It's a wonderful life, this life of music
From the category archives:
Yes, you read that right. Malcolm Middleton is easily my favourite Scotsman, and that’s saying something. While still predominantly known for his work with the – albeit, brilliant – Arab Strap, his solo output since leaving that outfit has been, in my opinion, nothing short of consistent excellence.
Malcolm Middleton has just released his new [...]
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Wow. It’s been a busy few days, which means that I haven’t been able to get onto the blog much lately, so I apologise for not replying to comments here and there. Unfortunately it’s going to be just as busy a week this week, with another trip down to Sydney in the works. This time [...]
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Time for another Live Music Friday! Following on from our Alex & Angela Dezen post here, and The National Black Sessions post here, today we’ll be following up with a Bob Schneider show from 2002.
Bob Schneider, live at Antones, 2002
Bob Schneider… always an electrifying live show…
Bob Schneider is, quite possibly, one of my favourite singer-songwriters [...]
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Coldplay have just released their new single, Violet Hill as a free download
This is a very short post… more a heads up really… but if there are any Coldplay fans amongst my readers, the band yesterday released their new single, “Violet Hill”, from their upcoming album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His [...]
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Romantica
Knowing my passion for Ryan Adams, a post featuring these guys shouldn’t come as a surprise. After Romantica’s “America” album was featured on Paste Magazine’s “Top 100 Albums of 2007″, comparisons began popping up between Romantica’s singer/songwriter Ben Kyle, and both Ryan Adams and Jeff Tweedy just about everywhere… heady company indeed.
When I first heard [...]
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Billy Bragg recently performed a live set on PRI’s “Fair Game”
Billy Bragg, the “working class hero”, recently performed a set on one of my favourite shows, PRI’s “Fair Game“. And it was stunning.
I truly feel that Bragg has been responsible for some of the best protest songs that we’ve heard in the last 30 years… [...]
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Wow. That week went fast. I can’t believe it’s time for another Live Music Friday. Following on from our Alex & Angela Dezen/Damnwells post here, I thought that today we’d feature a show from The National.
The National Black Sessions
The National (image credit: David Greenwald)
Aah, those Frenchmen. I swear, whether it’s my favourite La Blogotheque videos [...]
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Chris Bathgate (image credit: Quite Scientific)
A product of the Ann Arbor folk-scene, Chris Bathgate is enjoying some serious spins on my playlist lately; which really isn’t all that surprising, when you consider that Chris counts Will Oldham and Jeff Tweedy amongst his many admirers… after all, two of my favourite artists can’t be wrong.
Last [...]
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Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a large collection of live shows of my favourite artists… thank god for all those tapers out there who share their wealth with those of us who can’t make it to the show! When I was living in South Africa, those tapers pretty much managed to get through the [...]
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After almost a week off from the blogosphere, there are a few songs that I haven’t told you about… so we’ll just jump right in…
Matthew Ryan – American Dirt & Gone For Good
Matthew Ryan… don’t call it a comeback!
Matthew Ryan has – for the most part – flown under the mainstream radar, even though he’s [...]
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I’m off to Sydney for the rest of the week, and probably won’t manage to post until next week. I know, I’ll miss you too.
But to help stave off withdrawal symptoms, here’s a short – extremely short – but sweet tune trio.
Brett Young
Brett Young has just released his self-titled EP
Unbelievably, Brett Young is still, as [...]
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Shannon Hoon with Blind Melon at Woodstock ‘94.
After a 12 year hiatus following Shannon’s death, Blind Melon are back.
Blind Melon, possibly one of the most influential bands in my life, are back, and releasing a new album at the end of this month. And I’m not sure how I’m feeling about this…
Shannon Hoon, the original [...]
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Ryan Adams has left us a parting gift. Unfortunately, I think this signals the end of his blog.
But he’s left us a parting gift.
And it’s a beautiful thing.
The guy makes me ache.
Goodbye Ryan.
Goodbye Wilson.
Goodbye Barnabus, and Foggy. (if you’ve been reading his blog, you’ll know what that’s about).
It was great meeting you all.
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It’s been a while since a Friday Roundup, so why not?
The Dodos – Ashley
The Dodos have just released new track, “Ashley”
Aah, The Dodos. They look set to become a feature in the Friday Round-up, after appearing in our last round-up here. Yesterday, The Dodos released their new single from the – quite frankly, brilliant – [...]
