NOVEMBER 2014

Sunday 30th November     Sunhouse – Monkey Dead

Sunhouse made just one full album, Crazy On The Weekend.  This was released in 1998 and is now rather collectible! With Sinead O’Connor featuring on the track ‘Hard Sun’ it’s a shame that the band had already split by the time the CD was released.                        Whilst working at Alton Towers, singer Gavin Clark met film director, Shane Meadows and a few years later Meadows contacted Clark to write music for a low-budget film he was making.  Recruiting former band members and two former members of indie band the Telescopes, the band signed a contract with Independiente Records and completed further soundtrack work for Meadows feature-length debut, Twenty-Four Seven.  The limited edition Small Time EP and single “Monkey Dead” was taken off their one and only debut album and featured on the Twenty-Four Seven film soundtrack, also released in 1998.  A great song, Gavin Clark’s vocals are gruff and lived in.  If you can track this album down, give it a listen, even all these years later it still holds it own.  An album that I grew into..

 

Saturday 29th November     Jody Reynolds – Tarantula

Surf and Rockabilly guitrist, Jody Reynolds was probably best known for the fantastic track “Endless Sleep”, (very much later covered by Billy Idol!….Random fact alert!!)

Released as a B-side in 1959, Tarantula is a great ‘surfabilly’ song…Go listen!!

 

Friday 28th November    Wild Belle – It’s Too Late

This funky little track is taken from the 2013 album Isles.  Wild Belle are unique blend of reggae, pop, and electronica. A pleasant, easy listen; Keep You being another nice track to listen out for.

 

Thursday 27th November       Von Bondies – Rock and Roll Nurse

Todays single comes from the album, Lack of Communication which was released in July 2001 and is definitely the best album that the Von Bondies did by far! Produced by Jack White, this album was their first release and is a fantastic, fine blend of Surf Rock, Punk and Blues

 

Wednesday 26th November    D.D Dumbo – Brother

D.D Dumbo is just so good, I can’t get enough of his music.  Original in so many ways, it’s a marvel to watch him build and create a song.  Brother isn’t available to buy or download at present, we are going to have to wait until next year! Until then, you can watch and listen to it here, live from the Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris.  Another great performance, just so so fantastic, can’t express that enough!

 

Tuesday 25th November     Tom Bright – Berlin

A pensive and atmospheric track introduced by the delicate patter of cymbals, soon layered with the introduction of Brights plucking guitar and the melancholy strings of a cello.  Layers that create a path big enough for the rich vocals to stride down as they growl their way through the song.  Bursting with potential is hard not to envision great success for this new artist. Read more

You can download Berlin for free here: http://tombrightberlin.viinyl.com/

 

Monday 24th November      She Keeps Bees – Burn

What I like about this duo is how much is created out of so little.  This live session has been stripped back, a chanting rhythm, the vocals raw and unearthed, tambourine beats with the pairing of a snare and here you have Burn.  Taken from their 2011 album Dig On.

Sunday 23rd November      Ibeyi – River

“Let me baptize my soul with the help of your waters, Sink my pains and complains, Let the river take them, river drown them…”                                                                                     Recently signed to XL Recordings in 2013, the twin sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kainde Diaz make up the duo that is Ibeyi, pronounced “ee-bey-ee”.  Singing both in English and the language of Yoruba,  a Nigerian language that travelled to Cuba via slavery in the 1700s, they are due to release their debut album early in 2015.  Their sound is deeply rooted in the traditions inherited from their father and their name, Ibeyi, translates as “twins” in Yoruba.

The twins father was famous Cuban percussionist Miguel “Anga” Diaz, a member of the Buena Vista Social Club who also played alongside Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez and Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz aka Compay Segundo.  Their sound is firmly rooted in the Yoruba traditions inherited from their father, Yoruba being a Nigerian language that traveled to Cuba via slavery in the 1700’s.  Now based in France, the sisters sing mostly in English and in the song River, they alternate to Yoruba to sing the praise to the Oshun, Oshun is the Yorùbá Orisha (Deity) of the sweet or fresh waters.                                        Taken from their debut album, to be released early next year, River is hypnotic and soulful.

