Wednesday "Weminder"

Our Tuesdays got talent band NOSOYO is presenting their debut album "Just Before The Faint" today in Bitterzoet in Amsterdam. Nice way to spend your warm wednesday evening.

Warm Wednesday VII

Well out here it's getting cold so today it's simply the Beth....Beth Orton who's giving us a warm wednesday.

Beth Orton, is a BRIT Award–winning English singer-songwriter. Known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica, she was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s — but these were not Orton's first recordings. She released a solo album, Superpinkymandy, in 1993. Since the album was only released in Japan, it went largely unnoticed by international audiences. Her second solo album, Trailer Park, garnered much critical acclaim in 1996. With the release of the albums Central Reservation (1999) and the 2002 album Daybreaker, with up tempo pop songs and acoustic ballads. It featured guest appearances from musicians such as The Chemical Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams and Four Tet. It was a great commercial success, reaching the top 8 of the UK album chart, and received largely positive from the press, ranging from "Her best work yet" from Mojo magazine. Beth developed a devoted fan base. On her 2006 release, Comfort of Strangers, she has moved towards a more folk-based sound and away from the electronic sound of past albums. This year she released the Album "Sugaring Season" (another carbon neutral album by the way). Here's the full album stream on Youtube starting with the beautiful song "Magpie" She once said "My voice sounds like a piano with a quirky key". Thats what I like! Here's a soundcloud link to Magpie.

Tuesdays Got Talent VII

Todays talent is Maïa Vidal

Maïa Vidal (born February 20, 1988) is an American-born composer, songwriter, musician, and visual artist. Currently based in Europe (primarily Barcelona and Paris). one year and a day ago she released her cd "God Is My Bike" It was recorded in Barcelona and was released in Europe and Japan by the Belgian label Crammed Discs on October 31, 2011. It's a fresh and surprisingly mature debut album The record includes 12 tracks, all original compositions except for ‘It's Quite Alright,’ (Rancid) and features a collaboration with guitarist Marc Ribot. Giuliano Gius Cobelli engineered, coproduced and played the trumpet and the drums while MAÏA sang and played all the other instruments. Sometimes her songs and voice reminds me of Silje Nergaard. Here's a live performance of "God is my bike" And here's the official video of "Follow Me" And here's the link to soundcloud

Misty Monday VII

Today its up to Lost in the Trees to give us a nice start up of this week.

Lost in the Trees is an American orchestral folk pop band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their current line up consists of: Ari Picker (writer/vocals), Emma Nadeau (french horn/vocals), Drew Anagnost (cello), Jenavieve Varga (violin), and Mark Duamen (tuba). Lead singer Ari Picker cites diverse influence such as Beethoven, Radiohead, Vivaldi, Neutral Milk Hotel, Saint-Saëns, and OutKast, among others. In march this year they released a new album called: "A Church That Fit Our Needs" In the summer of 2009 Ari Picker – writer, composer, and architect of the band – lost his mother, an artist in her own right, when she took her own life. Picker was in the midst of releasing his band’s debut album, All Alone in an Empty House, a collection of folk-inflected songs that surprised with its orchestral arrangements. Picker took the loss of his mother and set about transforming the events into a tribute, composing, writing lyrics, his mother’s picture above his writing desk: the same picture that now graces the album’s cover.

“I wanted to give her a space, in the music, to be, and to become all the things she didn’t get a chance to be when she was alive.” Here's the video of the song "Red" While this might sound on paper like a somber affair, A Church That Fits Our Needs is anything but. Picker, a classically trained composer, has Shostakovich and Stravinsky at his fingertips, but the music on this album speaks just as much to his love of Phil Spector and old film scores. The swooping strings on “Golden Eyelids” could come straight out of an old Drifters hit, while the orchestral breakdowns in the midst of “Red” recall the haunting soundtracks Bernard Herrmann composed for Alfred Hitchcock. It's a beautiful album, nice arranged songs and choirs. It has a real misty monday feeling and it wil allso be a nice christmas record due to the nice choirs. Here's a soundcloud link.

Fiddles on Friday VII

Timewarp! We go back to the 70's and we're going to Ireland, land of the master fiddlers. And Kevin Burke is a master.

