I had two events to hit last night, so I couldn’t stay as long as I wanted to watch a whole list of talented Swedish singers perform as part of a Birds Will Sing For You showcase but the couple of songs I managed to watch Cajsa Siik were beautiful.
Others on the night were Ms. Henrik and The Fiery Piano.
Just back from seeing Mutya Keisha Siobhan (i.e. the original Sugababes) launch their comeback at London’s Scala. They mixed up the classics like ‘Overload’ and ‘Run for Cover‘ along with new tracks from their upcoming record (including the brilliant ‘Flatline’).
It’s probably going to be the gig of the year for me. Maybe it’s because I have so much emotional attachment to these girls from my teens. Or maybe just because the world forgot how amazing they were and got reminded of it. I’m so happy they’re back. MKS all the way!
Ahead of releasing his ‘Lost’ EP, I caught Tom Dibb in London last night to watch him perform his unique mix of folk, acoustic, reggae and pop. Great show.
Last night I went to catch Man Like Me’s album launch party for their new record, Pillow Talk, out now. The single ‘Sleaze’ is out March 18th. Get it.
I caught a mini showcase yesterday and saw Jetta do a few tracks in front of a crowd at the Roundhouse. Was immense. You have to catch this girl live before she gets huge!
I featured Shea just last week and last night I managed to catch her perform a few tracks at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London. This girl delivers live! Single’s out January 28th.
I started the Random List last year, and it was pretty fun for me to do so I figured I’d carry the tradition on for another year. So here, I present to you the winners of some random, and not so random, categories that have come out of 2012.
Biggest debut to come out of nowhere
Miriam Bryant. This category also covers best track of the year too, I guess (which I’m sharing with Beatrice Eli, below). I still remember reading the email introducing to her. I really didn’t expect to hear what I did. It picked up with other blogs too. In terms of debut releases, this really is as big as they come.
Best gig of the year
Woodkid featured in last year’s Random List, and a few weeks ago I had the privilege to catch him at London’s South Bank. Epic is an understatement for what I was exposed to.
Most upsetting
This one’s a tie between Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida. Unnecessary cameos from both of these on what otherwise are pretty good pop tracks (like above) have led me to just really not like either one of these. I know that will upset a lot of people, but sorry. Enough.
Scariest but fiercest track from Scandinavia
This one goes to Beatrice Eli, one of the standout artists of the year for me. I should also point out that this is my joint favourite track of the year, along with Miriam Bryant (above). It’s so hard to believe this is one of her first tracks. Can’t wait to hear new tracks!
Most exciting big-label signing
Jetta. Expect to hear more over the coming months from this lady.
Most underrated album of the year
The Noisettes. I already put up a post about this here, give it a read if you like. Sad really.
Biggest u-turn of the year
Marina & The Diamonds. Actually, it’s not so much of a u-turn as an appreciation for her. Rarely do I moan about artists on this site, but Marina was behind one of my biggest whines back at the start of 2011. That post got me some pretty nasty feedback from some. This year though, her second attempt at ‘being bigger’ paid off when Primadonna was released and topped the charts. Good for her.
This gig happened on Wednesday but I’ve been so busy this is the first chance I’ve been able to put a couple of pictures up. This man is a musical legend in my eyes. I think he was as confused as we all were during this set, but whatever sounds came out of the speakers was genius.
I’ve been to Bush Hall more times than I can remember (I even based my university dissertation on the place), but I don’t think I’ve seen it so beautifully lit up as it was tonight. Such a great show, and the crowd there was loving every minute of it. This was French pop at it’s most fabulous and campest. Check him out!
I don’t want to say much about what I saw Woodkid do this evening at the Southbank Centre, just because it was indescribably huge and needs to be experienced in the real. All I can say though is… awe-inspiringly epic and perfect. Probably one of the best gigs I’ve been to, period.
One of the quirkiest venues in London hosted one of the quirkiest musical stars to come out of Norway for some years. In a sold out church, Bernhoft worked a crowd to their feet with a handful of guitars and a couple of mics. Not an easy thing to do; this was probably one of the more fun gigs I’ve been to this year. Good stuff.
I featured Josephine some time ago and she has since caught the attention of pretty much most new-music blogs around the world. There’s something subdued, soulful and epic with this sound.
It warms you and overwhelms you at the same time, which is a rare feeling.
