New Music Purchases July - August

Having caught up on my new music listening I have started to buy some new music again. So here goes;

Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Crown and Treaty I love SBP and this is by far their best album loved by the critics I hope this album gives them the recognition (and sales) they deserve.

 

The Civil Wars – Barton Hallow I have been after this album for while and eventually got round to getting it. This version comes with an extra 6 tracks which include an interesting version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean.

Train – California 37 I have all of Train’s music on first listen I can safely say that this isn’t their best nothing to match Drops of Jupiter or Hey Soul Sister on this album.

Johnny Cash – The Ultimate Johnny Cash Collection 88 tracks over 3 CD’s its actually 6 original albums and a few extra tracks. I have a few of Cash’s later Rick Rubin produced albums but suspect that this collection may cost me a lot of money! (This collection cost me £3 in Sainsbury’s)

Elvis Costello – The Best of.....The First 10 Years I would say I wasn’t a fan of Elvis but 22 tracks most of which I could sings most of the words to tells me something different. All the classics are here, Oliver’s Army, I can Stand Up For Falling Down, Shipbuilding and many, many more. (Again this cost me the princely sum of £3)

Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” Last year Q had one of their poles listing The Top 100 Albums of whenever and there was one album I didn’t recognise THIS ONE. The band is a bit of a mystery having disappeared after this album. The album comes with endorsements from Franz Ferdinand and The Arcade Fire but struggling on first listen to see what all the fuss is about. 

Neil Young – Americana & Sugar Mountain Live At Canterbury House 1968 Neil’s latest release (covers of traditional songs) and a live outing from 1968. Not listened to them yet but suspect I’ll enjoy.

Vintage Trouble – The Bomb Shelter Sessions Bought on the back of a great live gig as part of The Sage Gateshead’s Americana Festival, a great rock/soul CD that reflects their electrifying live performance. Comes with an extra CD of live and demo tracks.

Glen Hansard – Rhythm and Repose This has quickly become one of my albums of the year, I love it. If you don’t know Glen check out The Swell Season the band formed on the back of the film Once or The Frames his rockier band. This is full of gorgeous love songs and if I said I pulled the car over to listen Bird of Sorrow on repeat for half an hour you will understand how this album has affected me.

Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man In The World I’m a big Womack fan this is his first album of new material in a long time and on first listen I struggled a bit. Produced by Damon Albarn it is covered in modern break beats a loops which sometimes detracts from what should be the star of the show, Bobby’s voice.

Ben Howard – Every Kingdom I was lucky to see Ben a couple of years ago open a festival stage, (I think there was 12 of us there) unsigned at the time he enthralled us all. Constant touring has led to a huge following and a successful debut release. Good stuff even if it does sound a lot like John Butler at times.

Efterklang – Parades Bought in anticipation of seeing them perform with Northern Sinfonia I have enjoyed the first listen to this album looking forward to see them with a full orchestra.

 

North Atlantic Oscillation – Fog Electric Blind purchase on the back of good reviews. It’s on the Kscope label so I know it’s going to be good.

The Horrible Crowes – Elsie Side project from Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem a bit lighter than Gaslight but quality song writing from Fallon.

Various Artists – Delta Swamp Rock Nobody makes compilations like Soul Jazz and this is no exception. The music is brilliant and includes some artists you would expect. Lynryd Skynryd, Duane and Gregg Allman and some you wouldn’t Cher covering Dr John’s I Walked on Guilded Splinters it comes with a 65 page booklet which is packed with information and pictures.

Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones  A bit like Ben Howard Frank continues build a ever expanding fan base. I met Frank in Seattle in 2009 when he was supporting The Gaslight Anthem and a nicer guy it would be harder to meet. Great album.

Elbow – Dead In The Boot B-sides and rarities that put some bands full albums to shame. Nice little collect. All we need now boys is an career spanning live album now please.

Various – The State of Music Volume 4. 4^th release of a series of 5 and this is in my opinion the best yet. Great discoveries in Shane Maland, kinisi and New Sweden. If you don’t know anything about the label Choose My Music get over there now. Great music and all proceeds to charity.

