25 feb 2012

Michael Kiwanuka - I'm Getting Ready

Nuevo video de la sensación soul inglesa

Jonathan Wilson - Desert Raven (2011)

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011:

21- DESERT RAVEN

ALBUM : GENTLE SPIRIT

Bueno , poco a poco vamos llegando al número 25. He pasado por encima los temas de , 19- Okkervill River y 20-The Sand Band (como en otros casos por falta de calidad de clip). Así que llegamos al nº 21 con este chico de North Carolina y que ha sido una de las sensaciones pop rock del año. "Gentle Spirit" es su segundo disco, una grabación muy bien trabajada y con influencias musicales bastante evidentes al periodo 1970-75 de grupos como los Eagles, Pink Floyd , Jackson Browne y Traffic (esos teclados Jonathan!!.

Wilco - Dawned on Me (2011)

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011:

Nº17 Dawned on Me

Album: The Whole Love

Ya se que se ha terminado? el debate de Wilco en el que ha vencido "no están acabados" bravo!, Mi canción favorita es la impresionante "Born Alone" que ya entré tiempo atrás y otra de las que más me gusta es esta "Dawned on Me". Un poco más de
Wilco no va mal.


24 feb 2012

AM & Shawn Lee - Celestial Electric



by Matt Collar
A collaboration between multi-instrumentalist/producer Shawn Lee and singer/songwriter AM, 2011's Celestial Electric is a cornucopia of laid-back, psychedelic-tinged, '60s and '70s-inspired hippie funk, soft pop, and rock. On their own, both Lee and AM have revealed an aesthetic trend toward such chilled-out vintage sounds as Brazilian tropicalia, soft rock, sunshine pop, and various dance grooves from soul to disco. For longtime fans, Celestial Electric is about as good as one could have hoped for the coming together of two like-minded musicians. In that sense, the mix of hippy-dippy melodicism and hot beats brings to mind similarly inclined works by such contemporary artists as Beck and Bing Ji Ling, while also clearly inspired by such classic artists as Curt Boettcher, Free Design, and Paul Williams. Thus, leadoff track "City Boy" sounds like a long-lost David Gates (Bread) solo cut, while more electronic soul tracks like "Lonely Life" and "Dark into Light" sound not unlike Stereolab. If the duo's slavish, slightly more updated club-oriented cover of Ozark Mountain Daredevils' 1974 hit "Jackie Blue" is a bit too obvious, it also sounds just about perfect on this funky and melodic album.

23 feb 2012

Bootsy Smart Glasses from Google

Hola ,

Hoy he leído esta noticia y rapidamente me he puesto a investigar a ver si podía sacar algo más sobre tan increíble avance tecnológico , leer esto:

LA VANGUARDIA
"Los Ángeles. (EE.UU.) (EFE).- La compañía tecnológica Google está desarrollando unas futuristas gafas equipadas con sistema operativo Android, con conexión a internet y software de realidad aumentada que podría lanzar al mercado este año, según informó hoy Los Angeles Times.

La noticia, que no ha sido confirmada por la empresa, tiene como fuentes a empleados anónimos de Google que, al parecer, estarían al corriente de las secretas actividades que tienen entre manos los ingenieros del laboratorio Google X."

Parece ser que uno de los modelos que llevan en secreto se llama BOOTSY SMART GLASSES y la compañía Google lo lleva investigando desde los años 80 que es de donde procede este clip, los problemas no son tanto como desarrollar la tecnología sino hacer el diseño. What's Bootsy Doin'? se preguntan los de Google- Yo también me pregunto
qué pasarà con los que llevamos gafas graduadas? deberemos ir a Opticas Cotet a que nos hagan unas BOOTSY SMART GLASSES graduadas?

Si alguien sabe algo que lo diga , estoy bastante preocupado !


22 feb 2012

Evan Dando - Hard Drive (live) 2003

Siguiendo las grabaciones de The Lemonheads me he dado cuenta de que me olvidé de nombrar el disco (único de estudio en su carrera) que Evan Dando editó en solitario en el 2003 bajo el brillante título de "Baby I'm Bored". Esta gran canción está incluída en el álbum y se titula "Hard Drive". Pura poesía pop.

Paul Weller - 'The Dangerous Age

21 feb 2012

You Am I - Soldiers (1996)

Nunca ví en directo a los Lemonheads, ni tampoco a los You Am I , hubiera estado muy muy bien !

Vaya otra banda estos Aussies !, este tema es uno de los singles del álbum "Hourly, Daily" (1996)


Dark Ocean Colors

Para los amantes de los sonidos pop a lo Beatles psicodelicos presentamos este duo de Toledo (Ohio)
Dark Ocean Colors web
spotify

Dark Ocean Colors is made up of Scott Hunt and Mark Mikel from Toledo, Ohio – two longtime friends and collaborators who have worked on many projects (including The Pillbugs and The Sprags) finally come together as a writing/recording duo for an official release on Rainbow Quartz.

The self-titled CD offers 10 new songs that focus on pop songwriting as well as psychedelic sonic textures in a rock and roll landscape featuring rich production and unusual blend of vocals and various instruments (guitars, piano, drums, Mellotron, violins, brass, tape loops, sitar, Moog, electric harpsichord, flute, backward sounds and feedback).

"It was not an easy album to make by any stretch," says Mikel. "We were working with old analog gear and a tape machine held together by rubber bands. We made it a lot harder on ourselves by constantly looking for the wrong way to begin a track. For example, maybe we'd begin with a backing vocal part, which is usually one of the last things you'd add to a song. We'd take these odd avenues to get to the end destination. If we didn't break rules or take our methods into bizarre territory, we felt we couldn't achieve that moment of surprise. We're always trying to surprise ourselves."

Studio experimentation is only part of the magic of Dark Ocean Colors. Anyone listening with even only half an ear will notice infectious hook after infectious hook. "Songwriting is how we came together. We were always fans of each other's songs," says Mikel.

