Archive for the 'Indie' Category

Pete Ashman - SuperCaliFragileIstic

Published
by
Olivier
on July 11, 2008
in Acoustic, Folk, Indie and Singer Songwriter
. 0 Comments

The lovechild of Bob Dylan and Kate Bush, raised by Patti Smith on a remote desert farm listening to Tom Waits records on a 2nd hand record player.

I guess a large majority of you will be teased by Pete Ashman self-introduction : Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, Patti Smith, Tom Waits… I’m still into my current bulimia for the dark songwriter genre, and this description captured all my attention. I’ve spent more than an hour listening to his couple songs available from his myspace page… and I’m eagerly awaiting for the cd to be mailed home as it won’t be digitally available for the moment.

Pete Ashman is a 27 years old singer songwriter from Manchester, England. He released this early June “SuperCaliFragileIstic” his first album, a collection of 7 original songs and a cover of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels”.

From what I’ve heard, and read so far - come on postman, Pete’s songwriting and voice are reaching the top, equaling with ‘Where Did You Go ?‘ the quality of a Boatman Call, Nick Cave piano composition ! He sounds folk, he breathes blues… and it’s absolutely beautiful…

 
 A Reason to Live - Pete Ashman [3:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In 2005, Pete Ashman put out a demo EP entitled “The Alcoholic’s Guide To Dying Quietly”. Featuring 4 tracks recorded in truly lo-fi on a 4 track, the cd achieved an almost cult status with it’s underground folk sound and dark lyrics.

Of course, I’ve contacted Pete and he kindly answered our regular questions.

YCD : Hello Pete, how’s it going ?
Pete Ashman : Pretty good. Quite a cool blog you have here, glad to be a part of it.

YCD : What’s your story with music ?
Pete Ashman : I started playing piano when i was 16, then I played bass and keys in a couple of bands. I’d written lyrics since I was 13 but it wasn’t till i picked up a cheap acoustic guitar while i was at university (studying computing at manchester - i dropped out after the 1st year) that i really started to write songs. Over the last few years I’ve gotten more into recording and producing and recently finished producing my first album.

YCD : SuperCaliFragileIstic, your first full length is available : achievement ?
Pete Ashman : Yes, it’s probably what I’ve been working towards in one way or another for over 14 years. I’m now 27 so that’s more than half my life. The album is a little bit rough in places but that’s how i wanted it. I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s a nice stage to get to as an artist.

YCD : I’ve noticed from your myspace page a song called ‘Where Did You Go’ album tagged as Ghosts of Lovers Past ?
Pete Ashman : Yes, that was the name of an album of demos I gave to a few people. Some of the songs made it onto SuperCaliFragileIstic. I’m going to put together a digital download of the other songs along with some other demos and unreleased stuff i have. That will probably be available in September from peteashman.net

YCD : Is there a song you wish you had written ?
Pete Ashman : I don’t know, I think i would have to pick a Beatles song. Maybe yesterday.

YCD :If you could share a stage with any band or artist who would you choose and why?
Pete Ashman : I don’t know if I could answer that one either. Most artists I like, I would rather be in the crowd watching. The ones that are still alive, anyway.

YCD : What are your projects for the coming months ?
Pete Ashman : I’m taking a bit of a break from things just now. I’m thinking about playing some gigs to try and sell some cd’s but I’m not sure when or where yet. I’m getting more into photography as well so I’m planning to do some more of that and put more of my pictures on my site.
Artist : Pete Ashman
Label : none
Where to Buy : cdbaby.com
If you love : Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Pete Ashman will be soon a favorite.
You should also enjoy : Wade Ogle (who’ll be soonly reviewed/interviewed), Jeffrey Luck Lucas, Neil McSweeney & the Gents.

Balthrop, Alabama - God Loves My country

Published
by
Olivier
on July 8, 2008
in Acoustic, Alternative, Folk, Indie, On iTunes, Pop and Rock
. 0 Comments

I can’t resist writing this small post about a band i’ve just discovered Balthrop, Alabama. They’ve just released a new EP called : God Loves My Country !

