Posts Tagged ‘singer songwriter’

BILLIE EILISH – ” Bellyache “

Posted: March 3, 2017 in MUSIC
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An instant rise to fame would be an understatement when it comes to Los Angeles singer/songwriter Billie Eilish. Her debut single ‘Ocean Eyes’, uploaded just a year ago for an upcoming dance recital, gained quick recognition from ears around the globe.

The track was praised for its whimsical and emotive structure, pouring soulful lyrics and gentle instruments into listeners’ minds, hearts and souls. With no EP or tour announcement as of yet and still being able to hold 40 million streams under her belt, Billie Eilish is quickly becoming a household name within the alternative genre.

And now she’s back on our airwaves and fresher than ever with her latest release ‘Bellyache’. It shows us a slightly different side to this gifted vocalist as she delves into a world of floating vocals and unique sounds that spice up her musical direction

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JOSH BROOKS – ” Tall Tales Of A Singer Songwriter “

Posted: March 3, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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I am of the belief that if you know of some great music you should spread the word. Too many artists slip through the cracks and I feel like their music fades into the abyss while many people miss out on some stellar sounds and songs. I’m here to spread the word on some good tunes by a songwriter you may have missed.

Vermont singer, songwriter & guitarist Josh Brooks has been called “a storyteller and message-bearer whose word-smithery and hints of darkness keep you listening to the end” (Seven Days), and ’Vermont’s Johnny Cash’ (Northeast Performer). For fans of Steve Earle, Guy Clark and John Prine will all find something to like in Josh Brooks.

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Josh Brooks says This album was not raised by wolves. Its genesis is in the folk tales and myths I have been reading to my kindergarten students and telling my three daughters for the past fifteen years. Stories about the Pacific Northwest trickster Raven, Odziodzo and the origins of the Champlain Valley, and the local legend of the Dugway led the children and I to question the meaning of truth. Is a story true because you experienced it? Is it true because someone else tells you it is? Or is it true because it expresses a truth about life?

On my travels as a father, teacher and songwriter, this last answer has held the most water. Written over the last decade and a half, the nine songs on tall tales, for me at least, reflect this understanding. Some of the characters are inspired by family (‘Tommy’; ‘Queen for a Day’), some by public figures of ill repute (‘The Ballad of Heather Home Wrecker’; ‘One for the Money’), and some by historical enigmas (‘Anastasia in a Commoner’s Clothes’). Some are inspired by dreams (‘Handsome Boy’), some by experience (‘Josh Brooks’ 115th Hangover‘; ‘You Remind Me of Her’), and some from the place where experience and imagination meet (‘Frog on a Lawn’). What unites these nine story songs is that they aim for something like truth… whether they are true or not.

I recorded tall tales live on one mic, sitting on the edge of my bed, in stolen moments between basketball practices, grading papers, washing dishes, reading stories, loving my wife… you know the drill. The decision to record this way was both an artistic and a monetary one: bedtime stories for adults told on a father / teacher / grad student / songwriter’s budget. After five years of making big noise with Grant Black, Panton Flats and The Benoits, it seemed like the right time to get back to basics for a number of reasons. Many thanks to Ryan Power of Stu Stu Studio for taking my rough drafts and polishing up the edges. Also many thanks to all of the reviewers, DJ’s, fans, friends and family who have helped, are helping, or will someday help to bring this album to life. Josh is busy now being a teacher and raising a family but last year he found time to put out his most recent album “Tall Tales” which is just Josh and his guitar and its absolutely terrific. It also confirms my belief that if you give a great songwriter a guitar and microphone you can get a great record. Songs like “The Ballad of Heather Home Wrecker” about a gold digging woman turning a town upside down showcase Josh’s ability to infuse his work with some satire. The highlight for me is “Tommy” which gives us an up close look at the effect of war on an unstable veteran.

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I think when people picture Vermont they think of green mountains, streams and skiing. I think if someone wants to get a real feel for life in Vermont they should listen to all of Josh Brooks’ records. Do yourself a favor and pour some whiskey in your glass and settle in with some of Josh’s music. I’ll let the music speak for itself and here’s a quick top 5 from me:

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ROSE COUSINS – ” Freedom “

Posted: March 3, 2017 in MUSIC
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Rose Cousins. Her previous full-length release, 2012's We Have Made a Spark, won a Juno Award for best roots/traditional solo recording.