Don't think this is the Shane Maland track but you get the idea. Anyway go by the album it's great!

Music Purchases April -June

Looking at my purchases I seem to have bought a lot of ‘new’ music over the last few months, by new I mean by artists that I don’t really know, but I’m interested in due to reviews I have read or 3^rd party recommendations.

I don’t use Spotify, I have in the past and Last.FM but for some reason I prefer to buy music unheard sometimes. I’m not sure why, as I’m writing this I think I find it’s more exciting and also I’m trying to test myself a little bit. Can I make the right choice my reading music magazines or checking out a tweet from someone on Twitter who has similar tastes. I know for rock and prog music to look at what @amcyoung and @HP_Dalen are listening to, @philblogs and I have alarmingly similar musical tastes I suspect we sometimes are buying the same albums at the same time in different parts of the UK. 

So here we go;

Neal Morse – Lifeline Bought this as it was £3 and read a lot about the Artist. I like modern progressive music, as made by the likes of Porcupine Tree, The Mars Volta and I like some older progressive rock from the likes of Genesis etc, this has a foot in both camps in that it’s a modern artist making music that sounds old, and that’s where it falls down for me. Coupled with the fact that Morse is a born again Christian so the lyrics reflect this all leaves me a bit cold. One for the charity bag for I think.

Various Artists – Those Shocking Shaking Days Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive, Rock and Funk 1970-1978 Another £3 purchase but think this one is staying, as mad as the title suggests, beautifully packaged with a 64 page booklet. This is great, obscure and worth every penny. Actually its worth more than £3!

Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks I have struggled with the last few releases from Weller, call them avante garde call them ground breaking but in truth they have virtually unlistenable to me. Hoping this one is more accessible, so it doesn’t just end up on the shelf with the others, played a couple of times.

Anathema – Falling Deeper A lot of guys talking about this band on twitter and thought I would give them a go, and I’m glad I did. This album is a rework of older material with an orchestra and I really like it and it has made me want to go through their back catalogue. On the back of this purchase I bought The Silent Enigma and in truth release that Falling Deeper is not the true sound of Anathema, this is way too heavy for me vocal wise a guttural roar made me flick through this album very quickly. Free to a good home.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim – We Just Did What Happened And No One Came £3 he cries, for a band I really like, BARGAIN!!!! Nice album too, that ambient, off kilter, post rock that I love. I tweeted my delight about getting this so cheaply, and this was picked up by the official Sweet Billy Pilgrim twitter account, who tweeted that the title basically reflected the album sales!

Various Artists - 7 Worlds Collide The Sun Came Out The first 7 Worlds album was live with a bunch of great musicians joining Neil Finn to run through his back catalogue and a few covers, a lot of those musicians return, Johnny Marr, Ed and Phil from Radiohead plus we get a host of new guys, KT Tunstall, Jeff Tweedy plus a few siblings this time to make new music rather than a rehash of old. 2 Cd's, 24 tracks of varying quality. As with a lot of the purchases this month I managed to get this for £3 in HMV.

We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships @choosemymusic has been banging on about these guys for a love time and although I had streamed and loved the album I hadn’t got round to buying the album. It’s brilliant and if you haven’t got it go and get it now.

Howlin Rain – The Russian Wilds My find of the month and maybe the year, I read a review of this album last month in Classic Rock and marked the band for further investigation, this month’s magazine had a free CD and the first track was Self Made Man which opens this album and it is stunning. Rick Rubin has been involved and although this band sounds like they have been teleported from the 1970s there is a real modern feel to this album. Epic springs to mind when I listen to this and so far I haven’t stopped listening to it for 3 days!

Wintersleep – New Inheritors Another £3 purchase from HMV, bought after a bit of Internet research. Canadian likened to Band of Horses, first listen lots to like.

ST. Vincent – Strange Mercy  Has been on the list for a while and looking for to listening as everybody can’t be wrong....can they?

The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage  Another blind purchase on the back of reviews and recommendations.

