BOY - This is The Beginning

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Month-end is pretty much guaranteed to be my least favourite day of the month, it (along with the first) is always my busiest day of the calendar month, today the systems were down for half of the working day too which meant even more headaches than normal. Add in the cold, cold weather (we can't complain, we got to mid-January without much in the way of cold) and it means I've returned home in need of something to cheer me up. Today it's a girl, girl duo (not like that you dirty minded individual!) called BOY...

Hailing from Zurich & Munich I doubt Valeska Steiner & Sonja Glass will be completely new to many of you, last year's "Little Numbers" has amassed an incredible 2.2m plays on YouTube in exactly six months, I let someone that isn't me do the maths. It's the perfect pick me up too, a lively, summery beat, smile-inducing hand claps and upbeat melody will have you dancing around the living room whilst the pretty as a flower vocal harmonies are simply beautiful.

You can help yourself to a free download of another album track, "This is the Beginning" below, showcasing  a calmer, mellow sound that is utterly gorgeous, genteel glockenspiel sooth away the worries and its hopeful chorus of "This is the beginning of anything you want" is perfectly bright and optimistic, just what the doctor ordered after a long day at work.

The UK release of their album 'Mutual Friends' is set for April 23rd (pre-order) with BOY playing their first London show next week at the Jazz Café on Feb 7th - tickets. The girls embark on an extensive Euro tour in March (dates on the link above).

Emily and the Woods #2 - Eye to Eye / WLT Session

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For no reason other than a lack of hours in the day I've not mentioned Emily and The Woods since she melted my heart at Glastonbury last June. Her second EP 'Eye to Eye' was released in the middle of last year and its four tracks will soften even the hardest of souls, Emily's acoustic folk songs can be simply surmised as from the heavens. With her soft, beautiful voice, introspective lyrics and delicately delivered instrumentation it's almost impossible not to fall in love with her and her music.

The range of her talents can be heard via three tracks from the EP below, "Handwriting" produces all sorts of goosebumps, her vocal floors me every time; pure, honest, the very definition of gorgeous. The reflective track brings back memories of how she turned a large crowd at Worthy Farm into an enthralled silence, her exceptional song-craft and voice, coupled with a quirky, humorous presence made her come across as instantly likeable and (for want of a better word) nice - though there's not enough 'nice' is the world is there?. These attributes exhibited on the exquisite "Steal His Heart", a sweet, endearing lullaby that's simply delicious.

You can order the 'Eye to Eye' EP direct from Emily and also get a lovely signed poster here.

Watch Listen Tell have recently released a live session for a new track called "It Was Right There", as you'd expect it's pretty stunning. Emily is definitely in the same bracket as Rachel Sermanni, Daughter, Lucy Rose and Camille Delean as my favourite independent female singer-songwriters and I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing much more of her in 2012.

Lissy Trullie - Madeleine

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I don't think I'm particularly the first to post about Lissy Trullie's most recent track "Madeleine" but I post things as I discover them and the slow-burning "Madeleine" definitely warrants its posting, even three months late. Produced by Dave Sitek and featuring Holly Miranda on backing vocals it's actually not too dissimilar to some of the tracks on Miranda's debut. The woozy track is effortlessly sexy with a distinctive, distorted guitar buzz and languid percussive beat complimenting Lissy's haunting vocals perfectly (I've read Nico comparisons at least five times already) "Madeleline" is a fine entry point for those of you, like me, who are new to her.

Those in the know (Guardian in this case) tell me Lissy released an EP 'Self-Taught Learner' back in February 2009 (I've included a video for the title-track below), her debut LP is scheduled for April 10th on Downtown Records, a three year wait then, though I've not had to endure it myself, if the rest of the album is of this quality I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Finally, if you were wondering what the track would sound like if it was re-recording for the Drive soundtrack, Selebrities are here to help, with a retro and stylish, neon filled remix of the track filled with shiny, twinkling synths that ooze cool, listen to both below:




Lissy Trullie - "Self Taught Learner" from Downtown Music on Vimeo.

Lockets - New Music "Introducing"

Facebook / lockets.bandcamp.com/

I'm finally starting to get my way towards the back end of the Christmas back-log, in and amongst the deluge was a little gem from a dream-pop duo from Philadelphia (with a second track since added). Lockets have released their debut tracks "Camera Shy" and "Catch Me" for free via the (now) usual methods of soundcloud / bandcamp and available below.

"Camera Shy" is utterly gorgeous, Dani's soft and dreamy vocals warm the heartstrings whilst Todd's synths and effects add hazy, woozy layers of sumptuous noise before at the three minute mark screeching guitar transform the soothing melody into something slightly more sinister. The track though still retains the sort of blissful slow-motion ambience which will lead it to be the soundtrack for many a young lover this winter.

Their second track "Catch Me", with its more upbeat, jaunty rhythm sees their sweet pop songs develop a level, where "Camera Shy" is the equivalent of a loved-up start to a new relationship "Catch Me" is the chase beforehand, with layers of swirling synths and a purposeful beat it's certainly slicker, catchier and urgent yet nevertheless retains the same silky, ethereal vocals and beautiful melody that's enough to make this new, young band another to be pretty excited about.




Lockets - Catch Me from Lockets on Vimeo.

Anika #3 - In The City / Daytrotter Session

Facebook /anika.bandcamp.com/

Anika brings her unique blend of 60's dub and early 80's post-punk to my attention once more with a previously unavailable track, a cover of Chromatics "In The City", which the now Berlin based chanteuse contributed to the 'Invada Sampler 2012', a collection of tracks selected by Geoff Barrow [Portishead/BEAK>] and founder of the Bristol label (stream the rest of the collection free here - I might be revisiting it soon!).

Anika twists the synthetic overtures of the original "In The City", gone is the late night glistening optimism and in it's place we've Anika's nonchalant, detached vocal drawl but with its funk-laden beats it's at the same time, strangely danceable.

If that wasn't enough for you, on Tuesday the ever wonderful Daytrotter released a live session which you can download for free here, consisting of four tracks from 2010's wonderful self titled debut, from the unhinged paranoia of "Officer Officer" to organ led lifeless beauty of "I Go To Sleep" these new snippets of material have certainly wet my appetite for more.




Anika - No One's There from Mintonfilm on Vimeo.

Spotlight Kid #2- Don't You Forget About Me

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Spotlight Kid celebrate a new tour announcement with the release of a free download cover of the Simple Minds classic "Don't You Forget About Me", if you ever wondered what The Breakfast Club's signature tune would sound like if it was a shoegaze song, wonder no more, the Nottingham sextet have done a wonderful job too, the pace slowed down emphasising a heavenly melody which puts the focus onto the soft, ethereal harmonies of Katty Heath and Rob McCleary which cloaked around glistening guitars build to a sumptuous finale. Utterly gorgeous. Listen / download below.

If you haven't already, do check out last years fantastic album 'Disaster Tourist', one of my albums of the year, available from the bands website now.

Spotlight Kid tour the UK late February / early March including a London date at the Macbeth on 7th March (full dates here), go and see them live, you'll be blown away.