Fiddles on Friday XVIII

Finally a new Fiddles on Friday and today it's up to Mack Jonsson

photo by owlblake

Mack Jonsson is born and raised in Quesnel Canada, he started busking there to buy a new skatboard :). But let's first take a look at Mack and his fiddle skills while he's busking in Victoria back in 2011 this is the song "Reubens Train". Yeehaa, and a nice voice too, Mack is also fiddler in the alternative country band "The Wicks" and in "Ain't Dead yet" "Cats in Distress" and on the moment he's also touring with "The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra" because their fiddler Patrick M’Gonigle has left the band. Busy guy! Let's take a look at busking band "Cats in Distress" Here's the latest album "Clouds" from his band The Wicks they are releasing a new album in April. And to end with, here is the latest album of "The Mockingbird Orchestra" Follow My Lead, Lead me to Follow. This is not played by Mack himself on the album but he's touring with this band right now, enjoy

Tinseling Thursday II

The second Tinseling Thursday is for the Belgian band Balthazar

Balthazar is Maarten Devoldere, Jinte Deprez, Patricia Vanneste, Simon Casier and Christophe Claeys from the neighbourhood of Ghent....i don't know if there's something in the tapwater over there but there's a lot going on in Ghent! Balthazar just released their second album Rats, but first i take you back to their first album Applause (2010), and the opening song from that album "Fifteen Floors" ...sorry there's no official video from this song. Strange song isn't it? I like that trumpet plunger sample and the strange lazy vocals. The album Rats was released oktober last year and it is also a little masterpiece. Here's the song "The Oldest Of Sisters" On soundcloud you can listen to the full album Applause, enjoy.

Warm Wednesday XVIII

Today again a warm wednesday with the Foals

 
Foals are an English rock band from Oxford and Foals are Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan, Jimmy Smith, Walter Gervers, Edwin Congreave. "Why is this a warm wednesday band?" you may think, just listen to those African sounding guitar rifs. Sounds a little like Two Door Cinema Club or Paul Simon in his Graceland era. I discovered Foals 2-3 years ago because of the beautiful video they had made for the song Blue Blood. Watch this kid! The band's third album Holy Fire was released a week ago, and it's a great warm sounding album. Or like NME says "The Oxford art-rockers cast off their spiky, mathletic shackles and head for the big league with their third album!" Listen for example to "My Number" which will get the most airplay on radio etc i guess.

Here are some grooveshark links to the latest album "Holy Fire" ..enjoy! And here's "Late Night" And we end with the warm wednesdaysong "Stepson"

Tinseling Thursday I

No Thunder but Tinsels today:) This is Vacationer Formed in 2011 as a side project for Philly-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Kenny Vasoli
Vacationer blends the escapist dream pop of Beach House with the quasi-mystical electro-pop of Animal Collective. Rhythmic, heady, and hypnotic yet peppered with heartfelt lyrics and genuine emotion, Vacationer released its debut EP in 2011, followed by the full-length Gone in 2012; both were put out by Downtown Records. I think it sounds a bit like Avalanches or Jens Lekman, lot of nice old crispy samples blended together into new music. Live it's also worth listening, here's a kind of unplugged version of "Be With You". Via soundcloud you can enjoy the album "Gone"

Warm Wednesday XVII

Warm voice, quiet fingerpicking guitars Neil Halstead is giving us the perfect ingredients for this warm wednesday.

Neil Halstead is a British guitarist and singer. In 2002, 4AD (a British independent record label) released his debut solo album, Sleeping on Roads. Following his departure from 4AD, a second solo album, Oh! Mighty Engine was released by Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records on July 29, 2008. The album was partly recorded in Johnson's solar powered studio in Los Angeles before being completed at a Second World War airfield in Britain. The Guardian has compared Oh! Mighty Engine to the work of Nick Drake and Bert Jansch. Halstead has said of his solo work that it's "really good doing something on my own" instead playing with the bands Slowdive and Mojave 3. Let's listen to the song "Tied To You", to understand the comparison with Nick Drake Neil's third solo album, 'Palindrome Hunches', was released on September 11, 2012, from that album here's the song "Full Moon Rising" On soundcloud we can hear his full album, thank you! Check that opening song...instant warmth, enjoy!

Tuesdays got Talent XV

Today it's the indie psychedelic rock band Stadt from Ghent to show us their skills.

How can a new young band sound so familiar and trusted? It's the sound i suppose, bringing back memories.. going back to the times of 12 minute songs, liquid slides and experiments...

here's "Bits of Time". Stadt are Fulco Ottervanger, Frederik Segers, Joris Cool and Simon Segers. Their upcoming debutalbum 'Some Kind of Diversion' mixes indie-rock with a small cloud of psychedelia. Hope they have this song on it it's "Little Craver" played on their first appearance ...nice debute!

