Lucy Rose #3 - Red Face

Facebook / lucyrosemusic.co.uk/ 

Lucy Rose today announced (and released) her third single "Red Face", Lucy's melt-your-heart voice and intimately beautiful song craft has already won over more than 13 thousand fans on facebook and (perhaps not quite so impressively) a place on the UK bloggers' 'Blog Sound of 2012' poll, this before the release of her debut album (due summer 2012), I've been taking in "Red Face" all afternoon an it's safe to say it's only going to win her more friends...

Backed impressively by a full band it's Lucy's grandest song yet, taking the melancholic vulnerability displayed on 'Middle of the Bed' and 'Scar' and complimenting it with stirring instrumentation, purposely propelled by wonderful rhythmic percussion and chiming guitar, Lucy's soft, smoky voice equally impressive, fragile and emotive before rising to be more emphatic than I've ever heard it.

Lucy plays two London shows in the forthcoming weeks, firstly January 31st at Camden Barfly and on February 4th at Jazz Cafe - tickets. "Red Face" is available now on iTunes. Stream below:
Photo Credit: Claire Campbell



and here is a more 'stripped back' version of the track recorded towards the end of last summer, Lucy's pure vocals and genteel arrangements which kick on towards the end, so gorgeous:

Doe Paoro - New Music "Introducing"

Facebook / http://doepaoro.bandcamp.com/

The track you can listen to at the end of this post "Can't Leave You" is the debut single by Doe Paoro (the alias of Brooklyn's Sonia Kreitzer), it's, to not beat around the bush, simply exquisite.

Exhibiting an beguiling voice "Can't Leave You" is exactly what I said I was crying out for yesterday whilst sitting talking about new music over a beer or two; a track that on first listen makes me go "holy fucking wow".

Honestly, this track is that good, built around Doe's incredible, soulful voice "Can't Leave You" is too beautiful for words (contradiction as I keep writing them!), backed by cello, violin and piano which rise and fall with the same flow as the vocals, one moment haunting, ethereal and sparse, the next strong and defiant. From just the dozen or so listens I've given the track since I came across it this afternoon, I'm happy to say I'm completely smitten with Doe Paoro.

Her debut album ‘Slow To Love’ is released January 31st and I can't wait to hear it. I very much doubt this is the last you'll read of Doe on this blog.

You can download "Can't Leave You" for free via bandcamp and listen below:

Shinies - New Music "Introducing"

Facebook / shinies.bandcamp.com/

Manchester isn't a place I really categorise with the shoegaze / noisepop genre, I don't know why, probably the age-old stereotypes of the 'baggy' and 'Madchester' scenes, oh and Oasis. New act Shinies are exactly that, reminiscent of an English Crocodiles on their debut track "Spent Youth" which display an already hype-building signal of potential...

With beautiful shades of light and grey, ear-splitting guitars bury a lo-fi melody of fizzing beauty "Spent Youth" is immediately appealing to the ears and with a bit of gratuitous nudity on the cover to please the eyes, your senses should be prepared for an overload.

I don't know much about them, Google search doesn't either, but I'll certainly be listening to what they put online next.

Happy New Year #3 - High Sea

Facebook / happynewyearmusic.com/

Happy New Year is an aptly titled act for the first real post of the year, Eleanor Logan's previous two singles 'Gold Medallion' and 'Hotel / Twins' have been featured on this blog over the past six months and "High Sea", Eleanor's contribution to a split 7" with Australian post-punk outfit Nite Fields is a worthy addition to her catalogue. The record is released next week January 9th via Lost Race Records - limited to just 150 copies it's available for 8 / 10 AUS dollars with an email to lostracerecords@gmail.com.

"High Sea" is based around a beautiful, atmospheric bass-line with repetitive key strokes and Eleanor's light, ethereal vocal. It's haunting, intoxicating and completely wonderful.

Nite Fields' side is excellent too, the Brisbane four piece are a new band to me but "Come Down" combines deep muffled vocals with dark, edgy guitars and booming drums. Another atmospheric track though, where the HNY side is hypnotic and wistful, Nite Fields' is moody and uneasy - you can find more about them on their facebook page - a compelling release to start your year off with. They play four Australian dates together next week which you can find more about on any of the above links.

You can download 'High Sea' for free at Happy New Year's bandcamp and listen below. According to her website European shows are scheduled for April with an album due before, looking forward to both!

Blog Sound of 2012 - The Top Five

Before Christmas this blog, along with a whole host of other distinguished UK bloggers, ran an alternative to the BBC Sound of 2012 competition, the fifteen acts on the initial long-list are listed here, it's now time to share the top five:

5. Daughter

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A firm favourite of this very blog, Elena Tonra's Daughter combined sparse instrumentation, haunting vocals and an incredibly gifted song-writing talent to create two of the best EP's of 2011, with hopefully her full length debut and increasingly larger venues being filled by eager fans, 2012 promises to be something even more special. If beautiful, emotional song-craft is your thing Daughter is most certainly someone you should be following through the year.


4. French Wives

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Scottish quintet French Wives combine bright, powerful harmonies and rich instrumentation in a non-dissimilar manner to fellow Scots Broken Records or dare I say it, Arcade Fire, expect pace changes a plenty, guitar jangles, strings and beautiful sunshine vocals.

I can see this young band having a very successful year and their high placing comes in this poll comes as no surprise.


3. Beth Jeans Houghton

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Beth Jeans Houghton came to the attention of many through last years wonderful 'Dodecahedron' but she has in fact been around since 2009, with her debut album due early this year, it's probably time for her quirky, rich vocals and cinematic, chamber folk-pop to reach a wider audience.

The signs are the material is going to be good enough to win it over.


