by Burgo on March 13, 2010
So we all know that I haven’t been blogging for a while. In an attempt to make amends, I’m going to post a series of short “Things you missed while I wasn’t blogging” posts that recaps what I’ve been up to/listening to in the last while. Enjoy this peace offering.
Things you missed while I wasn’t [...]
by Burgo on January 2, 2010
God. It’s already December the 15th as I write this (not sure when I will get to publish the post) [Ed’s note: only half a month later. Not bad. I’ll just use the excuse that I was waiting until 2009 was over, to give every possible chance to every album in the decade. Yeah, that’s [...]
Tagged as:
andrew bird,
Antony and The Johnsons,
Athlete,
band of horses,
basia bulat,
Ben Folds,
ben harper,
bon iver,
bright eyes,
cat power,
city and colour,
coldplay,
damien rice,
death cab for cutie,
dispatch,
Explosions in the Sky,
flobots,
Flogging Molly,
frightened rabbit,
glen hansard,
howie day,
Imogen Heap,
jack johnson,
jason mraz,
joe pug,
john mayer,
joseph arthur,
josh ritter,
Markéta Irglová,
matthew ryan,
Myslovitz,
Nada Surf,
Nizlopi,
oasis,
outkast,
perez,
pete francis,
Phoenix,
plush,
radiohead,
Razorlight,
ryan adams,
Tegan & Sara,
the cardinals,
the damnwells,
The Gaslight Anthem,
The Innocent Criminals,
The Killers,
The Mountain Goats,
the national,
The Postal Service,
The Streets,
the weakerthans,
Third Eye Blind,
yeasayer
by Burgo on November 23, 2009
So, if you’ve read my “30 South African Bands you need to hear!” post – and it seems like a lot of you are – you would have noticed my admiration for Durban muso, Dave McMillan. Dave was, quite literally, the reason I picked up a guitar in the first place, and the reason for [...]
Tagged as:
dave mcmillan,
south african music,
trying to find rewind
by Burgo on October 14, 2009
So, I’ve held off on posting about this album for a while… when I first heard Mumford and Sons, there was this crazy rush of excitement (“thank god, finally a 2009 sound worth raving about!”) that I thought might colour an album review. So I’ve purposefully sat with this album now for the past week, [...]
Tagged as:
Dust Bowl Dance,
Mumford and Sons,
Sigh No More,
White Blank Page
by Burgo on October 6, 2009
So, if you’re a fan of my Facebook page (and if you aren’t, what are you waiting for? Go on, visit the link and fan the page. I’ll wait. No rush. Back? Good. Ahem… where was I?)… oh yes, so if you’re a fan of my Facebook page, you would have already heard me sing [...]
Tagged as:
blood,
the darkest side,
the middle east
by Burgo on October 5, 2009
I don’t quite know how I’ve let this go until now without a post. Mumford and Sons was a band I’d heard mentioned in quite a few places online, but for some reason I’d never bothered to track down much of their stuff. That was, at least, until Song, By Toad (easily one of my [...]
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Mumford and Sons
by Burgo on August 31, 2009
There is no better day than today, a Monday, to play this song for you. Below, Dave Smallen’s “I Think It’s Getting Better”.
You know, I can count on one hand the songs this year that have made me feel just as damn happy as this song has. And I think that maybe… just maybe… Dave’s [...]
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dave smallen,
i think its getting better
by Burgo on August 14, 2009
The music blogging gig is a weird thing… you can go months without hearing anything that inspires you, and then all of a sudden a whole host of tunes reach out and smack you across the face in a course of a week.
This has been one of those weeks.
Today, following a link posted in [...]
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Ben Howard,
the wolves
by Burgo on August 11, 2009
Have you ever had one of those bands that you didn’t realise exactly how much you missed them, until they reformed, and then you realised how happy that made you? No? Well, I’ve just had one of those moments, when @Lenier made me aware that my old favourites, Skunk Anansie, were back.
When Paranoid and [...]
Tagged as:
Because of You,
Skunk Anansie
by Burgo on July 21, 2009
So, I know it’s been a while. Here, to help you get through, I present an absolute bundle of joy with We Were Promised Jetpacks‘ video for cracking single “Quiet Little Voices”.
I couldn’t put it better than Captain Obvious did: “I haven’t had this much fun screaming along to songs in a long time“.
