More grooves for the boogie
01 - 4 Hero - Sophia
02 - Belleruche - Backyard
03 - Nicole Willis and the Investigators - If This is Ain’t Love (don’t know what it is)
04 - Shugie Otis - Sparkle City
05 - Quintessence - Broken
06 - Roy Ayers - Try, Try, Try
07 - Nostalgia 77 - The Messenger
08 - Jamie Lidell - You Got Me Up
09 - Kutiman - No Groove Where I Come From
10 - Kelly Polar - In Time
11 - Luke Vibert - Slipped Disc
12 - Ashley Beedle (feat. The Uschi Classen Band) - Do You Believe In Love
Another mish mash of Funk
01 - Mr. Scruff - Fish
02 - Dynamic Syncopation - No Qualms
03 - Devil Mcdoom - Watching Sleazy UFOs Passing By
04 - Nostalgia 77 - Rain Walk
05 - Nostalgia 77 - The Conventicle (TM Juke Remix)
06 - Guru - No Time to Play (feat. Ronnie Jordan & Dee C. Lee)
07 - A Certain Ratio - Do The Du
08 - A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
09 - March Hype & Jim Dunlop - The Mexican (feat. Sara Bourgeois)
10 - James Polk & The Brothers - Just Plain Funk
11 - Maulawi - Street Rap
12 - Art Ensemble of Chicago - Funky AECO
13 - David Mancuso - Nu Yorican Soul/ The Nervous Track (Ballsy Mix)
If time could be reversed to when Planet Earth started to be formed out of the Solar Nebula, a piece of field with vibrant green grass will be found. This piece of empty land is sitting under the clear blue sky without a single speck of dust to be found floating in the air. As time passes by, it starts to get populated by little elements and creatures growing out of it. They all form a certain pattern and rhythm. Every one of them grows differently but the field does not omit the vibe of restrictions and rejections. They grow freely on the green grass that never turn brown. They are seen as or known as flower, branch, leave, chair, metal, paper, rubber, plastic, bird, cat, poo, pee, apple, carrot, and many more. They go through various transitions and evolve into various types. The sky remains clear and the grass stays green and fresh. The dew drops continue rolling down the surface of the leaves. Even with the sun that scorches, the thorns that poke and the poo that stinks..a landscape is unique indeed and the beauty of it must not be disregarded. The acknowledgement of the beauty gives moist and colour to the grass, purifies the air, let the sun and rain come and go, lets the roses grow amongst the thorns.
I would turn back time in mind to be on a piece of pure empty land again where every eventual existence is neutral, can be redefined and nothing to compare with the strongest longing to remain in that state for an eternity.
She fell off her chair as soon as she realised that she was running late for the gig. Jumped onto the speedy bicycle and made her way there. Met her friend, feeling awkward, shared a beer as no fags and drinks were allowed in the concert hall. Being sent up to the seats on the balcony brought the west end show into mind with a slightly more sophiscated crowd sitting accordingly.
The support band, Dear Reader who were half way through their stuff were pretty stunning. A three piece band from South African started by vocalist Cherilyn MacNeil with support from bassist, Darryl Torr. They don’t need no one more other than a drummer, a bassist and a multi instrumentalist/vocalist to produce such varied music within the folk pop genre. The voice of MacNeil’s that goes along with the discordant sound of the piano may have some resemblance to Tori Amos’ music. The essence of Pop music is the catchy melody but often arranged in an ‘arranged’, repetitive and predictable way. Then people only listen with their ears and tap their fingers. She listened with her heart and mind gets taken on an adventure.
A glass of wine and cigarette to go before Lambchop went on. It was weird to be on a proper seat at a gig but the music just turned it all cosy and nice. As she hasn’t been keeping herself updated with the latest album, all she knew were only a few wicked old tracks. The music that these Nashville boys make are always referred to as alternative country music. It has definitely evolved into jazz, soul, chill out, funk, blues and post rock. The synthesizer along with some reversed and delayed guitar effect plus feedback gave that little psychedelic dream to the country soul. So many elements maybe found in one song that gives a rather abrupt music transition from time to time. The dynamics of the music comes around from very soft, light and gentle sonic movements to loud and aggressive that gives an adrenaline rush.
There was a bit of a stand up comedy show put up by Tony. Although he almost succeeded but a great musician is always a great musician and nothing more. People who heard that glitch from the keyboard’s audio cable and also that slight sound distortion may have been annoyed but some wondered if they could have been done on purpose. Kurt Wagner, a very humble man stood around selling CDs and chatting with fellow audience after the gig. A very cool guy indeed.