Kevin Burke is an Irish fiddler considered one of the top living Irish fiddlers. Born in London in 1950, moved to Ireland in 1974 where, two years later, he became a member of the The Bothy Band. In 1979 Burke moved to the United States and there he formed a duo with guitarist and former Bothy Band member Mícheál Ó Domhnaill. First lets start with a song he played in 1980 together with Mícheál Ó Domhnaill This is the song "Glen of Aherlow".... by the way, doesn't he look a little bit like that other Kevin..Kevin Costner in this video? When he started in the Bothy Band he was a follow up for the allso legendary Tommy Peoples, that was a hard task but he did it with great admirability. First take a look and a listen to Kevin with The Bothy Band back in 1976 with the song Green Groves of Erin And here another couple of great songs with the Bothy Band...nice way to start the weekend...don't try to sit still because you can't. And discover what a timeless structure some songs have. If you put a hard beat under it and play the lines with synthesizers you could call it Dance / Trance / House whatever, it still rocks. Just enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you back on misty monday :)

Thunder on Thursday VI

Wake up because it's Thundersday with Resistor

Photo by: Kees van Mansom

Resistor (resistor [rɪˈzɪstə] < an electrical component designed to introduce a known value of resistance into a circuit >) is a Dutch band from Almere. Almere is the youngest city in the Netherlands, it is build in a former lake. This well planned, maybe too well, city with its repetitive city-blocks and mirrored office buildings inspires the band to go against all the planned paths and well thought efficiency based rules. “It was a necessity to create a loud voice that would stand up against all the planned paths that lay before us" They say on their website. Resistor are: Dick Roseboom (beatcreator), Wietze Vink (guitar) and Dennis Jansen (vocals). Their music is an explosive combination of rock, rap, electro, techno and punk, they like to call it Rave & Rock. Live they blow your socks off. They could be the offspring of The Prodigy and Rage against the machine. Here's a live gig video of the song "Trigger" to prove their skills they released a debut EP called "The Bastards Have Landed" in october 2011. The 6 track EP is released in a very nice Limited Edition 5'2 Floppy Disk Sleeve. And they are so nice to share the album with us via bandcamp, enjoy!

Warm Wednesday Vl

Today it's up to Christian Kjellvander to give us a warm wednesday.

Christian Kjellvander is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He played in the alt country band Loosegoats. After that, he went solo in 2001 with some very nice records as a result. I've heard the song "Portugal" on (one of my favourite online radio) Radioparadise and I thought: Thats a welcome warm wednesday song. His voice is very warm and has a little "country" feel like for example Richard Buckner. First let's hear Portugal. And here's "Two Souls", someone said "If the Beach Boys made country it would sound like this":) There's no real recent work from him and a soundcloud link is unfindable but I hope you can live with this. Here's a song from his latest album The Rough And The Rynge(2010) the song "Bad Hurtn"

Tuesdays got Talent Vl

Todays talent is the Amsterdam 6 update: 5 piece group called NOSOYO

Nosoyo are: Donata Kramarz ,Jasja Offermans, Joost Le Feber, David Stapel and Wessel van der Kroef. They are going to release their debut album "Just before the faint" on 31 october in Bitterzoet in Amsterdam. It's a beautiful album with some nice compositions. Especially the opening track "Close To Me" is a beauty. Nice arranged voices and the changes with different guitar sounds work great. It reminds me of "Goodbye" from TOE (misty monday) because of the use of fender rhodes, vibraphones etc.in combination with the guitarpicking and drums, but this has more variety and changes. Another great song in my opinion is The closest to Death. You can listen to the entire album on soundcloud but first I want you to take a look at this little jewel recorded somewhere in Limburg during a writing session. Here's the full album on soundcloud, enjoy.