Sharon Van Etten – Tramp Another blind purchase and have been playing this on loop really great album.

Snow Patrol – Fallen Empires I confess!!! I really like Snow Patrol. I can’t help it. I have always been a sucker for that middle of the road melodic rock that Snow Patrol produce and I have no reason to think I won’t like this.

Various Artists – The State Of Music Volume 2 + Showcase Special Fellow tweeters and followers of this blog might already know about series. The brain child of Dominik Paczko this is volume 2 of his quest to showcase 50 individual bands from across the 50 states of America. I love volume 2 it is amazing and it will ultimately cost me a lot of money. Too many great artists to highlight just go buy this (there are only digital copies left!) The Showcase Special is a limited release to spotlight some of the bands Dom managed to arrange a live showcase at SXSW. 8 artists’ standout for me Freak Owls and Houndmouth a couple of real crackers.

Simone Felice – Self Tilted Album – Live From A Lonely Place Sometimes my wallet takes a hammering on the back of a great live gig, and Simone Felice cost me a lot of money this week! The gig was fabulous I was expecting to buy the new album at the gig (and I did) but then I saw the live album an Internet and gig exclusive CD, purchase number 2.

The Felice Brothers – Lost Tapes Volume I & II- The Big Empty & Mexico 2 rare CDs of rare demos from Simone first band, made for purchases 3 & 4!

Simi Stone – Self Titled EP Simi was the support for Simone and a member of his band and also a member of Simone third band The Duke and The King, she entertained us with some original material and a great Neil Young cover and so her EP became purchase number 5!

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls The band of the moment, who I have been following for about 6 months now. I expect that as I write this they will be number one in the UK album charts and they deserve all the success that they get. A tight album that at times sounds like Al Green singing Kings of Leon sings this album is fresh and exciting. I suspect that this album will hang about with us for some time.

Goldfrapp – The Singles I have most of these but I would rather buy the album than set up a play list. Strong album that borrows from the 80’s. A&E is an amazing track.

Quantic & Alice Russell – Look Around The Corner recommendation from a mate of mine and what a recommendation. Summer soul that was a revelation to me.

Storm Corrosion – Strom Corrosion One of my favourite artists (Steven Wilson) and rave reviews in all the music magazines left me anticipating a lot from this album. The jury is still out for me, interesting, layered, complexed it is all of this, however I can’t really remember any of the music on the CD. A grower maybe?

The National – Alligator The last piece in my collection. An album for some reason I thought I had until I came to play it! As all The National’s album quality understated music. Brilliant.

Maria McKee – Live At The BBC I’m a long term fan of McKee from her work with Lone Justice and through her varying solo work. This album gives us to ‘in Concert’ performances from 1991 and 1993. A highly underrated artist who is worth looking up if you like Americana music.

Admiral Fallow – Tree Bursts In Snow (Limited Edition) I pre-ordered this album to get a limited edition poster, the poster is OK but the star of this show is the music. A fabulous second album from this Scottish band whose stock I suspect will grow throughout 2012.

Ellen and The Escapades – All The Crooked Scenes I was wandering round Fopp in Manchester when a track came on that stopped me in my tracks was played, the power of Shazam meant I was buying this album 5 minutes later. What a find. This is the debut album from the Leeds based band and it hasn’t been far from my CD player for a couple of weeks now.

Paul Buchanan – Mid Air (limited Edition) Anybody who knows me will know my love of The Blue Nile and Paul Buchanan, the man can do no right for me and this album delivers yet again. This album is little more than Buchanan’s voice and a piano and at times it feels like sketches of songs that would have evolved into full Blue Nile songs but that’s doing this album a disservice. The album is fragile and beautiful. At times when listening to this I have found myself forgetting to breathe as the songs pull you in and demand attention. The limited edition offered 10 extra tracks sadly 8 are instrumental versions of the album tracks which although good it’s the 2 ‘new tracks that I have paid the money for. Have You Ever Been Lonely? And God Is Laughing is as good as anything on the main album. I suspect this album will be my album of 2012 and that is a bold statement to make in May but this album is that good.

