This week I have decided to choose music that has only been released in the last 24-48 hours. There is something to be said for searching for music that is so new, that few people have heard the songs at all. It’s a bit like being one of the very first people to hear it, after the artist has taken the plunge to post it on the internet to see what happens. Again, after listening to many songs, these are my selections this week, and I hope you get something out of them.
Let’s kick it off with some music from Liverpool. Yes, even mentioning that city conjures up unfair preconceptions or expectations of what type of music that city should be producing in this day and age. But I am happy to report that stepping out of the, perhaps, daunting legacy of Liverpudlian musical history is the band Windmill. Formed about 6 months ago, Windmill describe their music as “haunting enigmatic vocals, languorous and stirring guitar riffs with atmospheric drum beats.” The song that captured my attention is called How Many Times? A relatively simple acoustic-guitar chord sequence frames reverb-soaked haunting vocals and an incredibly Beatles-esque bass line. Without being hurried, we are ushered to an intensely melodic culmination, as swelling vocals merge into a chorus of harmonic bliss. Beautifully performed and produced, really outstanding.
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Hailing from London, England is Alex Watts – purveyor of “intricate guitar skills with honest lyrics” and playing music that reminds you of Damien Rice, Laura Marling and John Smith. Think of delicate vocal phrasing laid over softly-picked acoustic guitar. What make this track worthy of your time is the fact that Alex plays all the music here, and the song builds from a solitary yearning vocal to full blown strumming guitars with echoing vocal harmonies. Grey North Sea is an emotionally potent song that, much like the ocean, can transform from calm stillness one moment to huge swells the next. One to watch.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229078418″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /]
Next, to prove that I am not entirely predictable, my final selection is one that truly captures the quintessence of college radio. A brilliant artist name with a brilliant song title. The artist is called Allergic to Everything and the ‘song’ is called Everyone’s having a go at me when i haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not really a song per se – but an invigorating slice of indie-pop experimentation or “lo-fi” as self-described by the artist. Yield to this, and submit to the surrealism of it all….
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/228855984″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /]
And also…why not?
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Can you imagine mainstream radio playing that? Commercial radio transmitters would melt and disintegrate if they played this!
More next week.
Take care and stay alive!
– Rob Quicke
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