(Side note: to management… if you’re going to approach music bloggers, make sure that you’ve actually read the damn blog. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve got emails about artists I’ve already posted about, or one that even said “Hey, I sound like Howie Day. You probably won’t know his stuff, here’s a link”… Srsly? Ahem. Rant over)

The point is, that in this case the email came from Shannon over at Brick Wall Management… and not only did she do everything right, but the client she thought I might like was Ari Hest. This is the kind of email I love getting. Where management has actually got my tastes damn spot on.

Um. Ari freakin’ Hest? Only someone I’ve been a fan of for ages… around 6 years or so, I would say, ever since I first heard “Aberdeen” from “Come Home” way back in the day. So of course, I was thrilled when Shannon told me that Ari’s just dropped a new album, entitled “Twelve Mondays”.

After listening to the album for about an hour, I twittered:
“Just been sent the new ari hest album to review. there’s a song on here that’s possibly the best thing he’s ever done, in my opinion.”

Yeah. It’s that kind of album.

Official music video for “Dead End Driving”, from the new Ari Hest album, “Twelve Mondays”

First off, some more background on “Twelve Mondays”:
Back in 2008, Ari started out a trailblazing experiment called “52“. Basically, what “52″ entailed was recording (and releasing) a new song every week. Fans then voted on their favourite tracks, and twelve of those were collected into the album, “Twelve Mondays”.

That such an album could have come out of “a song a week” project is, quite simply, astounding, and only hints at Ari’s songwriting prowess.

Oh… and the best thing Ari’s written? Well, the whole point of the “52″ project was that different songs would appeal to different people. So you should probably head here to purchase the entire album to decide for yourself.

For my money though, “The Weight” will go down as an all-time Ari Hest classic.

Listen. Love. Support.

Listen: Ari Hest – The Weight

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Ari Hest – Twelve Mondays

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“I’ve been waiting here for days, tryin’ to catch a break. But the way i’m living, it’s gonna cause my heart to ache” ~ The Deep Dark Woods.

Ok, ok… so Cap beat me to posting about these guys, so I’m simply going to point you towards his post rather than regurgitate any of it.

But seriously… you need to listen to The Deep Dark Woods‘ new release, “Winter Hours”. It is, quite simply, a thing of sheer beauty.

There’s something about this band. A weariness, and darkness for sure… but somewhere bubbling below it all, a joy that is a pure physical force.

Listen. Love. Support.

Listen: The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone
Listen: The Deep Dark Woods – The Gallows

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The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours

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So everyone’s still talking about The Damnwells‘ latest release, “One Last Century”, which was released through Paste Magazine (for free) on Tuesday. And why wouldn’t they still be talking about it? It is, quite simply, one of those albums. An album that was written just for you.

Alex Dezen has always had that special knack. A kind of effortless personality that connects with the listener, in a very personal way. And I think that this album, finally, is opening that up to a wider audience.

But Burgo, I hear you ask, this is all well and good, but why are you posting about this? Haven’t you already posted about the album release over here, at “Today is the day! Go download the Damnwells new album, “One Last Century” for free!“? What is this, just a recap?

Well, no… the reason I’m revisiting the topic is that today, Alex sent me the “exclusive track” that I’ve heard whispered. The b-side title track of the album, “One Last Century”. And I can’t stop listening to the damn thing.

It’s beautiful.

Rarely a song comes along that, for some reason, I can’t write about. But this is one of them. It simply knocks me over. I’m the feather, and Alex’s voice the breeze. I’m not sure where it’s taking me, but I can’t wait to find out.

So of course I had to share it with all of you. In keeping with Alex’s vision for this album… spread it around. Tell your friends. This song needs to be heard.

Listen. Love. Support.

Listen: The Damnwells – One Last Century (b-side title track)

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The Damnwells, ONE LAST CENTURY bonus track, “One Last Century”

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What the hell are you still doing here, reading this post? Get going!

Ok, ok, so you’re after more information. Then I would suggest checking out my past Damnwells posts, as Lord knows I’ve sung their praise often enough on this blog. In those posts you can check out the documentary featuring them and their trials, an homage post to the band or two, and numerous live shows.