Hunt elaborates, "Songwriting was usually the starting point for our tracks. Mark bought me a dictaphone-style recorder (just like his) so that we could preserve our musical ideas. As we were inventing tracks for Dark Ocean Colors often those seeds or feels would come from those personal recorders. We would work together to complete many of the ideas into finished records. All of the songs were written together. Both of us had collaborators before, but I don't believe we've ever had ones that could work on every aspect of the track in concert. Every song had a different style and starting point. I think we both knew our music would be experimental and fun."

"Together we tried to mix up song topics. We didn't want every song to be about a girl. We sing about art, religion, science, friendship, loss, and of course love. There was a conscious effort to work on lyrics so that words could be open to interpretation. I think we did this because we wanted the songs to remain fresh for us. It's exciting, too, knowing that there is a good possibility that if you had a handful of listeners each may have a different take on the song."

See our band page on the Rainbow Quartz label website.

20 feb 2012

The Lemonheads - If I Could Talk I'd Tell You (1996)

Alguien ha comentado algo de la vuelta de las bandas pop de los 90? Pues recuperamos este exquisito tema "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You" de una de las mejores bandas de la década, The Lemonheads. Esta canción aparece en su tercer y último álbum editado en los 90's "Car Button Cloth"(1996). Nacidos a finales de los 80's como banda punk alternativa los Lemonheads se conviertieron y con la aparición de "It's a Shame About Ray" (1992) en una de las mejores bandas pop americanas del momento.El grupo lo lideraba Evan Dando, hombre que tenía graves problemas con las drogas y el alcohol y que lo llevaron (imagino) a su "desaparición artística". 10 años después (2006) volvieron de nuevo , mejor dicho volvió Evan Dando con nuevo disco ahora con sello independiente, Vagrant. Y por último en 2009 editó su último disco hasta fecha de hoy y titulado "Varshons" una grabación de versiones.

Los Campesinos! - 'Song About Your Girlfriend'


Review
by Tim Sendra
After the disaster of their previous album, Romance Is Boring, it would have been easy to write off Los Campesinos! and consign them to the scrap heap populated with bands that burned brightly and then lost it all in a flash. Amazingly, Hello Sadness reverses the downward spiral and sounds like something of a rebirth for the band. Despite recording again with John Goodmanson and still being resolutely morose and poetic, the band plays with far more energy and spirit here. It’s not on the level of manic passion they displayed in the early stages of their career, but songs like “Songs About Your Girlfriend” and “The Black Bird, the Dark Slope” careen with a hyperactive energy that’s impressive for any band, much less one that had been presumed comatose. The fury of the uptempo tracks gives the slower, more sluggish songs more emotional power by contrast, and the whole album has a vibrant dynamic appeal that was missing from Romance. A lot of the credit goes to vocalist Gareth, who has reined in the raw edges of his voice and sings with more command and power. His words, too, are less raw and awkward as he details heartbreak, sadness, and the frustrations of trying to live a passionate life with a sharper eye and less hysteria. The rest of the band responds with tightly wound performances that range from the slow burn of “Hate for the Island” to the tender balladry of “Light Leaves, Dark Sees, Pt. 2” and the up-and-down "Every Defeat a Divorce (Three Lions)," where the guitars rage behind Gareth’s vocals with a newfound electric power. This album is an improvement over Romance in almost every way, and almost is enough to restore the faith of fans set adrift by the band’s sudden decline. They may never make a record as unhinged and beautiful as Hold on Now, Youngster..., but if they keep making records as tough and exciting as Hello Sadness, Los Campesinos! will always be worth keeping up with.

19 feb 2012

Little Barrie - Surf Hell (2011)

LOS MEJORES TEMAS DEL 2011

Nº16 SURF HELL

Album: KING OF THE WAVES

Hace unos días Martín ya colgó un clip de este grupo británico.
Un disco con influencias, sixties, mod , psicodelia....los de Nottingham tuvieron a Edwin Collins como co-productor de este trabajo.

Me he saltado el Nº15 Buffalo Tom ya que no he encontrado un tema de calidad en vídeo.


Segundo vídeo oficial de este magnifico disco.Hace poco leía unas referencías de D.Manrique sobre el toque glam del grupo que creo que aquí son claras

Muere Michael Davis bajista de los MC5


Michael Davis, bass player with seminal garage rockers MC5, has died at the age of 68.

Davis died on Friday (February 17) at the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California after a month-long battle with liver disease, reports The Associated Press.

Born in 1943, Davis joined MC5 in 1964, replacing the band's original bass player Pat Burrows and he remained with the group until 1972. He played on each of the band's three classic studio albums, including the extremely influential 'Kick Out The Jams'. He also took part in two short-lived reunions with MC5, first in 2003 and then again in 2005.

The bassist also worked as a producer and was behind the controls for records by the likes of Lords of Altamont, Dollhouse, Tokyo Sex Destruction, and OJM.

In his later years, Davis co-founded the Music Is Revolution Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting music education in schools.