In 2006, Alabama-born songwriter-siblings Pascal (singer, songwriter, and guitarist) and Lauren Balthrop (vocalist and keyboardist) moved to New York City to start a band and ended up founding a town. “Balthrop, Alabama” (population 11 or so) is their bustling folk rock township.
Musically, the band straddles the fine line between antebellum and antifolk, reconstructing indie pop with songs of love, dead people, and dead people in love. In 2007, they released their double-album debut, “Your Big Plans and Our Little Town,” on the nascent End Up label, to be followed up by a series of EPs, of which “God Loves My Country” is the first.

Connect their website or their myspace page and buy their material or jump to their upcoming show - they’ve got few dates with Dawn Landes - damned nothing has been written here about her ? . It should be an amazing experience !

 
 God Loves My Country - Balthrop, Alabama [4:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Tell the Stars - Balthrop, Alabama [3:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Band : Balthrop, Alabama
Label : End Up Records
Where to Buy : cdbaby.com, itunes

Support Declan De Barra record A Fire to Scare the Sun

Published
by
Olivier
on July 7, 2008
in Acoustic, Alternative, Folk, Indie and Singer Songwriter
. 1 Comment

Declan de Barra released last year one of the most beautiful folk songs collection : Song of a Thousand Birds. Declan main instrument is indubitably his amazing voice : full of power, wide range. His performance on the opening track : Throw your Arms Around Me is a pure masterpiece evocating Jeff Buckley or Nick Cave ! Following ‘Someday Soon‘ is another stunning track : a magnificient piano driven ballad reminding me the superb covers of Hederos and Hellberg. Then ‘Apple Tree‘, another beautiful love ballad, and ‘Three Days From Now‘… and on and on ; each piece reveals a pure talent : the Irish born artist is concentrating the art of expression in his songwriting and performance !

Please do not read this post without listening to the songs below. ‘Tá brón orm‘ (I’m sorry) is an improvised track recorded live with Mary Barnecutt on Cello in Lich, Germany.

 
 Throw Your Arms Around Me - Declan De Barra [3:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Ta bron orm - Declan De Barra [2:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Judge the quality of this impro, then be sure to jump on Declan home page and support him recording his new album.

Artist : Declan de Barra
Label : Black Star Foundation
Where to buy : Cdbaby.com / Itunes

Wesley Jensen - Stories EP

Published
by
Olivier
on July 3, 2008
in Alternative, Folk, Indie, Pop and Singer Songwriter
. 2 Comments

Ante Scriptum : for Trini, Laura, Susanna and all the girls reading this blog !

With a stunning debut album ‘Pirates & Cowboys‘ last year, California songwriter Wesley Jensen released this April a second high-rated collection with some of his friends : Jeremy Edwardson (The Myriad), Jonathan Berlin (Bernard), and Christie Dupree (Eisley family)… If you’re still awaiting for the summer sun, ‘Stories‘ EP will bring you the illusion of warmth, lightness, and the desire to jump in your car, all windows down ! It’s rare to have such a high-quality compositions on a 5 tracks EP - so don’t hesitate to buy his first album @ the same time !

 
 Save My Soul - Stories - Wesley Jensen [4:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Artist : Wesley Jensen
Label : none
Where to buy : cdbaby.com / itunes
You should also like : Chris Garneau, Sufjan Stevens

Eef Barzelay

Published
by
Geordie
on June 16, 2008
in Alternative, Country, Indie, New Album Alert and Singer Songwriter
. 1 Comment

You may be wondering why i’ve been so prolific in blogging the last week or so or maybe you haven’t, maybe you have not even noticed and are too busy to care but the truth of the matter is i had a small operation last week and so therefore have had a bit of time on my hands to listen to a lot more music than i have been able to recently which is about time to be honest as there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day recently.