Over the last month or so, I’ve been involved in building up The Damnwells official site again, which had somewhat fallen into disuse (apart from the forums, which unfortunately were lost in the changeover). Anyway, over that time I’ve gotten to know Alex from the band, and listened to his visions for this new record, “One Last Century“. After being dropped by their label (not once, but twice), they decided it was time to do this their way. To get the music heard, finally. When the guy talks about this album, it’s like there’s a light shining on you, you know? Like the world could be this way, if we just hope.

I want to see that hope justified today.

Spread the word, in whatever form you can. Call your friend up and tell them. Send an email to people you know who like kick-ass music. Send an email to people you know who like crappy music, and need to be educated. Send an SMS to random numbers. Drop flyers where you can, and then run away. If you have a blog, then blog about it. Use your social media profiles to mention it. For those of you on twitter, tweet it. Whatever you can do, let people know about this record.

I want to see The Damnwells succeed. I want to see this model succeed. Artists are waking up to the fact that they need to embrace new ways of marketing their material, but it’s ultimately up to us, the consumer, to control the way that market goes.

I’m not going to review the record today. Suffice to say I’ve been spinning it again and again the last week or so, so that tells you how much I’m enjoying it. But today I’d like you to listen to it, without any of those damn “music blogger preconceptions” floating around in your head. Maybe in the next week or so, I’ll manage to grab a few moments of Alex’s time, and ask him to put down a few words about this record, from the recording process to the final release. But for now, I just want you to listen to it. So go here and get it now.

This has been a post from Burgo's Music Blog

Today is the day! Go download the Damnwells new album, “One Last Century” for free!

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2. The Damnwells… A new release, and some old love.
3. Live Music Friday – Alex Dezen of The Damnwells, Live at Hotel Cafe

As I say… buggeration. It’s the 9th of February today, and far too late to set up a giveaway/competition for free tickets. But that doesn’t mean I can’t spread the word about these guys in the meantime.

Although I hadn’t heard of these guys before Tim’s email, in the short time that I’ve had to listen to some of their material, I have to say that One EskimO have certainly impressed me. Their tunes are that ambient kind of music that perfectly complements a bed time cuddle with a new partner. You know the kind I mean. That first couple of cuddles with a new partner in bed, where everything could still be slightly awkward. Where you’re still trying to figure out how to be completely comfortable around each other. And god, why are there suddenly all these awkward silences? We were fine at dinner. Wow, this would be so much better if I at least had some music on, so there wasn’t all… this… silence. They’re that kind of perfect music.

From their press release:

One eskimO is a unique musical creation that combines gorgeous animations and beautiful music.

The unique musical band One eskimO is produced by Rollo (Faithless). One eskimO is a 4-piece band headed up by Kristian Leontiou. His fantastic musical sound is then added to a series of 10 animations charting the adventures of eskimO and his band – the giraffe, monkey and penguin.

‘The eskimo, the giraffe, monkey and penguin decided that they would all head out and travel above the seas, past the moon and the planets and venture out through the stars. They would travel together on the eskimO’s special ark. For this was no ordinary ark, this was a dream ark…’

One eskimO’s soft musical tones are already attracting attention from both a younger and older audience. The fantastic animations were produced by Passion Pictures (the team behind the highly successful Gorillaz), and have already won a 2008 British Animation award.

Below, a live video of the band performing their upcoming single, “Kandi” (which is simply gorgeous), and below that, the official video for their “Hometime” track, which shows off the animations.

All in all, if I was in the area, I’d go and see these guys tomorrow. So, if you are… why don’t you?

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One EskimO – One Cool Act

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Ok ok, I’m going to be upfront here. I’m probably a bit biased about this track, as ever since the days of The United States of Leland (seriously… this is a criminally underrated film), actor Ryan Gosling has been… well, probably my favourite actor. So when I heard news of him being in a band, called “Dead Man’s Bones“, along with bandmate Zach Shields, I was impatient to finally hear some of their material.

The two have just released a video on their myspace page, called “In Your Room”. And you know what? It’s fantastic. Describing their sound as a mixture of Gothic, Gospel and Showtunes, and their influences as “disney haunted mansion, doo wop and 60s girl groups”, it’s like a joyous celebration of Halloween all over again. And I like it.

In The Room Where You Sleep (live video version)

The boys will be playing at the Werewolf Hearts Records Showcase at SXSW on March 21, 2009, and promise that an album (and official site) will be coming soon.

