From New Wave to the 'NOW', experience the thrill of NEW WAVE from it's beginnings in the late '70s to the modern bands so obviously influenced by it! So, if you grew up in the '80s and still enjoy discovering new sounds as well as rediscovering old favorites, then read on!
PUNK! POWER POP! SYNTH POP! NEW WAVE! POST-PUNK!
2011 sophomore album from the British Alt-Rock outfit. Produced by Alan Moulder, Ritual is the perfect epic and roaring follow up taking us on a sonic journey through dancefloor beats meets raging guitars and everything in between, fused together perfectly, and all at an incredibly melodic breakneck speed. Ritual teems with distorted anthems for the modern age. British critics have given White Lies accolades as successors to the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Depeche Mode, The Psychedelic Furs and Magazine and have called lyricist Charles Cave a 'classic doom-rock dreamweaver, Nick Cave meeting Edgar Allen Poe'.
CHRISTMAS is almost here! My elves are busy building toys, reading your e-mails and keeping busy. A few of them spend far too much time on Facebook these days, but we're still on schedule so I won't complain.
Have you written out your Christmas wish list yet? No? Well, you better get busy. There's only a little time left before I load my sleigh up with gifts and make my journey around the world on Christmas night!
If you are having a hard time deciding what you want, may I suggest this?
When I first heard this album, I was in the midst of my Hawaiian vacation. It was a few months after Christmas of 2009 and I was enjoying some much needed 'relax' time on the big island. I was so blown away that I had to rush out and buy one for the missus. I could have shared my copy, yes, but it is such a lovely album that I felt she needed a copy to have and to hold... You see, Love Will Find You is not a typical Findlay Brown album, stylistically. With producer Bernard Butler (Duffy, Suede, The Tears, McAlmont & Butler) twiddling the knobs, Findlay has stepped back in time and created an album that retains his melodic songwriting skills yet takes his music into an era that existed even before he was born. The best way to describe Love Will Find You is this: imagine Roy Orbison and The Everley Brothers flying over to the UK in the mid-'60s and recording an album in the midst of the Merseybeat boom. Add some gorgeous melodies, lush strings, big Spector-like production and a whole lot of love and you've got Love Will Find You. Mrs. Claus LOVED it, by the way.
I must get going now. Mrs. Claus needs some help in eating those delicicious double-fudge brownies and I don't want to miss out! They are fresh out of the oven, you know! Yum Yum!
Following up on their 2007 release, Time On Earth – their first studio recording in fourteen years – New Zealand dream-pop auteurs Crowded House deliver Intriguer, scheduled for release on July 13th, 2010, on Fantasy Records, a division of Concord Music Group. The internationally acclaimed group begins a nationwide tour of the U.S. and Canada in support of the new album on Monday, July 12th. Also available that day will be the 2-disc Intriguer Deluxe Edition, featuring a special bonus live DVD.
Produced by Jim Scott (Wilco), Intriguer once again brings together singer/guitarist and chief songwriter Neil Finn with original Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour and keyboardist/guitarist Mark Hart, who’d been with the band from 1989 until its last days. Also on board is drummer Mark Sherrod, the relative newcomer to the family, having joined the band for the making of the aforementioned Time On Earth. Recorded at Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand, in the spring and summer of 2009, the album includes songs that “have been worked over on the road and transformed a few times, some all the way back to square one,” says Finn. “It’s a good place to return to from time to time.”
Intriguer opens with “Saturday Sun,” a track whose straightforward backbeat calls to mind the best elements of ‘60s pop. The follow-up track, “Archer’s Arrows,” takes a more ominous turn with the help of some carefully layered vocals and the violin work of Lisa Germano (who later reappears on the pensive “Even If”).
“Falling Dove” is both melancholy and defiant, while “Isolation” derives its dreamlike sensibility from a heavy dose of guitar tremolo and the dreamlike vocals of Finn’s wife, Sharon Dawn Johnson. Both of these tracks, positioned back-to-back in the sequence, benefit from the psychedelic guitar work of Liam Finn, Neil’s son and longtime collaborator in the studio and onstage.
“Twice If You’re Lucky” is a prime example of the aforementioned evolutionary process that left its mark on most of the songs on Intriguer. “We played an alternative version, more complex and mysterious on tour, then deconstructed back to the original, simple form in the last week of recording,” Finn explains. “I am inclined to circle songs, looking for any bit of advantage I can find – a verse, a chord or a word to change.”
“Elephants” is the wistful closer, driven by lush piano harmonies that seek to linger a while and take in the fleeting moment before the story comes to close.
