“Here’s to all you crazy dreamers, dream your crazy dreams, don’t let them slip away, there’s more to life than living day to day.”
This is why I love the Hotel Cafe so much, you just don’t know what you’ll find in the streets of Hollywood. Rachael Yamagata
After a long, long, long wait, Rachael finally is coming back to Los Angeles to perform at Hotel Cafe. I’m hoping that this time around she’ll be singing songs from her much anticipated album that was supposed to be released late 2007. Can’t wait for next month!
So I’ve been meaning to become part of this music writing group for a while now but in all honesty, another task in my daily life had seemed daunting to me up until this point. The big BUT(!) I had to write about Bell X1, this is a band that I’ve been following for a while now and that i have recently become very enchanted with. I feel they are on the verge of breaking the states, and that this style of music will be a big thing within the indie community. I could be wrong, but nevertheless, this is just some good stuff.
Bell X1 have just released their 3rd album, Flock, here in the U.S of A on February 19th. It’s a great album with gems like ‘Bad Skin Day’, ‘Rocky Took a Lover’ and their ever so funky and catchy tune ‘Flame’. The latter reminds me of the Talking Heads, which could never be a bad thing!
Bell X1 have a long musical history that includes a heavy hitter in the singer-songwriter circuit in Dublin, but I feel I need to leave that out cos they really do stand on their own. They are very much loved in their native Ireland with Flock reaching the top of the charts and I’m so happy that they will finally get some love on this side of the pond.
Bell X1 will tour the U.S. in March, with some shows listed as sold out already. So if they come your way, definitely get your tickets ahead of time. Check for listings on their website or here.
They’ve got a great witty little bio on their myspace page which you should check out, which also lists their upcoming tour dates.
You can listen to acoustic versions of two songs from Flock, and two from Music in Mouth (which if you can get your hands on, is equally brilliant) on a recent NPR session they did with David Dye.
I hope you enjoy my post and as I do hope to continue contributing more frequently (through Trini, until I can figure this all out). As they say in Ireland, “Tanks!” (aka. thanks!)
Rocky Took A Lover (Acoustic on Youtube)
Just a quickie as i’ve got no MP’3′s a single MP3 to offer as of yet but i just had to write about Pete Molinari straight away. I have just ordered his Debut album ”walking off the map‘ (vinyl) which was recorded in Billy childishs’ Kitchen. It’s Billy’s wife who sings along on the track ‘we belong together’. His new album ‘Virtual landslide’ is released on 31st March, you can pre-order that here.
He has a voice which is truly his own but often gets compared with Dylan, guthrie and even Patsy Cline!! I do think at times he does sound like Dylan but i think Ian Felice has that crown at the moment, he’s almost like a clone. You can check for yourself here and here what you think Pete sounds like. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that what looks like to be the Cover of his soon to be released album is extremely similar to Dylans ‘Desire‘.
Pete is from Chatham, Kent and since reading Kerouac’s ‘On the road‘ and Guthries’ Bound for glory‘ as a teenager he seems to have totally submerged himself in that culture and the sounds of those times even going as far as playing the cafe’s and bars of ‘Greenwitch Village’ learning his trade as well as in New Orleans,San francisco and back here in europe, in Paris..
But don’t be mistaken, he’s no copy cat. He writes well crafted songs which of course given his tastes are always going to be compared to Dylan, Guthrie etc but he still maintains his own style throughout, especially his singing style. Anyway, just listen and make your own mind up but i have say i’m pretty excited by this Guy, just as much as i was when i first heard The Felice brothers last year over at Songs illinois and anyone who knows me knows how excited i was and still am about them. Enjoy
http://www.petemolinari.co.uk/site.html
‘Love lies bleeding’ video here too. Very nice.
Went to see Shane Alexander last week at this record release show at the Troubadour. The turn out was great, the show was not long enough but I guess it never really is. If it were up to the fans we’d stay and listen all night.
I’m so proud of him, he totally rocked the house. It was also great to see all his friends come out to support him like AM, Shawn Pander and Candy Tangerine to name a few. All these guys have been living the dream for several years now and truly support each others successes. It’s not easy putting together a show but Shane managed to put together a memorable night. He was supported by both Chris Pierce and Dan Rockett .
If you missed his show he’ll be at Zoey’s in Ventura this upcoming week then heading out to SXSW in March. You can now buy his album at CD Baby. You can listen to a few of his songs on there as well. Enjoy and buy the album, you know I’d never steer you in the wrong direction.
French movie industry is celebrating ‘The Cesars’ tonight and a movie has been nominated couple times. It’s the same movie that has also been nominated for US ‘Oscars’ : La Môme (which means something like ‘The Kid’ – La Vie En Rose is the title in English-speaking territories). I can’t escape this special occasion to stream you a song from Edith Piaf : L’hymne à l’amour – as I’ve failed to post any love songs for Valentine’s day ! Find below a cover from My Brightest Diamond – another version of this cover could be found here.
Finally my dear friend Olivier (which you can count me in on one of those fingers) has decided to write about this extraordinary singer. It’s been months now since I was introduced to Colby and I’ve often asked Olly why he hasn’t written about him or introduced him to the rest of the readers. I too understand his reasoning, we often come across people who we become friends with and the music then transcends into something different. It’s because we’ve gotten to know them on a personal/intimate level that the soul of that person comes before the music. It is like that for me with The Guggenheim Grotto and so it is for Olly with Colby. I love his music and have been listening to his tunes for a while now. So without much further ado I hope you will take the time to read this interview and get to know Colby as a person, artist, and friend.
Artist : Colby Stead
Where to buy : Artist’s website / cdbaby.com
Label : Thoughtfull
Thanks to Trini, I’ve been pretty much obsessed with Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) these past few months. Had the pleasure of seeing Justin and his band this past Friday. Although it was a short set (5 songs, Justin was sick) and the sound in the bar was absolutely horrible, I was still pleased to see him perform. Looking forward to April when I shall get to see another performance.
For those of you who missed this gem of a show that streamed tonight on NPR’s All Songs Considered you are in luck…..the show will be archived as a podcast for your listening pleasure soon.
Check here for when the show gets posted for download on NPR.
Read more about Bon Iver on YCD here.
