Lucy Rose

February 28, 2010

Last year was as much a good year for support-act discovery as it was for fantastic live music in general. Alessi’s Ark, The Joy Formidable, Sam Amidon – all unexpected, all intentially re-visited live.

First seen at The Lexington supporting Pete & the Pirates, Lucy Rose is an unsigned singer-songwriter from London who’s been doing the rounds in the small-but-celebrated gig venues (The Lexington, Old Queen’s Head, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen and, coming up The Luminaire, The Lock Tavern and Upstairs @ Ronnie Scott’s).

She has that Kate Nash London pronunciation but with a softness and an emotional crack to the tone that evokes a genuine connection as opposed to disconnected appreciation.

There’s no description up on her Last.fm page at the moment and no downloadabe or streamable mp3s that I could find in the public domain (other than the MySpace), but I’d highly recommend catching her live, especially with the band behind her.

My favourite so far is the live demo of Don‘t You Worry – for some reason it really feels like an Emily-Katie Fitch moment…

Again, no picture as no album cover.

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Lou Rhodes – One Good Thing

December 2, 2009

It’s been a long time since I went to see a gig with no prior expectations. I knew Lou Rhodes, of Lamb, was excellent at dark, trippy, tormented but I hadn’t really heard much of her solo work aside from the odd track here or there when I had a second in the run up to last night’s show at Bush Hall.

Her voice has such a beautiful, soft, texture and her demeanour is unassuming but captivating. Every song was pure and simple – acoustic guitar with accompaniment from cello, glockenspiel (?) and double bass (John Thorne) – and it wasn’t just a plug & play show, you could really feel what each track meant to her, personally.

I love it when that happens!

I wanted to post her new single up here but can’t find it so here’s an alternative:

Lou Rhodes – Beloved One

Lou Rhodes - Beloved One

At one point towards the end of the set, she said something along the lines of “Every show is about the crowd – sometimes you feel a connection with them and sometimes you just don’t. You’re one of the former” (paraphrasing here, but that was the gist of it)…and then went on to talk about her facebook page and that we should all go there every day and post our “one good thing” for the day to help remind us of the good things that happen in life when things aren’t going so well.

Clearly Lou marketing her forthcoming album – coincidentally titled “One Good Thing” – but it did make me think.

I know I’m guilty, when things aren’t going exactly how I’d like them to (or even sometimes when they’re going really well!), of focussing on what I’m unhappy about or what’s getting me down and forgetting the little things that happen every day to bring a smile to my face. Having some way to help me remember, even spending a few minutes each day thinking about it, sounds like a good thing…

So I’m going to try to tweet one every day with the additional bonuses being that a) I can do it by text from my phone and b) something that made me smile might have a similar effect on someone else.

From yesterday, it’s making snowflake stencils to decorate the office windows for our party. Simple things.

If anyone’s interested, or even wants to join in, I’ll tag them #onegoodthing.

Some free marketing for Lou Rhodes’ new album, One Good Thing, to be released on The Cinematic Orchestra‘s new label Motion Audio and distributed by Ninja Tune in March 2010…

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Andreya Triana – Daydreamers

September 15, 2009

A recent signing to Ninja Tune Records, I first came across Andreya Triana when I was helping to promote a live music showcase run by the company I work for, Five Missions More, in April this year. I had somehow since managed to forget what a phenomenal talent she is…but worry not, I remember now.

With the ability to silence the chatterings of a crowded bar, to command the undivided attention of her audience and to convey perfectly a complimentary power and vulnerability in one breath, Andreya’s music is raw soul personified.

Andreya Triana – Daydreamers (reverbnation player Track 1)

Andreya Triana

Andreya Triana

As yet unreleased, this is the song that stood out for me in an otherwise also jaw-dropping performance at Vibe Bar, where she played barefoot with a single acoustic guitar accomplice as part of a line-up that also introduced me to the music of recent Mercury Music Prize-winner Speech Debelle.

