… for no other reason than it’s quite simply a “Ben Drew” kind of day.

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Writing’s On The Wall – Plan B (Live at Cafe de Paris) [Video]

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I’ve written about aKING here on Burgo’s Music Blog before. Heck, at the time (nearly 2 years ago!) I called them “South Africa’s next big thing“. So why, you might ask yourself, am I devoting another blog post to this band from South Africa? Is it because they’ve released another album, or done something particularly noteworthy recently?

Well, ok, they have actually released another album since that last post, called “Against All Odds”. And make no mistake about it, it’s a cracker of an album. But that album came out in 2009 and I’ve had my grubby hands on it then, so it’s hardly breaking news suitable for a post in 2010.

No, the whole reason behind this love letter to aKING is far more prosaic: it’s simply that, after a few months off, I came back to listening to aKING… and for two weeks now, they are all I’ve listened to. Seriously. I don’t listen to radio, so I haven’t heard anything coming over radiowaves. I listen to music at work, and at home through Spotify. And, for two weeks now, I haven’t moved off aKING’s page. It’s ridiculous.

So, I thought that an obsession like that simply deserved a post… even if there’s no real point to it, other than to say: Man, I never get tired of these dudes!

So, in case you missed their previous post, go check it out. And then come back here, and watch/listen to these tunes. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

aKING’s first single, “The Dance”. If anything, this song as a first single hurt them more than anything else. Its mainstream sound turned off some listeners. Their loss. From “Dutch Courage”.

aKING, “I Believe”. Off first release, “Dutch Courage”.

aKING, “Safe As Houses”. Off first release, “Dutch Courage”.

aKING, “You and I”. From new release (arguably their best), “Against All Odds”. Questionable video though.

You can listen to aKING’s two full releases, “Dutch Courage” and “Against All Odds” on Myspace Music. Do it now.

What do you think? Is this an unhealthy obsession? Sound off in the comments.

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A love letter to aKING

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It’s been a while since I’ve written about super-nice dude Farryl Purkiss (see #8 on my “Top South African Bands” post for more details) on this blog… so it was purely happy chance that I came across his new video for “Kissing Devils on the Cheek” on Youtube the other day. It’s the kind of tune that grows on you, with each listen. Check it out…

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Farryl Purkiss – Kissing Devils On The Cheek (Video)

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Thanks to Phil for pointing this out to me – otherwise Black Friday would have passed uneventfully for me – but apart from online savings, Black Friday brought not only shopping madness, but also the release of Blakroc.

And, holy hell, the thing is shit hot.

Blakroc is, at its core, a collaboration between American blues-rock music duo, The Black Keys (Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney), and 11 credible names in the hiphop game. And it’s exactly the kind of album I needed to hear as 2009 wraps up. Check out more on the official page here, but basically the concept behind the album is:

“11 artists who collaborated with the Black Keys. 11 days in the studio. 11 tracks”

And that “11 artists” is a lineup that quite frankly has me swooning. Not only are there big names, such as Raekwon, sadly-departed Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and RZA… but also lesser-hyped artists like Pharoahe Monch, NOE, Billy Danze and Nicole Wray. And, the very, very best part for me… Mos Def. The dude just exudes cool, and as soon as I knew he was involved in the project, I was hooked. I mean, seriously… watch the below video of Mos Def and Jim James performing on track “Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)”, and tell me it’s not one of the hottest tracks you’ve heard this year…

Blakroc: Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) Ft. Mos Def and Jim Jones from Jonah Schwartz on Vimeo.

One of the most interesting aspects of BlakRoc is the fact that the recording process has been documented on film. You can watch all the “webisodes” here, and I would recommend that you do if the album sounds even slightly like your cup of tea. The glimpse into the creative process behind this album is nothing less than inspiring. In particular, the below one with Billy Danze is heartwarming. The dude simply cannot contain himself and his enthusiasm…

Unfortunately, not all the tracks live up to the hype though. There are some notable low points, and I’m nowhere near calling this the “release of 2009″; but the process behind the album itself is so awesomely organic, I’m rooting for it to do well, hoping that it may inspire others to return to a purely creative recording process, such as this one. As Billy Danze says in the above video, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Making a record, create that shit”. And that’s exactly how this record feels… not manufactured, but created with heart.