Rose Cousins. Her previous full-length release, 2012’s We Have Made a Spark, won a Juno Award for best roots/traditional solo recording. Cousins’ wonderfully textured, emotionally nuanced fourth album, Natural Conclusion, “I feel like I have come up through my career in the folk genre; but I don’t think this record is folk, and I don’t think it’s not. It could be partly Americana; there are elements of pop ballady stuff in there. … I feel like a singer-songwriter.” Overseen by revered American recording artist and producer Joe Henry (whose credits range from Madonna to Ani DiFranco, Loudon Wainwright III, Meshell Ndegeocello and Bonnie Raitt), Natural Conclusion’s spare, intuitive instrumentation swirls around her earthy voice for an effect that is at once hazily atmospheric and strikingly intimate.

“My favourite songs are ones I can listen to lying flat on my back on the floor,” Cousins said. “I love being taken over by the experience of a song. Joe Henry has this beautiful esthetic. He cares deeply about poetry, melody and the artist. And we put together the most amazing band. I knew we picked the right characters to take these songs and make them what they were meant to be. All the space and all those floating musical notes — it’s like a dream for me. It’s the kind of music I love.”

The album was recorded live off the floor in Toronto, with a mixture of Henry’s people — engineer Ryan Freeland, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist David Piltch — and Cousins’ — pianist Aaron Davis (Holly Cole, Jany Siberry), guitarist Gord Tough (Kathleen Edwards, Sarah Harmer), pedal/lap steel player Asa Brosius (Anais Mitchell), bassist Zachariah Hickman (Josh Ritter, Ray Lamontagne) and violinist Kinley Dowling (Hey Rosetta!), with backup vocals by Jill Barber, Caroline Brooks (Good Lovelies) and Miranda Mulholland (Great Lake Swimmers).

Cousins knows about interpersonal dynamics, and she also knows about peace and quiet, having grown up as the second of five children on a seaside potato farm on Prince Edward Island.  She played volleyball and rugby in high school, keeping up with the former after moving to Halifax to study kinesiology at Dalhousie University. Music came early, and came later. She taught herself piano at a young age, but only came into her own as an artist after finishing her studies.

“It was a slow incubation,” she said. “I learned guitar while I was at school in Halifax. A few years later, I played my first open mic, and played covers and covers forever. The first time I played my own song on stage was maybe in 2001, and it just carried on from there. It’s been about 10 years that I’ve been doing it full time. It’s interesting to reflect back on.”

Winning a Juno doesn’t change you, but it feels good, she admitted. Cousins was handed her trophy during the non-televised portion of the 2013 awards. “It’s one of those things where I couldn’t even believe I got nominated, let alone that I would win,” she said. “It’s something that as a Canadian musician you might have in mind, maybe somewhere down the road, but it’s so cool that it happened with (my last album).

Rose Cousins performing “Freedom” from her new album NATURAL CONCLUSION out February 3rd, 2017

ANDREW COMBS – ” Blood Hunters “

Posted: March 2, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On “Dirty Rain,” the first single from “Canyons of My Mind”, Andrew Combs pondered our fading grasp on consequence – and how, in an age preoccupied with instant gratification in the name of progress, we could be fast approaching a dark, joyless future. Self-awareness and a sensitivity for the world around him is a theme rich across the Nashville-based songwriter’s forthcoming third album. And on his newest track, “Blood Hunters,” he’s taking time to address the fragile relationship we all have with our own psyches. Watch the exclusive video above, with a sci-fi vibe that nods to Stranger Things .

Directed by Ry Cox, the video for “Blood Hunters” takes that fear of the unknown and puts it into a force tangible enough to look at – and nods at how some things are easier to confront when one returns to a more peaceful, natural state as Combs does, ankle-deep in the Piney River. With backup from Lera Lynn – whose recent album Shape Shifter shares a sense of sonic fearlessness with Canyons – the song opens with Andrew Combs‘ soothingly gorgeous vocals on haunting echo and spare electric guitar that crescendos into a fierce, Seattle-riffed fury. The musical gambit removes it even further away from the constraints of traditional country to forge a more experimental, rock-forward take on folk in the vein of Kevin Morby, Angel Olsen, or Cass McCombs .

