Can I find an embeddable version of the single of this anywhere online? Can I shite... Anyway, two reasons for this - one, because my lovely wife is having some really weird cravings, so it makes me laugh. two, because it is - with no apology - one of my favourite songs ever written, and the production on the original is about as close to perfect as I've ever heard on a pop song. Hence the desire for that. However, this live version is still pretty awesome. And is dedicated in this instance to my lovely wife :)
Sometimes, watching someone play helps get a handle on what they're up to. It's probably the case with my music, as it is with this from Gustaf.
you can download his album for free from http://music.botched.com - it's gorgeous.
I have mixed feelings about UB40's music, to be honest. Like most British reggae, they got progressively less interesting as the 80s went on. No idea what they did in the 90s.
But, what needs to be remembered is where they came from and what they meant.
Along with Brixton and Liverpool, Birmingham in the late 70s/early 80s was under a global spotlight, thanks to its well documented race-related riots. Many of the most vibrant, acute, effective voices countering the fear and prejudice coming out from Birmingham itself (and the midlands) at the time were musical, including Steel Pulse, The Specials and UB40. Both UB40 and The Specials had black and white members. This is 5 years before 'Graceland' and 10 years before Mandela was released.
Hearing a multi-cultural band singing about poverty back then was a powerful thing. Have a listen, they were awesome:
Tomorrow night, UB40 are playing a gig at The Rainbow in Birmingham. A venue plagued by problems in a city where music venues are disappearing at a rate of knots. It's a pretty big statement for them to do this, and hopefully the conversation will continue to grow about what needs to happen to protect that vital voice in Birmingham Culture that its music scene has provided over the years.
It's also a chance to hear UB40 without any of the trappings or expectation of an arena show. Most bands get less interesting the bigger they get. Throw them back into a pub gig, and it all gets vibrant again. I'm here to be won back :) It'll be broadcast live on Rhubarb Radio.
All the stuff to do with that will be collected together at http://ub40.musicasculture.org/ - go and have a look at the video that's already there.
Amplified are involved, of course - cos that's what we do. It's going to be interesting.
Bit of a leap from Jonatha Brooke to IWrestledABearOnce, but they're honestly one of my favourite bands I've heard this year.
Extreme Metal is not a genre known for its humour or diversity, but IWABO are equal parts Meshuggah, Bjork and Frank Zappa.
Insane musical skillz, ridiculous sense of humour, genuinely uncompromising extreme scary madness in the heavy bits of the music, and the sense that anything can happen at any moment.. it's a pretty heady mix.
Be warned, if your idea of 'extreme' music ends somewhere near Metallica, this is probably not going to be to your taste, but I loves it :)
They're playing in London next week, I'm still working out if I can go or not...
I got their album from eMusic, but it's available on Amazon and itunes as well... no Bandcamp or other download sales of their own, though this t-shirt is one of the coolest bits of merch I've seen in a long time :)
Another of my favourite albums in recent years is 'The Works' by Jonatha Brooke. Jonatha's been one of my favourite singers for about 15 years, and in the last 5 or so has become a friend, after she and her husband spent 3 months here a while back, and I helped hook her up with a cool 'Bob Harris Presents' gig.
She told me about this album not long before she got to record it - the wishlist of players involved, the unparalleled access to the Woody Guthrie archive... it was dreamlike stuff, and not something she was talking about publicly as the chances of it all coming off were slim.
...But they did - the album is every bit as awesome as I imagined it to be from Jonatha's excitement about it. The band of Christian McBride, Steve Gadd and Joe Sample is pretty much unparalleled and they play SO sensitively on these tunes.
The whole album's awesome, but this is one of my favourite favourites :)
via last.fm
Just experimenting with the possibilities for embedding tracks from Last.fm in Posterous, via the bookmarklet... Assuming it works, the one below is from my favourite new album of the last year - Ryan Scott's Smoke And Licorice. It's awesome, and I'll put some more tracks here if this works -
via last.fm
I bought the album from eMusic, but I assume it's also available on iTunes and Amazon. No bandcamp though, sadly...
I LOVE this! Instead of putting up demo versions, remix stems or whatever of their forthcoming music, Deerhoof have put up the sheet music to the first track from their new record, so you can record your own version, without having heard theirs first!
Have a look at http://deerhoof.cashmusic.org/
here's the sheet music -
A few things are notable about this:
Firstly, gotta love the idea of multimedia reviews - makes perfect sense: listen, watch, get more info.
Secondly, the EP of Susan Enan's they're talking about at the beginning of the review, Moonlight, has me on bass - it was recorded by Jez Carr (and features him on piano) and Evil Harv on guitar - I intro'd Susan to Jez and they worked together for a few years after that.
Thirdly, it is indeed a really lovely album, and y'all should get it.
Click here to listen to it (I tried to embed the player with the Paste widget, but it doesn't work, sadly...)
(Susan's is the first review, and I'm now listening to the others - good call, Paste!)
"If a stream changes course,
only a fool tries to swim in the ditch
where it once flowed."
This was a lovely surprise to read this morning - Grace Pettis won the Mountain Stage New Song Contest. Mountain Stage is a pretty big deal in the states, and they have a great track record of finding awesome singer/songwriters.
I know Grace through her dad, Pierce Pettis - a truly awesome singer/songwriter himself - who has clearly passed on the 'being a ridiculously gifted singer/songwriter' genes to Grace.
Last time I saw Grace, we were mucking about in a giant Walmart in rural Alabama, trying to buy guns and camouflage gear, just to see if it was possible... that was just after her slightly absent minded dad had nearly shot Evil Harv with some tiny fireworks... a weekend full of WIN!
Anyway, here's one of her songs -
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more coming soon. Please spread the word about her - she's amazing.