The Ladder by Andrew Belle

If you ever watched Grey’s Anatomy season 6 finale which I must said it was a breathtaking heart-stopping finale. Remember a scene where Bailey tried to drag the dying Charles into the elevator but breakdown after found out the elevators were off then came a very comforting voice and sang which the lyric went like this “Nothing goes as planned. Everything will break. People say goodbye. In their own special way…” That my friend is Andrew Belle, an American singer-songwriter from Wheaton, Illinois. The Ladder is his first LP which was launched in February. Which I ought to say it is impressive. If you like Greg Laswell or Katie Herzig this is the album you need to get! No doubt about that.

There is no bad songs at all in this album. His songwriting skill is very impressive. So does his comforting voice. There are so much passion in his music. It is a pleasure listening to this album. The opening track, The Ladder kind of gives you an idea in general where this album is heading. The Static Waves which Katie Herzig was feat in definitely is a standout track in this album. Their voice just blend in flawlessly. There are some genuine beauty in this album under those keys and strings.

I can go on and on complimenting how good this album is. “Reach” is so smooth for ears though it only have 3 sentences. “Oh My Stars” is a very beautiful and melodious track. It gives a serene ambient. “My Oldest Friend” have a hint of jazz in it. The closing track “Make It Without You” is leaning toward a more melancholy tunes and of course the tune is very good too.

All in all, your ears will thank you by listening to this album.

The Ladder by Andrew Belle

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I, Vigilante by Crippled Black Phoenix

Crippled Black Phoenix , one of the most neglected band from United Kingdom by the world. Formed in 2004 CBP had launched 3 albums and 1 EP which is I, Vigilante. I, Vigilante is a 6 tracks EP but with an epic length of 45 minutes. A worthy spend of 45 minutes that brings you through a poignant, euphoric, ambient, cinematic, explosive, exquisite and melancholia music journey. All I can said is this is an epic album that pay so much detail in the music to the extend that this is a masterpiece.

 

The music kick off with Troublemaker with a dialogue between 2 person some sort like an introduction. (The leopard never changes its spot….wolf sir…the wolf changes its fur but not its nature) Then the music kick off with a mournful murky voice captivating one attention in a millisecond. This was followed by We Forgotten Who We Are the second track of the album. Which I like to assume it as an epic 11-minutes of eargasmic. The beautiful piano that spawn out a total of 2.30mins is utterly hypnotic. Slowly building the climatic effect of the song with the piano, bass/electronic guitar, drum and cymbal, eloquent one emotion in this chaos calmness. Somehow, 11mins is just too short for this song.

Fantastic Justice is a stunning track too with its drumming that resemble like a marching band. The momentum of the non-stop chant  at the beginning of the track is almost like it is pushing the track to a new height. Bostogne Blues is evocative as the opening song features a WWII veteran describing the moment he faced and killed a German soldier with a buzzing drone sound as the background. ( I scream at him to surrender. And instead of surrendering he started to pull his gun towards me which was instant death for him…he was like a little angle but i still have to shoot him. It didn’t bother me the first night…but the second night I woke up crying…and to this day I woke up crying…I still see him in my dream…) This song is an emotional resonance and cinematic-orchestra at the same time. It is mournful and dark, a certain degrees of sadness that blanket this song. The combination of piano, cello, viola, horn and other musical instruments is breathtaking magnificent. The best well spend 12mins of one life.

The thing with Crippled Black Phoenix is that they are amorphous, metamorphosis to one form to another as long as they feel like too. The last two song of the EP, Of A Lifetime and Burning Bridges is a complete dimension in this EP. The cheerful and sweet tones of the songs are far fetch from the previous 4 tracks. It does seems out of place but somehow in a way or another the odd piece just fit in the puzzle perfectly.

I, Vigilante IS a masterpiece from Crippled Black Phoenix. Period.

I, Vigilante by Crippled Black Phoenix

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Live Performances on Internet

This was a request from Matt Stevens the brilliant guitarist that I post about a few weeks ago. Well, looks like a few musicians is going to gather together on the web to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. What is Multiple Sclerosis? It is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelization and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms. Confuse much? So am I! Just check the wiki page will do.

