Thursday, December 19, 2019

Marie Fredriksson - The Change

2002 was a devastating year for Marie Fredriksson (mostly known for her part of the band Roxette). She was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. There was a chance of 5% to survive this horrible desease - and she did survive!


Two years later Marie released her first and only English solo album - The Change.
The disease and the following cure heavily influenced the songs on the record. The Change has become an intense, shattering and hopeful album.


In 2019 - after surviving the tumor for 17 years, three more Roxette and four solo records and touring around the world - Marie Fredriksson lost the fight against cancer. She passed away on December 9.

Listen to The Change here:

Per Gessle - Son of a Plumber

In 2005 the Swedish singer and composer Per Gessle (from Roxette) released a solo record named Son Of a Plumber. It may be my favorite album of his.

The idea was to go on a trip back to the 1960s and 1970s.  Per wanted the record to feel like an LP where you must turn the vinyl after half the record. That is why it consists of 2 CDs with a overall play time of 63 minutes for 25 tracks (!) - including a 5 song spanning junior suite.
Sounds quite different than a standard 12 track album, isn't it?



If you don't want to try out the full record, start with:
- Drowning In Wonderful Thoughts About Her
- I Have A Party In My Head
- C’mon

... or listen to the whole record here (I strongly recommend headphones):

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Rest in Peace, Marie Fredriksson! (the voice of Roxette)

Some days ago sad news surfaced: Marie Fredriksson, the voice of Roxette died after a 17 years long fight against cancer.


Her bandmate and friend for decades - Per Gessle - wrote at his Facebook page:

 "Time goes by so quickly. It’s not that long ago we spent days and nights in my tiny apartment in Halmstad, listening to music we loved, sharing impossible dreams. And what a dream we eventually got to share! 
Thank you Marie, thanks for everything. You were an outstanding musician, a master of the voice, an amazing performer. Thanks for painting my black and white songs with the most beautiful colours. You were a wonderful friend for over forty years. I’m proud, honoured and happy to have been able to share so much of your time, talent, warmth, generosity and your sense of humour. 
All my love goes out to you and your family. Things will never be the same. 
P." 




Wednesday, October 16, 2019

CATT - Moon

CATT is a 23 years old German singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. 
She grew up in a North German three-house-village mainly surrounded by woods and classical music before she moved to Berlin.


First she’d played and composed for several artists. In June 2019 CATT released her debut album "Moon". Musically it is situated somewhere in the area Indie-Pop, but that's far too short to describe her style. CATT has already a musical style other artist have to build up within several albums. There are minimalistic parts alternating with a wall of sound - which is quite compelling!

Listen to two of the songs below. And if you like it, buy it!




www.catt-music.com

Monday, July 22, 2019

Bleu - New Album? Warming up...

So, there is talk about a new album by Bleu (by the man himself) in the near future.

To warm up a bit, I'll start with one of his most iconic songs and maybe the first one I listened from him.

The fabulous "Somebody Else":

Jamie Cullum - Drink (official video)


Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Video Reaches 1 BILLION VIEWS on YouTube!

The "Bohemian Rhapsody" Video Reached 1 BILLION VIEWS on YouTube! 

The new re-mastered video is available now exclusively on Queen’s YouTube channel.

The Band also launches an exclusive ‘you are the champions’ campaign for fans to become a part of Queen history with a starring role in three new user generated videos.
 READ MORE: http://tiny.cc/5ph19y


Friday, May 31, 2019

Jamie Cullum - Taller

Jamie Cullum is back. Five years after his (also highly recommended) last record "Interlude", his eighth album "Taller" is out June 7, 2019.
Cullum, British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist mixes different genres - primarily Jazz and Pop, but also Gospel and Funk. Aside from vocals and playing piano he handles a variety of other instruments like drums or guitar.


Listen to the following three songs to get an impression of the record:




Thursday, March 28, 2019

Eric Barao - Obsolete

Obsolete”, the follow-up to Eric Barao's 2013 debut album, will be out on April 2, 2019. 


The new album features guest appearances from power pop icons Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish, Beck, Imperial Drag) and Mike Viola (The Candy Butchers, The Major Labels, L.E.O.). 

