Tinseling Thursday IX

Today it's up to Theo Bass to give us the thursday tinsels!

Theo Bass is an Oxford based music maker working on his first EP, as he describes himself on his facebook page. I found almost no pics of him so we have to do it with this blurry live pic he posted on his soundcloudpage. But it's the music that counts and he has made some beautiful tracks, for example Mr. Stellakis!
I like the chirpy sounds he uses to make his rhythm tracks. His profound rhythms are tantalizing anyway, listen for example to the song "Slovenian Police" it's a beauty. He's playing at the Brainchild Festival in Canterbury (UK) 5-7 july. On his soundcloud he is posting lots of nice dreamy soundscape stuff, songs like King Karl, Lit and JAB, enjoy!

Warm Wednesday XXIII

Today it's up to the Treetop Flyers to give us some warmth.

And we're desperate. Summer didn't show it's face until now and in a month time days are shortening again so.....some anti-depression music for the sunlovers:)
Treetop Flyers are a folk rock band based in London. Consisting of Reid Morrison, Sam Beer
Laurie Sherman, Matthew Starrit and Tomer Danan. They won the Glastonbury Festival Festival Emerging Talent Competition 2011 and released their debut album 'The Mountain Moves' in the UK on 29 April 2013 and it's a real beauty. Some oldschool rock songs that makes me want to drive a convertible on endless American roads with their music on the background!
First let's listen to the uplifting opening track of the album: Things will change

Nice choirs and guitarsolo's and the whole music's got a kind of "Summer Festivals Here We Come!!" sauce all over it. .... more, more we need more! Okay then we're going listen to the ballad "Rose is in the Yard", with a warm guitar opening this song, giving it a Rod Steward'ish "I am Sailing" feeling. I imagine myself on a warm summer evening with a piña colada in the hammock listening to this song.
Click here to listen to Rose is in the Yard It reminds me of an older song of them called "It's about time"
Convinced? I was! It's instant summer with these guys so here's the full album, enjoy!

Fiddles on Friday XX

Today we have no fiddler but a beautiful cellist avant cellist named Zoë Keating

photo by Jeffrey Rusch

Zoë Keating is a Canadian-born cellist and composer based in San Francisco, California. Zoë is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music. She's the Andrew Bird or Kishi Bashi on cello. First let's take a look at a stunning performance she did for Wired, this song is called "The Escape Artist". It's a perfect performance. In her shoes I would be affraid technology would fail or let me down... like computers sometimes do, but probably the loopstation is not Windows based ;-) I think she writes great compositions and never a dull moment no endles repeating but nice variations of rhythm, sounds, sphere, richness. It's not a surprise that her songs are often used as soundtracks (Breaking Bad, Elementary, The secret life of bees etc.). Here she's playing her song Lost from the album Into the Trees The next song she felt almost too embarrassed to play because she found it too simple, extremely simple even.....sigh Here's a more dark and rough-edged song she made in collaboration with the also møpkemuziek worthy artist Jane Woodman here's Tango. And here's a soundcloud link to a selection of her own favorites. 45 minutes of joy. Have a nice weekend!!!        

Tinseling Thursday VIII

Today we got Telekinesis for our weekly dose of tinsels.

Telekinesis is Michael Benjamin Lerner, an indie rocker based out of Seattle who is currently signed to Merge Records. The band was signed to Merge Records in early 2009, and shortly afterward released the eponymously named debut album Telekinesis! The album was produced, mixed, and engineered with the help of Chris Walla (guitarist for Death Cab For Cutie), who also played on most tracks. They recorded one song per day on analog tape. Last month they released their third album called "Dormarion" and it's instant summer! First I want you to see the video of this albums first single "Ghostst and Creatures"
Lerner originally intended to record the album completely on his own. Instead, he made the record in two weeks with Spoon drummer Jim Eno in his Austin, TX studio, Public Hi-Fi. On Dormarion Lane, to be specific. “It’s a beautiful-sounding word, and if you Google it, nothing but this one tiny street comes up,” says Lerner. “No origin, no description. I can’t tell you what the word means. It’s like something from Lost.” Here's the more uptempo song and second track from the album "Empathic People" I like his voice, sometimes gritty, sometimes crystal clear. He's made some beautiful ballads too. Listen for example to the song Symphony And we end with Island#4, a song with some Death Cab influences, enjoy.

Warm Wednesday XXII

A short post today, but todays warmth is brought to you by Anouk

Anouk is a Dutch rockbitch (her own words) and is this years Dutch contestant of the Eurovision Songcontest. She's not singing a typical Anouk-song but a very soft and warm ballad called Birds. My "douze points" go to her but I'm not objective I suppose :) Here's the song "Birds". She's performing this song on saturday in the ESC final, votes please! She's releasing her album Sad Singalong Songs this friday. From that album "The Good Life", I think there's some competition for Adele :) And to end with here's the song "Pretending as always" also a very warm ballad, enjoy!

Tuesdays got Talent XIX

Today we have Vancouvers talents Gold & Youth

The band is comprised of Matthew Lyall, Murray Mckenzie, Jeff Mitchelmore and Louise Burns.
And today they are releasing their debut album "Beyond Wilderness" and I really like it.
It has a nice 80's feeling with programmed electronic drum patterns and heavy, dark synths. Let's take a look and have a listen to "Time To Kill" The album was produced and recorded by Colin Stewart (new pornographers) and mixed by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Interpol, Grizzly Bear) and Damian Taylor (Björk, Robyn), I hear some similarities with Depeche Mode / Joy Division / Roxy Music / Talk Talk / New order... I think you got the message now. Here's the song "City of Quartz"
Louise Burns, already well known for her own work as a solo artist, lending her voice to four of the album's tracks, including the first single 'Jewel'. And for the Depeche Mode lovers here's a live video of Gold and Youth playing "Enjoy the Silence"

Misty Monday XXII

Welcome back, today we have the easy-going dreamy ambient music of Vondelpark

Vondelpark are a three headed English band, formed in 2010. The band consists of Lewis Rainsbury, Alex Bailey and Matt Lawrenson. They are named after a public park in Amsterdam. The band were founded by the members of the band Lion Club, after its dissolution in 2010. After signing to R&S Records, the band released their first EP, Sauna in 2010. The band's second EP, NYC Stuff And NYC Bags was released in 2011. This was followed by their third release, Dracula EP in 2012. The band's debut album, Seabed, was released on April 1, 2013 and it's a beauty. Let's take a look and have a listen to the song "Dracula" It's a perfect album for the "Hard-to-start Monday" and if you're in the mood, listen to it with headphones, nice soundscapes. This is the opening track of the album Seabed, it's a song called Quest Here's a soundcloud link to "California Analog Dream" enjoy And here we have some older work, this is the song "Camels" from the 2011 NYC Stuff And NYC Bags EP