Davis is survived by his wife, their three sons, and a daughter from a previous marriage

18 feb 2012

George Harrison - Brainwashed




Review
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
George Harrison went quiet not long after the second Traveling Wilburys album, surfacing only for the Beatles' Anthology in the mid-'90s. He was recording all the while, yet he died before completing the album that would have been the follow-up to 1987's Cloud Nine. His son, Dhani, and his longtime friend/collaborator Jeff Lynne completed the recordings, released late in 2002, nearly a year after George's death, as Brainwashed. Given its baggage it's easy to be suspicious about the merits of Brainwashed prior to hearing it. Posthumous efforts often feel incomplete, Harrison's albums were frequently inconsistent, and Lynne favors ornate, cinematic productions that run contrary to George's desire for this project to be simple and low key -- nothing that would suggest that Brainwashed would be a success. Defying all odds, Brainwashed isn't just a success, it's one of the finest records Harrison ever made. No, it doesn't achieve the splendor of All Things Must Pass, nor is it quite of its time like both Living in the Material World and Cloud Nine were, but it's a quiet, subtle gem, one that strikes close to the heart of Harrison's music. It's intimate, alternately insightful and cheerfully lightweight, balancing his trademark black humor with silliness and good humor. Anyone searching the album for his views on mortality -- as he faced not only cancer, but an attacker that nearly took his life -- will surely find it, but this is not a somber album, it is a warm album, the sound of someone enjoying life without losing his wry sense of humor. This same spirit carries over to the music, with Harrison abandoning the idea of getting a hit and simply relaxing, primarily by playing a lot of ukulele and guitar. There aren't any major songs here and perhaps a tune or two could be pegged as throwaways by the cynical, but there are no down moments and it all holds together well -- better than most Harrison albums -- and it's a fitting way to say goodbye, every bit as good as Double Fantasy and, in some respects, even sweeter.

17 feb 2012

The Bevis Frond - Johnny Kwango - London 2011

El magnífico nuevo disco de The Bevis Frond " The Leaving of London" se abre con esta joya titulada "Johnny Kwango". El espiritu del los Teenage revive en esta canción!!
Un tema que no pararás de cantar, uf vaya pasada de guitarra y de canción !!

Versión directo y la versión estudio



16 feb 2012

Lambchop - 'Mr. M'


Biography
by Jason Ankeny
Touted as "Nashville's most f*cked-up country band" by their label Merge Records, Lambchop was arguably the most consistently brilliant and unique American group to emerge during the 1990s. Their unclassifiable hybrid of country, soul, jazz, and avant-garde noise seemed at one time or another to drink from every conceivable tributary of contemporary music, its Baroque beauty all held together by the surreal lyrical wit and droll vocal presence of frontman Kurt Wagner. Although Lambchop's ever-rotating roster would later expand to over a dozen members, the group formed in 1986 as a simple three-piece teaming Wagner, guitarist Jim Watkins, and bassist Marc Trovillion, former high school classmates already ten years removed from the educational system. Originally dubbed Posterchild, the trio made its earliest recordings in Trovillion's bedroom, self-releasing a series of cassettes with titles like I'm F*cking Your Daughter. In time, the lineup began to grow and the band regularly performed live in and around the Nashville area, often at the area record shop, Lucy's (not coincidentally owned by Wagner's wife, Mary).

In 1992, Posterchild -- now consisting of Wagner, Trovillion, guitarist Bill Killbrew, clarinetist Jonathan Marx, multi-instrumentalist Scott C. Chase, drummer Steve Goodhue, and percussionist Allen Lowery -- released An Open Fresca + A Moist Towlette, a split single with friends Crop Circle Hoax. The 7" brought the group to the attention of entertainment lawyer George Regis, who issued cease-and-desist orders on behalf of his clients, the noise pop band Poster Children. After rejecting the names REN, Pinnacles of Cream, and Turd Goes Back, the band settled on Lambchop, added vocalist/saxophonist Deanna Varagona, steel guitarist Paul Niehaus, and organist John Delworth, and signed to Merge to release the 1993 single "Nine." Their debut LP, I Hope You're Sitting Down (aka Jack's Tulips), followed a year later. In many ways, this album would be the most conventional Lambchop record. Its Nashville origins and torch-and-twang ambience would saddle the band with the increasingly erroneous alt-country tag, although Wagner's Lou Reed-like vocals and bizarre narrative conceits -- in particular the fan-favorite "Soaky in the Pooper," a vivid recounting of a bad LSD trip -- immediately signaled their obvious distance from the likes of Uncle Tupelo or the Jayhawks.

The lovely How I Quit Smoking appeared in 1996 (although on the subsequent "Cigaretiquette" single, Wagner would proudly announce, "I'm smoking again"). Recorded live the previous Independence Day, the Hank EP followed later in 1996. Marking the debut of drummer Paul Burch, the disc represented the apotheosis of Lambchop's Billy Sherrill-inspired phase, its lush production evoking the Nashville sound so popular three decades earlier, but now completely passé among Music City's chart superstars. 1997's Thriller proved a major turning point; highlighted by the Muscle Shoals soul of "Your Fucking Sunny Day" and including no fewer than three songs penned by East River Pipe's F.M. Cornog, this sprawling, difficult album introduced the uncompromising eclecticism that would dominate Lambchop's work from here on out. The follow-up, 1998's What Another Man Spills, upped the ante further; for remarkably soulful covers of Curtis Mayfield's "Love Song (Give Me Your Love)" and Frederick Knight's "I've Been Lonely for So Long," Wagner's baritone drawl even gave way to a Prince-like falsetto. That same year, the group also backed Vic Chesnutt on his album The Salesman and Bernadette.

Lambchop's fifth full-length, Nixon, appeared in the spring of 2000. Supposedly a concept album exploring the presidency of the infamous Tricky Dick, Wagner even included a bibliography in the liner notes -- a direct connection to the Watergate scandal remains unidentified. Though still criminally unknown at home, Lambchop enjoyed a much more substantial following overseas, and on May 13, 2000, they appeared at the London Royal Festival Hall; the gig was recorded and made available at U.K. appearances that fall as the Queens Royal Trimma limited-edition EP. (A 2001 European tour yielded the Treasure Chest of the Enemy EP.) The 2001 collection Tools in the Dryer assembled many of Lambchop's scattered singles, compilation tracks, and remixes.