Misty Monday XVIII

Today it's up to Meursault to put us back on track.

Meursault are a Scottish indie rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 2006 and Led by singer-songwriter Neil Pennycook. The band's musical style has been variously categorised as folktronica, alternative rock and indie folk. The name of the band is a reference to the main character of L'Etranger, the existentialist novel by Albert Camus but Meursault is also a whine and a commune in France :) We start the week a bit cautious with this performance of "A Mother Arms" The band are noted for their use of traditional acoustic instruments such as guitar, banjo, harmonium and ukulele, accompanied by electronic sounds and beats generated by drum machines, samplers and synthesisers. Pennycook possesses a powerful singing voice, which, in combination with the unorthodox instrumentation, lends the band a distinctive sound. So we go ahead for some more uptempo music and a song to exemplify their use of synths and drumcomputers here's "Crank Resolutions". In 2012 they released their third album " Something for the weakened" From that album this track with a more acoustic approach "Lament for a teenage millionare" And we end with the same song we started with but now it's the album version, of "A Mothers Arms".

Warm Wednesday XVI

Today we have Radical Face giving us some nice warm sounds.

Radical Face is Ben Cooper from Jacksonville, Florida, who also makes up one-half of Electric President and Iron Orchestra and one third of Mother's Basement. The name Radical Face was chosen after seeing it on a flyer. He later found out it was a plastic surgery flyer saying 'Radical Face-Lift' with the word 'lift' ripped off. I love his music, nice layered songs with a light and happy kind of summer feeling, although the themes and lyrics are the opposite. I think most of us know the song "Welcome Home" it has been featured in several advertisements and films. On November 16, 2010 Cooper released a six-track EP titled Touch The Sky which serves as an appetizer for an announced trilogy of albums called Family Tree. Leading up to the release of The Roots, The Bastards: Volume One EP was released track by track. The first album, titled The Roots was released on October 4, 2011. The Roots will be followed by The Branches and The Leaves'. Clone, an album by Ben Cooper and Richard Colado was announced to be released through Bear Machine Records and available by fall of 2012. In September, 2012, it was announced that the record was delayed and will be should be released in january 2013..... probably they are on their way. The latest contribute on the Radical Face website is the Roots, the first of the Family Tree trilogy, here are the soundcloud links to "Ghost Towns" and "Always Gold" We keep you informed when there's some new material

Tuesdays got Talent XIV

Todays talent is Anthony Chorale

Anthony Chorale is the moniker of Dutch guitarist Olivier Heim and is currently based in Warsaw. Olivier Heim is joined by Karolina Rec on cello and Thomas Pettit on drums. They released a beautiful EP called "Ambitions of the Son".

It has a little bit of Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Mercury Rev and Bon Iver in it. And I think cold and dark Warsaw is reflected on the sound and style of the EP, it sounds so melancholic and maybe I'm wrong but I think to hear some homesickness in it :) but I like that. Lets listen to Wander Home. You can listen to the entire EP via Bandcamp, enjoy There's only one downside, the songs are too short. On soundcloud there's some older work, which I like too, here's "In the Light Of Sleep"

Misty Monday XVII

It was a nice but tiring weekend so it's a bummer mondaymorning has already arrived. To ease that pain I call in our friends from "The Appleseed Cast"

The Appleseed Cast is an American post-rock band based in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, composed of singer/guitarist Christopher Crisci, bassist Nathan Whitman, guitarist Taylor Holenbeck and drummer Nathan Wilder. The band was formed in 1997 under the name December's Tragic Drive. The following year, the band - now billed as The Appleseed Cast - signed to Deep Elm Records out of New York and released their debut album, The End of the Ring Wars, an album which met with considerable approval from the emo and underground scenes, as incendiary tracks like "Marigold & Patchwork" were essentially blueprints for the emo style. The band's predominantly guitar-based music has evolved from intense, heavy emo indebted to such acts as Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate to a unique "post-rock" sound hinging on inventive, intricate drumming, subtle guitar arpeggios, and a vast range of effects. I think this is a perfect misty monday band and the song "A Dream For Us" from the 2003 album "Two Conversations" is the proof. More recently (june 2011) they released the 4-track EP "Middle States" I'm really excited because april 9th they will release their album "Illumination Ritual". Møpkemuziek will of course keep an eye on them so when there's new material we'll let you know. In the meantime, Graveface Records has made the song “North Star Ordination” — The Appleseed Cast‘s contribution to Graveface Records’ Coalition for the Homeless fundraising efforts — available to stream for free on soundcloud, enjoy.