Misty Monday Vl

You don't expect Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor on a misty monday issue but he is with this project How To Destroy Angels

How to Destroy Angels is a musical group featuring Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross. Rob Sheridan is the group's art director.The group is named after a 1984 Coil single of the same name. A month ago, Trent Reznor announced that the band's second EP, An Omen EP would be released on Columbia Records in November 2012, and that some of the songs on the EP would later appear on the band's first full length album in 2013. What we have on this misty mondays issue is the perfect song for today, "Keep it together" It has a kind of Bristol Sound (tricky/portishead/massive attack). And here's the soundcloud link to "A Drowning"

Fiddles on Friday VI

Todays FOF is for Master fiddler and singer Marques Toliver

You might have encountered his name if you've listened to Bat for Lashes, or Grizzly Bear. I saw him at Later with Jools Holland on the BBC. And someone else could have spot him busking in New York or London. That's how he learned his skills, by performing on street and again and again trying to catch the audience attention with his music. Darwin could have wrote a book about this. But he got the attention of Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio)Kyp invited him in the studio and I bet the rest is history. And when you hear his music on cd (studiowork) you hear some very nice arrangements He sometimes sounds a bit like Stevie Wonder or John Legend. Enjoy " White Sails" and the more uptempo song "Deep in my Heart" have a nice weekend and I hope to see you back on monday!

Thunder on Thursday V

Todays Thunder is for The Rival Sons

The Rival Sons is an American blues-rock band from New York and consists of Jay Buchanan - Vocals, Scott Holiday - Guitar, Robin Everhart - Bass, Mike Miley - Drums. They made a new album called Head Down and this song I want to share with you for this Thunder on thursday. It's rock with a motown soul. listen to The Heist And here's last years hit " Pressure and Time" And here are some soundcloud listening worth links, enjoy

Warm Wednesday V

And warm it's going to be with Kråkesølv

Kråkesølv (Norwegian for "mica") is a pop band from Bodø Norway formed in late 2007 and began playing concerts in the spring of 2008 Kråkesølv current lineup consists of Thomas Trust, Petter Unstad, Frederick Olsen (the singer) and Christopher Unstad. I saw this Norwegian band on Youtube a year ago with this very heartwarming video and excellent performed song Utten Tittel. Again a DIY homemade video, those Scandinavian nights must be inspiring. You understand I was sold. They not only make beautiful indie guitar based music but the songs are companied with some very nice videos like Skredder. The proof is in the pudding and the pudding is music, what about this spontanious street concert? Play while walking :-) Here's the song Stødig som en bauta from their latest album Alle gode ting And here's a soundcloud link to again a song from the recent album alle gode ting

Tuesdays got Talent V

How youtube can help your career? Lukas Graham

Lukas Graham from Danmark proves that a simple but well performed video of a homemade living room gig can be the start of a musical career. Funky voice, a nice ambiance, some friends and lager. Nice!

Misty Monday V

Man from the South is a Roald Dahl story filmed by Alfred Hitchcock (1960 with Steve mc Queen). But it's also the alias of Dutch singer/songwriter Paul van Hulten.

And he made a beautiful debut album called "Koblenz". He made this melancholic album with some friends in 2009 and initially it was supposed to be a kind of therapeutic album, not made for any audiance or with any ambitions but purely for himself. But after some time a friend heard it and he was floored, told it to other friends and the train was gone. And I can imagine. This 10 song CD doesn't belong on a dusty shelf. Listen for example to this song "Welcome to Camacua". or the opening song "William", a perfect misty mondaysong to start the week with. ~I don't know what that feeling is, but I guess that's what this album is really about. I call it the twilight."~ Paul van Hulten said about his album and that's a good conclusion, it's twilight. Here's the bandcamp link to his full album....free.. but support him please because I like to hear more MFTS in the future.

Fiddles on Friday V

Today we have Hooverphonic in our Fiddles on Friday theme.