After recording the purposefully spare Is a Woman in 2002, Wagner and company moved on to their most ambitious project yet -- two simultaneously released albums, Aw C'Mon and No, You C'Mon, in which Lambchop was returned to full power and joined by a lush string section. The next year the musically experimental EP CoLAB came out, followed in the spring of 2006 by The Decline of Country & Western Civilization, Pt. 2: The Woodwind Years, an eclectic collection of tracks that had never appeared before on Lambchop records, including one new song, "Gettysburg Address," and a record of all new material called Damaged later that summer. 2008 saw the release of the typically graceful and elegant OH (Ohio), followed in early 2012 by the group’s 11th full-length outing, the austere Mr. M., which offered up 11 lush, string-laden meditations on love and loss, all of which were dedicated to the late Vic Chesnutt.

In addition to Lambchop, several members of the group pursued side projects. Burch led his own band, the WPA Ballclub, Varagona released a fine 2000 solo record, Tangled Messages, and Mark Nevers led CYOD. Wagner even teamed with Josh Rouse for the 1999 EP Chester.

15 feb 2012

Terence Trent D'Arby





Biography
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Terence Trent d'Arby emerged in 1987 amid a storm of publicity. Claiming his debut record was the best since Sgt. Pepper, his brash arrogance captured headlines throughout the U.K., eventually winding their way back to America -- which, ironically, is the exact opposite of how d'Arby conducted his career.

During the early '80s, d'Arby was a soldier for the United States Army. While posted in Germany, he joined a funk band called Touch, which marked the beginning of his musical career. After leaving the Army, he moved to London, where he recorded the demo tape that led to his record contract with CBS. D'Arby's first single, "If You Let Me Stay," rocketed into the U.K. Top Ten upon its release. Its accompanying album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent d'Arby, was also a massive success, hitting number one and spending over a year in the top half of the chart.

D'Arby didn't have a major hit in the U.S. until 1988, when the sparse funk of "Wishing Well" hit number one. The ballad "Sign Your Name" followed it into the Top Five and Introducing ended up selling over two million copies.

All of the success -- both commercial and critical -- had d'Arby poised as a major act, artistically and popularly. D'Arby's mix of soul, rock, pop, and R&B recalled Prince in its scope and sound, yet his sensibility was grittier and earthier. At least they were at first. By the time of his second album, 1989's Neither Fish nor Flesh, his ambitions were more nakedly pretentious. The record carried the weighty subtitle "A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope & Destruction" and attacked many self-consciously important themes, including homophobia and environmental destruction. In addition to the self import of the lyrics, the music added a variety of new textures, from Indian drones to straight-ahead '50s R&B.

All of the added baggage was too much for his audience and Neither Fish nor Flesh dropped off the charts quickly, without so much as one hit single. It took d'Arby a full four years to record a new album. When Terence Trent d'Arby's Symphony or Damn -- an album containing many of the same ideas as Neither Fish nor Flesh, only better executed -- was released in 1993, it received favorable reviews, as well as some airplay on modern rock radio stations and MTV. It was enough for d'Arby to regain some credibility, yet it wasn't enough to make the album a hit. Two years later, he released TTD's Vibrator, which received the same fate as Symphony or Damn.

Though d'Arby didn't make his commercial return until the early 2000s with Wildcard!, he remained active during the intervening years. He extracted himself from Sony and signed on with Glen Ballard's Java; an album titled Terence Trent d'Arby's Soular Return was recorded but never released. In 1999, he fronted INXS for the group's performance at the opening of Sydney's Olympic Stadium; later that year, he could be seen on TV as Jackie Wilson in the mini-series Shake, Rattle and Roll. After obtaining the rights to his Java album, he went about starting his Sananda label and eventually issued Wildcard! through the Internet. D'Arby had his name legally changed to Sananda Maitreya and, by the end of 2003, Wildcard! had received official release in most territories.

Anna Waronker - California Fade (Official Music Video)

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011

Nº14

Album: California Fade
Tema : Beautiful Life ( no disponible) , tema del clip California Fade.

Pop melódico / nostálgico /intimista con toques "FM radio" de esta artista californiana hija del productor Lenny Waronker. Es bastante desconocida y me imagino que debe ser por la poca promoción que se le hace. Un ejemplo es que este clip sólo tiene 3000 entradas. Recomiendo su álbum para seguidores y aficionados al sonido californiano "clásico" de artistas como Ricky Lee Jones , Suzanne Vega etc.

14 feb 2012

Lee Ranaldo - 'Off The Wall'

Gran canción de su recién estrenado trabajo

Biography
by Jesse Jarnow
Lee Ranaldo, co-founder of avant-garde rock group Sonic Youth, was born in 1956 in East Norwich, NY. In addition to constant touring with Sonic Youth, Ranaldo has been extremely active in the New York music scene for the past 20 years, recording and collaborating with numerous acts, producing discs, and publishing several books of poetry and journal entries.

Ranaldo attended SUNY Binghamton in Binghamton, NY, where he played in an experimental punk outfit called the Fluks (named after the dadaist art movement, Fluxus). His early influences include many psychedelic California bands from the late '60s, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Hot Tuna, as well as early New York City punk units like the Ramones, Television, and Talking Heads.

After moving to New York in 1979, Ranaldo briefly attempted to revive the Fluks before playing in a series of acts including Rhys Chatham and Plus Instruments (with whom he recorded an LP in 1982). Through Chatham, Ranaldo met the charismatic composer Glenn Branca, who created avant-garde pieces for electric guitar ensembles. Through the burbling downtown no wave scene of the early '80s, Ranaldo met future Sonic Youth bandmates Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.

Throughout the '80s, the band worked hard to sustain themselves, recording and touring constantly. The early years of the band are documented in a book of road journals written by Ranaldo and published by Soft Skull Press in the mid-'90s. In 1987, he released his first solo album, From Here to Infinity, on SST Records, a vinyl release with locking grooves at the end of each track.

By the early '90s, after the completion and subsequent canonization of their seminal Daydream Nation (and probably partially by dint of sheer survival), Sonic Youth was looked up to as elders in the fledgling alternative music scene, acting as mentors to dozens of younger bands (including Nirvana). In this role, Ranaldo has produced albums for Babes in Toyland, You Am I, Deity Guns, and others.

