Author: danocdj

Blog 15 – New Music: March 2015

Leon Bridges

Not that long ago Leon Bridges was a pot wash. Within a year, he’s left America for the first time, signed a record deal, and found fans around the world. The 27 year old from Texas comes from another time. He’s an old soul.  Sam Cooke was his big inspiration. Live, his band wear Stetsons and the backing singers could have come straight from “20 Feet From Stardom.” They’re all impressive. As are the songs. Imagine him in the studio with Mark Ronson. Making something extraordinary. Or Paul Epworth. Or someone of that calibre. Very exciting.

The Academic

This 4 piece from Mullingar, Ireland have just managed to grab a support slot with Catfish And The Bottlemen. The comparisons will be made to the Welsh band. Hopefully, they can throw all that off, and keep finding out who they are as a band. The progression in song writing from 6 months ago, to this, is already quite a big leap. Which means they’re working hard. And focused. They’re also quite clearly ambitious, which always helps.

Judas

Lead singer John Clancy, left Liverpool 6 months ago and moved to London to put together a band. He quickly managed that on the streets of Camden Town. It could be the culture clash and conditioning that births a hot new British band. NW1’s rich musical heritage meets everything we know and love about Liverpool’s cultural melting pot. The band play a headline show at The Good Ship in Kilburn – 10th April 2015.

https://soundcloud.com/wearejudas/call-me

Mumford & Sons : Live @ Oslo


“What happened to the banjos?” shouts a man in the crowd with a slur.

There is a long pause.

“We’ll get back to you on that.” Marcus answers.

If you hadn’t heard, the new album is banjo free. And it’s not being missed.

Take for example the absolute monster of a tune “The Wolf” that opened the show. It explodes from the start, and before you know it, you’ve forgotten the band ever wore tweed waistcoats. And you realise that Winston is now holding an electric guitar. And has grown his hair long. And is literally rocking out. He’s never looked happier. Like the banjo was holding him back anyway.

For the record, I do doubt the band could tour a full live show, without their original sound, us, their fans, fell in love with.

They slide into their 2nd track “Believe”. It was only released into the world about an hour before the band had taken to the stage. It’s a builder. I love a builder. I’ve only heard it 3 times, but I already know the words. Which means it’s sticky.

Stickiness is important with singles. Without stickiness, nobody really gives a shit. Album tracks don’t have to be sticky. They’re the rules.

Lyrically, “Monster” stood out, and I had the feeling that someone had been inside my head, and then made an incredible song out of the wasp’s nest they’d found. So I went on a mission to find out who had written what, on the new album.

Back in the early days of the first record, Marcus had been the wordsmith. But the new album was a team effort, with everybody “pitching in.”

It’s a deep feelings record. Somebody has been down to the bottom, or close to the edge. Which is, unfortunately, for them, important for us. To connect you have to have been there. Felt it. Gone through it. Crashed again. And gradually crawled back into the light. It’s horrible. Perverse almost. But it works. The truth will always sound best in song.

Sonically, there are shades of Dire Straights all over the new album. Nods to Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac, here and there. But it’s still Mumford and Sons doing it their way. With the sort of ambition and vision, a few bands would do well to observe.

“A Wilder Mind” is released May 4th 2015.

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Blog 14 – New Music: Feb 2015

All Tvvins – ‘Thank You’

Here’s a new duo from Dublin. More good music coming out of Ireland. Where are they all coming from?!

They’ve already supported Arcade Fire, Pixies and Jungle.

They play Birthdays in Dalston, London on March 24th before heading off to South By South West in Austin. They’re also booked to do The Great Escape Festival in Brighton later this year. It’s what Joy Division would have sounded like if Ian Curtis grew up in Dublin, (post internet revolution) while hanging out with Bloc Party and TV on the Radio.

GIRL FRIEND – ‘Monte Carlo’

GIRL FRIEND are a new band who’ve been together for less than a year.