Tagged as:
Quiet Little Voices,
We Were Promised Jetpacks
by Burgo on June 27, 2009
You know, sometimes I’m not the best music blogger in the world. I let emails slip through the cracks. I let this blog take a back seat to my day time job, and to every day life. While that pretty much qualifies me for “a normal person with his priorities right”, it sometimes means my [...]
Tagged as:
Joe Raciti,
Love Love
I’ve mentioned the Playing for Change movement before on this blog. They’ve just released their latest episode, “Change Is Gonna Come”. And really, words aren’t needed to describe the power of this production. Instead, I’ll just quote directly from their site, and embed the video below. Past that, we’ll let the music speak for itself.
This [...]
Tagged as:
Change Is Gonna Come,
playing for change
Juzzie Smith – The One Man Band that will blow you away
Juzzie Smith is one of those happy coincidental discoveries. It just so happened that, while my mother was out in Australia visiting us on holiday, we took her up the Sunshine Coast for the weekend. While up there, we decided to take a trip [...]
Tagged as:
Juzzie Smith,
Travelling
My love for Joe Pug is no secret. If there is one artist who I have ever featured on this blog that I would like to see succeed, it’s Joe. Joe’s “Nation of Heat” EP was passed around my friends and family and random people I accosted on the street like no other, and it [...]
Tagged as:
How Good You Are,
joe pug
Malcolm Middleton
It’s no secret that Malcolm Middleton is one of my favourite Scottish songwriters. And I don’t use “Scottish” there as a qualification, or an attempt to pigenhole Malcolm. I use it as a badge of honour… I see it as a compliment of the highest order to be seen to lead such a talented [...]
Tagged as:
Carry Me,
Malcolm Middleton
Jeremy Enigk (image credit: Mark Swanson)
Jeremy Enigk has always been an artist that has fascinated me. Not only because of his work with the highly touted Sunny Day Real Estate, but also because his solo debut, “The Return of the Frog Queen” from 1996 was an album that challenged my perception of what pop music [...]
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Jeremy Enigk,
Mind Idea
Donerail (Image Credit: Trask Bedortha)
Donerail (pronounced Dawn-er-rale) are a Portland band that make me smile. Much like a past Burgoblog favourite, High On Stress, Donerail play that kind of Replacements-like rock ‘n roll that never fails to bring a smile to my face.
Donerail’s latest album, “Destiny and Dishonor“, was recorded live over the course of [...]
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Donerail,
Some Ending
by Burgo on April 6, 2009
Bugger. I missed posting this yesterday, but in the United States, it still is yesterday, if you know what I mean… so I thought I would post anyway.
Yesterday (or today, depending upon where you are when you read this), marked the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.
There’s a trifecta of musical deaths that shaped my [...]
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kurt cobain,
something in the way
by Burgo on April 1, 2009
The other day I got that kind of email that music bloggers love to get… an email from an artist’s management saying, “Hey… you know, I’ve noticed from your blog posts that you like xyz… and I think you might like some of my client’s stuff. Want to check it out?”… and you actually do [...]
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52,
ari hest,
twelve mondays
by Burgo on March 23, 2009
So, apologies for the decline in posts around these parts lately. It’s been a hectic few months. Actually, scratch that… it’s been a hectic year, and posting sometimes fell by the wayside. So you know it had to be something special to bring me out of that unintentional hiatus, right?
Well, it is. Something special, I [...]
by Burgo on March 10, 2009
On Sunday night, I was lucky enough to see “superband”, Coldplay, perform live at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Now, I’m going to throw this right out there. Even when uber-popular music blogs like Stereogum feature bands like Coldplay, there always seems to be a massive backlash from the “Hipster Runoff” type kids. The ones who don’t [...]
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brisbane entertainment centre,
coldplay
by Burgo on March 10, 2009
This past weekend, Ray Lamontagne performed “You Are The Best Thing” and “Trouble”, live on SNL.
Posting the videos here… because… well… simply because both performances are FREAKING AWESOME. ‘Nuff Said.
Ray Lamontagne, “You Are The Best Thing”, live on SNL
Ray Lamontagne, “Trouble”, live on SNL
Tagged as:
ray lamontagne,
trouble,
You are the best thing
by Burgo on February 19, 2009
The Deep Dark Woods
“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 [...]
Tagged as:
all the money i had is gone,
the deep dark woods,
the gallows
by Burgo on February 16, 2009
Alex Dezen (image credit: Heather Conley)
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 [...]
