message to fan

My computer has gone and messed itself up good and proper, so no podcast, no blogpost, none of that for the foreseeable future (a week or two).

This is a shame but despite technologies conspiracies against me and the rather more hectic lifestyle I lead these days I endeavour to write and put up podcasts showing new music as much as possible .

I leave you with a case and point of what I just said, a couple of  new tracks from some bands I can’t stop raving about, Jonquil and Solid Gold Dragons. Both tracks are stellar, and make me feel the happiest that music has made me feel in years.





Until soon.
Toby

Jonquil @ Hoxton Square

Walk the streets shouting “I’m easy come, I’m easy come I’m easy go” and people are likely to give you a bit of a wide berth and probably not believe you but this is the effect that Jonquil can have on you as I’ve found out. I’ve already written about how great some of their music is so neither of us will be surprised when I say that it was a really great gig; how great? Really, very.

The vocals have always been good and I’ve always known that but seeing them live really brought home how just how strong and powerful Hugo Manuel’s voice are, to the extent that they sound reinvented live. The new stuff they showcased off their soon to be released LP seemed to show off his voice a little bit more so the new stuff promises to have me singing in the aisles. Can't wait.

Support came from Get People, a band I’d never before but, with their heavily distorted afrobeat sound they made for another pleasing surprise so they are definitely worth checking out.

JONQUIL /// GET UP from B A N K S on Vimeo.

pet project

After fronting the post rock outfit Youthmovies for the best part of a decade Andrew Mears is on to pastures new with his new project, Pet Moon. The music is a little less post rock this time round and a bit more prog rock. It’s different, more dancy for one thing, but he still an artist worth listening to.

Here is some of his new demo stuff. Enjoy. 

 THE FLOOR (demo) by pet moon 

 HOLD THE DIVIDE (demo) by pet moon 

NEVEREST SONGS

Margate is a seaside town on the south coast of Britain. It’s beautiful in its own way, but a site of faded glory. Does that kind of backdrop provide any inspiration for Luke Twyman, known as Neverest Songs, who is from Margate?

Sort of ... it feels a little cut off here and it's difficult not to want to incorporate that feeling into whatever I'm doing, but I can't say I've felt the need to specifically write about the town yet.

Even when the town produces great artist like Neverest Songs it somehow never gets the credit. The inevitable follow up to this is, of course, what do you write about? Luckily I asked this.

I tend to jump between high fantasy and real life. Some songs are introspective, perhaps recounting my own experiences, while others are start-to-finish imagination. But I'd say there are a good number now which sit somewhere in-between, they might start with a memory or a story that I've read about, and then I adapt or expand on it.

It’s a good job we now know because one of the most striking things about Neverest Songs is the storytelling element that you find in all his songs as well as the strong musical composition and vocals.

Luke is playing a precious few dates this year such as Green Man Festival and a support gig for William Tyler in October. Below is Paper Trumpets, his latest release.

 Paper Trumpets by Neverest Songs 

NB Luke did a really awesome photo interview for A Negative Narrative which you can see here