Once again working with three-time Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Ducky Carlisle, Barao has aimed for a more nostalgic production style that takes it's cues from the Magical Mystery Tour / White Album period of The Beatles, but updates it with modern guitar sounds and some very 21st century lyric writing. 
Working largely in '60's stereo' (every track panned hard left, right or center), Barao and his bandmates have layered pianos, harpsichords, vintage organs and Mellotrons with hardhitting Queen-style guitars, orchestral instruments and tight vocal harmonies to form a lavish collage of everything that was good about power pop of the 1960's and 1970's. However, some modern production tricks help to make it all leap out of the speakers in a way that few records of the time could achieve. 

The best compliment you can give to the record is: it's pure fun and joy to listen to it. This will be on heavy rotation or the next weeks.


Barao's 2013 debut album, which was produced by power pop darling Bleu, earned him extensive praise in the press, and landed on more than a dozen 'Best of 2013' music critics' lists across several countries, including the United States and Japan. 
In the early 2000's, his previous band The Cautions released two albums and played throughout the Northeast. 

For more information or to buy the album, visit his website: ericbarao.com (get it on CD, digtial or exclusive USB-Stick with bonus stuff)

Jenny Lewis - On The Line

Jenny's fourth solo album, 'On The Line,' is out now!


Recorded at Capitol Records’ Studio B, On The Line boasts a backing band of incredible talent featuring Beck, Benmont Tench, Don Was, Jim Keltner, Ringo Starr and Ryan Adams.


Friday, February 22, 2019

José González

Years ago I saw "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in cinema. I loved it (and I still do!).
A good part of its magic came from the music that Ben Stiller included. I started to look into the soundtrack and found the name José González.

José González is a singer-songwriter from Sweden. Besides his solo career he was part of some bands and projects, in particular Junip and Zero 7.



Discography:
2003 Veneer
2007 In Our Nature
2007 Zero 7 - The Garden
2010 Junip - Fields
2013 Junip - Junip
2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty OST
2015 Vestiges & Claws
2019 José González & The String Theory - Live in Europe
 
If you want to listen to him, I'd recommend to start with "Vestiges & Claws" (2015) or "Live in Europe" (2019).


José González + The String Theory - Full Concert - Royal Festival Hall, London (2017)

Yola - Faraway Look [Official Video]

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness - Dead Calm

The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness or TBWTPN are Andrew Taylor (Dropkick) and Gonzalo Marcos (El Palacio de Linares).

Their debut album Dead Calm was recorded in first takes in a couple of evenings between Madrid and Edinburgh. No computers or rehearsing were involved.

When you listen to the two songs that have been already released both have a touch of an instant classic.

Buy it at Bandcamp: TBWTPN (digital or LP)


Tuesday, January 29, 2019

David Mead - Cobra Pumps (Update January '19)

David Mead is back! His latest record - Cobra Pumps - is out NOW!


David Mead says: "COBRA PUMPS was an easy album to start writing and recording. It was a lot harder to finish. I doubted myself a lot. I kept running out of money. I grew tired of asking myself whether it was worth it at all, how it would ever justify the enormous amount of time and effort invested and if this was really the kind of thing that a 45 year-old father of two should be chasing after anymore.
Every day I make the choice: Am I done? Or just getting started? Am I looking behind me- or trying to make out what’s barely visible ahead in the distance? Or am I just standing still, looking down at my feet, wondering…
I think I got into the music business because playing music had always seemed like a way for me to be seen, to be approved of, to be understood. I thought that, if I could make a living off of that process, things would be peachy. This was a bad idea. Music doesn't offer hard results or firm answers; it gives us more possibilities and more questions. It asks that we keep going deeper and deeper into it.
So what music has taught me about life is that there is no finish line. Each experience leads us to something new as long as we are open to seeing it. There is no real stability, no solid ground on which to stand still. This is OK. We just have to enjoy being in motion. 

Every day. Every day. Every day I am just getting started. How about you?"

Listen to the whole album below (Apple Music or Spotify).

Start with: Bedtime Story, Head On Straight, Poster Child, Finger On The Button

You can get the whole album for free at www.davidmead.com! Just subscribe to the newsletter.

If you like it, you should buy it: the signed CD or beautiful White Vinyl are available at the website, along with his highly recommended last two records (Dudes and Almost & Always)!