Something Old...
To be honest the fact Gomez are touring again isn’t news worthy but the forthcoming gig in April (tickets available from www.seetickets.com – see you there) has an unusual twist as they are allowing fans to pick the entire set list, which has of course, made my day! The Southport indie 4 piece Ian Ball, Tom Gray, Ben Ottewell, Olly Peacock and Blackie are highly distinguished for having three singers and four songwriters, employing traditional and electronic instruments. Their sound is versatile and evades typical music genres falling into blues, indie, alternative, rock, folk, psychedelic and experimental.
Their debut album ‘Bring it On’ won the 1998 Mercury Prize (beating Pulp, Massive Attack and the Verve), giving them much media attention in the UK and throughout the world. The album later won awards from NME, Q and a Brit nomination. 1999’s follow-up album ‘Liquid Skin’ was another brilliant piece of music but just before their third (2002) album ‘In Our Gun’ their record company was forced to downsize (however still half of the album was recorded at Abbey Road) and on the following record ‘Split the Difference’ was disbanded by Virgin/EMI. The band’s sound never really reached the heights of their debut offerings but I will always love them for a discography that includes ‘Gte Myself Arrested', ‘How We Operate’ ‘Bring it On’, ‘See the World’, ‘Rhythm and Blues Alibi’ and the awesome ‘Whippin Piccadilly’...
Something New...
Last week I got my first chance to catch Band of Skulls live for the first time as they supporting the Black Keys. The blues/ alt rock 3 piece from Southampton did not disappoint despite the hype after the success of their debut album ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’, released exclusively on iTunes and the lead single ‘I Know What I Am’ was chosen as iTunes free single of the week, the highest form of modern promotion. Although you may not be too familiar with their name you may recognize their music as it features heavily in many US movies, TV series and games - they have gone onto support the Dead Weather, BRMC and opened for Muse.
Last year the band released ‘The Devil Takes Care Of His Own’ - the first single to be taken from their new album. The second studio album ‘Sweet Sour’ that also includes the title track and ‘Bruises’ was produced by Ian Davenport (Supergrass/ Badly Drawn Boy) and is planned for UK and European release at the end of the month (Feb 21st).
Something Borrowed...
This weeks cover is inspired by the first UK Number 1 song that has moved me in a long while, well to be honest, more - not compelled me to smash the nearest radio. 'Somebody That I Used to Know' is a song by Belgian-Australian singer and songwriter Gotye from his third studio album 'Making Mirrors' and features Kiwi singer Kimbra. The song was written by Gotye himself, lyrically about the experiences he has had with relationships, quite contrasting on valentines eve.
The song was released into critical acclaim by music critics and a surprising success in Australia, peaking at number one in the country for eight weeks, becoming the longest running Australian song since...er...Savage Garden (I thought the Australians were cool?).
Any way this brilliant cover is by Canadian indie band Walk off the Earth. Their version is notable for the fact that they appear to use a single guitar, played simultaneously by five people using different strings and surfaces, for all the instrumentation. As of today, it has over 52 million views on YouTube so the chances are if your reading my blog you will already have seen it. Nevertheless, enjoy...
Something Blue...
Happy Mondays fill this weeks’ ‘Something Blue’ slot after they announced, yet another comeback to pay off their dealers. Salford’s finest Shaun Ryder and Bez take to the stage once work but it really is luck of the draw what you will witness on the day dependant on whether their on uppers or downers...luckily I had a rare opportunity to see Shaun perform at a local festival Chester Rocks last year and he was on top form. On their day they are utterly brilliant and back catalogue speaks for itself but when they are bad they are aweful.
The 2nd and 3rd album 88’s ‘Bummed’ and 1990s ‘Pills n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ (produced by Paul Oakenfold) are reknown by many as definitive classic albums of the Madchester generation. Fusing house/ northern soul and aspects of funk it spawned the singles ‘Step On’ and the anthem ‘Kinky Afro’ both of which reached top 5 in the UK...
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