 

So at 3pm British Summer Time (Malaysia time 10pm, Saturday) on 18th and 19th of Sept (this weekend) those who are interested can streamed their performances at here: http://cafenoodle.ning.com

For more infomation you can visit the facebook event page:

http://www.facebook.com/mattstevensloop?ref=search&sid=641983419.3643988580..1#!/event.php?eid=157600937584566&ref=mf

and the international times are here:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=18&month=9&year=2010&hour=15&min=0&sec=0&p1=136

The confirmed performances are: Alun Vaughan, Matt Stevens,Nick Tann, Rainer Straschill,Tracy Shaun, Chrissie Caulfield, Sam Neiland, USit, Steve Moyes and many more...

Peace out with love. Ciao folks!

Live Performances on Internet

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Singing Ax by J. Tillman

Launched just two days ago, J. Tillman seventh album Singing Ax which was recorded in 3 days only is phenomenal. However, not everyone can accept the style of J. Tillman which is minimalist and dead space in between song. There are not many things going on. There are no fireworks in his album which explode with a bang and lit the night sky with its bright colour, nothing so climatic. However, this does not mean that there are no sparks in this album. Tillman preferences of minimalist are just where the beauty lies. The brief pauses and the short breaths moment before venturing into the next quaint verse of the lyric is what made this album breathtaking.

This is a very beautiful quaint album. It is not the typical album where you can stop the album at any time you want and move on to do others things. If you can accept Tillman style or folk genres, you hardly can find fault in this album. It is beautiful. It is haunting. It is ghostly. It is somber. It is intimate. It is ambient. It is relaxing. It linger even after you finished listening and you will find yourself drifting into your own thought.

I cannot pin-point which song is the standout track because all tracks are equally marvelous. The opening track, Three Sister would surely give a general idea on how the album would turn out. A seat at the Table wrapped the album up in a good way. His mellow voice accompany with the acoustic guitar/banjo; the climatic drumming at the end of the song with his humming and the sudden stop. As like he is slowly moving out from the scene and consume by the darkness with a brief pause right before he is gone.

Tracklist:

1. Three Sisters
2. Diamondback
3. Love No Less Worthy
4. One Task
5. Our Beloved Tyrant
6. Tillman’s Rag
7. Mere Ornaments
8. Singing Ax
9. Madness on the Mountain
10. Maria
11. A Seat at the Table

Listen:

"Three Sisters" http://westernvinyl.com/audio/WV78.Three.Sisters.mp3
"Diamondback" http://westernvinyl.com/audio/WV78.DBK.mp3

Singing Ax by J. Tillman

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Free albums/tracks to download (Legally)

This is a post introducing where you can download albums/tracks legally from some of the artist official website. They are legit! So do check them out. Highly recommended! Just key in your email address (don’t worry no spam I tried) and you are ready to go. Enjoy folks!

 

Pictures by Uniform Motion

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As with most biographies, this story begins with the utterances of hypnotic phrases being repeated over, and over, and over, again; ricocheting through a developing sensitive mind; with the whispering of bitter-sweet music before the age of reason. The words, the sounds and the looks that a young mind has processed cannot be erased. They can only be stored in different places. Under the influence of Steven Heller’s Monsters and Magical Sticks, the concept of Uniform Motion sees the light. (continue)

 

Releases EP by Dag för Dag

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I begin where the two siblings, Sarah Parthemore Snavely and Jacob Donald Snavely, are separated and left to search each for their own lives and times, where they began to wander the earth not really knowing where home was until they figured it was just nowhere and simply kept on wandering, from Missoula where time seems to fly differently than it does anywhere else, to Wisconsin where the streets are long and grey, to Honolulu, to a gritty 90’s London, to the devil knows where, to San Francisco, and we all know what goes on there. For the two wanderers with no place to call home, Sweden seemed as good a place as any to settle down for a while, buy a bicycle, fall in love, fall from grace, wake up new, pick up a guitar, steal a 4-track, take mercy on an abandoned piano, and get to work. (continue)

 

Making Up a Changing Mind by Pretty Lights

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Pretty Lights is an electronic music duo from Colorado consisting of Derek Vincent Smith and Adam Deitch. Since July 2010, Adam Deitch has assisted during live performances. Smith's music is the byproduct of digital sampling and crosses many genres, forming a combination of "glitchy hip-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, and vintage funk and soul samples." There are a total of 7 album! Yes 7 album to download for free at their official website. If, you are haunted by the guilty pleasure you can donate money to them by clicking the donate button below the download button. (continue)

 