 

 

Saturday 22nd November     DARKSIDE – Paper Trails

If you happen to have a spare 10 minutes,  turn on, tune in and drop out to this lengthened version of Paper Trails.  Darkside are a collaboration of electronic musician Nicolas Jaar and Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington.  Together, in October 2013, they released their debut album, from which comes Paper Trails.  Where guitar psychedelia meets slinky electronica, we find Darkside.

On 17th August 2014, the group announced they were “coming to an end, for now” before they were to play their last show on September 12th at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple

 

Friday 21st November    Goldbloc – Dreams Of Mine

Its hard to catergorise Goldbloc for it does not fit into any one space, instead it floats in a dreamy soundscape of its own.  Somewhere between electronic, trip-hop and soul, this alternative sound fills all of the gaps inbetween.  Forming early in 2014, Goldbloc is influenced by a wide range of hip-hop, soul and gospel.  Goldbloc’s debut single, Days Are Dreaming climbed the Hype Machine charts upon its release and was a shape of all good things set to come.  In August 2014 Black Gold, a four-track EP featuring vocalist Solei was released on Soundcloud where it made waves and gained much praise.

Dreams of mine is featured on this EP.  Well worth a listen, Black Gold can be heard and downloaded from here: https://soundcloud.com/goldbloc

 

 

Thursday 20th November     Night Beats – Playing Dead

Psychedelic sounds from yesteryears, created in the present!  The Night Beats came together in 2009 and are a alternative, Seattle-based garage band.  Playing Dead is taken from their 2013 album Sonic Bloom

Wednesday 19th November     Dex Romweber duo – The Death Of Me

John Michael Dexter Romweber (born June 18, 1966, in Batesville, Indiana) is an American rockabilly/roots rock musician from North Carolina.  He currently fronts the Dex Romweber Duo with his older sister Sara Romweber and together they create this fine blend of Surf-Rock and Blues.  The Death Of Me is taken from the 2011 album Is That You In The Blue?

 

 

Tuesday 18th November    Junior Parker – Mystery Train

Memphis blues singer and musician Junior Parker wrote and released this song back in 1953, it was released on the Sun label.  With a voice described as “honeyed,” and “velvet-smooth”, Junior Parker was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.  Elvis went onto record this song two years later in 1955 and released it as a B-side to I Forgot To Remember To Forget.  The chuggin’ bass and drums gives this track a real train-like feel.  Junior Parker died on this day in 1971 aged just 39, what better way to remember him but with one of his great songs

 

Monday 17th November    Thee Oh Sees-   Toe Cutter-Thumb Buster

So picture this, you are out alone, its night-time and a man who appears to be dragging a body across the car park in front of you in looks up and catches you watching him! What do you do!?…..You run of course, except the rather unlucky victim in this video happens to stumble and fails to escape.  Brutal, disturbing and yet utterly compelling Toe Cutter-Thumb Buster takes us to a night-in-the-life of a serial killer! This track is a superb and addictive listen with a gripping twist at the end of the video but is possibly not for the faint of heart!                                                                                                                                           Today’s track is featured on the 2013 album Floating Coffin and has received universal acclaim, with a Metacritic score of 82 out of 100.”

 

Sunday 16th November    Radiohead – Lotus Flower

Today’s chosen track is about as apt as any ‘song of the day’ can get, the content being about immersing and expressing oneself through art.  Musically, the song has less focus on the rhythm section to that of the first half of the album while lyrically it is all about “the magic of losing yourself in music and the senses“.  Visually Thom Yorke is impressive and hypnotic!  Lotus Flower was released in 2011 and was taken from their 8th studio album The King Of Limbs.

 

Saturday 15th November   The Peach Kings – Mojo Thunder

The Peach Kings were also featured for Song of the day on the 9th of this month but it was hard to resist including another song.  This track was taken off their latest EP Mojo Thunder which was released March this year.  Self released and unsigned, The Peach Kings continue to grow in popularity and are definitely worth a listen. To hear more go to: https://soundcloud.com/thepeachkings

 

 