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The War On Drugs has just released their EP, “Barrel of Batteries”
The consistently great Secretly Canadian label has just released a 5 track EP by the – unbelievably still little-known – band The War On Drugs, entitled “Barrel of Batteries“.
And it’s frikkin’ great.
Secretly Canadian have this habit of signing your new favourite band. And The [...]
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So quite often, people will email me about an artist that I “absolutely need to hear”. Some are… well, ok. Some are good. Some are great. And some are special. And if it wasn’t for the fans emailing me, I might have missed out and never heard these tunes.
So that’s the reason why I’m [...]
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Ryan Adams is a maniac. The output on his blog (mentioned back here… so if you haven’t yet subscribed to his RSS feed, I don’t want to talk to you anymore) is ridiculously fast-flowing. Given the prolific nature of Ryan, this shouldn’t come as a surprise… after all, this is the guy who has, in [...]
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Pennywise’s new album, “Reason To Believe”, is out now on Myspace.
Although you probably wouldn’t know it much reading through the posts on this blog, I used to be into punk. And I mean big into punk. For a few years there, it was all I cared about. Nowadays, only certain punk bands have made it [...]
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… is out. And damn, it’s hot.
The Raconteurs new album, “Consolers of the Lonely” is out now.
As much as I hate bowing to the Websheriff, after reading of the heckling that’s going on regarding this release here, here and here, I think it might be easier not to post a song.
But, if you can get [...]
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So after a few days off down the coast, I know this entry is popping up late; but on Sunday evening, I accomplished one more of my “band goals”, with a night at the Tivoli. This entry is being composed on the long train back to Brisbane… so excuse some grammatical errors, which I have [...]
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So last night, I went to another show.
If I was to give you clues as to the show, I would probably say:
1) The performer absolutely wails on guitar.
2) The performer has probably the most pure voice you’ll ever hear. Able to leap and soar in ways uncommon in contemporary music.
3) The performer has some [...]
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This will be quite a quickie, but I’ve just seen that the latest Sun Kil Moon album, “April“, is now streaming over at Myspace, for the next two days only.
Sun Kil Moon – Mark Kozelek
If you haven’t heard any tracks off the forthcoming “April” album, head over that way and take a listen. Sun Kil [...]
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I’ll admit it. I haven’t been a fan of Yeasayer at all. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely talent there; intelligent lyrics, great harmonies… I’m not denying that’s there. But, listening to their recorded material, it’s just always been too much for me. Those were my exact words: “Too much”.
So it was great to see [...]
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As mentioned yesterday, on Sunday I headed across to the Brisbane Riverstage, for an evening with Jack Johnson, Matt Costa, and Will Conner. And – despite my longtime love affair with Jack Johnson, and my (extremely) tenuous connection with him via my friend Farryl Purkiss (Farryl and Jack once composed a song together, a fact [...]
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There’s a new Bon Iver video out, and it’s story is – quite frankly – inspiring. First, I think I should note that my love for all things Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) related is no secret. The guy’s voice, phrasing, and touching lyrics were some of the best that I heard in 2007. So [...]
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Remember that old post I wrote, about other bands hopping onto the “free download” bandwagon? Well, for the second time in as many days (check out the first regarding the Nine Inch Nails, “Ghosts”, here), I’m linking to it again. Why? Because The Charlatans have come through on their word, releasing their entire new album, [...]
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Nine Inch Nails have just released Ghosts I-IV
I’m not sure how I didn’t catch whiff of this earlier, but Trent Reznor has done it again. Despite poor results from his “pay what you want for it” release with Saul Williams (“The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of NiggyTardust“, which was available for download last year), Trent [...]
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It’s been a long, long week. Sometimes things just don’t seem to go your way, you know?
But today is Sunday, and tomorrow’s a clean slate. So, things are looking up already, aren’t they? And with that tone of optimism, let’s jump straight into another tune trio.
The Heavenly States – The Race
The Heavenly States
The Heavenly [...]
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A friend recently alerted me to the fact that a new Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s track is floating around the wide wide world of the internets, and it is with much pleasure that I present it below.
Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s
Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s are a band [...]
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The Magnetic Fields (with Stephin Merritt – middle)
For close on twenty years now, Stephin Merritt has been recording what can only be described as pop masterpieces under the name “Magnetic Fields”. Stephen’s songs have a way of crawling inside you, and then filling you with raw emotion until you explode. Cliched that may be, but [...]