As is also the case with “Dirty Rain,” the video for “Blood Hunters” prominently features children, and Canyons thinks often not only about growing up and settling into different definitions of adulthood, but the future we’re paving for our offspring. As a soon-to-be father himself – Combs‘ wife, Kristin, is pregnant – it’s a weight on his mind that is now more personal than ever. “The record was written before the news of the baby,” Combs says, “but the videos weren’t, and that’s definitely something I have been thinking about a lot: bringing up a child in this day and age. Technology, the craziness going on, everything – it’s scary times, bringing a child into that.” As echoed in the clip, there’s a monster looming, though it looks different for all of us: for some, it’s 10 stories tall with scales. For others, it’s 6’2″ with an orange tan and bad comb-over.

Canyons was produced by Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle) and Jordan Lehning (Rodney Crowell) at Battle Tapes Studio in East Nashville, and features appearances from Caitlin Rose, who also co-wrote a song, as well as Erin Rae McKaskle and Lynn. Andrew Combs will kick off a tour to support the album, available April 7th via New West, in March.

LUCY ROSE – ” Floral Dresses ” feat The Staves

Posted: March 2, 2017 in MUSIC
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When an artist has been away for a prolonged period of time, their return is often marked by a bounding jubilance; as if, by leaping back in to the frame limbs flailing, wild smile flailing, you won’t be able to avoid the re-arrival, even if you desire such a thing. Lucy Rose’s return is not that. Released today, “Floral Dresses” is a striking moment of clarity, but it achieves such a thing with a sense of fragility that feels all the more rewarding. Preceding a “new album project”, the track is her first for the Communion label, and also features delicate vocal adornments from The Staves.

Stripped-back and largely unadorned, the track is shaped by a sadness that can’t easily be placed, the intonations, and the spaces surrounding Rose’s words, as meaningful an pertinent than those spoken aloud. “When I wrote Floral Dresses it really reminded me about who I was, and I always think that some of the best songs are the ones which can stand on their own with just one instrument,” Rose says of the track, and such sentiments flourish under the stark spotlight of the track; a quiet, emotive strum with a poignancy that will sit for days.

Christopher Paul Stelling – ” Itinerant Arias “

Posted: February 28, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Christopher Paul Stelling is a songwriter based in NYC.
Having building a reputation as a formidable and passionate performer, his debut album, Songs of Praise and Scorn saw its release on 2/21/12 to much critical acclaim.
Christopher has played well over 150 shows in 2012, and continued touring through the beginning of 2013. After an upcoming european tour, his followup record False Cities was released May 21st 2013.

Amidst the euphoria of playing in bars, cafes, theaters, festivals, under bridges and in living rooms, were late night conversations with friends, new and old, about the undercurrents of tension and change in their countries and concerns about what was happening back in his own. And so Stelling wrote songs about it all. Darkly beautiful and powerful songs which became the album Itinerant Arias which arrives on May 5th. Months ago, these songs seemed cynical, even paranoid. After all, everything was going to be fine.

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Along with the track, there is a video depicting Stelling at home in Asheville, North Carolina preparing to hit the road again. As Stelling explains, “I wanted the video for “Destitute” to convey the bittersweet relationship that I have with leaving.  Just when I start to settle in it’s time to go.  As hard as it is to find any routine in my home life, touring has become like a nightly reunion.  My friends are out there, and I get to go see them, check in, and play them my latest.  Destitute is a song about counting your blessings.”

Unlike previous records, “Itinerant Arias” finds Stelling backed by a band, electrified if you will. It is a record inspired by movement and travel. The album cover a photograph taken by Stelling himself depicting an arrangement of found objects on his table. With a little more than a week before returning to the road, he retreated to a friend’s Connecticut cabin out in the woods with some musician friends. They slept there, ate there and didn’t leave for the next eight days, recording the haunting and powerful record.