Tagged as:
alex dezen,
one last century,
the damnwells
by Burgo on February 11, 2009
So as I mentioned here, the Damnwells are releasing their new album, “One Last Century”, as a free download through Paste Magazine. Today.
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 [...]
Tagged as:
alex dezen,
one last century,
the damnwells
by Burgo on January 30, 2009
Little Birdy
Maybe it’s just because I’m having some personal issues right now, but this new single from Little Birdy, “Brother”, from their upcoming album, “Confetti” is one of the most soul-rending songs I’ve ever heard.
The track also features Australian music legend, Paul Kelly on harmonica and backing vocals.
This song is killing me, right now.
Listen. Love. [...]
Tagged as:
brother,
little birdy
by Burgo on January 22, 2009
So, last night, I saw titans perform at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Not only did I see My Morning Jacket perform as the opening act, but then Neil Young came on and absolutely tore the stage apart.
There won’t be a normal review post here today, because, frankly, I decided that I needed to go to [...]
Tagged as:
brisbane entertainment centre,
my morning jacket,
neil young
by Burgo on January 18, 2009
Last night, I had probably the most visceral experience of my life, watching Bon Iver perform live at the Tivoli in Brisbane. To call it sublime would be an understatement.
It was over two years ago (side note: how fast is time going these days? I mean, honestly…) that the dulcet tones of Justin Vernon first [...]
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bon iver,
brisbane,
Justin Vernon,
the tivoli
by Burgo on December 24, 2008
I recently came across this session on the always fabulous LaundroMatinee site, and simply had to post it. Anyone who’s read this blog for any amount of time will know my love for Joe Pug (after all, I included him in my “Best Of 2008” post, and called him the artist I “most wanted to [...]
Tagged as:
bury me far from my uniform,
i'm not so sure,
joe pug
by Burgo on December 24, 2008
Ok, so I’m a few days late (read: over a week) in getting this up, but unfortunately the whole “Festive Season” rush got in the way of regular posting. Anyway, Burgo’s Music Blog favourite, Bon Iver, is releasing their four song EP, Blood Bank, in January, via Jagjaguwar.
And we’ve got a first listen below.
Out of [...]
Tagged as:
blood bank,
bon iver
by Burgo on December 19, 2008
It’s obviously a week for talking about my favourite bands. Today, I’m going to post about another favourite band of mine, State Radio. For more about how much this band means to me, you can check out my past posts on State Radio here. If not, suffice to say that this band has been instrumental [...]
Tagged as:
chad stokes,
right me up,
state radio
by Burgo on December 17, 2008
Yes… Archives Vol.1 finally seems tangible. If it’s at all possible, I’m now even more excited for the Neil Young gig I’m going to next month. Enjoy.
[youtube]Q8rHh8baT2Y[/youtube]
Tagged as:
neil young,
neil young archives volume 1
by Burgo on December 9, 2008
So over the last four days, Ryan Adams has been busy on Youtube (see the Cards’ ‘Tube profile here), uploading “home jams” of some of his past songs. Given that he uploaded yet another one, “Cobwebs”, only 8 hours ago, I started thinking… well, how many more of these does he plan to do? So, [...]
Tagged as:
holiday home jams,
ryan adams
by Burgo on December 8, 2008
Included here for no other reason than:
It’s Kelly Jones… I mean, c’mon.
“Maybe Tomorrow” was always one of my favourite Stereophonics songs.
And, perhaps most importantly…
It’s been one of those days, and I’m hoping that… well, maybe tomorrow, you know?
Anyway, watch it below. Taken from the BBC’s “Later… with Jools Holland” show.
[youtube]Y6ferehHaWQ[/youtube]
You can see more posts where [...]
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kelly jones,
later with jools holland,
maybe tomorrow,
stereophonics
by Burgo on December 7, 2008
Late December Update:
Unfortunately, after months of fighting with the RIAA amongst others, Mixwit, the site that I used to embed the below playlist, has had to close down. This means that the below playlist is no longer operating, but you can still read about the bands and follow the links to their individual posts below [...]
Tagged as:
best of 2008 list
by Burgo on November 28, 2008
(Side Note: Apologies for the weird formatting issues in the below post. I’m posting this from the road, and my laptop seems to be acting up a bit. When I’m back at my regular computer next week, I’ll try and fix it up. For now, I hope you can put up with the changing fonts [...]
