Angels on the Sidelines EP

Back in July I featured a group called Days Before Television, as part of my Unearthing MySpace Gems feature – well now I’ve heard their full EP Angels on the Sidelines and I want to share my thoughts with you. To recap, Days Before Television are Gary and Aaron, two talented chaps from Lincoln, England. They create fantastic acoustic music, with such depth and feeling, so happy I was to see this EP land up on my doorstep.

The EP is seven tracks (24 minutes) long and kicks off with Feel More Alive. It’s an acoustic folk ballad of sorts and focuses a lot of emphasis on Gary’s bitter-sweet emotive vocals and the melancholy acoustic melodies. Quite a dark track in a certain sense, although countered beautifully with the almost optimistic acoustic strumming. This is then followed by the slightly more perky sounding Great Southern. Once more Gary’s vocals drive perfectly with the acoustic melodies, there’s a slight twang of Paul Heaton about his voice – whether anyone else would agree, I don’t know.

The third track on the EP is The Time It Takes and it takes their sound into a different direction, a more personal and unique direction I think. I love the bassline to this track, it’s extremely subtle, but really helps to pull everything together – the echoing backing vocals work very well also. Sunday is up next, one of the tracks I really enjoyed when I first discovered Days Before Television. It really strikes a chord with me (pardon the pun), I just love the arrangement and lyrical structure. You have to hear for yourself…

Days Before Television – Sunday
>> download track
>> hear more @ MySpace
This download link will expire on 1st November.

Backwards is the fifth track and quite a soothing one at that. Quite basic in its make-up, but often simplicity makes for best results – a genuinely pleasant track. The title track Angels on the Sidelines is next up and features some piano and strings, that shows in this instance not only are their tracks powerful in basic acoustic form, but also as impressive with more in the way of accompaniment – certainly bodes well for the future. The final track is Colours, and this is the one that really stood out for me in the original July feature. There’s just something about the melody and general feeling of the song – truly beautiful. The sentiment is fabulous and execution exquisite, great choice of final track on the EP. Apologies if my words during this review have been at all ‘hazy’, the proof is in the pudding, as they say…

Days Before Television – Colours
>> download track
>> hear more @ MySpace
This download link will expire on 1st November.

I instantly liked this EP when I first heard it, but it is also a grower. From the moment I put it in the car stereo, I actually listened to it through five times in a row, and it just gets better. Days Before Television are still in their infancy, but from this early offering it is clear to see that they have something special. Some tracks on the EP sounded more polished than others, but if they carry on at the same rate as now, then I bet their first full LP will be amazing. Check out their MySpace page to listen to other songs, and add them to your friends list to keep informed on progress. Anyone that appreciates acoustic music will love this.

Useful links:

• Days Before Television MySpace page
• Download – Days Before Television – Sunday
• Download – Days Before Television – Colours

Remixed and Reimagined

As you are no doubt already aware, I have quite varied tastes at the best of times. The plus point to having diverse and eclectic tastes is that you get to hear so much great music, but the negative point is just simply trying to find the time to discover and listen to it all. I wouldn’t want it any other way though, and so today I bring you news of a new Nina Simone remix album. It’s being put out by Sony BMG Legacy and is entitled Remixed and Reimagined. The album is 13 tracks long and features remixes from artists such as; Coldcut, DJ Logic, and Tony Humphries.

The album sees Nina’s work from her RCA days remixed by some of today’s top club DJs, and the album does indeed have quite a “club friendly” feel to it. I’m not usually one to go for solid dance club tracks, but from what I’ve heard, these guys have done a good job remixing Nina Simone’s original tracks. Have a listen to this…

Nina Simone – Turn Me On (Tony Humphries Vocal Mix)
>> download track
>> pre-order @ Legacy Recordings
This download link will expire on 25th October.

The album is officially released on 31st October, you can listen to more tasters and pre-order the album at the Legacy Recordings website. So if you like what you hear, make sure you get it bought!

Useful links:

• Nina Simone MySpace page
• Legacy Recordings website
• Download – Nina Simone – Turn Me On (Tony Humphries Vocal Mix)

DMC World DJ Champs

This doesn’t exactly get much press here in Australia, but excuses aside, I forgot bout the DMC World DJ Finals that happened in September… doh. Anyway, I wont bore you with the extensive details – if you have no idea what I am talking about then check out this entry I wrote a while back, should explain all.

Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase; Netik from France won the solo event, he is the World Champ. The Battle For World Supremacy was won by Japan’s DJ Coma and the Team Championships were won by C2C from France. So a good show from the French and not a Brit or Yank to be found anywhere! The official videos from the sets are now up on YouTube for all to see, so check out Netik’s winning set…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZFs1jl2WjY]

Pretty crazy stuff and that’s all now for another year. One of my fav sets from the World Finals is still Australian Dexta (former member of The Avalanches) doing his thing at the Millennium Dome back in 2000. He lost out to DJ Craze (winning for his 3rd and final time) and quite rightly, but Dexta’s set was so fresh and creative, using mad samples from allsorts of old records – don’t think he even used any hip-hop records. Anyway, check it out…

Dexta – 2000 World DMC Set
>> download track
>> buy DMC vids @ dmcworld.com
This download link will expire on 31st October.

I’ve had to use YouSendIt to upload the track, for some reason File Lodge have suspended my account, I’ve sent an email asking why. If anyone knows of a decent file host that gives direct URL links to mp3s, let me know, thanks!

Useful links:

• DMC World Championships website
• Video @ YouTube – Netik winning set
• DMC World store
• Download – Dexta – 2000 World DMC Set

Unearthing MySpace Gems

Who’s got gems? I’ve got gems! A quick reminder on how this weekly feature works; all pages featured have had less than 10,000 page-views. If you know of any artists on MySpace, with less than that many page-views, that you think I should feature, please let me know. You can either email me to the address at the left, or send me a message and/or friends request (if you are an artist or band) at my personal MySpace page or the >>just like music MySpace page.

The Mighty Avatar – http://www.myspace.com/themightyavatar

This is two fellas playing the freshest sounding hip-hop to come out of London in a while. G creates tight beats with sharp samples and Jones is lyrically blessed. Although the beats you are hearing are definitely hip-hop and the flow you are hearing is definitely from a London emcee, The Mighty Avatar actually sound like no UK hip-hop you’ve heard before – simply it is the angle the guys have taken with their music and the genre, making sure it is their own sound. Four tracks to check out on their page, I was particularly feeling Around My Hands and the fantastic Little Man.

echo – http://www.myspace.com/echoarmando

Some electro pop from Toulouse, France comes to your ears in the form of echo. This is pretty calm stuff, in a certain sense, but will definitely play more towards fans of electro sounds. I happen to be a fan of electro sounds and this music therefore sounds fantastic! All four tracks on echo’s page are brilliant and each sounds different – it is echo’s ability to create compositions with such intricate layers and build ups that really does it for me. Check out desert for something a bit more laid back and carol for something a bit more hectic.

Dave Carter – http://www.myspace.com/davecarter

Mr. Carter plays out his own brand of folk rock from sunny London. His voice has a hint of Damon Albarn about it and his music is clearly rich with influences, but like most great artists, Dave turns it all into something quite unique and personal. Check out Space Boy for a soothing and melodic experience and Amy for your melancholy fix. Another great thing about Dave’s tracks is the fine array of instruments that make up the music. He has some violin, cello, keyboards, guitar, accordian, drums, trumpet, harp, and bass in there – and probably even someone playing the spoons too!

Clarence and Friends – http://www.myspace.com/clarenceandfriends

This is a really interesting notion, a chap named Clarence is mainly a beatboxer and seeks to collaborate via MySpace with anyone from any genre, just so long as he thinks they are cool and would sound good working with him. For many hip-hop heads, this is exactly why they use MySpace, but Clarence (or Dub) actually shows no prejudice towards genres and likes to give anything a go. Tracks like Red and A Mug’s Game emphasise heavily on guitar, but it works really well. Quite a fresh sound going on, give it a go, you’ll probably like it!

Facing The Secrets Of Watergate – http://www.myspace.com/facingthesecretsofwatergate

This trio from South Carolina really know how to bang out the atmospheric indie rock. Think along the lines of Explosions In The Sky, those long build ups and drawn out moments, all created with guitar and percussion. Sometimes chaotic, sometimes calm, but always beautiful – all three tracks on their MySpace page have something slightly different to offer, and it truly is fantastic stuff. If you are really feeling it, they have an EP out now – get it listened to!

I’ve hit you with another hot five there – cos I’m nice like that. Don’t forget to add the artists above to your friends list and leave them comments, every little helps.