LAURA MARLING – ” Next Time “

Posted: February 23, 2017 in MUSIC
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Laura Marling

Laura Marling has just released the track “Next Time” – the third song from her upcoming album “Semper Femina” (due to be released on the 10th March) and its the second time Laura Marling has stepped into the directing chair.

“Next Time” has a real Nick Drake quality to it. The video is once again visually arresting and shows off Marling as an accomplished visual storyteller.

MARISSA NADLER – ” Bury Your Name “

Posted: February 22, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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A companion piece to the 2016 LP ‘Strangers,’ consisting of home recordings contemporary to that album’s sessions. Strangers is a beautiful and haunting record,  these recordings are a superb addition.

Marissa brought us a beautiful album full of melancholy..her voice and melodies are taking us out there. All the colors of the dark makes me shivering, and from now on, Marissa is not a stranger for me anymore. Please take time to listen to her incredible record. You will not be disappointed !

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RYAN ADAMS – ” Prisoner “

Posted: February 12, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Prisoner

If anyone became worried about Ryan Adams and his broken heart following his acrimonios divorce from Mandy Moore, they won’t find much peace after listening to the new album “Prisoner”. From the opening track and lead single, “Do You Still Love Me?,” Adams sets the stage for an album full of heartbreak and confusion, frustration and uncertainty and plenty of questions, with the first being, quite simply, “Do you still love me?”

Though he may never get a clear answer to that question and others, Prisoner is far from a hopeless album. Sure, on a song like “Shiver and Shake,” he sings the heart jerking lyrics, “I miss you so much, I shiver and I shake / I’ve been waiting here like a dog at the door / You used to throw me scraps / You don’t do it anymore,” but then on “Doomsday” he stands up and admits, “My love, we can do better than this / My love, how can you complicate a kiss.” Somehow, in the midst of such significantly personal and affecting lyrics, Adams manages to display a type of confidence one can only find after picking up the remains of a destroyed heart and shaking it off.

Beyond the heartache, though, Prisoner is soaked in reverb and chorus, radiating the best of the ’80s at nearly every turn. Fans and critics alike are quick to point out the undeniable comparisons of Adams’ vocals and the record’s production quality to the likes of Petty or Springsteen, and nowhere is that more obvious than on “Haunted House” and “We Disappear.” When either track starts, close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re listening to a never-before-heard Springsteen outtake.

This ’80s-drenched sound shouldn’t come as much of a shock to fans of Adams; from a production perspective, Prisoner will soon be viewed as a companion piece and ultimately, a fulfillment, to his 2014 album “Ryan Adams”.  In fact, as far as Adams is concerned, he’s finally perfected the sound for which he’s long been looking .

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Throughout the new disc, Adams is at his best and his most brutally honest. Though he may not always find answers to the questions he asks, he manages to dust off his heart, toss it on his sleeve, and continue playing the part of a prisoner in love. Whether fans are drawn to Prisoner because of the pristine sound or the wide-open, unobstructed look inside the singer’s heart—or both—they’ll be greeted with a quintessential Ryan Adams record from start to finish.

JULIA JACKLIN – ” Coming Of Age “

Posted: February 11, 2017 in MUSIC
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Julia Jacklin has shares new video for single 'Coming of Age'

Julia Jacklin has shared a new video for ‘Coming of Age,’ a track taken from her debut album, “Don’t Let The Kids Win”. A resolve to accept the passing of time, the snappy fuzz of ‘Coming of Age’ perfectly encapsulates the mood of Julia’s debut. Discussing the video, Jacklin offered the following:

“I spent a lot of my teenage years wandering the streets of my hometown Springwood, so it seemed fitting to make the music video for ‘Coming Of Age’ with my high school friend behind the camera and my younger brother and I in front,” she said.

“My first job was at the Springwood gardens Chinese restaurant and I managed to get my old boss in a shot. I didn’t think he’d remember me, it’s been a decade since I spent my weekends cleaning plates and putting prawn crackers in the deep fryer.”

About the track, Julia said: “It’s louder than my other songs… more guitars, more noise. It’s about the need for a new muse when one has given you all it can. It’s also like a mirror pep talk. Looking at yourself in the mirror and saying, “Come on, girl!”, stop fretting over the passing of time and just get to work.”

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