“Intriguer is exotic in parts, traditional in origin,” says Finn. “Through many a twist and turn we fashioned some drama and intrigue. You will find some threads that go back through all that history and some new discoveries as well that will need to be followed up. Its part of the continuum and it may just be the best thing we’ve done…until the next one.”
2007’s Time On Earth, turned the band on to what Finn calls “the scent of something new.” Thankfully, for the rest of us, Intriguer proves the Crowded House story in many ways, is just beginning.
Don’t miss Crowded House on tour!
Mon Jul 12 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
Tue Jul 13 Montreal, QC Metropolis
Thu Jul 15 Ottawa, ON Lebreton Flats Park
Fri Jul 16 Buffalo, NY Erie Canal Harbor
Sat Jul 17 Boston, MA House of Blues
Mon Jul 19 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Tue Jul 20 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Wed Jul 21 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Fri Jul 23 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre
Sat Jul 24 Atlantic City, NJ House of Blues
Mon Jul 26 Vienna, VA Wolftrap
Wed Jul 28 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Thu Jul 29 Miami, FL Fillmore Miami Beach
Fri Jul 30 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
Sun Aug 1 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Mon Aug 2 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Wed Aug 4 Austin, TX Stubb’s Walker Creek
Thu Aug 5 Dallas, TX House of Blues
Fri Aug 20 Los Angeles, CA Club Nokia
Sun Aug 22 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay
Mon Aug 23 San Francisco, CA Warfield
Tue Aug 24 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery
Thu Aug 26 Troutdale, OR Edgefield Amphitheater
Sat Aug 28 Seattle, WA Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
Sun Aug 29 Vancouver, BC Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Mon Aug 30 Victoria, BC Royal Theatre
Wed Sep 1 Edmonton, AB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
Thu Sep 2 Calgary, AB Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
While I was well aware of British singer/songwriter Findlay Brown's previous work, his album's never crossed my desk, so I was oblivious to his music apart from the YouTube videos I would stumble across and enjoy. His songwriting was certainly above par, but there are so many less-than-average singer/songwriters polluting the airwaves that it's hard to weed them out. That's a real shame, to be honest. Especially since Findlay is so obviously talented.
Well, when Love Will Find You landed on my desk recently, I was happy to finally experience one of his albums and formulate an honest to goodness opinion.
Holy crap, I was NOT expecting to hear an album that would blow me away so completely, both musically and emotionally. Love Will Find You is one hell of an album that must be owned by as many human beings as possible. I don't get paid by the labels for writing these reviews: they are a labor of love. And this album is one of the few albums that I've heard in recent times that will appeal to so many music fans, young and old.
You see, Love Will Find You is not a typical Findlay Brown album, stylistically. With producer Bernard Butler (Duffy, Suede, The Tears, McAlmont & Butler) twiddling the knobs, Findlay has stepped back in time and created an album that retains his melodic songwriting skills yet takes his music into an era that existed even before he was born.
The best way to describe Love Will Find You is this: imagine Roy Orbison and The Everley Brothers flying over to the UK in the mid-'60s and recording an album in the midst of the Merseybeat boom. Add some gorgeous melodies, lush strings, big Spector-like production and a whole lot of love and you've got Love Will Find You.
While Findlay doesn't possess a soaring set of pipes like Orbison, he is still a force to be reckoned with. The album may be an aural homage to a more innocent time when music was created to 'touch' the listener, Findlay's songwriting and vocals reveal an artist much more sophisticated than his previous albums let on.
Love Will Find You is not just an album to listen to: it is an album to feel, to experience, to love and to cherish. There are moments here that are joyful and life-affirming including "Love Will Find You, "Nobody Cared" and the gorgeous "Everybody Needs Love". When an album is this good, it's really hard to pick a highlight. The whole damn thing is lovely.
So, do yourself a favor: find someone you love deeply and unconditionally and give them a copy. Don't be a fool and burn them a copy. Don't illegally download it. Buy the damn thing and give it to them like you would flowers, chocolates or a kiss. This is a musical love letter that will reach down and touch that special someone like no other album before.
Love Will Find You is a must-own, my friends. Listen to it, cry to it, long for it and hold it close to your heart. Your life will be much better for it.