Hooverphonic is a Belgian band. Normally their music is very produced if you know what I mean. It's studio music with lots of synth-strings / horns and effected guitars. I love their music (most songs are arranged and produced by Alex Callier) songs as "Mad About You" "Jackie Cane" or "Sometimes" are classics and I follow this group since the late nineties. They had a few changes in their cast and since a year or so they have a new singer Noémie Wolfs. But now, now they made an orchestral cd with their own songs and some covers in a classic orchestrated arrangement. Just enjoy this and have a nice weekend This is such a beautiful version of the Massive Attack song "Unfinished Sympathie". Here you can hear Sometimes And to end with some violins here's "Mad About You"

Thunder on Thursday IV

Yes we got a new album of Danko Jones

Danko Jones is a Canadian rock band from Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass guitar) and Atom Willard (drums). And now they made a new album called "Rock and Roll is Black and Blue", and it's a worthy Thunder on Thursday. Check this track 4 "Just a Beautiful Day". The album is produced in full by Matt DeMatteo and was mixed by Mike Fraser, known for his work with AC/DC, Aerosmith, Franz Ferdinand and Elvis Costello to name a few. It is also the first album recorded with “new” drummer Atom Willard. The new album follows the June release of Bring On The Mountain – a two disc DVD featuring a 90 minute documentary, a short film, exclusive live clips from around the world and all the music videos they have ever done. And for a short timeframe you can listen to their full album via the Dutch website 3voor12

Warm Wednesday IV

Today there's a warm wednesday because of Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult is an experimental indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota led by singer/songwriter Craig Minowa. The name originated from the ancient prophecies of indigenous North Americans. They developed in 1995 as Craig Minowa recruited several other artists to contribute to his solo recordings. The band's early work earned Cloud Cult several offers from record labels, but all were rejected in favor of self-publishing. As they began to play live, one of their show's most distinctive features was the live painting by Connie Minowa and Scott West: over the course of a show they each completed a painting to be auctioned off at the end.

They are nominated for this warm wednesday issue because of their song "Unexplainable Stories". This song starts with a nice arrangement of French Horns which is in my opinion one of the warmest instrument-sounds I know. Overal their music is very dynamic and with beautiful orchestrated compositions. Here is the live version of unexplainable Stories for KEXP radio. Here's the soundcloud link to the EP "Running with the Wolves" lsiten to their version of mr. Tambourine man

Tuesdays got Talent IV

Todays talent is again a Belgian Band called Sleepers Reign.

This four headed band (Jasper Verdonck , Lukas Hermans, Ruben Mertens en Orson Wouters) describes their own music as minimal, dubstep, electronica. I think it's a little of it all, blended with some poppy phrases. They make some beautiful soundscapy'ish music and the vocals wrapped around the music sounds a little like a solo instrument, they often double their vocals one octave higher. Yesterday we had Poliça in the Misty Monday issue, and I think this talented band is a perfect follow up. And like you may know I love those homemade DIY videos! They do a great job in their live gigs and were finalists in Humo's Rock Rally (Belgians biggest rock contest they earned the public price). They also made a beautiful minimalistic cover of Bob Dylans "Like a rolling stone". Here's the soundcloud link

Misty Monday IV

today were going to have a misty monday with Poliça.

Poliça (often written as Polica) is an American indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota with an electronic and R&B sound. The band was founded in 2011 by Ryan Olson and Channy Leaneagh who had previously collaborated in the soft rock band Gayngs. Poliça produces very characteristic songs like Dark Star The voice of Cahnny is processed with some vocoding effects and the drums sounds heavy, like taped in a big room. The song Amongster is in my opinion a perfect Misty Monday Song. All their songs are anyhow a bit mysterious and dark. I hear some similarities with Belgian band SX. Here you can listen to the soundcloud songs

Fiddles on Friday IV

We've probably all heard a song of this musician (he made the music of the movie "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain". And if you have not seen that movie you probably heard the music elsewhere in a tv serie or commercial.) But what I didn't knew was that Yann Tiersen is also a very talented fiddler. Yann Tiersen

His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved. It can be recognized by its use of a large variety of instruments; primarily the guitar, synthesizer or violin together with instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, accordion and typewriter. Tiersen is often mistaken for a composer of soundtracks, himself saying "I'm not a composer and I really don't have a classical background", but his real focus is on touring and studio albums which just happen to often be suitable for film. His most famous soundtrack for the film Amélie was primarily made up of tracks taken from his first two studio albums. I didn't knew he is also a very talented fiddler until I saw him on the tinydesk sessions. So I went searching on youtube for more evidence with this nice song as a result. Sur le Fil And here you can enjoy the tiny desk session that triggered me. Enjoy and have a nice weekend Here you can hear his album Dust Lane (2010)that he made with particiaption of Matt Elliot and Syd Matters.