Looking Up by Eels from Tomorrow Morning album

  download track

Eels is an American alternative/acoustic indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as "Mr. E" or simply E. Born in 1963, he grew up experimenting with music in Washington D.C. and later moved to Los Angeles, California, United States emerging as the frontman of a band, calling Eels a vessel for his music. Other members rotate frequently, both in the studio and on stage. Their live shows include interesting interpretations of older songs, and usually some well-known covers. (continue)

 

Modern Drift by Efterklang from Magic Chairs album

download track

Efterklang is a band from Copenhagen, Denmark, consisting of four core members (Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Thomas Husmer & Rasmus Stolberg) who have played together since 2001. They are often joined by musicians like Peter Broderick, Frederik Teige, Heather Broderick and Niklas Antonson when they perform live and they also have a 5th member (Rune Mølgaard) who has been a part of Efterklang since the beginning, but who has taken a more secluded role in the past years.

Free albums/tracks to download (Legally)

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Sand River EP by Sand River

A little bit of history here, Sand River is a  two-man, guitar (Si) and drums (Guy) band from Durham. They have been playing together for a few years, gigging around the North-East of Britain. They launched this self-funded and self-released EP which was produced entirely on drums and guitars.

The album started off with The Reprisal (Kid Dust pt.3) with drumming then plucking of the bass or was it electronic guitar? I think is bass. Anyway, I thought this is going to be a heavy metallic kind of album at the strung of 1st note. But, I’m wrong! It was nothing close! It was kind like a twisted blues tune with low tempo throughout the whole album. A drifty, shadowy kind of album.

The song that caught my attention is Goodnight, Goodnight. I really like how the music played through out the track and how the vocal of Si intoxicating the night. (was writing this in middle of the night) Love is another track that worth mentioning. I really like the clapping in this song. It brings a different dimension to the track rather than just the drum and the guitar. It was lively. Si vocal blend with the music effortlessly. However, the album kind of lost me at Kid Dust and the Black Heart (pts. 1 &2). It was a 8.32min track. I guess it might be two songs that combine together given that the track was named such. It was a little bit too long as the whole track is kind of repetitive with it tunes. 

Overall, Sand River EP is a 6-tracks EP. At, first listening it won’t be able to grab a hold of you. One may probably found this EP is boring as there is no explosive moment where you will go “woah! That gives me chill”. But, if you give this album a few more chances (which it deserves) it would slowly grows on you. Yet, Sand River still have room to grow. I found that they lack of depth in their vocal and occasionally a bit repetitive in some of the tracks.

Buy or listen their music at bandcamp or visit them at myspace.

Sand River EP by Sand River

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Better in Time by Bobby Bazini

Don’t be surprise when you listen to this album and only found out that this singer, Bobby Bazini is only 20 years old. Better in Time is the debut album of Bobby Bazini. His voice is soulful and full with maturity which is definitely a plus point to sing in folk genres. However, this album is not completely a folk influenced album. It is a mixture of country, folk, blues, pop, jazz, soul and R&B. True enough, this album does and I quote from his myspace “reminiscent of the great sounds of R&B/soul music of the early days.”

Basically, the album revolve around concept of relationship. Most of the songs sing about the love in between lover. I Wonder is the first single of this album. A beautiful track that sings about his love for a girl and was in doubt whether she will love him forever. A very soulful, blues and R&B track that never fail to capture my attention with his magnetic voice. Broken Road sings about he is leaving her because he is not himself anymore though his heart told him not too. At the end, he left her yet maintain contact with her. Oh Katy sings about his girlfriend.  Morning Comes sings about being somewhere with his girlfriend and spend the night until the morning comes. Just with each other without thinking anything else. Just spend the time together quietly and that is all they need.

At first listening, I can’t help but to relate him to Paolo Nutini because the way they interpret their music is so similar. But after listening completely the whole album. It dawn to me that Paulo Nutini is Paulo Nutini, Bobby Bazini is Bobby Bazini. Bazini might sounds like Nutini but he is telling his own stories with this album. He is a story teller that sharing his stories to the world with this album.

Better in Time by Bobby Bazini

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Beachcomber's Windowsill by Stornoway

A first glance of the album cover one might think that this is a rock album. I know I did. It just gave me the gothic rock vibe. However, when I listened to it I was astonished. There is no way in hell this is a rock album, this is folk! A complete opposite way. Beachcomber’s Windowsill is the debut album by Stornoway launched in May. They are a British alternative indie pop band.