Hailing from the music mecca that is Manchester, Josephine mixes a wide range of sounds together- from the retro Dusty Springfield-sounding ‘Portrait’, through to ‘Original Love’, which also happens to be her new single, with it’s throwback to African percussions (yet also has a bit of a Massive Attack feel to it- or is that just me?), through to her joyous debut, ‘What A Day’.
It’s a unique voice, and a special sound. Standout tracks for me are the beautiful tracks opening and closing the album; ‘When We Were Trespassers’ and ‘House of Mirrors’. But that’s probably just because I’m in a mellow mood. Anyway, the album’s out now- it really is worth a listen.
That almighty bastion of British radio that champions the new and interesting, Radio 6 released a ‘Music Live’ double-CD compilation to celebrate ten years of live music at the station yesterday. I was planning on doing a quick review over the weekend but as the last four days have been sent from hell I’ve only managed to muster some energy to fully enjoy this now.
You just can’t beat a great band singing a classic song in somewhere as intimate as a radio booth. There’s entries on this compilation from established greats such as Elbow, Amy Winehouse, Beck, Goldfrapp, Friendly Fires, Groove Armada and Manic Street Preachers. But there’s also an equally impressive selection of fresh new talent coming from the likes of Lana Del Rey, Foster The People, First Aid Kit and Michael Kiwanuka.
Overall the compilation blends effortlessly, and would have been ideal garden-listening had the weather been good. Highlights are of course Amy Winehouse’s live rendition of ‘Stronger Than Me’ and Friendly Fires’ ‘Paris’- two gorgeous songs that really stand their own in an intimate setting. Check out the album right here!
Well, this is cute. The original track is here, and it sounds different but very much the same with Al Lewis’ version. He was interviewed on here last week, and as of yesterday his new album, Battles, has been released. Of which, I have a copy playing right now and all I can say is it’s pretty lush.
The standout track is the first one for me, ‘The Truth In Growing Old’, just because the words are pretty deep and the harmonies are beautiful. It’s only eight tracks long (which I think is a good length for a record like this), and all the songs mesh well with one another and leave you pining for a life in the Welsh countryside somewhere (can you tell I’m from London?)…
Aiden Grimshaw’s brilliant debut album ‘Misty Eye’ is officially out today (click here for my verdict), so an album launch was held in Cargo London to celebrate.
I only managed to get in late to the venue but I was impressed by how well the songs carried themselves live.
Aiden’s awesome, I really hope this album does well and enough people realise how ridiculously talented this kid is!
I managed to catch a short set by Bo Saris last night at Proud Camden in London. There’s a lot of Amy Winehouse in his sound, which is a only a good thing in my books. Looking forward to hearing more from this guy. If you get a chance to see him live you have to go!
I was lucky enough to catch a few tracks (including upcoming single ‘Squeeze’) by Man Like Me at Mike Skinner’s relaunch of The Beats label- the same label that first discovered and signed up Professor Green and Example. The man’s obviously got an eye for talent!
I had some tickets organised for me on Friday to see Juan Zelada at the amazingly beautiful (and super warm) Bush Hall in London. I wasn’t expecting this gig to be as good as it turned out to be, which was a really good surprise.
This guy’s full of mad energy, and his tracks really kick to life when they’re played live. See him if you can, it’s fun!
Sometimes friends let you down in a massive way. Yesterday evening was one such. I got blown out by a buddy minutes before heading to see Oh Land in Heaven London. I was gutted and annoyed. But I still went. Alone. And I sort of forgot all my frustration for a couple of hours because this lady is out of control. She drove everyone wild with her tribal beats and cute Danish voice. Catch her if you can.
Firstly, sorry for the shit pics again. I think I’m just going to start getting press passes and risk it with my Sony NEX from now on…
I’ve just realised that I haven’t been to a proper gig in months. This scares me a bit as I usually go at least once a week to something. I guess I’ve just been either super busy or super skint. But anyway, Man Like Me are an amazing band and I was excited to catch them live tonight (to launch their new single, Peculiar’) because I just knew that they would blow the roof off. And they did. I don’t really know how to sum it all up other than there was lots of sweat, brass, face make-up and mad dancing.
Think Madness mixed with The Streets and you get Man Like Me. Biggest moment was ‘London Town‘ playing at the end, and the start and finish when the whole brass band raved it through crowds to get to the stage. I caught a bit of Caan who was playing support- amazing as always.