June

All of these next purchases are from Gizeh Records a small independent record label in Leeds. I discovered them after buying an album by Sleepingindog at a gig where they were supporting Low. Looking up the label I found a plethora of post rock bands at album prices that I couldn’t believe.

We can get sampler albums for nothing and what they are great at is having 48 hour sales where all music is reduced by 50%. Most purchases come with a immediate download so you don’t have to wait for the CD’s to arrive and I can safely say I have yet to be disappointed by any of the albums I have bought from Gizeh such is there quality control.

These 5 albums cost me less than £20 including postage, and if you like bands like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky I would recommend you take a look at this label you won’t regret it.

A-Sun Amissa – Desperate In Her Heavy Sleep

Sleepingindog – Polar Life

Tresspassers William – The Natural Order Of Things

Glissando – With Are Arms Wide Open We Walk Towards The Burning Sea

Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel

Music Purchases February and March

Radiohead – Kickoff Amnesiac & Kid Alive “ bootlegs picked up at a Record fair for a princely sum of £3 each, haven’t listened to them yet but for that price not much to complain about if the sound quality isn’t up to much. Not my favourite musical period of Radiohead’s but sure there will be something to like.

                                                                                   

David Gray – Foundling Fashionable or not, Gray continues to make great music and I am a big fan.

Ben Harper & Relentless 7 I bought this as a digital download when it was released as the CD version was so expensive, it’s a great album with Harper taking his newest band for a test drive at the Montreal Jazz Festival. I managed to get this physical copy for £1.

Phish – Undermind  Phish are an American band, affectionately known as a Jam band,  that is a band that take their music and once on stage pull it apart and build it back together extending tunes to 20+ plus. This is a studio album which gives you an idea of how the songs started out.

Various – State Of Music Volume One

Great compilation from an great indie label. This is volume one of 5 that will showcase a different band from each state in the USA. The bands are either unsigned or  indie bands and this makes for a really fresh record that skips along at a real pace.

The Trews – Hope & Ruin and Acoustic

Great Canadian rock band who I saw live in February picked up these 2 CD’s that complete my collection. Catch them live if you can.

March

Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

The latest release from the man they call The Boss and boy does he live up to that tag. Amazing statement on the state of the US. His best album in a long time.

Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again

I was alerted to this guy last year by @tweggs and what a find, by now I suspect a lot people know about him, brings all the great bits of 70’s soul into 2012. Shades of Bill Withers and Donnie Hathaway for me.

Longpigs – The Sun Is Often Out

Taken me a long time to buy this album that I think I had on cassette and on listening to I can’t understand why it has taken me so long. It still sounds so fresh and urgent as it did in the 90’s. A great great album!

 Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind) The Crafty Ape

Bought this on a back ofa review and what an amazing record my find of the year so far. Its all a bit mad, and very hard to describe but thats often how I like my music. Now I have to find out how many more albums they have released!

Think I have been very restrained over the last couple of months I have have been trying to listen to the backlog of unplayed albums but the list is getting longer, I can't see April being a quiet month!

January Music Purchase

Kate Bush – Director’s Cut Rework of some of Kate’s back catalogue, as she believes they should have been recorded.

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine Short but beautiful album that leaves you wanting more when you listen to it. Which is always a good thing.

Dakota Suite – This River Only Brings Poison One of my favourite bands that have been making beautiful music unnoticed for years. Last year they appeared to release a number of albums so a lot catching up for me to do.

The Big Dish – Swimmer I real gem from 1986 I loved this band and was lucky enough to catch them live earlier this month. Their first gig in 21 years.

Talk Talk – History Revisited This album was originally withdrawn at the assistance of the band who didn’t agree to its release. In the 80’s the 12’ single was at its most popular and this reflects the best of Talk Talk’s back catalogue remixed by guest DJ’s.

Explosions In The Sky – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place and Take Care, Take Care, Take Care Only discovered this band as I wanted to go and see the support band on a recent live date. Texas instrumental band that fall into the post rock category. Very like Mogwai.