Seriously, I haven’t been this inspired by an album in… well, I can’t remember how long. Stream some of the tunes here, and, after doing so, buy this shit. Now.

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BLAKROC is out. And yeah, it’s friggin’ awesome.

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So, a while back I noticed that I had watched a lot… and I mean, a lot… of Ryan Adams videos on the ol’ Tube. And I got it into my head that one day, I should really post a collection of my favourite performances of his on here, but for various reasons, I never got around to it. One of the reasons was that the post itself would be extremely clumpy, with anywhere between 10 – 20 youtube videos all embedded in the post; it would have scrolled on and on, and might have been slow to load.

But then the other day, I stumbled upon Embedr, which allows you to embed multiple videos all into one handy frame… all you need to do is scroll through the videos below, and press play on whichever one you’re interested in. So, below, I present to you a “Ryan Adams Video Best Of…”; with some commentary added, of course.

Playlist

1. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Two”, live on Letterman
One of my all-time favourite Ryan Adam’s songs, this performance of “Two” (from the Easy Tiger album) is simply heartbreaking. Incidentally, you’ll notice how many of these videos are of Ryan and the Cards performing on Letterman… all I can say is, thank you David for being such a Ryan supporter… it’s given us some great performances.
“If I could I’d treat you like you wanted me to I promise… but I’m fractured from the fall, and I wanna go home”
Album | Easy Tiger

2. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Fix It”, live on Letterman
From the Cardinal’s latest (and, ostensibly, last album) Cardinology, “Fix It” was one of the standout tracks. And this performance, where Ryan cries out “Fix It!” so plaintively at the 2:35 mark? Man, if that doesn’t make you feel something, I don’t know what will.
“I know it’s not a game, but it feels like losing when someone you love gets up and walks away…”
Album | Cardinology

3. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Come Pick Me Up”, live on Letterman
That harp opening man… that harp. One of the most heart-rending Ryan Adams songs you will ever hear. Probably the song that brought about this entire love affair that I have with his stuff. Also, this performance is from back in the day when Catherine Popper was in the band… man, she was great.
“Come pick me up, take me out… fuck me up, steal my records, screw all my friends behind my back… with a smile on your face, and then do it again.”
Album | Heartbreaker

4. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Now That You’re Gone”, live at Austin City Limits
If anyone out there has a copy of this gig, please let me know. It was aired on PBS back in 2005, and this song in particular from that night gets me like few others do. Oh, and Catherine’s in this one too.
“I don’t dare touch anything of yours, because it’s evidence of us, and it means everything… well sort of.”
Album | Cold Roses

5. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Desire”, live on BBC4 Sessions
The entire broadcast of this night is simply beautiful… high quality video recordings of Ryan’s concerts are hard to come by, and this entire set was simply, and beautifully, shot. It’s out there for download, with Ryan’s blessing, if you’re into that sort of thing. This song, “Desire”, just seems to have Ryan at possibly the most comfortable on stage I’ve ever seen… and that contentment is contagious. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.
“You know me. You don’t mind waiting. You just can’t show me, but God I’m praying, that you’ll find me, and that you’ll see me, That you run and never tire.
Desire”
Album | Demolition

6. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Let It Ride”, live on Letterman
Bearded Ryan! It’s really interesting, watching the videos from different stages in Ryan’s career… it’s clear when, and when he isn’t comfortable in his own skin. This video has him at his “hiding behind his hair” best; but that doesn’t take away from an incendiary performance.
“Twenty-seven years of nothin’ but failures and promises that I couldn’t keep… Oh lord I wasn’t ready to go.”
Album | Cold Roses

7. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “My Winding Wheel”, live on BBC4 Sessions
And then compare this video with the last… it’s a completely different performer, in all respects except the “awesomeness” one. The band in this song are so unbelievably tight, it’s like they’re one person with 5 sets of arms.
“So buy a pretty dress and wear it out tonight, for anyone you think could out do me…”
Album | Heartbreaker