U.S. pressing includes three bonus tracks! Debut release from the Paris-based Englishman. Un melds the musical attributes of Paul's Boutique, Hatful Of Hollow and Supa Dupa Fly with a lost 80's sci-fi soundtrack and is nothing short of brilliant. Tantalizing and stimulating eardrums, Dan Black has been hailed as Pop's bright new hope by everyone from Zane Lowe to Perez Hilton and was a regular feature in the 2009 One To Watch polls. Now Black has updated and fleshed out his blogospherically massive Notorious BIG tribute 'Hypntz' into the fully fledged Space Pop anthem 'Symphonies'. Fusing the ubiquitous beat from Rihanna's 'Umbrella' with heavily chopped-up samples from the film soundtrack of John Carpenter's Starman, this is a perfect, effortlessly joyous marriage of laptop hip hop with tip top Hip Pop.
“Symphonies” is breaking at Alternative #28 on KROQ Los Angeles, CA, XTRA San Diego,CA, KITS San Francisco, CA, WEQX Albany, NY, WZBD Spokane, WA
NEW ADDS: WWCD Columbus, OH, WARQ Columbia, SC
“Symphonies” remix featuring Kid Cudi
LA and SF tour this month, Playing Day 1 of Ultra Music Festival In Miami, FL on March 26th
My love for the music of ELVIS PRESLEY is legendary around these parts. He remains, after all these years, my favorite vocalist of all time. With that being said, it may surprise a few folks when I say that I believe BUDDY HOLLY may have had a bigger impact on my musical tastes than the King did! Some seem to think I named my daughter Holly in honor of the Christmas season.... Let's put it this way: it was a lot better than naming her Buddy!
When you look back at the body or work that Rock 'N' Roll icons have left behind, from Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis to Elvis and Chuck Berry, you'll find that much of what they recorded were variations on Rhythm & Blues and Hillbilly music (the two main ingredients of the golden era of Rock) but Buddy was different. Yes, he cut his share of R&B and Hillbilly sides, but when you listen to tracks like "Peggy Sue", "That'll Be The Day", "Maybe Baby", "Everyday" and "Words Of Love", you'll hear a melodic element in his music that is haunting, original and, as it turns out, very influential. It's as if he channeled music from a different dimension.
Nobody was like Buddy Holly in the '50s. Even when the Everly Brothers came along, they touched on that melodic element that Buddy perfected, but tossed out the R&B elements, making them unique and mesmerizing, but certainly not as versatile.
Buddy's ability to write his own tunes directly inspired The Beatles. You can hear his influence on all their early albums from Please Please Me up through Rubber Soul, whether it's a chord change or John & Paul's harmonies. The fab four even did an excellent cover of "Words Of Love", one of Holly's finest moments. It goes without saying that, without Buddy's influence, The Beatles would have been a very different band.
In turn, every band that The Beatles inspired has kept the Buddy Holly influence flowing, from generation to generation. The entire Power Pop movement of the late '70s is heavily indebted to Buddy, as is every form of Power Pop that has cropped up in the three decades since. Over a decade ago, in the pages of POPsided (a fab fanzine), I stated that Buddy Holly was the first real Power Pop artist and I still stand by that statement today!
Over the years, there have been dozens upon dozens of import Buddy Holly collections that have done him proud, but, apart from the two CD Buddy Holly Collection, the American market has largely ignored his back catalog save for the occasional budget compilation. Until now, that is....
While legal issues have made the box set an impossible task, Decca/Universal have released two excellent collections to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Buddy's death: Memorial Collection(3CDs) and Down The Line: Rarities(2CDs). Although there is some overlap, both are essential purchases for any Buddy fanatic of music fan in general.
If you just want the absolute cream of the pop crop, then go for Memorial Collection, which features 60 fantastic tracks beginning with his days as part of the duo Buddy & Bob and ending with undubbed demos he recorded in his apartment in the months prior to his death. Every single track here is worth your while. NOTE FOR COLLECTORS: While his final studio sessions were recorded in stereo, the versions of "True Love Ways", 'Raining In My Heart" and "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" are the mono mixes.
Down The Line: Raritiesis a double disc collection of rare tracks, alternate versions, out-takes and even more of those final apartment demos. If you've never heard these demos, they are both amazing and haunting. Buddy knew a thing or two about recording and these are just as crystal clear as his studio tracks, but are also warm and atmospheric... and a bit emotional, too. These are demos of songs he was writing at the time, preparing for the next phase of his career, which would sadly never come. Again, an excellent collection should appeal to more than just the true Holly aficionados.
And what is truly amazing is that every note contained on these two collections was recorded within a span of five years, from his early recordings with Bob Montgomery, right up until the month before he died. That is roughly the same amount of time that most bands today spend making one album (raise your hand, Billie Joe!).
And Buddy did it all by the time he was 23. I don't even think I was out of diapers by then!