White Denim – D These guys released 2 albums last year both to critical acclaim.

My Morning Jacket – Circuital Another great album from last year, got a 2 CD edition for £5 in Fopp Glasgow the 1 CD version was £7!!

Joan As A Police Woman – The Deep Field Been meaning to get into this artist for a while a bargain a Fopp means I can now have a listen

Wilco – Kicking Television Live In Chicago Only Wilco album I don’t have and as it’s a double live album how could I not buy it. Great live band and great reviews means I’m really looking forward to this album.

Driver By Truckers – Go –Go Boots Always loved Drive By Truckers and it appears that they are becoming more and  more popular as years go by. 

Iron And Wine – Around The Well Double album of rarities and hard to find tracks by another band on the up. Classic chilled Americana is what you get. 

My Year In Gigs Part 2 July - December

The second half of the year started with Eels at Newcastle Academy. Another first for me and they didn’t disappoint. They looked the part, suited booted and wearing shades and cooked up a storm. A stunning version of Sly and The Family Stones Hot Fun In The Summertime seemed perfect for a balmy July evening.

The following night I was across the river Tyne to see Bright Eyes at The Sage Gateshead. They were supported by Jenny & Johnny who with Sleepingdog might just take the award for the best support act of 2011. Bright Eyes or Conor Oberst were brilliant, I was expecting a dark couple of hours what I got was a gut really confident in his own abilities playing with the crowd and pushing the band to the limit. Amazing and unexpected.

So then on to my Birthday. Part of the Americana Festival at The Sage Gateshead Lyle Lovett was booked to play on the 24^th July. I say booked to play as I have had tickets to see Lovett twice before and both times he has cancelled so I wasn’t building my hopes up. Well he did turn up this time and I’m glad he did. Although billed as an acoustic show he still brought an 8 piece band and made my wish he hadn’t cancelled the other 2 shows, cool and confident he delivered a great set, and stories in between songs that just made you want the night to go on and on.

Next up were The Low Anthem and my second visit to Gateshead Old Town Hall. They didn’t come on until 10pm and only played for an hour but want we did get was wonderful. Some very old instruments and an amazing trick with 2 mobile phones made this a great night. I the pub beforehand I was commenting on some weirdly dressed guys having a meal next to us. I realised when the band came on that weird looking bunch were actually the band!!

Next up was my first of 2 trips to Edinburgh, this time to see The National. The Corn Exchange is a nice sized venue and I had been excited about seeing The National for the first time. A great crowd were delivered a great performance from the band, which are at the moment on top of their game. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks played without any microphones was amazing and a moment when the singer put his head through the ceiling had to be seen to be understood! 

Back on home ground to see David Ford opened my account for September. My third fail of the year as I have seen Ford on a number of times before. He never disappoints and assisted by Velvet Hands Arnold and Piss Whisky 1 hour 40 minutes skipped by. A class act live.

Next up in September is a new venue in Newcastle for me The Hoochie Coochie Bar. I luxury bar that appears to be trying to make a name for itself bringing in 80’s soul artists (think Omar, Brand New Heavies etc) Although most of the artists are not to my taste, Skip McDonald caught my eye. Skip played guitar most of the Grand Master Flash huge hits of the 80’s but I know him as the main man behind Little Axe a amazing Blues Fusion band, mixing blues with drum beats loops and elements on dup to make an amazing sound, so the opportunity to see this guy up close and personal cannot be missed.....or so I thought! Playing on his own with a loop he played just over an hour of rambling songs that didn’t seem to have much structure and at points even made up. There were some beautiful moments of clarity which hinted of what might have been but overall it was a disappointment.

My 4^th and final fail of the year as I turned up to see Danny and The Champions of The World. I have lost track of how many times I have seen Danny Wilson (the man behind The Champs) whether with Grand Drive, solo or with The Champs and he never fails to deliver. With a full band he rattled through most of the new Hearts and Arrows album and still held the audience in the palm of his hand. Danny wears his influences of Springsteen and Tom Petty on his sleeve and fans of these artists could do worse than look Danny and The champs up.

