Archive

Andy Shelton - Up on Market Street

I’ve subscribed couple months ago to the great Acoustic Long Island Podcast. I have to confess that i’m not a big Jazz amateur but Andy Shelton’s performance on May 28th was an amazing listening experience ! His music is simply addictive : a powerful mix of Jazz and Folk on which Andy Shelton layered some bright lyrics.
Right after the podcast, I’ve connected my emusic.com account for buying his 2006 album : Up On Market Street.

Grant Daddy Knew‘ and ‘8th Avenue‘ are far to be my favorites, two superbs folk songs, I can’t stop listening.

 
 8th Avenue - Up on Market Street - Andy Shelton [4:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Artist : Andy Shelton
Label : none
Where to Buy : Emusic / Cdbaby.com

SEABEAR

Like Olivier, please forgive the short post, busy times y’know?

Anyway, here’s a great pop/folk band i’ve come across from Iceland, Seabear. Signed to the Morr label in Germany (who also have the Brilliant Mum) Their album The ghost that carried us away has been on repeat now for a couple of days (Available on vinyl here). No sign of any influence of Bjork or the brilliant Sigur ros here, more influenced by the likes of Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens and that sweet mellow dreamy folk sound. You can also download their self released EP, Singing Arc directly from their website for free. The Scandanavians are taking over !! This band apparantly started off as just one person, Sindri Mar Sigfusson but has now increased to seven but he remains at the centre of it all with his songwriting. He’s brought in some glockenspiel, piano, harmonica and of course some acoustic guitar. Whispered harmonies to keep the dreamy mood intact at times it’s so slowed down you think it’s going to stop. Whatever you do do not fall asleep while listening to it as you will miss out on a superb album. Blissful ! Here also is some youtube of them singing their latest 7″ release of a cover of teenage kicks.

Seabear - Teenage Kicks

Seabear - cat piano

Seabear - drunk song

 
 Seabear - Cat piano [3:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Seaber - Drunk song [3:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Wesley Jensen - Stories EP

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

Kelley McRae - Highrises in Brooklyn

This will be part of a short-post series, as most of my days have been filled with family, business, and wild life ! So I would like to beg my pardon to the artists for not taking time to probe my mind and writing longer posts. Be sure that I ‘ve taken time in months of listening ( with heart and soul) before suggesting any of the following artists and i’m quite sure most of you will be touched by those talented songwriters.

So the first of this series is the unqualified Kelley McRae ! First ; because, she will speak for me : both her portrait ( … )

and performance !

What else ? Kelley McRae released her first full length ‘Never Be’ - produced by J.D. Foster (Calexico, Laura Cantrell, Richard Buckner) in 2006 : a beautiful collection of honey-sweet harmonies including numerous treasures (Johnny Cash, Stone Cold Sober, Time, Never Be…).

That’s It ? No. Fasten your seatbelt : Kelley forthcoming album ‘Highrises in Brooklyn‘ will be released this August 19th and be produced by Brian Deck (Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter, Counting Crows). I didn’t get the privilege to hear more tracks than the ones already available on her myspace page but she’ll confirmed me that ‘Long Walk Home’, the song performed on the above video at the Forcastle Festival will be part of it. Forgive me for the low audio quality of this sample - audio track extracted from the video- but it’s a permanent loop for couple weeks !

 
 Long Walk Home - Kelley McRae at Forecastle Festival [3:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Time - Never Be - Kelley McRae [4:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Artist : Kelley McRae - be sure to visit Kelley’s official website as Never be is fully streamable.
Label : SonaBlast
Where to Buy : The Connection, CdBaby.com, Amazon

Guggenheim Grotto - Fee Da Da Dee

I recently was in Dublin, as some of you may already know, I had the privilege of listening to the entire new Guggenheim Grotto album. I was completely blown away. It is absolutely beautiful. From start to finish I felt as if I was taken on this mystical journey of emotions and in the end just felt complete. “Waking up in America” was recently released as a single but is not on this new album. “Fee Da Da Dee” is the first track off the new album. It is one of many of my favorites on this album. To my surprise I just received this little piece of information in my email box:

Irish Single Fee Da Da Dee released 11th July

Our NEW single Fee Da Da Dee will be available to buy exclusively from iTunes Ireland on the 11th of July. We’ve also added Fee Da Da Dee to our music player on our site so if you pop over to Guggenheim Grotto you can listen to it right now.

I’d love to know what everyone else thinks of Fee Da Da Dee. I just absolutely love it!

Guggenheim Grotto Music Player

Jolie Holland

Jolie Holland’s future career shows a considerable amount of promise.

She blends together a mix of folk, jazz and blues that casts a slow, woozy spell over it’s listener. The categorization of her genre may not be as easily described as it’s effects, but its all beyond infectious. A quick listen on Thursday was quickly heightened to an all-weekend binge after finding everything she’s ever publically released.

There’s a clear progression in her music that was released over the span of just a few years–from solo singer/songwriter to beautifully accompanied songs that still stay true to their more simplistic roots. It’s a bit of an up and down adventure if your more inclined to one of her styles than another, but it’s all wonderful stuff. So dust off those red-plumed adventuring caps and let her sail around your room for an hour or two.

 
 Jolie Holland - Amen: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Jolie Holland - Mehitabel's Blues: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden

Been absolutely loving the self-titled album from Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden. A friend put a song of theirs on a mix CD for me a few weeks ago and I was immediately drawn to the track “In Your Dreams”. I decided to investigate their tunes further and I am so glad I did. Kate has such a stunning voice and the whole album is just solid. This is definately one of those albums to listen to on a rainy day or a Sunday morning.

Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden hail from the Northwest corner of Seattle Washington amidst the fisherman and sailors of Ballard. They play lush indie pop with shimmering melodies, sparkling soundscapes, and beats like a train on a track.

Seattle Sound Magazine named them as one of 10 bands to watch in 2008.

You can buy their music on

myspace

iTunes

CDBaby

 
 Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden - In Your Dreams: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden - In The End: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
 Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden - The First Day of the Year: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download