“Both Sides Now” (Joni Mitchell) is the third episode of The Light in Demos, a video project produced, written, directed, recorded, shot and edited by The Tallest Man on Earth.
Posts Tagged ‘singer songwriter’
The TALLEST MAN ON EARTH – ” Both Sides Now ” Joni Mitchell Cover Ep. 3 of The Light in Demos
Posted: January 3, 2018 in MUSICTags: Kristian Matsson, singer songwriter, Tallest Man On Earth, The Light In Demos
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GABRIELLE PAPILLON – ” Keep The Fire “
Posted: January 1, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Canada, Gabrielle Papillon, Keep the Fire, singer songwriter
This is the fourth album from Canadian singer-songwriter Gabrielle Papillon. Less than two months ago I knew nothing about her, I guess it shows the age old power of great songs, beautifully sung and thoughtfully arranged, that makes you transfixed whilst listening to this album. Keep The Fire was officially released in October 2017, It’s a fantastic listen. It’s a deeply moving, intimate record but Papillon doesn’t forget her craft by neglecting melody, structure and choruses. These are accessible pop songs but there’s always appears to be an undertow of heartbreak, accentuated by the superb string arrangements. This collection of songs will surely connect to anyone who is struggling or has loved and lost, or has dealt with bereavement, although thankfully not required for enjoyment! The band is brilliant, and the arrangements are always empathetic to the songwriting – Jordi Comstock’s drumming in particular stands out
Papillon is a great lyricist and there’s some brilliant turns of phrases in virtually every song. There really isn’t a weak song on the 11-track album (opener Overture For The Fire Keeper is an instrumental). The piano-led Hold On, I Will I – which is surely destined to soundtrack a tragic/emotional scene in a major film – spends nearly three minutes building up to very satisfying resolution. I love reissues and box sets but this was a visceral reminder of how powerful and affecting great new music can be. Trust me. Buy this record. You won’t be disappointed.
ALEX THE ASTRONAUT – ” Not Worth Hiding “
Posted: December 30, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Alex The Astronaut, Australia, singer songwriter, Sydney
Over the past twelve months, Sydney’s Alex The Astronaut has gone from a small, local New South Wales name to one of the most important songwriters in Australia, with her two EPs for 2017 “To Whom It May Concern” and more recently, “See You Soon” both making their mark in Australia’s indie-pop world. More than just great music, the latter EP’s leading single Not Worth Hiding is also one of the most empowering of the year, with the critical message of self-acceptance dedicated to “16-year-old Alex and for anyone who’s struggling to let you know that you’re absolutely perfect just the way you are.” In a year full of challenges, Alex The Astronaut has helped so many Australians feel comfort in their true selves, something we are incredibly grateful for on behalf of those who have struggled in 2017.
JEFFREY MARTIN – ” One Go Around ” Best Albums Of 2017
Posted: December 29, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Best Albums Of 2017, Jeffrey Martin, Oregon, Portland, singer songwriter
I found this incredible songwriter only about a month ago when at a gig a friend told me how I would love this album because of our love for Springsteen Tom Joad era, but I was too entrenched in the volume of albums for the end of the year to give it a fair listen. When I was compiling my favorite albums for the year, I gave it another listen and immediately made a spot for it. It brought me back to the mission of this blog, to support new artists with incredible talent.
His gravel tested voice plays well with his honest and beautiful songwriting. Tracks like “Billy Burroughs” showcase his tremendous narration while “Time Away” is a straightforward and masterful ballad. There is not a dud on this album and we would be hard-pressed to find a better set of songs within this or any genre. Jeffrey Martin is the real deal and should be on any and every device you play music. I don’t know but in this life I believe we only get one go ’round- get ready to place this in the top 5 of 2017
ALI BARTER – ” Cigarette “
Posted: December 28, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: A Suitable Girl, Ali Barter, Melbourne, singer songwriter
This new one by Melbourne’s Ali Barter is only just the first glimpse of her just-announced debut album.
Having just premiered the track ‘Cigarette’ revealed details of a debut LP titled A Suitable Girl.
“It’s the beginning, it’s like the frustration,” she said of the new single. “There’s a [couple] and they’re having this relationship and in love. Then the first thing happens and someone gets pissed off and then it leads to the big fight. So it’s kind of like a third of the way in, it’s when trouble’s brewing.”
Having released several shorter EP records to date, but no full-length record, the longer format has allowed her to open up a little more – or perhaps it’s the opening up that allowed for more songs?
“I just wanted to be really honest about my feelings,” she told the hosts of the record, produced by Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson. “I’ve done three EPs and I found the more that I did – produced things, explained things, covered things in metaphor – I didn’t feel I was saying things that are true to me. So with this album… I wanted it to be really natural and authentic.”