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Dead Man’s Bones – In Your Room (Video)

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That was… until I saw this.

Now, I’m excited.

Samantha Crain’s new album, “Songs in the Night” is due out April, 2009. You can bet I’ll be watching with interest.

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Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers – The River (Video)

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For some reason, if you’d asked me last week whether I had posted about William Fitzsimmons on this blog before, I would have sworn blind that I had discussed his 2006 album “Goodnight” sometime in 2007. However, I recently received his 2008 album, “The Sparrow & The Crow“, and was preparing a post when I looked back through this blog archives – trying to find my past post – and I realised that I must have dreamed the whole thing.

But you know, for some reason that’s kind of fitting. William Fitzsimmon’s work has that ethereal, floating quality from which the best dreams are made.

Fitzsimmon’s path towards music reads like some kind of fantasy tale filled with destiny. From his site:

William Fitzsimmons is one of the oddest people you will ever meet. Born the youngest child of two blind parents, William was raised in the outskirts of the steel city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to the family’s inability to communicate through normal visual means, William’s childhood home was filled with a myriad of sounds to replace what eyes could not see. The house was suffused with pianos, guitars, trombones, talking birds, classical records, family sing-a-longs, bedtime stories, and the bellowing of a pipe organ, which his father built into the house with his own hands. When his father’s orchestral records were not resonating through the walls, his mother would educate him on the folk stylings of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel. By the completion of his youth and schooling, Fitzsimmons had become well-versed at a variety of instruments, at the minor expense of social standing, interactional skills, and a knowledge of proper shaving technique.

William Fitzsimmon’s music has that heart-string-tugging, ever so fragile quality to it that makes for the best of tunes. When you hear his voice, there’s almost a caution there; as if you exhale too loudly, you might frighten this wonder away. Watch the below video of Fitzsimmon playing “It’s Not True” – from his “Goodbye” Album – on DeepRockDive to see what I mean…

[youtube]Aqvl_jQi2gY[/youtube]

Enough about the past… let’s look at Fitzsimmon’s latest release, “The Sparrow & The Crow”. Put simply, it’s a wonderful album. I mean, really, that sums it all up.
But, to go a bit deeper: The Sparrow and The Crow is an album with some heart-wrenching stories behind it. Like his past releases – namely “Goodnight” and “Until We Are Ghosts” – the album deals with some incredibly personal tales. Not surprising, when you consider that the album, in Fitzsimmon’s own words, was “written first and foremost as a confession and apology to my former wife“.
I recently came across a wonderful interview with Fitzsimmon’s where he related this story:

The Sparrow and The Crow – Are you comparing relationships of the heart to the flight or actions of birds? What’s the concept of the album?

I’ve always thought symbolism was a wonderful literary tool for getting across meanings in a more substantive and tactful way. I think it allows one to be concise and pointed in meaning, without sacrificing clarity for an aesthetic sake. The main idea for the record title came on a drive I was taking out in the country here in Illinois. I noticed a couple birds flying together against a strong wind and suddenly, one of the two turned and flew away, leaving the other one alone. For some reason it just seemed rather poignant and explanatory to everything I had gone through in the last couple years. I don’t know, maybe I was just really tired. But for whatever reason, it hit me pretty hard. I spent a lot of time soon thereafter looking into the historical and myth-related meanings of certain birds, and came upon a couple (the sparrow and crow) that seemed to fit the nature of the story I was trying to detail. Specifically, the sparrow is my former wife and I am meant to be the crow. And as I’ve committed myself to be honest in the process of telling such a serious story, I can say that the album is the tale of my failed marriage and the process of trying to start life over again.

Anyway, on to the tunes themselves. I’ve included two songs below, for you to get a taste of the album. Both these songs are taken from the second half of “The Sparrow and The Crow”, which is – in my opinion – where the album really kicks into uber-awesomeness. Fitting, I suppose, considering that the album is telling a story. Really, if this was a screenplay, these songs would be playing during the final “resolution” stage of the film.

The first, “They’ll Never Take The Good Years“, is perhaps the song with the most acceptance on the album. The second, “You Still Hurt Me” is a song with which we can all wistfully relate.
Listen to these songs. Seriously. They may just help you.

Listen: William Fitzsimmons – They’ll Never Take The Good Years
Listen: William Fitzsimmons – You Still Hurt Me

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William Fitzsimmons – The Sparrow & The Crow

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Gnarls Barkley – Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?