Ranaldo's role in the ever-experimental Sonic Youth has been an important one, acting as a textural axis for Gordon and Moore. Though he typically only contributed a handful of songs to each Sonic Youth recording, Ranaldo quickly developed his own songwriting style -- throbbing beats topped with beat-influenced, half-spoken/half-sung poetry delivered in Ranaldo's reassuring, gently confident voice, such as "Eric's Trip" on Daydream Nation and the title track off of 1999's NYC Ghosts & Flowers.

In addition to releasing a book of his poetry (also published by Soft Skull Press), Ranaldo has also edited a volume of tour journals from the 1995 Lollapalooza Tour written by Moore, Beck, Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), Courtney Love, and others. Ranaldo also has an ongoing collaboration with jazz drummer William Hooker. The two create dissonant music -- Hooker on drums, Ranaldo on modified guitars, synthesizers, and other electronics -- while taking turns reading and improvising poetry.

12 feb 2012

Tyrone Davis




Biography
by Steve Huey
The king of romantic Chicago soul, Tyrone Davis' warm, aching vulnerability and stylish class made him especially popular with female soul fans during a lengthy hitmaking run that lasted throughout the '70s. Best known for the classics "Can I Change My Mind" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time," Davis was a versatile baritone singer who could handle everything from pop-soul to funk to bluesy chitlin-circuit R&B, but smooth soul was his true bread and butter. Once Davis broke through in the late '60s, he never really stopped recording; although the R&B chart hits dried up by the early '80s, he was still going strong into the new millennium, decades after his first single was released.

Tyrone Davis was born May 4, 1938, in Greenville, MS; he spent most of his formative years in Saginaw, MI, and moved to Chicago in 1959, where he eventually found a job as a valet and chauffeur for bluesman Freddie King. He befriended the likes of Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, and Otis Clay, among others, and began to pursue his own singing career in the clubs on the city's West and South Sides. Singer/pianist Harold Burrage took Davis under his wing and helped him refine his craft, and the budding blues shouter got his first shot in 1965 on the Four Brothers label. His first single, "Suffer," was recorded under the name Tyrone the Wonder Boy and written and produced by Burrage, as was the follow-up "Good Company." Unfortunately, Burrage passed away in late 1966, and after one more single Davis moved on to cut one-offs for Sack and ABC. He found a home at Carl Davis' new label Dakar in 1968, when a Texas DJ flipped his first release over and started playing the B-side, "Can I Change My Mind." Showcasing Davis' lovelorn pleading to best effect, the song went all the way to number one on the R&B charts, and reached the pop Top Five as well.

Teamed with producer/arranger Willie Henderson, who'd masterminded "Can I Change My Mind," Davis capitalized on his breakthrough with a string of orchestrated hits that emphasized his new, smoother style, and helped point the way for Chicago soul into a new decade. "Is It Something You've Got" reached the R&B Top Five in 1969, and it was followed in 1970 by the sublime "Turn Back the Hands of Time." It was his second R&B number one, and also his biggest hit on the pop charts with a peak at number three; plus, the accompanying album of the same name ranks among the best soul LPs of its time, producing two more hits in the R&B Top Ten "I'll Be Right Here" and "Let Me Back In." Davis hit the R&B Top 40 with steady regularity over the next few years, including the Top Tens "Could I Forget You," "I Had It All the Time," "Without You in My Life," and "There It Is." In 1975, he scored his third number one R&B hit with "Turning Point," but left Dakar for Columbia the following year.

Davis' ballad mastery was a main selling point for Columbia, which made his backing orchestrations even lusher than before, but he also made the occasional concession to contemporary dance trends, which informed his debut Columbia hit "Give It Up (Turn It Loose)," a number two R&B single from 1976. Further successes followed in "This I Swear" (1977), "Get On Up (Disco)" (1978), and the slinky ballad "In the Mood" (1979). Davis recorded his final album for Columbia in 1981, then switched to Highrise, where he promptly landed a Top Five R&B hit -- his last, as it turned out -- with "Are You Serious" in 1982. Short stints with Ocean-Front and Prelude followed before Davis settled in with Future for the latter half of the '80s. He spent the first half of the '90s on retro-soul label Ichiban, recording several albums, and then moved to Southern soul imprint Malaco in 1996 for an equally productive stay that lasted into the new millennium. Davis continued to release new albums every year or two, and toured the soul/blues circuit as restlessly as ever. Tyrone Davis suffered a stroke in October of 2004 and remained hospitalized until his death in February of 2005.

Wilco- no, no están acabados

Para dejar cerrado el tema de Wilco, por vuestros votos vemos que no, no están acabados, dejamos constancia con este vídeo

Watch Wilco on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.

Miss The Girl - The Creatures

No me he podido reprimir después de tu entrada de P.J.Harvey, Jordi, que tiempos!!!!

White Denim - 'Burnished' live at The Ghost Room

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011

nº13

Album: D

Estos chicos tocan un montón ! una grabación plagada de diferentes influencias musicales. Esa guitarra a lo Dickey Betts, rock progresivo , Kraut, punk ??. Los de Austin han sido una de las más gratas sorpresas del 2011. Aunque en el vídeo parezca que estemos en 1970.

11 feb 2012

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake, Later... with Jools Holland 29-04-2011

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011

Nº12

Album: Let England Shake


PJ Harvey reapareció en el 2011 con el álbum más exitoso de su carrera. Diferentes medios de prensa estuvieron de acuerdo en que "Let England Shake" es el mejor disco del año , yo no diría tanto , pero sí que estaría de acuerdo en que el tema que da título al álbum es una buena canción , de las mejores del año . La "diva indie" llega al gran público a través de este disco con claras influencias de Siouxsie+Kate Bush batidas con pizcas de cabaret y rock. De todas formas me pregunto si todo esto (su pelo, su imagen, el instrumento) viene por su naturalidad artística o es un montaje de mercadotecnia.
Let England Shake.

