bella. I knew the minute this interview was over it was a movie I wanted to see. He spoke about it so passionately, with conviction about the meaning behind this story, and how it changed him. Bella is inspired by a true story.

I made some time tonight to go see this beautiful film. The poster above calls it a “movie that goes beyond romance”. I have to admit I walked in thinking it was going to be a typical love story. I even went prepared to shed a few tears. It was a love story, but not a typical one. It truly depicted love in those around us. A brother, a mother, a stranger, a moment in time. It’s not often I go to the movies alone but this was one of those movies that being alone allowed me to really take in the story and message behind the movie.

There is no soundtrack to the movie, none that I was able to find, but the music was great. It ended with Rachel Yamagata’s Meet Me By The Water. I’ve uploaded below, which reminds me I need to write a post about her. Save that for another day. * I’ve added Cucurrucucu Paloma by Caetano Veloso, that was in the movie. I couldn’t find the Rosemary Clooney *(update found the RC version, took me for ever but it’s down below) version of Sway but here Sway by Michael Buble on Songza.

Eventually we’ll get all the tracks on here :)

*update No MP3 For Alejandro Sanz and Shakira’s, “Te Lo Agradezco Pero No”, but here is the link to Youtube video and on Songza

If anyone else has seen or will see this movie let me know what you thought about it.

Buy Here Nearer Blessed Lord by Nina Simone

Nina Simone - Nearer Blessed Lord Lyrics

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.Consecrate me now to Thy service,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side
My soul look up with a steadfast hope,
my will be lost in Thine
So draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side

More Nina Simone Lyrics..On You Tube

 
 Meet Me By The Water - Rachel Yamagata [4:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Cucurrucucu Paloma - Caetano Veloso: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Nearer Blessed Lord - Nina Simone [4:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Sway - Rosemary Clooney [2:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Light On - Joey Ryan [3:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download