Soeveryone’sstilltalkingaboutTheDamnwells‘ 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.
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.
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 liveshows.
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.
Bugger. You know, I go offline for a few days, and I miss out on all the cool emails. A few days ago, Tim from the All-Leo Digital Agency (who have a super cool website, by the way) emailed me to let me know that one of their acts, One EskimO, would be performing a live gig at ‘The Big Night’ at Proud Camden, 7pm on Tuesday 10th February, and would I like two free tickets to give away to the readers of Burgo’s Music Blog?
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?
Get ready. Spread the word. It’s going to be awesome.
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Side note: even though it says that I was the author of that announcement on thedamnwells.com post, it was actually Alex who posted that himself, with no help from me. He’s picking up WordPress really quickly, from a standing start. So go comment over there and make him all proud and shit.