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Julian Velard
You know, I came across Julian Velard very late in the game; in fact, it was only through a passing comment a few months ago by Alex Dezen of The Damnwells that I learned of his name. Of course, anyone who knows of my love for all things Damnwells-related wouldn’t be surprised to know [...]
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Last year was a great year for live shows. After seeing (just to mention a few) Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Frames, Jeremy Fisher, Xavier Rudd, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Beautiful Girls and State Radio live, I was looking forward to another great year in 2008.
So it was with [...]
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So if you’ve read my past post, “30 South African bands you SHOULD hear”, you would know my extreme love for the band, Perez. If you haven’t read it though (and can’t be bothered to click through to that link), here’s a short recap:
Perez were, without question, my favourite South African band of all [...]
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Just a quickie post today; but thought I would delight you all with another offering from The National.
Despite the constant blogosphere hype about this group (which seems to have been going on for years now) that plagues them, The National continues to deliver on their initial promise.
The National performed “Slow Show” live on “Fair [...]
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Firstly, apologies for the lack of regular posting this week. I had my head buried in spreadsheets for most of it, and conferences took up the remainder. That said, the week is drawing to an end, and reports have been filed, so last night was a celebration.
Today? Today is the morning after.
So what am I [...]
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Back in the day, I used to be a pretty big Alexisonfire fan. In fact, when I’m feeling like a bit of anger is called for, I still am. So it was with interest that I awaited the sophomore release from Alexisonfire’s guitarist, Dallas Green, under his acoustic side project called “City and Colour“.
And [...]
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Thank god for WXPN – as usual they’ve brought the goods with NPR’s latest World Cafe show, featuring Counting Crows live, previewing eight (yes, I said eight) songs from their forthcoming album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings.
(Counting Crows previewed Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings on WXPN World Cafe)
We’ve already previewed some of the new [...]
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I’m off down the coast for the weekend, with a lot of things to be sorted out before leaving; so this Friday’s post will be a round-up post. Lazy? Perhaps. Awesome tunes? Definitely.
Here’s a round-up of what’s been heating up our speakers this week:
Patrick Park – Here We Are
Rapidly becoming a firm favourite [...]
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So the music blogosphere is abuzz with the latest sad news: The Format, indie-pop darlings, have called it quits. A post made on their myspace blog reads:
“We have just put out word that we will not be making a new Format album. Please understand this was a tough decision and we’re both upset about [...]
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As promised, here is the video clip of Cat Power performing “Silver Stallion” live on “Later… with Jools Holland”:
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As promised, Radiohead’s performance of “House of Cards” live on “Later… With Jools Holland”:
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One of my favourite music shows, “Later… with Jools Holland“, has just reached a milestone this month, broadcasting it’s 200th episode.
Times Online has a great article about the night in question, and also a bit of background information on the show:
The cake has been sitting all day in the middle of Studio 1 at BBC [...]
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The Damnwells (2006) Photo by Heather Conley
Those who have read this blog for a while might have noticed subtle hints of my slight obsession with the band, “The Damnwells“. And when lead singer Alex Dezen dropped a new song on their myspace page, it became clear to me that yet another post was needed. But [...]
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(Aside: 3 posts in 1 day? I know, it’s a regular explosion over here!)
Ah. Scott Adams. The dude is simply amazing.
For those out of the loop, Scott Adams is the creator of the famous “Dilbert” cartoon strips. But unless you subscribe to his blog, you probably aren’t aware of just how damn hip [...]
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So, following on from yesterday’s post, there are two more quasi-hip-hop songs that I think you should hear. And the first of those is this one:
Nina Gordon – Straight Outta Compton (NWA cover)
Nina Gordon may still be most well known for her days with Veruca Salt, but since leaving the band in the 90s, she’s [...]
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This may spawn a week of quasi-hip-hop cover posts; I’m not too sure yet. But ever since I heard this cover by Obadiah Parker of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” last month, it’s been playing on a pretty much non-stop repeat.
The cover has become something of a Youtube phenomenon, with lead singer Matt Weddle’s free voice [...]
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Post-A-Day Week: It’s not often over a weekend that I’ll be sent enough songs to make up a week of posts. So, this week, I’ve decided to put up a post a day, as opposed to lumping them all into one confusing mess, as I am wont to do.
If you prefer the big mass posts, [...]
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