Ali detailed more of the record’s inspirations and writing process and you can check out the new lyric video below. If you’d like to hear this one live, and maybe a few glimpses of the rest of the record, Grab my debut album “A Suitable Girl”.
Cigarette
This song is about being overlooked. It’s about feeling frustrated for being treated like a piece of meat. I had been doing some writing with a producer in LA called Harlan Silverman. We wrote another song of mine, Far Away, together and I knew I wanted to work with him again. He sent me a demo of this song and I just loved it. I wrote some new lyrics and played around with the chords and it sounded great. I love collaborating with other writers. In a studio, in a living room, via email. It’s so fun.
One Foot In
This song is about someone who I thought was being a flake. I wrote it with Bertie Blackman and Thom Macken on the central coast of NSW. We made a demo in Thom’s living room. Bertie played the drums. I wrote the words. Thom was the producer. It was fun. This song is one of my favourites to play live.
Girlie Bits
I wrote Girlie Bits song in a beach hut in Goa. It was really hot. So hot that we had to stay inside most of the day. I went a bit stir crazy so thank God I had a guitar. I felt trapped on that holiday and I think that helped in the feeling of the song. I wrote the song in 10 minutes and made a demo of it on my iPhone. I still can’t believe it was in the Hottest 100.
Tokyo
This song is about a holiday I took with an old boyfriend. When I look back at this trip I see it’s kinda the moment it all started to fall apart. Tokyo is a really beautiful place but I found it so desperately lonely while I was there. I couldn’t find the words to tell this person how I felt and there was this sadness because I think we both knew the relationship wasn’t going to work.
The Captain
The Captain is about someone that I used to be really close to who I felt was losing his way. This person I had loved was becoming someone I didn’t understand and it hurt like hell. This song almost didn’t make it on to the album. We had demoed it up and I felt like it didn’t quite fit, but during The Jezabels tour last year we started paying it and it came together perfectly.
Light Them On Fire
I did some writing in LA with a wonderful songwriter called Sydney Wayser. We sat in her living room with her cats and talked about boys and wrote this song. We both felt like we had been screwed around by a boy in our life and this song just poured out of us. It was like therapy.
Please Stay
This song is an apology. I was being a bitch to my boy while he was on tour with his band. I was ignoring his texts and being passive aggressive and immature. It happens. Sometime you just need to remember to say sorry and try not to be an arsehole. I think that’s a good life motto.
Live With You
This song is about something that happened in my life where a person came into my world and disrupted my plans. I was so angry. It used to stop me sleeping at night and it really tore me up inside. I felt powerless. This one is fun to play live because we really get to thrash it out.
Delilah
This song is about my other self. The part of me that doesn’t give a fuck. She isn’t jealous or scared or threatened. I was channeling Bette Davis Eyes and Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon.
Far Away
I wrote this song in LA. I had been there for two weeks driving the freeway from one end of LA to the other writing songs with different people everyday. It was my last session and I was completely brain dead. I was at producer Harlan Silverman’s studio for two hours and we wrote the first verse and chorus. Then I had to leave because I was totally spent. I really had smoked too many cigarettes and drunk too much coffee. It’s a very literal song.
Walk/Talk
I demoed this song up with a musician called Jono Boulet. We were at a songwriting camp and had a studio to muck around in so I played him this song and we recorded it. I had also worked on this song in a session with Adalita. She came to my studio, I played her some stuff and we had a jam. She is a hero of mine from when I was in high school. I was a big Magic Dirt fan. I was pretty excited to write with her. I had to have a little lie down after she left.
GRACE FREEMAN – ” Shadow “
Posted: December 28, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: CA, Grace Freeman, San Clemente, Shadow, singer songwriter
Every once in a while I find a songwriter who is so unlike anything I’ve ever heard that it just stops me in my tracks. Grace Freeman is that kind of songwriter and singer. Her voice… wow… is worth a write up all in its own. She has this gorgeous articulation that reminds me of an old fashioned singer from the 1930s or something, while yet having a powerhouse independence in her vocal that feels very much modern.
The title track “Shadow” features prominent piano work and the stunning delivery thoughtful and moving lyrics. If you were worried that real music is dead, please listen to Grace Freeman and return your faith in music today. If you only have time for one, make it “God Forbid” or “Shadow.”