10 feb 2012

The Shins: “September”

We’re thrilled that The Shins chose recordstoreday.com to premiere their brand new song, “SEPTEMBER”, the B-side of the “Simple Song” 7” single that will be in stores next week, and a little appetizer for their March 20 full length Port of Morrow.

9 feb 2012

Art Brut - 'Axl Rose' Live San Francisco Independent 8/26/2011

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011

Nº 11

"Axl Rose"

Album : Brilliant! Tragic!

Después de la entrada de la novedad del Sr .Cohen (excelente tema por cierto) por parte de Martín , a algunos se les puede indigestar esta dosis de art/punk/rock! Ellos son los Art Brut grupo británico que en el 2011 sacaron un cd demoledor (4º de su carrera) en donde recuperan la actitud y sonido que se producía en UK durante la segunda década de los 70: John Cooper Clark, The Clash , Ian Dury, Rotten y evidentemente Mark E.Smith (The Fall) prinicpales referencias. El disco está producido por un americano, el amigo Frank Black (The Pixies). Mientras algunos siguen discutiendo si el rock está muerto o vivo o si las listas de los discos más vendidos de la tierra no hay rock, existen grupos de punk rock tan reales como los Art Brut.



Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

Extracto de su nuevo trabajo

8 feb 2012

Arctic Monkeys - The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala (2011)

LOS MEJORES TEMAS DEL 2011

Nº10

Album: Suck it and See

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala , fue el segundo single de su excelente nuevo disco Suck It and See.
"The Hellcat......" es un gran tema pop con claras influencias de The Smiths , Orange Juice y Echo and the Bunnymen.


7 feb 2012

The Wedding Present - You Jane (Promo)

Otros veteranos que vuelven. también adelanto de su nuevo trabajo Valentine

Amos Lee - Windows Are Rolled Down (Live)

A mi la voz me gusta mucho pero es verdad que lo prefiero cuando da unos toques mas ``roqueros``Tal vez es lo que ha buscado en el último disco con la producción de un miembro de Calexico.Bueno, acabamos el tema con esta canción de este último trabajo.Gracias Jordi

6 feb 2012

Amos Lee - Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight (Live @ Abbey Road)

La primera vez que escuché a Amos Lee fue en el disco Supply and Demand , su segundo álbum y publicado en 2006 por el histórico sello de jazz americano Blue Note. No es demasiado habitual encontrar artistas de este repertorio en este sello que aunque haga ya años que está alejado de la etiqueta jazz , no se prodiga demasiado en artistas del estilo de Amos Lee. El disco me gustó y me sigue gustando. Esta canción es la que abre su primer disco titulado Amos Lee también para Blue Note y editado en el año 2005. En el 2011 ha editado su último disco, el 4º, titulado Mission Bell también para la misma discográfica.

Dr. Dog - "That Old Black Hole"

Adelanto de su nuevo trabajo

Biography
by Stewart Mason
The Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog are part of a long tradition of D.I.Y. pop oddballs who blend unapologetic '60s pop worship with lo-fi recording techniques and an apparent disregard for current trends. The group began as a part-time offshoot of the more traditional indie rock act Raccoon. Over the course of several years, guitarist Toby Leaman and drummer Scott McMicken found enough free time to record the casual, sprawling 35-track set The Psychedelic Swamp in a basement rehearsal space, finally self-releasing it in 2001. As Raccoon ended, McMicken and Leaman transformed Dr. Dog into a proper band, with McMicken on guitar and Leaman on bass (the two shared songwriting and vocals), as well as guitarist Doug O'Donnell, keyboard player Zach Miller, and drummer Juston Stens. This lineup recorded 2003's more focused and poppy Toothbrush, which -- like The Psychedelic Swamp -- received a low-key, self-distributed release.

When My Morning Jacket's Jim James, a friend of Leaman and McMicken from their Raccoon days, hand-picked Dr. Dog to open for his band on an East Coast tour, the band's almost nonexistent national profile began to rise. With O'Donnell replaced by former Raccoon bassist Andrew Jones and several Philadelphia friends making guest appearances, 2005's Easy Beat was picked up for distribution by the indie label National Parking. Following its release, the band toured again with My Morning Jacket and M. Ward and performed several well-received sets during the 2006 South by Southwest festival in Austin. The stopgap EP Takers and Leavers was released in September 2006 in advance of We All Belong, which arrived in early 2007.

Throughout the rest of that year, Dr. Dog began posting previously unreleased tracks on their website; the songs were later released as Passed Away, Vol. 1 in March 2008. In the summer of that same year, the group released Fate. Fate featured some of the band's most polished production to date. It also became Dr. Dog's highest charting album, peaking at number 86 on the Billboard 200 and earning positive reviews from outlets like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. After touring in support of the album, the group signed with the ANTI- record label and released 2010's Shame, Shame, a modern album that featured more guitars than the band's earlier work. Golden Boots member Dimitri Manos, who had played with the band on Easy Beat, joined up with the band as a full member, and made his first appearance on a full-length album in 2012 with the release of Be the Void early that year.

5 feb 2012

The Dear Hunter: The Color Spectrum:


By Nianyi Hong 16 January 2012
The first thing that hits you about the Dear Hunter’s newest release, The Color Spectrum, is the length. Clearly, the Dear Hunter themselves understood that a 36-track, nine-EP collection of songs would be intimidating to the casual listener—to fix this issue, a shortened 11-song “greatest hits” compilation of the collection was created and released this June on CD. The Complete Collection itself was released at the same time on vinyl, but the band only recently put out a more accessible four-disc CD and DVD box set. But for those of us who have waiting for a CD release of The Complete Collection, it has been worth the wait. While the 11-song compilation of The Color Spectrum is excellent in it’s own right, it is the full collection that truly shines and shows The Dear Hunter as one of the most unique, creative, and ambitious acts in music today.