I’m excited to hear what her debut album brings, particularly as it’s also going to feature the skills of “superproducer supremo extraordinaire Bonobo” and some “song writes courtesy of the singer/songwriter with the crazy skills and talents Fink”. It’s dropping later this year.

In the meantime, check out her MySpace and an exclusive live show recorded for Red Bull Music Academy at Cargo, London.

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The Paper Hats – Waltz of Circassian Beauties

August 21, 2009

Two posts from me today. The first is a find resulting from some gig recommendations from Charlotte LV (thank you Charlotte!).

I’ve fallen in love with instrumental guitar music lately. First Truckers of Husk, then Rick Tomlinson and the associated Otis Taylor and now this:

The Paper Hats – Waltz of Circassian Beauties

The Paper Hats - Deseret Canyon

The Paper Hats - Deseret Canyon

It has such a pensive feel to it – a luscious green mountain pasture at sunrise. But not here – perhaps in Italy, or Spain…or…Mexico. It’s such a simple piece but also dynamic, and I particularly love the section from about 1min 50 where it takes a melancholy and erratic turn for about 40-50s (repeated later on).

The beauty of an instrumental, for me, is the potential for interpretation, for turning it into what it means for you personally, rather than relying on the writer’s expression.

This particular track is on ‘Deseret Canyon’, released in August 2008 but I was only able to find it as an mp3 download on Amazon.

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Florence and the Machine – Postcards from Italy (Beirut Cover)

June 7, 2009
Florence + the Machine

Florence + the Machine

It’s somewhat inevitable that cover versions tend to pale in comparison to the original outcome of creative genius, although there are a few exceptions, but Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine does a pretty good job of maintaining the vulnerable purity of the Beirut’s ‘Postcards from Italy’ whilst injecting her own distinctive and powerful vocal style…no sugary-femme high notes here.

Florence and the Machine – Postcards from Italy

There are a few other tracks on the last.fm and MySpace pages as well.

Here’s the original for comparison – in case you haven’t heard it, another one I’ve been playing on repeat in recent times.

Beirut – Postcards from Italy

(This is the one that’s on spotify, not the Florence cover)

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Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s – A Children’s Crusade on Acid

May 30, 2009
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

Not sure I entirely agree with their MySpace profile headline…in fact, I know I don’t (“get ****ed. get drunk. shoot up. have fun.”) – but the band were a recommendation from our mate Thom Lyons and, of the tracks up there, this one is my favourite:

Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s – A Children’s Crusade on Acid

It’s from their 2008 releases “Animal!” and “Not Animal”, the dual release being the result of artistic differences with their label, and has a quiet sadness to it that I almost missed until I listened to the lyrics. There’s a lot of audio from their other albums available on their last.fm page but, oddly, not this one.

Also….there’s no Margot!

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Sam Amidon – Saro

May 27, 2009

I’m not used to this going-to-gigs-to-see-a-specific-band-and-really-liking-the-support-act malarkey but I’m most definitely not complaining. It’s happened a few times recently – Alessi’s Ark ahead of Magic Magic, the Joy Formidable before Silversun Pickups – and yesterday it happened again.

Sam Amidon was a last-minute addition to the Monto line-up last night, where I had gone to see Anathallo (mind-blowingly intense performance, especially the Sigur Rós-like encore). I missed the first part of his set and entered the gig part of the venue to find him addressing the floors, walls and light-fixtures, thanking them for listening.

Sam Amidon

Sam Amidon

It sounds strange, but there was reason behind his apparent insanity – the poor guy was the opener for the night and was initially playing for an empty room until people realised the show had started and began to trickle in.

Putting this eccentricity aside for the moment, his performance was unexpectedly excellent.

Sam Amidon – Saro (youtube)

The video for this track is perfectly reflective of his authentic folk sound, and the images of the old American prairie evoked by his music – he played this particular song sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage with an acoustic guitar.

More tracks up on his MySpace…I think it’s the floors, walls and light-fixtures who should be thanking him for gracing their “ears” with his music…

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