Useful links:

• The Mighty Avatar MySpace page
• echo MySpace page
• Dave Carter MySpace page
• Clarence and Friends MySpace page
• Facing The Secrets Of Watergate MySpace page

Trans-Siberian Express

Choo, choo! All aboard the Trans-Siberian Express, with your host Tim Pare. “Who’s Tim Pare?”, well he’s an acoustic extraordinaire! Tim Pare is from Sheffield, England, but Sheffield is where it both ended and started – in 2004 Tim said good-bye to his life in England’s north and moved to China to teach. It was a year or so later that Tim found himself on the Trans-Siberian Express train in Russia, accompanied by 30 soldiers and 30 sailors, all returning from two years away. These fellas turned out to be a bit on the aggressive side and Tim felt sure something was gonna turn a bit nasty – however, Tim used his initiative and swapped a bottle of vodka for a battered old guitar with one of the guys and began to play. This turned out to be a master stroke in more than one sense.

During the intense boredom inducing 88 hours on that train, Tim decided to get writing, using an mp3 player as his means of recording these new songs. It was via this method that his new mini-album was born; Trans-Siberian Express. Things could have been oh-so different though – Tim was robbed in St Petersburg of all his possessions, but as fate would have it, he had left the mp3 player (by accident) at the hostel… so all was not lost. At this point Tim knew that he had to ensure these songs were recorded and so now Trans-Siberian Express is available for all to hear. You can listen to some of the tracks on both Tim’s website and his MySpace page, so make sure you get that done, but I’ve been lucky enough to listen to the whole mini-album and it really is fantastic acoustic stuff. You can read more about Tim’s amazing story on his MySpace page, but for now take a listen to one of the tracks…

Tim Pare – You’ve Got Your Work Cut Out
>> download track
>> pre-order album @ timpare.com
This download link will expire on 29th October.

Tim’s beautiful acoustic creations rest upon the melancholy understanding of familiar situations and experiences, the sort of content that many of us can, in one way or another, relate to – stories of life, love, and loss – all packaged in an ethereal, soothing acoustic guise. Music that that hits us in a very real manner, yet still manages to take us away to a safe, unreal place – that to me is an example of a ‘real’ musical experience. Trans-Siberian Express, the six track acoustic mini-album, can now be pre-ordered at Tim’s website, it is due for release on 13th November. In the new year Tim will be starting with his full band material, so make sure you look out for that too.

Useful links:

• Tim Pare website
• Tim Pare MySpace page
• Download – Tim Pare – You’ve Got Your Work Cut Out

Track of the Week

Today’s track of the week (or tracks of the week) comes from an album I got just a week ago, and it is easily a nomination for album of the year, as far as I am concerned. Some have described it as romantic electronica, and don’t be fooled, it is far from being as cheesy as it already sounds! I’m talking about Daedelus and his latest album Denies The Day’s Demise. Released this year on Ninja Tune, it really is 15 tracks of pure dynamite. It was tough choosing what to feature, but give this a go…

Daedelus – Sundown
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 28th October.

Not to blow my own trumpet, but usually if I make a real fuss over a record, there is good reason. I honestly cannot stress enough just how good this album is. Easily one of the best albums of 2006. Each time I listen to it I fall deeper in love with it. I’ve considered reviewing it, but I worry that I simply wont be able to put into words how I feel, or that it will end up spanning 5000 words! Anyway, enough of me creaming myself, check out another track…

Daedelus – Sunrise
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 28th October.

Make sure you listen to those tracks on at least half-decent headphones – if I find out you listened via shitty laptop speakers… I’ll shoot you. Albeit 15 tracks long, really the album needs to be listened to in one long go – it’s one of those “immerse yourself” type albums. Daedelus has this really bizarre, yet unique, style of being able to create such deep atmospheric electronica, from what would ordinarily be quite standard sounds from such a genre. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but it is like he has created these beautiful compositions, layered them so perfectly, that the blunt outer shell is dissolved somewhere along the way of the listening experience and the intricate innards are released for our aural pleasure. If you like the two tracks above, even just a little bit, you have to buy this album!

Useful links:

• Daedelus website
• Daedelus MySpace page
• Download – Daedelus – Sundown
• Buy Denies The Day’s Demise @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
• Download – Daedelus – Sunrise