The Color Spectrum’s nine EPs each consist of four songs based on a color: Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and White. Each has a distinctive feel, from the industrial and post-hardcore sounds from the Black EP to the sunny pop of the Yellow EP. The collection gradually mellows from the intense to the quiet and to a final climax that combines all the genres previously used. The variety of styles is clear, but the bigger question has to be, “Is it done well?” The answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Remarkably, there is an EP for everyone in this vast collection.

Fans of Casey Crescenzo’s old band, the Receiving End of Sirens, will find both the Black and Red EPs as a good starting point since they, no doubt, have the bleakest sounds. Crescenzo himself has described Black as coming from a dark place. The tracks echo this feeling—“Never Forgive, Never Forget” starts with industrial drums that harkens to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails; it’s an epic and ominous track, introducing the Dear Hunter’s vast ambitions. Red is not as industrial as Black, as it mellows towards typical alt-rock. The sound gradually becomes more organic as the emotions take a calmer leaning from Black austerity.

These first two EPs are all that remains of the Dear Hunter’s post-hardcore beginnings. Orange is forgettable, but an adequate transition to the lighter sounds of Yellow and Green, which are the strongest EPs of the anthology. The Dear Hunter and Casey Crescenzo have rarely delved into indie-pop before, but Yellow shows that it’s a genre that they should attempt more. Both “She’s Always Singing” and “Misplaced Devotion” are perfect indie-pop singles with soaring choruses and ringing guitars. The juxtaposition of the Yellow EP with Red, Black, and Orange is stunning, as the transformation to bright, sunny pop is complete. “She’s Always Singing” in particular is one of the happiest and most uplifting songs of the year, and Yellow is easily the standout EP.

Green also finds the Dear Hunter branching out from it’s usual sound. This EP of mainly organic and acoustic tracks strips down songs into the most basic forms; the songs usually only consist of basic instrumentation—guitar, bass, drums—and harmonized vocals. It’s an unexpected and wholly appreciated break after the heft and pop of the previous tracks. Blue, Indigo, and Violet likewise each have their own sound. Blue adventures into post-rock, Indigo into electronica and ambient music, while Violet is perhaps the most similar to the Dear Hunter’s usual theatrical sound. All have their own charms.

The final climax comes with the White EP: an amalgamation of the first eight sets. The easiest way to describe White is that it soars with a life-affirming attitude. On “Home”, Crescenzo sings “Help is on the way / So come back home,” urging the listener to “not give up”. This, in essence, is the message of the final EP. By the end of the final track, “Lost But Not All Gone”, there is a feeling that nirvana and a final end to the journey has been reached, bringing together all that was fantastic about the first eight EPs and tying together all of the loose ends.

The Color Spectrum isn’t perfect, but with such an ambitious project, that’s to be expected. In particular, the Orange and Violet EPs tend to be on the weak side, but the sheer number of fantastic tracks—musically complex and accessible, lyrically intense and moving—outweighs these issues. It is rare that such a sweeping gesture is created; one with almost universal appeal is even rarer still. The Color Spectrum runs the gamut of the music spectrum from hardcore rock to post-rock and everything in between. Despite its flaws and over-ambition, it’s a true tour de force and one of the best albums of the year.

4 feb 2012

Charles Bradley

Un sueño hecho realidad

Biography
by Steve Leggett
Soul and R&B singer Charles Bradley definitely didn’t arrive as a recording artist by taking the easy route. Born in Gainesville, FL in 1948, but raised in Brooklyn, NY, Bradley spent a good part of his childhood living on the streets. A transformational moment came when his sister took him to see James Brown at the Apollo in 1962. Bradley was struck by Brown's energy and stage manner, and began practicing microphone tricks with a broom at home, dreaming of being a star on his own stage, and it was a dream he would never abandon in spite of all sorts of mishaps, misdirects, and general hard times. Bradley escaped Brooklyn by joining the federal program Job Corps, which took him to Bar Harbor, ME, where he learned to cook, a profession he was to fall back on time and time again. He also put together a band in Maine and began playing local gigs. The band didn’t last long, though, and when most of its members were drafted, and with the Vietnam War hanging in the air, Bradley moved to Wassaic, NY, where he worked as a cook at a hospital for the mentally ill. Nine years later, he left that position and hitchhiked west, ending up in Alaska for a time before moving to California, again taking a job as a chef, and for the next 20 years, he performed music on the side, playing whatever gigs he could find. When he was laid off from his position, though, he began to doubt the decision to live in so far from where he grew up, and he relocated back to Brooklyn, this time working at odd jobs instead of returning to being a chef. He never let go of his musical dreams, however, and he began performing his James Brown-inspired routines in such local clubs as Black Velvet, attracting a loyal following, and eventually capturing the attention of Gabriel Roth from Daptone Records, who immediately brought the fiery singer into label sessions, releasing a single, “Take It as It Comes,” that showed what Bradley had to offer as a vocalist. Roth also introduced Bradley to Thomas Brenneck, then a guitarist, songwriter, and home producer for Dirt Rifle & the Bullets. The pair had an affinity for each other musically, and together they released two singles on Daptone as Charles Bradley & the Bullets before the actual group by that name disbanded, with most of the members going in an Afro-beat direction with the Budos Band. Brenneck and Bradley continued to work together, though, and after Bradley told him about waking up in his home one morning to discover his nephew had shot and killed his brother, Brenneck suggested they tell the story in music as a catharsis and as a cautionary tale. The result, tracked with the Menahan Street Band, was a pair of impassioned singles, “The World (Is Going Up in Flames)” and “Heartaches and Pain,” which Brenneck released on his Daptone sub-imprint Dunham Records. These weren’t songs drawn from Bradley's Black Velvet act, but were instead highly personal and striking outings that put his own emerging voice as a singer and songwriter at the center of things. A full album for Dunham, No Time for Dreaming, appeared early in 2011.
Spofity

3 feb 2012

DAWES - Time Spent in Los Angeles (2011)

LOS MEJORES TEMAS DEL 2011

Nº 9 TIME SPENT IN LOS ANGELES

Después de ver el vídeo no sé si llamar a esta "Time Spent in Los Angeles" una de las mejores canciones del año o una de las canciones más bonitas del año. Al ver el vídeo me he quedado un poco Estrella Damm , sí esas canciones que sacan por la tele la marca cervecera para hacer su promoción. Dichosa globalización, esto es Menorca , Cadaques o Palm Beach ?, más boy meets girl , piscinas y caras de tontín! Global mainstream pop ! Les diré a los de la Damm que tengo una musiquita para ellos , les encantará. Stop al vídeo , me quedo con el disco que no lleva imagenes, una bonita canción, me gusta.