Stornoway in fact produces very dreamy, whimsical, folksy breezy songs.  You can’t help but to imagine the peaceful countryside during the summer.

At first listening, it is noticeable that Stornoway writes very melodic songs that uses many type of musical instrumentals. Besides, one can said that Stornoway is somewhat back to basic. Their music is quite au neutral, a raw production of album. The usage of electronic production is kept at minimal. Every single tracks in the album is a piece of it own. It does not end up like other album where the tracks is kind of similar to one another. They produced quite a variety of music that is evocative and almost all of them is really good.

 

The album starts off with Zorbing, a very dreamy whimsical folksier song that never fail to capture my attention. It is very good! It evokes this sense of harmonious feeling with its’ a bit child-like lyric. We Are The Battery Human is a very impressing song with it choir, swelling strings and the trumpeting. Fuel Up is a very beautiful song. Its lyric is beautifully written, describing phases of life of a boy. Stornoway has become a story teller in this song.

The Coldharbour Road itself is quite a melancholy song.  It started with sorrowful heavy-violin tune and mournful voice of Brian Briggs. The song slowly pick up towards the end. “And now you're going tears are flowing, 'Cos while you're leaving I'm still believing”. The Coldharbour Road is like a hidden delight in this album waiting to be savour.

Watching Birds is like the hidden rock star in Stornoway. In fact, Watching Birds is the rockiest song in this album. The strumming of the bass guitar. The drumming and the cymbal. The screaming. And the clown like trumpet at the end of the song. Perhaps, Briggs need to rock once in awhile.

The last track, Long Distance Lullaby is the perfect song to end this album. It is kind of the way for Stornoway to announce the ending of this album to the audience.  “I'm back and I'm through the door now, hear me go bouncing down the hall now. Goodnight goodnight soul mate. " The lyric is bitter sweet. Quite a stark contrast with the opening track, Zorbing. Zorbing is very joyful in tune. Long Distance Lullaby is like moody. As if like, they are not ready to put down the curtain to end the show and departing is too painful.

There are actually two version of “Zorbing” official video. I prefer the 1st one though.

Beachcomber's Windowsill by Stornoway

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True Love Stories by Alan Pownall

Alan Pownall a singer song writer from London. True Love Stories is his debut album that released in 25th June. A perfect album for the summer as this album has this intense summer vibe, very resembling to the one In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson. His album can’t really be included in the folk genres. Is somewhere in between folk and pop. Folk-pop perhaps? Oh yeah, this album is very English.

Frankly speaking this album ain’t ground breaking. It won’t made you have the ‘ooooahhhhh’ moment. The album is not bad nor good. This album is nice. From the first track to the last track, it is almost like you are in a train or a car that run smoothly without any bumpy part. No up and down. All the tracks sound alike with one another. Still the album is nice to listen. His voice is pleasant enough, light for the ears. Perhaps, Pownall have the word ‘relax’ in mind when he was producing this album. My friend commented that it has this 80/90s vibe, a new kind of retro. Maybe this is what vintage sounds like. The good ol' days when vinyl still widely available, at least that is how i pictured it.

No doubt this album definitely would make it as it is radio friendly. Easy to accept by the mainstream audience. The breezy and summer vibe tune. And few tracks that can easily let people sway along with the music notes. The melodious music tune is just too good to resist to not sway along. It is almost like the ‘black tadpoles’ is massaging your sore muscles, timidly.  It is after all, a easy listening affair offered by this album.

The standout track I think is the Colourful Day. A very melodious, bittersweet and memorable song. And I can’t help to relate him to the troubadour in Gilmore Girls. In fact, Pownall music is kind of troubadour-ish. Not to mention, the album kind of took a turn after this song. The rest of the songs after Colourful Day, is very vintage styled. It is more obvious in Take Me, The Others, Turn Me Down and You Know.

Overall, the album only pick up at the 2nd half of the album. It can be said that Colourful Day is the heart of the album, the center. (well, the song placement is in fact in the middle) The last 5 songs may perhaps is where the soul of this album lies. A little too late, because before you know it the cd had stopped spinning. It Is like a climax in suspense. However, one cannot denied that Pownall is in fact an old soul despite his young age. This album brings peace, warm and delicate to one soul.

True Love Stories by Alan Pownall

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