She has been taken on the tour with her mate, Teitur and they may have been swimming in the Rhine and discovered Basel. Kinnard grew up in Pennysylvia and is currently residing in London since she started recording her album there. This tall, slender lady in a red dress walked up the stage and started singing. She has a rather bluesy, husky and whispery voice. She sang like a sweet little girl who had smoked and drank so much whiskey the night. Sometimes seemingly meek and sometimes expressing tantrum. Swingin in out and of country rock, blues, jazz and putting up a cabaret at certain moments. Her tone can be compared to Cat Power and Scout Niblett, fading out with little vibrato. I was mesmerised…:)Dawn Kinnard
Baum is a Swiss singer songwriter who transformed a one man band into a band. As acoustic as Damien Rice may have defined, these 3 guys put up a great performance with harmonica, acoustic guitars, piano, keys and Theremin! With the delay effects, the sound of the guitar was dispersed to create the hazy spacey vibe. Simple pop guitar chords progression but with a great sense of improvisation in melody and rhythm.http://www.myspace.com/baummusic
The main act of the night originally from Faroe Islands, who is starting to get the limelight shinning on him. He who is slightly quirky and mysterious but with some sense of humour and of course great sense of music. As he is all knew to me, I have searched for some of his songs from the previous albums and yes they fit well into the Singer Songwriter genre. However, in his new album ‘The Singer’, the music has somehow evolved into a more diverse music writing style with various transitions from meloncholic to cinematic to mysterious to cheeky to playful and to Twee Poppy! The multi instrumentalist who seems shy yet cheeky has a voice that deciphers the hastily observant lyrics. They were a couple of songs, which he sung with the voice of freak folk.http://www.myspace.com/teitur
Rushed my feet off from the airport as soon as I arrived with 2 fat sling bags around my shoulders, chucked them into the cloak room at the bar. I noticed the little cup cakes sitting on the table at the cloak room but I was more eager to quench my thirst and to catch some live music.When I first listened to Wake The Presidents on myspace, I thought it was Stuart Murdoch’s (Belle and Sebastian) new side project. They do sound fairly similar. Twee as Fuck was what the night was called. They were supported by 2 other bands, Bobby McGee and The Noughts And Crosses.Wake The President’s album has recently been released on vinyl by Electric Honey. What a coincidence! A label that released TigerMilk from Belle and Sebastian. The twin brothers, Erik on vocals/ guitar and Bjorn on lead guitar along with bass and drums, they have strummed the night into the playful yet shy jangle pop music..ohyea twee as fuck but that kept everyone chilled and happy. Mostly in the beat of 4/4, which is also punctuated by the clean bright jangly guitars and a half note picking bass guitar drifting in between melody and rhythm. This Scottish folk tends to have more of a whimsy and it tells you a story that might make you laugh.
This is a set of soul and funk. Some were dug out from some classic funk records and some have been produced by modern artists who have managed to retain the elements from the original roots along with a few breakbeats and broken beats elements.
The Playlist:
01 - Soul Scape - Soul Summer
02 - Slow Train Soul - Naturally
03 - Nu Yorican Soul feat. Joycelyn Brown - I am The Black Gold of The Sun
04 - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Nobody’s Baby
05 - Pearl Dowell - Good Things
06 - The Universal - New Generation
07 - Sam Baker - Do Right Man
08 - The Brothers Seven - Evil Ways
09 - Imperial Breed - On The Run
10 - The Soul Lifters - Hot Funky And Sweaty
11 - James Knight & the Butlers - Save Me
12 - The Mighty Dogcathers - Its Gonna Be A Mess
13 - Prepositions - Something Different
14 - The Latin Breed - I Turn You On
15 - The Herbaliser - It’s Just For You
16 - Up, Bustle & Out - Emerald Alley (Indian Morning Theme)
Sleeping is not easy only with eyes closed
Only when the mind shuns away from reality
This is the place where nothing is a mess
Everything is arranged meticulously
A dream it may be called as the letters spell it
A story comes alive as the mind feels it
Everyone is beween the walls of felicity
Skipping, jumping and laughing to simplicity
Don’t wake me up
Don’t put the lights on in my room
Let my mind take me to this place
Don’t speak to me
Don’t tell me how to feel
Let me set it free in the sleep
Jump across the sea while they’re swimming
fly high in the sky while they’re diving
Sing the song of love thats so cheesy
Drink it on the beach till it gets me dizzy
Sometimes its hard to wake up
Its too bright to open my eyes
Sometimes it feels so eternal
Its beautiful in here
Just like the garden of glory
See no reason why to be crying
The tears get frozen half way down the cheeks
Even if I fall, I don’t feel the pain
Floating in the air, set me free
After being in Basel for 6 months, it was good to finally get a slice of London music scene on the cheese land! They have been around for ages with a few different vocalists swinging by now and then. Last night was a special gig (according to Godfrey) as well as the last gig in their Europe Tour. They had taken French vocalist, Manda onboard this time. She seems to be the piece of puzzle that has fitted perfectly well into the picture. Nevertheless, the first tune drove me to thinking of the formal vocalist, Skye Edwards but then my ears got into the business of listening. Manda voice has a rather well balanced texture. The sweet, soulful voice with a slight twist of the french accent and somewhat slightly husky in lower keys.The cover of John Martyn’s Run Honey Run was absolutely brilliant, subtly fusing folk and electro. As their music has always been categorised under the Trip Hop genre, but now it seems like the sound has been diversified. A heavy blues guitar riff blasted out of the amp perhaps along with the scratch on vinyl. May not be the music with smashing guitar riffs and hard beats with strong bass that you can jump like a mad cow to but its the soulful melody and diversity in the music yet keeps your body movin’.
This is probably the first Hong Kongnese (if there is such a word) synth twee pop that I am writing a review on. A couple of tracks immediately brought the Beriln duo, Stereo Total into my mind. Of course, the native language makes the music sound more distinctive , of course due to the phonology reasons. Sometimes, they sing in English, sometimes they sing in Cantonese and sometimes both! A few tracks, which sound more indie folk do resemble bands like Seabear and Belle and Sebastian. In fact, the more I listen to it, the more I hear a mish mash of a few subgenres and bands, nicely mashed with loads of butter and milk though :). However, I find it interesting to hear them in Cantonese as the tonal language does gives an extra texture to the music. Oh how the World of Indie Music has grown when east meets west!
Radio Station based in Tel Aviv
An Alternative Festival in Belgium
French Indie Radio Station
The Uk's leading Indie Film Community
Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism
Feel the Beat in an elegant way on a deer farm