Chuck Prophet - Temple Beautiful

Single de su nuevo trabajo


by Hal Horowitz
Theme projects can be dicey propositions. For every successful one that examines a subject in a song cycle, many more fail miserably as performers strain and stretch lyrics to fit the matter at hand. Leave it to San Francisco's Chuck Prophet to turn that generalization upside-down on his twelfth studio release since the 1990 dissolution of Green on Red. This concept set centers on his San Francisco hometown. The 12 tunes on Temple Beautiful, named after an influential and long defunct S.F. punk club, sometimes only obliquely reference the city. In fact, without Prophet's song-by-song explanations in the press notes, it's often impossible to place this rootsy, melodic rock & roll to any particular location. Still, Prophet proudly declares that the album was "made in San Francisco, by San Franciscans about San Francisco." Regardless, this is another in a remarkably consistent series of terrific Prophet discs, filled with tightly wound blues-based rock, driven by his unassuming talk-sung vocals and ever-present, always imaginative Telecaster riffs. The dreamy trip-hop beats that once played a distinctive part in Prophet's sound have been replaced by a tough four-piece augmented by occasional horns, keyboards from producer Brad Jones, violin and cello, and even a guest vocal from San Francisco's Roy Loney, founding member of, and frontman for, the legendary Flamin' Groovies. The rather open-ended theme namechecks everyone from world-renowned S. F. figures such as Willie Mays to the far more obscure Emperor Norton, a British eccentric who moved there and a figure only those from the area would likely recognize. The 1978 Harvey Milk/George Moscone double homicide by Dan White is referenced in "White Night, Big City," but even those lyrics are obtuse with neither of the protagonist's names mentioned, although what sounds like found audio footage from the subsequent White Night Riots is a subtle addition. Some of the material least connected to the S.F. topic is the most successful. The lonely souls that populate "The Museum of Broken Hearts" have only a tangential relationship to AIDs, but the result is one of Prophet's most beautiful, moving, and mournful ballads, helped enormously by a simple, somewhat psychedelic elegiac violin that weaves throughout the chorus. The short '50s pastiche with Stax-styled soul sax and wife Stephanie Finch (oddly M.I.A. on many of these songs), "Little Girl, Little Boy" is a frisky antidote to some of the songwriter's darker, skewed visions. The latter is exemplified by the rocking and murderous "Who Shot John," another seemingly non-S.F. related item. Ultimately, despite his loftier intentions, this works perfectly well as another excellent Chuck Prophet collection that for most listeners only marginally adheres to its stated concept but is no less impressive because of that.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)

Para los seguidores de Peter Gabriel

Review
by Jon O'Brien
Stepping out from behind the piano/drums of Melbourne indie pop three-piece the Basics for the third time, Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist Wally De Backer, aka Gotye's first solo record in five years, Making Mirrors, reveals a love of the '80s pop scene, which extends far beyond the usual influences of the current nu-synth brigade. The hugely experimental follow-up to 2006's Like Drawing Blood doesn't discriminate against other decades, as evident on the impossibly uplifting '60s retro soul of "I Feel Better," the '70s West Coast harmonies of the ethereal lullaby-like closer "Bronte," the '90s Beck-esque scuzzy garage rock of "Easy Way Out," and the 2000s hushed, claustrophobic dubstep of "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You." But seemingly unaffected by the constant comparisons with the likes of Sting and Peter Gabriel, it's the era of early new wave, dub, and worldbeat which defines its 12 tracks. Unexpected chart-topper "Somebody That I Used to Know," a collaboration with New Zealand vocalist Kimbra, is an oddball break-up song whose stuttering rhythms, reggae hooks, and hushed vocals sound like the Police as remixed by the XX, "Smoke and Mirrors" echoes the avant-garde pop of Gabriel's So, with its pounding tribal drums, orchestral flourishes, and new age melodies, while there are also nods to George Michael's "Faith" on the acoustic gospel-pop of "In Your Light"; the impassioned Aussie rock of Midnight Oil on the ecologically themed "Eyes Wide Open," and electro pioneer Thomas Dolby on the strange, vocodered vocals, spoken word samples, and skank guitars of the trippy "State of the Art." Familiar they may be, but some credit has to go to De Backer for managing to weave these eclectic retro sounds into a cohesive affair, which proves that along with recent efforts by Art vs. Science and Architecture in Helsinki, Australia is fast becoming one of the biggest purveyors of quality experimental pop.

2 feb 2012

The Horrors - Changing The Rain (2011)

LAS MEJORES CANCIONES DEL 2011

Nº8

He de confesar que los dos primeros discos de The Horrors no me gustaron demasiado , pero este "Skying" sí. Iba a colgar el tema que me parece el más destacado que se llama "You Said", pero difícil encontrar algo digno en you tube , así que me he decidido por este que abre el álbum llamado "Changing The Rain".
Grandes influnecias de Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, y un sonido de teclado muy a lo Orchestral Manouvres in The Dark!.



Supongo que estaréis de acuerdo, no? :-)




Hacemos una votación como con Wilco?