Eef barzelay incase you are not aware is the lead singer of the brilliant and criminally overlooked alt/country band Clem Snide. They have been going on and off since the early 90’s (where the fuck did they go?The 90’s,not Clem snide) and Eef has released a few solo albums. His latest, lose big could be a midway contender for album of the year. Seriously not a bad track on this album, Songwriting to match anyone in this category or any other for that matter. His voice has an air of familiarity to it but can’t put my finger on it, i keep thinking Conor Oberst but not sure. Quite a diverse album is this, from the first track could be worse which is something that pehaps would sit gently on a Clem snide album. One of the stand out tracks is The girls don’t care which from the very first note with it’s heavy funky as hell bass line could be dropped into any dance club and it would get people moving, wouldn’t surprise me at all if someone does a re-mix of it, I might do one myself ! The soulful tone is maintained throughout the album but the real killer song on it for me is True freedom, a stop everything and listen track, stunning. Pick this album up asap, i have heard some superb albums so far this year and i keep saying to myself ‘album of the year so far’ but i will tell you hear and now, this one is taking some beating. It just flows effortlessly from one song to the next and when it’s finished you just want to go back and play it again and again. I have also added a track form his 2006’s Bitter honey, enjoy.

Eef Barzelay - True freedom

Eef Barzelay - Well

 
 Eef Barzelay - True freedom [5:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Eef Barzely - Well [3:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Accidental

Published
by
Geordie
on June 16, 2008
in Acoustic, Folk, Indie, New Album Alert, News and On iTunes
. 1 Comment

The Accidental are a band made up of various members of other bands. We have Stephen Cracknell from The memory band, Tunngs lead singer Sam Genders, Hanna Coughlin from The bicycle Thieves and a superb singer that is new to me by the name of Liam Bailey. Together they have created and just released their debut album There were wolves. It’s basically a mixture of all those above bands sounds, whispered harmonies, couple of acoustic guitars, bit of piano,harp, bass and some accordian. This has fence collective sound all over it, not surprising giving that The bicycle thieves are on that label. Free download ‘Illuminated red’ wouldn’t sound odd on a James Yorkston album but as I say it’s a collection of sounds you would find in any of their other bands. Don’t get me wrong this is no bad thing, it’s superb from begining to end. I read in an interview they were trying to intergrate into it something similar to Panda Bear which you can hear at times. Often it sounds to me like it’s improvised in parts or at least the final cut is something that has been created from sitting down and just playing and see what they come up and then giving it a good polish. See what you think.

The Accidental -Time and space

 
 The accidental - Time and space [3:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Idiot Kid

Published
by
Geordie
on June 14, 2008
in Acoustic, Alternative, Folk and Indie
. 0 Comments

Yes i know it’s summer and everyone is meant to be happy that the sun is shining and listening to happy music to represent these feelings of summer glee. Well not me, more of an Autumn/Winter man myself and perhpas this music is best suited for those seasons but what the hell. This is an album i forgot i had and it was while having my music on random blasting through the house that i came across it again. Idiot kid are from Sweden and are mainly two members, Annsofie lundin and Linus lutti and this album ‘darkness in our house‘ came out in 2007. With titles such as ‘Death will come’ and ‘last breath’ you can imagine it’s not going to have you skipping along in the sunshine but nevertheless is for me some of the best music to come out of Sweden in a while. I mean, that country in the last 5 or 6 years especially seems to have created some of the best music around, I could name 20 bands or artists in a row here but to save time and also to give swedesplease another plug then go there and you will see what i mean. Saying that i think Idiot kid stand out as they are not trying to be quirky or trying anything particularly new but with just the simplest of arrangements have created music of pure beauty. This is at times bleak and moody with whispering harmonies to keep it all finely balanced with some haunting piano, acoustic guitar and some strings to back it all up. I could listen to this whatever the season, watching the sun rise, the snow fall the rain fall or in the bath which i was doing when it came on my stereo making me get out of it earlier than i wanted to remind myself who it was playing, It would complement them all perfectly. Imagine a swedish Will Oldham and you are somewhere close to what this sounds like, i hope you enjoy and 3 cheers for Random play otherwise i may not have come across this again in a long time.

Idiot Kid - Letting Go

Idiot Kid - Go to sleep

 
 Idiot Kid - Letting go [2:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Idiot Kid - Go to sleep [4:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download