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australia,
brisbane,
howie day,
sophie koh,
troubadour
by Burgo on November 20, 2008
Following on from the Cardinals’ Coffee Shop Show, Ryan Adams & Co. have just released the entire (yes, entire… in other words, close on 30 minutes) 3 Voor 12 set up at cave.cardinology.
I really don’t see the need to enter too much in this post here. Honestly, I think I’ve talked about Ryan Adams and [...]
Tagged as:
3 voor 12,
ryan adams,
the cardinals
by Burgo on November 17, 2008
This is a really short note here, but to any of you readers who have enjoyed the stuff you’ve heard from Joe Pug on this blog so far, you might want to head over to NPR to stream Joe Pug’s October 5 performance from NPR’s Mountain Stage in full… trust me, you won’t regret it.
The [...]
Tagged as:
joe pug,
nation of heat
by Burgo on November 14, 2008
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 [...]
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the sparrow and the crow,
william fitzsimmons
by Burgo on November 11, 2008
So this past Saturday, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals appeared on BBC Radio 2’s Dermot O’Leary show… and man, what a treat we were in for.
It was a short and sweet slot, with only 2 interview segments, and two songs, but those two songs were pure magic. The first was the always-stunning “Fix It” (by [...]
Tagged as:
Fix It,
ryan adams,
the cardinals,
times like these
by Burgo on November 5, 2008
Wow, look at all those alliterations in that title.
Anyway, straight to the business at hand. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals recently celebrated the release of their “Cardinology” album with a eight-song acoustic performance at Café Select in New York’s Soho. For those who were there, in such an intimate setting, it must have been an [...]
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cardinology,
coffee shop show,
ryan adams,
the cardinals
by Burgo on November 4, 2008
Included for not other reason than the fact that it’s a cracking tune, and that vocalist Brian Fallon looks like he couldn’t be having more fun… for some inexplicable reason, this (hardly ground-breaking) video has me excited about music again.
[youtube]c-Pm5NC3OZI[/youtube]
You can check out more about The Gaslight Anthem here.
Tagged as:
the '59 sound,
The Gaslight Anthem
by Burgo on October 30, 2008
It’s been a while since I’ve done a roundup post, so here are the tunes that have been spinning in my iTunes this week.
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 [...]
Tagged as:
Ben Nichols,
Denison Witmer,
Gnarls Barkley,
Hazelton,
Justin Vernon,
Life Before Aesthetics,
The Kid,
Who's Gonna Save My Soul?
by Burgo on October 26, 2008
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 [...]
Tagged as:
amiestreet,
brett dennen,
hope for the hopeless
by Burgo on October 24, 2008
by Burgo on October 6, 2008
I’m quite late to the party on these guys, having first read about The Sand Band way back in August on that awesomeness of music blogs, Some Velvet Blog. I filed away the band for listening at a later date, and it somehow slipped between the cracks… until now.
The Sand Band
I’m not sure if it’s [...]
Tagged as:
hallelujah,
the sand band,
the secret chord
by Burgo on October 2, 2008
Short note today… but just wanted to let everyone know that The Avett Brothers have released their new video for single “Murder in The City” (featured in this post back here)… and it’s a killer video (no pun intended).
Beautifully filmed, like the song itself, the video is full of quiet moments. Watch it below.
Beautiful…
And here, [...]
Tagged as:
murder in the city,
the avett brothers
by Burgo on September 23, 2008
So, a few weeks ago, Diana from MADMUSE got in touch with me to let me know that they were sending me a pre-release copy of Bill Madden’s new album, “Child of the Same God”. (Sidenote: I love it when overseas agencies don’t mind paying the international postage and send original copies all the way [...]
Tagged as:
bill madden,
child of the same god
by Burgo on September 21, 2008
Ok… so this isn’t so much a post as an announcement to all Bon Iver fans. Bon Iver (now more than just Justin Vernon, as pointed out here… now a full band) recently contributed to the Myspace Transmissions series; and they’re now offering the entire EP (four songs) for free download. For fans, this is [...]
Tagged as:
bon iver,
for emma,
myspace transmissions
by Burgo on September 17, 2008
Ed’s Note: The following is a guest post from Rachel Morris, a regular reader here on Burgo’s Blog. This is something I’m hoping to make a regular feature on Burgo’s Blog. Too often I get emails from people who write with such beauty about music they’re into, but who feel like they don’t have a [...]
Tagged as:
ghostly reminders,
josh moore