They formed in Manchester and say they’re inspired by Japan, Roxy Music and Soft Cell. Basically, my dad’s record collection.

It’s got a Kitsune vibe to it. Defintely one for Two Door Cinema Club fans. Also check out their tune “Chemical Reaction”.

Lusts – ‘Temptation’

Leicester brothers, Andy and James make up Lusts!

They’re owning, and very much proud, of the New Order/Joy Division influence.

I’ve been playing this for 6 weeks and it hasn’t burnt a sorry musical death yet.

They play Corsica Studios in London on March 12th with Coves.

Warchild: Passport Back To The Bars

Every year Warchild put on a series of shows with bands and artists around the Brit Awards, to raise some much needed cash for their charity. Dan will be hosting 2 of the shows this year. The Vaccines when they play the Dublin Castle on Feb 16th. And You Me At Six, when they play at Hoxton Bar and Grill on Feb 22nd. These are just 2 of 7 Passport gigs. It’s also one of 11 BRITs Week gigs (which also includes George Ezra, Royal Blood, The Charlatans and Take That). The idea of the shows, is to put the bands in venues they first played back in the day. All tickets are available from http://www.warchild.org.uk/

Blog 13 – Ones to Watch 2015 Part 2

Sunset Sons

The band met while in SW France a few years ago. They gradually built up a following by playing as a covers band, in and around the surf resorts of France during the summer…then heading up to the Alps in the winter.

Don’t be fooled by the surfing and snowboarding bum vibe. It’s only made them more focused, tighter as a band, and incredibly ambitious. They tour the UK in March and release The Fall EP the same month.

Listen to: Medicine

Pretty Vicious

Pretty Vicious are from Merthyr Tydfil. As a band they have some incredible potential to write huge indie dancefloor fillers. This has already been recognized by most of the major record labels, which has instigated a bidding war to sign the band.

Brad Griffiths, Thomas McCarthy, James Morgan and Elliot Jones are all between 16 and 18 years old. They only have a small tour planned around Wales so far this year, (with another new band The Hearts.)

Listen to: Cave Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuCfyLWIZ44

Port Isla

Port Isla met in Norwich, but are now based in deepest, darkest SE London.

They’ve already toured with George Ezra and James Bay. Had a personal invite to play Glastonbury. And made the XFm playlist. And I really rate them.

Catch them in the UK this March:

PORT ISLA TOUR DATES:

24 March The Lexington, London (headline show)

26 March O2 Academy 3, Birmingham (co-headline with Walking On Cars)

27 March Open, Norwich (co-headline with Walking On Cars)

29 March Deaf Institute, Manchester (co-headline with Walking On Cars)

30 March King Tut’s, Glasgow (co-headline with Walking On Cars)

Listen to: In The Long Run

Blog 12 – Ones To Watch 2015 Part 1

James Bay

This year’s dead cert. He’s won the Brits’ Critics Choice Award, and looks like the love child of Jack White and Johnny Depp.

He’s originally from Hertfordshire and writes big, emotional songs. Which, for the record, always do the business. His debut album “Chaos And The Calm” comes out on March 23rd and his UK tour is already sold out.

Listen to: “Let It Go”

Oh Wonder

This London based duo are Anthony and Josephine.

This is an interesting one. Their vision and plan is to put up one track every month for a year online, culminating in an album release on 31st August 2015. They’ll the perform their first live shows in September.

Hype Machine favourites for a long time now, they definitely have something pretty special about them. Keep an eye on Oh Wonder.

Listen to: “All We Do”

Rag ‘N’ Bone Man

Rory Graham is Rag ‘N’ Bone Man.

By far, this is one of the most interesting musical projects around right now. He’s a fusion of blues, rock, soul and hip hop, which makes it exciting, in terms of his creativity and originality.

He ‘s on tour in March and plans to release his debut album later this year.

Listen to: “Lay My Body Down”