2. Theme Park

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Theme Park were one of the most blogged UK artists of 2011 since they burst onto the scene six odd months ago with "Milk", writers both sides of the pond have been throwing endless superlatives at the London youngsters including The Guardian's New Band of The Day comparing them to Talking Heads...

Though a little bit on the jolly side foe me, fans of the tropical flavours of Vampire Weekend should lap these four boys; with groovy calypso, rhythmic beats and upbeat vocal harmonies.


1. Friends

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Friends are another band who've been blogger favourites throughout 2011, "Friends Crush" was a luscious track, completely infectious and charming pop, it made the Brooklyn group one of the most hyped artists of the year and earned them a nomination in the official BBC Sound of list.

"I'm His Girl" doesn't really do it for me in all honesty, blending R&B, tropical rhythms and pure pop it is, no doubt, going to send them high up in the charts in 2012.


There you have it, as with all polls, a few choices I'd have differently myself but overall the fifteen acts represented in the inaugural blog sound show the strength and depth of new music at the minute. I for one am looking forward to seeing what they and all the other new acts I've mentioned here come up with in 2012...

Here again, is the list of bloggers that took part…
A Tidal Wave Of Indifference , Breaking More Waves, My Band Is Better Than Your Band,God Is In the TV, Sweeping The Nation, The Von Pip Musical Express, The Recommender, Faded Glamour, Drunken Werewolf, Flying With Anna, Not Many Experts, Under-classed Idle Ideas, Sonic Masala, Mudkiss, The Ring Master, Both Bars On, Music From A Green Window, Dots And Dashes, The Daily Growl,And Everyone’s A DJ, Kowalskiy! Just Music I Like, Cruel Rhythms, The Blue Walrus, Music Fans Mic, 17 Seconds, Eaten By Monsters,Seven Sevens, Unpeeled, NuRave Brain Wave, Peenko, Music Liberation, Song, By Toad.

Sweeping the Nation Complies the UK Blogger Albums Of 2011

So before I get cracking with posts for 2012 two final summation posts, this first one is a blogger poll of the albums of 2011 just like I started last year with, ran by Simon over at Sweeping The Nation. He asks UK music blogs (full list at the end of the post) for their favourite ten albums of the year and then compiles an aggregated list of the top 75 (you can see the full list at STN here). The top ten were:

10 EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
9 ST VINCENT - Strange Mercy
8 NOAH AND THE WHALE - Last Night On Earth
7 JAMES BLAKE - James Blake
6 FLEET FOXES - Helplessness Blues
5 RADIOHEAD - The King Of Limbs
4 WILD BEASTS - Smother
3 tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
2 BON IVER - Bon Iver
1 PJ HARVEY - Let England Shake

An altogether impressive list of 'definitive albums of 2011' from UK Music Bloggers (generally people doing what they are doing for nothing and for the love of music) and if we compare it with HMV's 'Poll of Polls' which draws together '35 media outlets surveyed, including ‘album of the year’ selections from the likes of NME, Mojo, Uncut, The Sunday Times and BBC music writers.' (i.e. those actually getting paid for it) you can see an incredible similarity:

10. Horrors / Skying (Number 15)
9. Tom Waits / Bad As Me (Number 46)
8. James Blake / James Blake (Number 7)
7. Kurt Vile / Smoke Ring For My Halo (Number 11)
6. Wild Beasts / Smother (Number 4)
5. tUnE-yArDs / Whokill (Number 3)
4. Radiohead / King of Limbs (Number 5)
3. Fleet Foxes / Helplessness Blues (Number 6)
2. Bon Iver / Bon Iver (Number 2)
1. PJ Harvey / Let England Shake (Number 1)

As you can see the top six were the same in both polls, albeit slightly different ordering and besides the 'qualified critics' favouring of Kurt Vile (edit: must still be suffering from NYE and missed Kurt at 11!) you could pretty much come to the conclusion that these albums are (critically at least) the best 2011 has to offer. As this blog is about my taste in music, here are my top ten albums again and their placing in the STN poll:

10. Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries (Did Not Chart)
9.Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes (Number 25)
8. Zola Jesus - Conatus (Did Not Chart)
7. Still Corners - Creatures of an Hour (Number 24)
6. Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls (Number 48)
5. Austra - Feel It Break (Number 18)
4. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints (Number 10)
3. Lanterns on the Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home (Number 44)
2. Josh T. Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen (Number 13)
1. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar (Number 12)

So my personal list is pretty different at the business end of the poll but most of my top twenty five do feature in the list at some point. I don't think I can draw any conclusions from all of that other than the sheer volume of quality music we've got on offer currently. I hope you've found something somewhere in 2011 to fully lose yourself in, it not, then perhaps some of these lists are a good place. Here is a track from the universally excepted album of 2011:



The blogs that took part in the UK Blogger Albums Of 2011 Poll were:

17 Seconds, Alphabet Bands, And Everyone's A DJ, The Auditorium, Aye Tunes, Both Bars On, Bowlegs, Breaking More Waves, The Daily Growl, Dots & Dashes, Drunken Werewolf, Eaten By Monsters, Echoes And Dust, Flying With Anna, Folly Of Youth, Give Pop A Chance!, God Is In The TV, GoldFlakePaint, Hotcakes, I Prefer Their Older Stuff, In League With Paton, It's All Indie, Just Music That I Like, Just Played, Keep Pop Loud, The Metaphorical Boat, Monobrow, Mudkiss, Music Fans Mic, Music Liberation, Muso's Guide, Nu Rave Brain Wave, Parallax View, Peenko, Pinglewood, The Pigeon Post, Ragged Glories, The Recommender, Song By Toad, themilkfactory, The Pop Cop, The Sound Of The Overground, There Goes The Fear, This Music Wins, This Must Be Pop, Useless Chamber, The Von Pip Musical Express, Wait For The Click.