keith fullerton whitman

Keith Fullerton Whitman has posted some of his live shows and other recordings on Soundcloud for all to hear.

I especially like the commentary that goes with this one. Enjoy.

WISE CHILDREN

Wise Children is electronic/acoustic artist Robin Warren-Adamson. He’s just released his second EP, The Woods. Lyrically this is a great collection of songs, which sound, to these ears at least, quite heartfelt.

I asked him what his inspirations were when writing:

Half the time it's biographical, the other half it's fictional, but I think you always use your own biography to access the feelings you're trying to write about, even if they're made up. I'm really interested in creating characters or narrators that are different to myself. Not necessarily likeable characters. Sort of trying to push the way in which the audience reacts to the character, whether they empathise with them or not.

There are a lot of themes in this: love and loss, the seasons (winter), birth and renewal. Folk, when it gets it right, can be such a good vehicle to express these ideas. Add some electronics and I’m there.

I’ve been listening to The Woods through earphones, and therefore isolated. Does that make it more folksy compared to say listening at a massive field in Welbeck Abbey?

I've always found that those kinds of arguments to do with authenticity are a bit distracting and pointless. I think people tend to fetishize certain elements that you associate with a genre, in the case of folk, acoustic instruments, voice, intimacy, small environments etc. but I find them to be a bit exclusionary. I don't know, depends on each artist I suppose, as to how they come across best. I don't consider myself to be 'folk' and I don't really care about being considered within that framework. If folk is just 'music of the people' then numbers shouldn't really come into it. 

You can listen to The Woods here, or download it from his website. Enjoy.

 The Woods by Wise Children 

yellow ostrich

My favourite diy pop music project from late 2010, early 2011 is back with a new album, Strange Land. the observant among you will notice there's a more of an amplifed guitar sound here.

It's out, March 6.

Here's the first song you can here off the album, Marathon Runner. Free download here.

halls

Halls is back in our ears with another offering, a new EP, Fragile.


His style of rhythmic ambience is clear to hear - there's great haunting vocals to accompany as well. I'm enjoying listening to this and you will too. Enjoy.


 Halls - Fragile EP by TheSoundsOfSweetNothing

conscious

Apparently, this is what kids are listening to these days.

Thought I would share, in case your a kid and haven't heard before. By Concious, it's called Heartless.

For a more chilled ride, go to Soundcloud and listen to 528hz. Enjoy.

  heartless by ~CONSCIOUS~

dad rocks!

Dad Rocks! has put together this lovely, home-made (iMovie), video to Lifestock. The album, Mount Modern comes highly recommended, by me. I'm off to stock up, Enjoy.

CLOUDKICKER

Explore, be curious.

Great words there. It’s the title of a Cloudkicker song. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Cloudkicker's music is a mix of ambient and post-rock and the result is some inventive music.

By using a variety of pop culture references I’ve cobbled together this image of Ohio being a place where they grow corn and decide who the Democratic nominee is going to be.  But seriously, if you live in Ohio and make great music what would inspire you:

Obviously I feel a lot from all sorts of different music, and that's probably the number one thing. Sometimes I'll get a song or album or something in my head for days at a time and be compelled to explore that just to get it out of my head. 

Once I've gotten started on a song or project I interject a fair amount from whatever is going on around me or whatever I have bouncing around in my head. To me, writing music is as much about communication as writing a book would be, I just feel like I'm better at music than words.

Modest. Those are more great words.

I’ve put his latest album, Let Yourself be Huge, below. Can’t recommend highly enough that you check out Loop, an album of short, sharp ambient/guitar riffs/

On the horizon

Here are some releases/records that are coming out/already out that I'm enjoying/hopefully will enjoy:
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Brontide - Coloured Tongues

Off the back of the success (critical) that was Sans Souci, comes Coloured Tongues, a new single - from the snippet below you get you get the sense the sounds come on a bit. This could be very interesting. Out Feb 13th.



Christina Vantzou - Homemade Mountains

Those who know me, know I love a bit of classical ambient, can't get enough. So imagine how I feel about this free download from Christina Vantzou?



Three Three Tigers - Numbers: 1-13

Not exactly new, but analogue hipsters will love the fact that you can get all TTT track from their first EP on one well designed CD.

Wintercoats -

Lots of well justified hype. Stuff on the up and up, so I here. Don't have dates.

New Year's Message/Where Are They Now?

I need to detox for a few days, get my head in a 2012 mindframe and so on.

Whilst I scrabble around desperately for some content, you can spend the next few days listening to some of the artist I've profiled and see what they've been up to since.

I have know idea what I will be listening to in 2012, what I will be raving about and what music will be deemed 'progressive' enough for the blog but all the fun is in finding out. Have a look at the past, raise a toast to the future.
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Sima





You heard Sima back in July and since then...

Brought out an album hot on the heels of Texture. Called it Softness. Yet another apt title, the physical copies have sold out. You can by it on Bandcamp and at the price it's being sold at I suggest you do.





BNRY

Profiled all the way back in September. 

Since then has been playing shows here there and everywhere (e.g Rhythm Factory 6th Jan).

Here's his latest Soundcloud offering - a remix of a Kelly Rowland classic.

   Kelly Rowland - Dilemma (BNRY Remix) by BNRY

Neverest Songs

Profiled back in August, here's how Neverest Songs rounded off the year on his website:

As this year starts to close, I thought I should just let people know what I’m up to. Throughout this year I’ve been writing and recording for a second album, it’s quite a large number of songs actually and while I’m still deciding exactly what to do with them all, expect an album first half of 2012.

I’m aiming to post up some of the new tracks soon so keep an ear out. I’ve played the last show of this year but will start to rehearse new material and live set-ups, and book more shows in the new year.

If you missed them, I put out two releases this year, Paper Trumpets was a double single on 7″ & digital, also a film score album called All That Glitters, which is free to download. Right now I’m feeling pretty excited about making music in the year to come, thanks to anyone that’s listened already. x

Here's the link to where you can download All That Glitters.

Umber

Profiled back in July. Is turning into quite the prolific artist what with a blog showcasing new tunes and 2 EP's in 2011, one I put on here, the other called Earth Feet, Lifted, came out in November.

LA2019

Last know whereabouts, Boston, MA.