Archive for May, 2011
“Evening Chorus are a four-piece Cardiff-based folk band. With a sound based around four-part vocal harmonies and dramatic sing-along choruses.” Yawn. I can forgive them their uninspiring description however, as their music is far better written than their bio. It’s gentle, lilting folk that really benefits from the rounded sound of the double bass. 2011 could even be the year of the double bass. James Blake utilises it better than anyone (see Measurements) and I’m pretty sure The Living End are going to make a massive comeback this year so the evidence is pretty compelling.
Evening Chorus – ‘Decisions’
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Evening Chorus have been around since ’09 and have a full length coming out later in the year. Their single ‘No Wreath, No Crown’ is a free download on their bandcamp and decisions is a mere dollar or so. Get on it.
If I’d've known about this band a few months ago then I might have been able to download this EP for free but alas, it wasn’t to be. Instead I’ll have to wait for it to be [re]released on the 21st of June. I’d jam this thing at a party without a second thought. Again, we’re seeing the aftermath of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion still lingering on but on top of that I can hear, dare I say it, similarities to Jinja Safari. I guess if someone asked me to identify the main difference between Painted Palms and Jinja Safari (which they haven’t, but I’ll answer anyway) I’d say that Painted Palms weren’t talentless hacks. On top of that, Painted Palms consider minor things such as structure and layering in their songwriting instead of just vomiting out track after repetitive track. In conclusion, Jinja Safari are the worst band in Australia.
Hey everyone, just checking in to make sure you’re having a good day. Hopefully this helps; It’s a free download of Ivan & Alyosha’s (remember this?) EP, available for a week. I haven’t listened to it yet so I can’t attest to it’s quality but I really enjoyed Glorify. If it turns out to be rubbish and you hate it then I’m really sorry. I’m just trying to help. If it also turns out that I’ve misused the semi-colon a few sentences back then I’m equally sorry.
I haven’t tried to disguise how I feel about the modern singer songwriter. I don’t hate the Joshua Radins, the Ingrid Michaelsons and the William Fitzsimmons’s's…’s that produce those saccharine, emotional, Scrubs soundtrack overtures which makes women weak at the knees. It’s hard to hate them, at least from a purely aesthetic standpoint, but by the same token it’s hard to love them with so little to grab hold of. Here and now though, we’ve come to a place where the winning voice of the singer-songwriter is being combined with something more interesting than an acoustic guitar.
James Blake – ‘Measurements’
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James Blake – ‘A Case of You’ (Joni Mitchell cover)
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The genrebending James Blake has a whole swathe of largely electronic EPs out that you’ll appreciate if you’re into diffused dubstep but what I really want to draw your attention to is his self titled full length. Wikipedia tells me it came out in February but I’m all but positive it came out earlier. Perhaps it was just prerelease bloghype I was seeing. Whatever the case, it’s a record you need to own. I mean it. Get on itunes and buy this record before your dad realises that you’ve still got his credit card hooked up to that thing.
I won’t attempt to talk too specifically about the record because Blake is one of those artists whose fanbase is so aggressively possessive that any attempts to label, classify or describe his music is met with venom. Read some of the comments left on his youtube videos and you’ll feel me.
Artists you need to know rn
| 1. 1300 |  |
316 |
| 2. Voidhood | |
259 | 3. jamesjamesjames | |
186 | 4. Zan | |
174 |
| 5. Sesame Girl | |
147 |