8. Ryan Adams  – “So Alive”, live on Letterman
I still have no idea how this song did not blow up bigger than it did. “I am on your side!”, Ryan screams at the 2:28 mark… and man if he doesn’t speak for everyone who’s cried out “don’t forget me, I’m on your side here… I’m alive dammit!”. Pure emotion.
“Just put to bed and stand beside me. Stand beside me, always on your side… I’m on your side and so alive it isn’t real.”
Album | Rock n Roll

9. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Firecracker”, live in Jamaica
From the “Music in High Places” DVD, this performance of Ryan in Jamaica is full of such innocence, it’s hard not to fall in love with it. In fact, the entire DVD is like that.
“Well, everybody wants to go on forever, I just wanna burn up hard and bright.”
Album | Gold

10. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “New York, New York”, live in Jamaica
Another performance in Jamaica, this track finds Ryan with a larger band than normal, with locals joining in on bongos and djembes. And it’s freakin’ awesome. Also, there’s a guy in the background who gets his ass drunk. No, I don’t mean himself, I mean his donkey. It’s hilarious.
On a more serious note, while I kept this “Best Of…” to live performances, you really should check out the official video for the track. Recorded just a few days before 9/11, it’s a bittersweet love song to that city of cities.
“The world won’t wait and I watched you shake. But honey, I don’t blame you… Hell, I still love you, New York”
Album | Gold

11. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Everybody Knows”, live on Letterman
You know, normally “Everybody Knows” isn’t one of my favourite Ryan Adams tracks… but for some reason, whenever I watch this video, that completely changes. Ryan and Neal’s voices complement each other so well in this performance, it’s sublime… and by the time it gets to that last refrain, it’s complete bliss.
“And everything’s changing so how I am to know how I’m going to hold on to you when I’m spinning out of control? You and I together, but only one of us in love…”
Album | Easy Tiger

12. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “The Sun Also Sets”, live on Nissan Sessions
Ryan’s gradual intensity in the successive refrains in this song continually blow me away. I never, repeat never, get tired of watching this clip. That, “Oh, be sure…” cry at 1:53? It’s absolutely criminal the crowd doesn’t go wild at that point.
“There it is, we are only one push from the nest. There it is, we are only one moment from death. The sun rises, but the sun also sets…”
Album | Easy Tiger

13. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “I Taught Myself How To Grow”, live on Letterman
Anyone who knows me knows this could quite possibly be my favourite Ryan Adams song (along with Wild Flowers), and this performance certainly doesn’t disappoint. Ryan at his heart-breaking-lyrics best.
“I taught myself how to grow, and now I’m crooked on the outside, and the inside’s broke”
Album | Easy Tiger

14. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Oh My God, Whatever, Etc”, live on BBC4 Sessions
All in performance. And I mean that in the sense that Ryan is performing in this song… not just singing, but with his entire body and flamboyant gestures. Neal’s guitar in this song is as trusty as a metronome too. If you aren’t singing along with the “Oh my God, whatever, etc…” line the second time you listen to this song, I’d be surprised.
“Strange lovers moan each others names on by-hour sheets for the very first time. One of them’s James, the other’s some name she changes every time she lies across his bed”
Album | Easy Tiger

15. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “How Do You Keep Love Alive”, live on BBC4 Sessions
And so we end with this, one of the most heartbreaking songs in the list. It seemed a good a time as any to stop. No explanation for this one. The song title says all you need to know about what you’re in for.
“What does it mean to be so sad? When someone you love, someone you love is supposed to make you happy… What do you do, how do you keep love alive?”
Album | Cold Roses

****

And there we have it. Bear in mind, I had to stop this list somewhere… there are many other great Ryan Adams videos out there on the interwebs, but I hope that at least something on this list caught your eye. And I hope, if you haven’t before, you look into some of Ryan’s music. You won’t regret it.