Friday 14th November   The Desert Sessions – Like A Drug

The Desert Sessions were a collective series founded by Queen of the Stone Age frontman, Josh Homme.  Beginning in August 1997 and put together at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, the sessions were all written and recorded on the spot, all totally improvised.  Meeting in an old house filled to the brim with rare and unique recording equipment and instruments, the collaborations included artists such as, Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Mark Lanegan, Jeordie white, Chris Goss, John McBain, Dave Catching plus many others from the Palm Desert Scene.  The first Desert Session involved Homme and his band (The Aquitted Felons) playing for three days straight on psychedelic mushrooms.  Since then the Desert Sessions have became legendary, growing in intensity and artistic merit.            After eleven years of inactivity, Josh Homme revealed in October 2014 that intends to start working on more Desert Sessions material next year which is very exciting!  Today’s song of the day, Like A Drug was taken of the compilation of the 5th and 6th Desert Sessions and recorded in September 1999

Thursday 13th November   Tyson Smith – Winding Our Way

Tyson Smith is a guitarist/singer/songwriter based in Wellington, New Zealand.                 In 2009 he produced his first album documenting original compositions from the previous several years.  His second album was released on October 11th this year and has quite a different sound to the first.  After school Tyson Smith studied jazz and spent a while in New York getting lessons from Jazz guitarists, this giving the first album more of a jazz/fusion influence.                                                                                                                                             His second album The Hollow Tree is more singer/songwriter orientated and is more guitar based too. Today’s song of the day is featured on this album and more can be heard here: https://tysonsmith.bandcamp.com/album/the-hollow-tree

Wednesday 12th November    Mountain Folk – Don’t Go Down There

Released in May 2012 this was the first single to be released from the 3 track EP Don’t Go Down There.  Mountain Folk are a project on Jack to Phono records

Tuesday 11th November    Springtime Carvivore – Sun Went Black

Springtime Carnivore is the solo project of Greta Morgan, whose self-titled debut album (produced by Richard Swift – Foxygen, The Black Keys, The Shins), is due for release some time this November via Autumn Tone Records.  This single is the first to be released from this album

 

Monday 10th November    Steve King and the Echelons – Satan Is Her Name

‘Satan Is Her Name’ was released as a single on October 29th 1962 on Chicago’s Mercury Records label.  Steve King in now a an overnight radio host for the Chicago radio station  WGN-AM

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Sunday 9th November     The Peach Kings – Fisherman

Taken from the 2012 EP Handsome Moves. Residing in L.A their sound has been described as a mix somewhere between Portishead and Led Zepplin, The Kills and Nancy Sinatra, The Cramps and Roy Orbison.  An impressive pairing consisting of Texas-born Paige Wood and Los Angeles native Steven Dies.   The Peach Kings have self-released 3 EP’s and have firmly established themselves in the LA Indie Rock Scene.  Their music has been featured in dozens of TV shows, movies, and commercials and in 2011 they were hand selected and photographed by Drew Barrymore for a feature in V magazine alongside Warpaint, The Drums, Mayor Hawthorne, M83 and plenty more others. To listen to more: https://soundcloud.com/thepeachkings

 

Saturday 8th November   Glass Animals – Gooey

Taken from their debut studio album. This was released on 6th June 2014 by Wolf Tone in the UK and on 17th June 2014 by Harvest Records in the U.S

 

Friday 7th November  Son Little – The River

Released as a single on the 25th August 2014 through Anti/Epitaph.  Taken from forthcoming EP Things I Forgot due for release on 10th November  Pre-order the EP on iTunes: http://found.ee/ThingsIForgotEP

 

Thursday 6th November    Indians – I Am Haunted

Taken from their 2013 debut album Somewhere Else, released on 4AD label

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Wednesday 5th November      Boubacar traore – Kanou

Taken from the 2005 album Kongo Magni

 

Tuesday 4th November    D. D Dumbo – NPR Music Field Recording

D. D Dumbo is so very captivating,  so much so it was hard to resist not making his music the song/songs of the day once again!! Live and unique!

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Monday 3rd November   D.D Dumbo – Tropical Oceans (Oak Forest Version)

Taken from the debut EP Tropical Oceans released in October this year                      Utterly impressive and instantly addictive!

Sunday 2nd November      Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Places

Taken from their 2008 album The Snake.  Wildbirds & Peacedrums perform Places live and acoustic at Arnold Circus Bandstand in London for Bandstand Busking. Channel: http://bit.ly/bandstandbusks Playlist: http://bit.ly/wildbirdsandpeacedrumsb…

 

Saturday 1st November    Funkadelic – Music For My Mother

Taken from their self titled debut album released in 1970