You know, it still strikes me as strange that certain people only know Gnarls Barkley as that “Crazy” duo, when there’s so much more to them than that one tune. This song, the demo version of “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?” – which incidentally has a killer music video, which I’ve included below – shows off just that point.
Stripped down, Cee-Lo gives this song an emotion that slays.

[youtube]kTVSygNKAsg[/youtube]

Listen: Gnarls Barkley – Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?

Ben Nichols – The Kid

If you’re a fan of the alt.country genre, chances are pretty good that you’ve heard Ben Nichols‘ name before, as lead singer of the always-awesome Lucero.
Nichols is releasing his solo debut full-length album sometime next year, but in the meantime, he’s just released a seven-song EP, “The Last Pale Light In The West”… which is available now (and yes, that “now” is meant to instill a sense of urgency within you), here.

If anything, I prefer Nichols’ solo output to his stuff with Lucero, and that’s saying something. Take some stripped-down, dusty guitars and a plaintive, yearning voice, and you’re close.

Listen: Ben Nichols – The Kid

Denison Witmer – Life Before Aesthetics

You might have heard some of Denison Witmer’s work in the past if you’re into cover songs… and if you haven’t, you might want to check out this post from the uber-excellent Cover Lay Down blog.
This song, however, is his own… and will appear on his upcoming album, “Carry The Weight“, which is due out in November. It’s a killer track, and one which really has me excited for November.

Listen: Denison Witmer – Life Before Aesthetics

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Thursday Roundup – Gnarls Barkley, Ben Nichols and Denison Witmer

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So as I mentioned in a past post, Brett Dennen and Amiestreet have teamed up to make the world a better place with some charity. It’s unfortunate that this happened while I was away on holiday, as by the time you read this post, you will only have a few hours left to get in on the action… as the charity preorder is running until today, the 27th October. I know that’s a confusing way to begin a post, but I thought I should get the important information out of the way first… now, onto more detail.

Brett Dennen was one of the first posts I actually made here on Burgo’s Blog. Having at the time just heard Dennen’s outstanding “Ain’t No Reason” from the “So Much More” album, I was blown away by the potential that this young kid exhibited.
Overall, however, I felt that Dennen’s true possibilities were still undiscovered… while “So Much More” had it’s highlights (particularly the aforementioned “Ain’t No Reason” and “She’s Mine”), the album didn’t quite live up to its highlights. In the end, I was left wanting… more. I knew that Brett Dennen could deliver, but it didn’t seem his time was quite right.

Fast forward to October 2008. I’m on an island in Vanuatu, when an email drops in my inbox from Zane at Amiestreet.com to let me know that Brett Dennen was releasing his album “Hope for the Hopeless”, and that it would be made available on AmieStreet.com as part of the website’s ongoing Download To Make A Difference campaign. For each album purchased, AmieStreet.com will donate $5 to the Mosaic Project, an organization of close personal significance to Brett Dennen.

First off, let me just say that I really like what Amiestreet are doing. They seem to have the right mindset to really make a difference, and I appreciate that.
Secondly, however, another part of me was slightly apprehensive. Would Brett Dennen finally live up to the potential that I was so sure he possessed?

After living with this album for the week that I’ve now been back from the islands, I can say that Dennen’s definitely on the right road. “Hope for the Hopeless” is a far more accomplished album that “So Much More”, and in some ways hearkens back to his self-titled debut.
In particular, songs such as “Closer to You” and “Who Do You Think You Are?” are signals that Dennen is growing exponentially as an artist.
And the unexpected “Make You Crazy”, featuring personal favourite Femi Kuti in an over-too-soon cameo, completely throws you for a loop… in a great way.

Overall, I think there are still depths to Brett Dennen’s capacity as an artist that haven’t been reached; but “Hope for the Hopeless” is a great growth-spurt. I’ll still be watching him with much faith and keen interest.

Check out Amiestreet’s interview with Dennen here, and you can also order the album at the end of the interview.

Here’s some tasters, though, to whet your appetite…

Listen: Brett Dennen – Heaven
Listen: Brett Dennen – Who Do You Think You Are?
Listen: Brett Dennen – Make You Crazy

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Amiestreet and Brett Dennen – Hope for the Hopeless

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