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Ryan Adams – A video “Best Of”…

Possibly related posts:

1. Chris “Spacewolf” Feinstein, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Bassist Dies
2. Another “Best Albums of the Decade” (2000 – 2009) List…

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 this band’s praises. “This band”, of course, being “The Middle East”. Here’s the video I shared on Facebook, should you have missed it…

Despite the name, The Middle East are actually a band from Townsville, in Queensland, and have been producing some fairly large waves in the local Aussie music scene. These waves seem to have been made in spite of – or perhaps, because of – a certain air of mystery that surrounds the group. There’s not much information available about the band (no official site, apart from a myspace page, and no interviews that I could find), past the obvious: they produce that ethereal, haunting sort of folk that I absolutely love.

Below, the band’s first track off their new EP, “The Recordings of the Middle East”, which came out here in Australia earlier this year, but is scheduled for an international release date later this month.

Listen. Love. Support.

Listen: The Middle East – The Darkest Side

The Middle East are going to be playing an all-ages gig in Brisbane this Thursday, the 8th October. Who’s in?

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The Middle East – The Darkest Side

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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 favourite music blogs) featured a fantastic video of the group performing their killer track, “White Blank Page”. The video is, quite frankly, sublime, and I’ll simply point you towards the Toad site to watch it there.

After that, I did a bit more digging myself, and found that the band has recently released the official video for their debut single, “Little Lion Man”… and I’ve fallen in love with it.

Both tracks appear on Mumford and Sons upcoming debut album, “Sigh No More”, which I believe drops tomorrow, coincidentally enough. I know what my next purchase will be…

Below, a “live on BBC1” version of them performing “White Blank Page”.

Can you lie next to her and give her your heart, your heart?
As well as your body, and can you lie next to her and confess your love, your love?
As well as your folly and can you kneel before the king and say ‘I’m clean’, ‘I’m clean’?
– Mumford and Sons, “White Blank Page”

Listen. Love. Support.

Mumford and Sons – White Blank Page (BBC Radio 1 Session)

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Mumford and Sons – “Little Lion Man” (Video) & live “White Blank Page”

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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 Jason Mraz’s twitter account (not actually run by Jason, but you know what I mean), I headed across to listen to some of Ben Howard’s tunes… and immediately spent 20 minutes clicking “play”, again and again.

Ben hails from Devon, in the United Kingdom, and considering his style of playing and musical influences (John Martyn, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Ray Lamontagne, Damien Rice, Jose Gonsalez, Bon Iver), I was surprised I hadn’t stumbled across his stuff before… as really, that sounds like a typical afternoon on my iPod.

Ben has that percussive style of guitar playing that’s seen in some of my favourite guitarists mentioned on here before, such as Andy McKee, Guy Buttery, Xavier Rudd and Kaki King. After a bit of surfing, I came across a video – which I’ve embedded below – of Ben playing a live set featuring the song, “Empty Corridors”, that is simply amazing…

Quite frankly, I’m putting Ben Howard on my “Surely Going To Make It” list. And that brings me to the real reason for this post: I’m sending you towards his myspace page to listen to the opening track there, entitled “The Wolves”. If “The Wolves” isn’t enough to convince you of this kid’s future, then I’m not sure what will. From that opening “Ooooh”, it’s sheer perfection.

Listen. Love. Support.

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So happy I just heard: Ben Howard

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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 Sunburnt came out in 1995, it was like it was the soundtrack of my youth. I was that perfect age, 13, when songs like “Weak” seemed like they were written just. for. me.

Skunk Anansie – Weak (from the Paranoid and Sunburnt album)

And then, when “Stoosh” (arguably my favourite record of theirs) came out in 1996, it was like I had found my musical saviour. Looking back on that album now, it is honestly one of the most complete albums I have ever come across. I can honestly say that each and every track on that album was freakin’ awesome. Seriously. I never had to skip a track on the old CD player (this was back in the days before MP3s, at least for me)

Skunk Anansie – Hedonism (from the Stoosh album)

Then, in 1999, Skunk Anansie released the criminally underrated “Post Orgasmic Chill”. Sure, it was no Stoosh, but Post Orgasmic Chill still offered some killer moments, most notably in the unforgettable “Tracy’s Flaw”.