JEN CLOHER – ” Forgot Myself “
Posted: December 28, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Australia, Jen Cloher, Milk Records, singer songwriter
Picture this, on tour in the UK recently Jen Cloher, and her band of Courtney Barnett, Bones Sloane and Jen Sholakis enter a room. They take up their respective instruments, all facing one another from their respective stations. Greg Walker presses record. As R.E.M. once sang, sweetness follows. Jen Cloher abandoned her folk-rock roots some five years ago and has never looked back. It’s given her a Dylan-goes-electric reinvention, a second shot at glory and unquestionably her strongest album release to date. It all starts here for Cloher’s eponymous fourth album, and once that groove is locked in there’s no getting out of it. You’ll see it coming, believe.
ANNA TIVEL – ” Small Believer ” Best Albums Of 2017
Posted: December 27, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Anna Tivel, Fluff & Gravy Records, Oregon, Portland, singer songwriter, Small Believer
Anna Tivel’s songwriting crushed me with this album. She has two songs that are absolutely incredible on this album, “Dark Chandelier” and the song “Illinois.” Tivel is adding her name to a legacy of singer songwriters that includes the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Allison Krauss. She’s that good. If you think I’m exaggerating, just listen to this album. Set yourself aside an hour and listen to every song on this track. You will be a believer by halfway through the first song, trust me.
The poetic lyrics carry a ton of weight, speaking for common people. This is not the kind of music that will fly over your heard about life in fast places with fast people. This is complicated music about simple people, deeply satisfying in the truth and the grit and the mire. Tivel’s vocal tone is perfect for the kind of music she sings. She demands your attention.
Small Believer is Anna Tivel’s fourth studio album Its an amazing collection of patchwork stories drawn from conversations with strangers, on the road, in restaurants, bars, and rest stops. Produced by guitar mastermind Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell), the songs float on a raft of electric guitar, pump organ, and sparse bass and drums. ‘Small Believer’ is spacious and honest, a lyric-driven exploration of the things that move within us. Tivel takes great care with every syllable and every story, chipping away until what remains is blindingly true and deeply affecting. This album came out late September on Fluff & Gravy Records.
DAVID RAMIREZ – ” We’re Not Going Anywhere “
Posted: December 21, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Austin, David Ramirez, singer songwriter, Texas, We're Not Going Anywhere
2017 was ridiculous. If any year needed the vulnerable and punching thoughts of one of this generations greatest songwriters, it was this. Tackling consumerism, Internet trolls, and racist leaders, Ramirez is at the peak of his art on “Stone Age”. His latest album marks a different direction, but never lacks his incredible artistic integrity that bounces between folk, country, and rock with a conscience.
David Ramirez the Austin-based singer songwriter is preparing to release his new album “We’re Not Going Anywhere”. It’s a follow-up to his acclaimed 2015 record Fables, and sees him pitch a message of defiance against Donald Trump’s America. Ramirez, who has dual American and Mexican heritage, has created an album that is rooted firmly in the present, not the past. “So many cultures in this country are being viewed as un-American and it breaks my heart,” he says. “My family has raised children here and are proud to be a part of this country. Most of what I’ve seen as of late is misplaced fear. I wanted to write about that fear and how, instead of benefiting us, it sends us spiralling out of control.”
Tracks like “Stone Age” bridge the years nicely with his enduring sardonic lyrics sung with his weary and incredible voice.
The new album, We’re Not Going Anywhere out 9/8/17
Ahead of the album’s release, we’re premiering this beautiful video for “Time”, a song which looks at how memories and relationships develop, and features Ramirez’s bandmates Sam Kassirer (producer), Simon Page, Mark Wright, Ari Bernstein and Zach Hickman.
Ramirez says: “I went into the studio with plans to document our time there and by the second day, after recording most of the song “Time”, I knew I wanted it to be the backdrop for the film. It’s easily one of the dreamiest songs I’ve ever recorded, and framed against the black and white montage of memories from the studio, it comes across with more nostalgia than heartbreak.”
CALE HAWKINS – ” Mr Ferryman “
Posted: December 20, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSICTags: Brooklyn, Cale Hawkins, Litonika Records, NY, singer songwriter
Cale Hawkins creates his original music from a small, windowless room in Brooklyn. He is currently releasing two new songs every two months. He writes, produces, engineers and plays all the instruments except violin & cello on his songs. Cale Hawkins was that artist that bought out something a little special. This song, “The Ferryman” has some of the most sophisticated songwriting and lyrical content that I’ve heard in years. This is poetic and moving, deeply stirring far beyond what any genre convention could explain.
Past credits include work with Quincy Jones, Wyclef Jean, Nate Ruess, Blue Note Records, Nikki Yanofsky, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Grace Weber, Gabriel Garzon-Montano, Carrie Manolakos, KAMAU, and No Wyld. Hawkins is also a proud collaborator and contributor to the original music of Ben Talmi, Arthur Moon, Sulene, J3PO, and several other New York-based artists.
The Fat Angel Sings 