October turned out to be a busy month starting with Bombay Bicycle Club at Newcastle Academy. 3 albums in this band grow and grow. They arrived with a confident air and delivered a high energy set culled from all 3 albums. No Leaving Blues which was a disappointment to me, but to be honest it wouldn’t have fitted into tonight set. This band are on the ascendancy and will be playing much bigger venues than this very soon.

The next night I turned up at The Cluny 2 to see one of my favourite artists Karima Francis if you follow me on Twitter you’ll know how much I like this girl, she has an amazing voice that deserves to be heard by a bigger audience. Although I have seen Karima before it was part of a festival so I don’t count this as a fail. We were treated to an amazing night in a tiny venue (maybe a 100 people) where most of the audience knew most of the words. A proud moment came prior to the last song of the night when Karima asked whether I was at the gig, and thanked me for all the promotion I do for her on Twitter! Never had a shout out at a gig before!

So 4 nights later I turned up at Newcastle Riverside (another new venue for me) to see Benjamin Francis Leftwich, I was expecting a lot as the media had made a massive fuss about BFL so I was somewhat disappointed to get 40 minutes of lukewarm songs and a fairly poor cover of Springsteen’s Highway Patrolman. The crowd went mad which amazed me but could only make me think how fickle the music industry is after seeing Karima a few days before a far better artist who so few people know about.

So on to maybe my most anticipated gig of the year. Bon Iver in Edinburgh. The venue Usher Hall was amazing and although our seats were virtually on the ceiling (I kid you not) the gig was simply amazing. The audience was incredible the performance was spellbinding. There were some amazing moments and the ovation the band they got at the end had to been seen to be believed. Awesome.

So my last gig of October and I head Newcastle City Hall for what will be my most emotional gig of the year. Glen Campbell is touring for the final time as he is now suffering with Alziemers so I couldn’t miss the last opportunity to hear Wichita Lineman sung by the man who made it famous. The support Instant People who are made up of 3 of Campbell’s siblings were brilliant and then acted as Glen’s band. I can’t pretend that this will go down as one of Campbell’s best live performances but nobody was complaining. At times he was a little confused and his guitar playing was painful at times but Galveston, Southern Nights, Rhinestone Cowboy and the wonderful Wichita Lineman were dispatched beautifully and the material from the new album Ghost On The Canvas proved that Campbell still has something to offer. A special night.

November started with Lanterns On The Lake a North East band on the rise. A sold out Sage (Hall 2) were treat to an amazing performance as their debut album Gracious Tide, Take Me Home in its entirety. Stand out tracks for me If I’ve Been Unkind and Kingdom were spellbinding. Watch out for these guys in 2012 it could be their year.

I was really looking forward to seeing Turin Brakes a band I have loved since The Optimist album but have never bothered to see live, so it’s with a deep sign that I say something was missing from this gig. Maybe it was me as others that were there really enjoyed it. There was something missing for me, the band seemed to rattle through The Optimist Album (yes it was one of those tours) and then returned for an encore of other ‘hits’. An ok gig nothing wrong with it but not what I was hoping for.

December opened with a trip to Manchester to see Swedish shoe gazers I Break Horses, a meet up with Twitter buddies, Phil, Kirstan and Justine made this trip all the sweeter. The gig was great (at The Soup Kitchen) for a band that seemed confident and assured even though their debut album has just been released.

So my last gig of the year Aloe Blacc at Newcastle Academy, it started badly for me when in noticed that Aloe would be coming to the merch desk after the gig (this is a good thing) however it would cost £10 for a photo and an autograph! The support was a young Australian girl dancing to the music of a DJ, poor doesn’t describe this. So I was needing Aloe to pull this night back with a greatest performance and unfortunately it didn’t happen. The band tried too hard and really were not that tight and the whole thing just didn’t work for me. I left early before he had even sang I Need A Dollar and my final gig of the year was over.....

Aloe Blacc should have been my last gig of the year I had a ticket to see Malcolm Middleton but sadly forgot so missed it.