Skunk Anansie – Tracey’s Flaw (live, originally from Post Orgasmic Chill album)

And then, it was all over. Skunk Anansie broke up, and vocalist Skin went on to forge a solo career, which had its ups and downs. But as much as I wanted to love it, Skin solo was no Skunk Anansie.

Fast forward a decade, and Skunk Anansie release the video for “Because of You”, which was a brilliant way for me to discover that – not only are they back together – but they’re releasing new material!

Skunk Anansie – Because of You Video

So of course I hopped right over to the Skunk Anansie site, and what do I see? This statement from Skin:

“REFORMATION REFORMATION REFORMATION!!

Christ do we hate it all.

Well, on our list of hated words it’s right up there with, recession, nigger, MP’s expenses, and George W. Bush.

The shit of it is, that’s exactly what we’ve done. There’s no denying it, lets not beat around the Gordon Brown, WE HAVE REFORMED, we split up, and now we have reformed our ways, fixed our shit, playing together for the first time in 9 years and to speak plain… loving it.

‘Reformed’ to us is a bastard of a word, it’s like reality TV, everyone copies it, disses it, then bleeds it dryer than a vulture chaff and it sells sells sells like a bag of old football whores, so what’s the difference with Skunk Anansie? Why the freckin’ Gallows should you take a flying Coldplay at us?

Well prick up those giant Obama ears cos we’ll tell you why! We have actually reformed in the true meaning of the word. We have broken down, been to evil places, eaten meat, watched Big Brother, bought Heat magazine, shagged a W.A.G., thought MJ was guilty but now have his CD’s on repeat, dulled bitter pain with Bitterer ale, reckoned Ms Katona’s husband ain’t so bad, voted Greenpeace, smoked coked-spiffs with Winehouse, hit the gutter, licked rock’s bottom, then rehabbed ourselves clean to shade brighter than a Katie Price veneer.

We then looked each other in the eye and been honest about what we did, what we didn’t do and what we want to do.

It made us closer, humble and thankful that our fans love us enough to let us move on to new challenges, cos let’s face it, the world we’ve come back to… it ain’t easy!

Why did we break up? Well… when we sat down together in a vain attempt to work it all out, we drank and talked, then drank and talked some more, then after that we drank, danced, shouted, drank, fell over, puked, drank, sobered up, only to realise after all that jaw ache and messiness, we broke up because we burnt out. Simples.

We are back together because we love each other and being in Skunk Anansie is what made us individually happy deep in our souls. When we are together we are complete and when we were apart we were floundering in the wilderness like a Catholic priest at a Girl Guide convention.

So get off your high horse and listen to the new tracks against the old.

Listen to the love, listen to the chemistry between us that makes it all worth it, listen to the heartfelt feeling, melody, lyrics and energy the new songs convey against the naivety, adrenaline and freedom of the old.

There’s a reason why they were Smashes, they were real, we meant it, we didn’t care about the outside world, we were just a bunch of kids in our dirty little Kings Cross hole with a pot full of passion, ignorantly doing our thing and the people connected and understood it.

So see this as a new beginning, this ain’t no rehash, we ain’t walking down memory lane in a Nirvana T-shirt, bloodshot eyes and heroin dribble whining about how uncool it is that the kids rip us off on this thing called the Internet.

There is no nostalgia in our cause for we have reclaimed our joy together, rediscovered our joint empathy, rekindled the kick arse music and re-lit the fire in our bellies for music that moves us.

We are once again complete, ready to trash the hell out of every song we play, ready to share the brutality of our tunes, why?… because we are Skunk Anansie, and that’s what we do.

Skin”

“We are once again complete, ready to trash the hell out of every song we play, ready to share the brutality of our tunes, why?… because we are Skunk Anansie, and that’s what we do.”? F*ck yeah Skunk. Show me what it’s like to feel again.

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Skunk Anansie are back… and I couldn’t be happier.

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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“.

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We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices (Video)

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