Thunder on Thursday III

Today's thunder is for Honky

This Austin Superboogie trio was founded in 1996 by Butthole Surfer bassist JD Pinkus, Lance Farley (Thighmaster and Nipple 5) on the drums, and rounded out by Bobby Ed Landgraf (Gahdzilla Motor Company, Blowfly) on guitar. They recently released a new 11 track album called 421. 421 was recorded at Willie Nelson's famed Pedernales Studio in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Willie Nelson that country guy? Yeah that Willie. But this album sounds okay! You automatically screw up the volume after the first notes and you'll go on tapping, banging, shaking till the last note and then you're knackered. It's dangerous to play this in your car because you will surely drive over the speedlimit. On the other side there's no better place to play this cd than in a car (and not on those cramped Dutch roads but in the vast wide open landscape of Texas). Not only the guitar sounds dirty in a positive way the vocals are also worth listening and the album is going crescendo to the last song "Black Joe's Bitch". Unfortunately there are no soundcloud links or streams so I'm gonna link you to some old songs.

Warm Wednesday III

Today we have a duo that caused me a lot of goosebumps the first time I heard them. "The Milk Carton Kids"

This is a perfect candidate for the warm wednesday issue. The Milk Carton Kids (after the missing kids portraits printed on milk cartons)are Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan from Los Angeles, California (warmth enough there). They were formed in early 2011 and almost imediatly caused a buzz in the folk scene and picked up by the NPR (National Public radio). That's were I heard them first at the 15 minute Tiny desk concerts performing their songs "Michigan" (my favourite) "Stealing Romance" and "I Still Want A Little More". The interweaving of their voices and guitars is done delicate and they harmonize perfectly. The songs (mostly ballads)with a country twist are very easy and comfortable, perfect for long drives through boring landscapes. Style? Think the offspring of Simon and Garfunkel made love with Emmylou Harris with Jayhawks on the radio. (sorry for this image). Did I mention you can download their Ep's, "Prologue" and "Retrospect" for free at their site?

Tuesdays got talent III

Today we got a folk trio from the Netherlands (Utrecht) for the tuesdays got talent issue. They are called Oh Brave Wide Eyes

The members are: Annelotte de Graaf, Casper Broekaart en Myrthe van de Weetering. Their songs are pure and very intimate. They released their debut EP in januari 2012 and it's called "The Tascam Recordings". All their songs are recorded analogue (Tascam is a brand of multitrack recorders). They sound a bit like Fleet Foxes and I hear some Blaudzun influences. The songs are very straightforward and pure, no overdubs, no effects, just guitar, chamber-organs (the pre-electric one they call "harmonium" in Dutch, this is a organ where you pump the air in with your feet)and their voices. Here's the song Purpose and Place. They were a support act for Dry the River and are selected for "Popronde" a Dutch travelling festival in 32 cities across the country. Here you can listen to their EP and if you want you can download it for free.

Misty Monday III

Let's start the week with Kaki King.

When I first heard this name I thought it was an African male artist. Was I wrong, nothing like it, he's a she and she's no African but American. And she is a very talented guitarist. In February 2006, Rolling Stone released a list of "The New Guitar Gods," on which King was the sole woman and youngest artist. And what about he words that Dave Grohl(Foo Fighters) said about her: "There are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitar players that are really fucking good. And then there's Kaki King." I hear you say "Now where's the misty in this monday because this all sounds very clear". You're right most of the songs Kaki King produces are very clear indeed but there are some exceptions like: You don't have to be afraid. With only two lines of lyrics in a 8 minute song and with a beautiful building-up this one's perfect for a misty monday. You can easily fill a complete evening with her songs without thinking...mmm this is getting a bit tedious. She is so productive and has such a great repertoire that I cannot make a nice selection with highlights also it is very mood bounded. Sometimes I like the lap steel guitar song "Gay Sons Of Lesbian Mothers" and sometimes the more poppy "Pull me out alive" . Oh did I mention she's releasing a new album october 9th? Just take the time to discover her great ouevre...