Day 95: New Build - Do you not feel loved

A couple of weeks I visited a brilliant concert of Raphael Saadiq in Paradiso. I really enjoyed the concert. And it was not only because the concert itself was that brilliant. It was also because I was able to go there with an old colleague of mine, who also likes music a lot. The good thing about hanging out with her is that she also loves music a lot and that you spend a big part of the evening discussing new music, new band and concerts/ festivals that you are going to visit.

She reminded of a new band called New Build that she would visit soon in Bitterzoet in Amsterdam. So, in my enthusiasm I immediately looked for the album in Spotify and started to give myself some nice ear-candy to try. "Yesterday was lived and lost."

I really liked the cd. It is an exciting album that consist of several songs that do have some similarity but not a lot. And that keeps surprising and makes the album refreshing, like a full 7 course diner and you don't know what to expect with the next..

My favorite song is the second release of this album "Do you not feel loved".. I honestly think this will be one of the alternative big summer hits of 2012.

And the best thing, with their release of the album in 2012 they also announced that they will probably do a tour in the NL. So watch out for clubs and festivals where they will star and make your summer even better..

Statistics:
Band: New BuildPlace: London, UK
Members: Felix Martin, Al Doyle, Tom Hopkins (electronic composer)Genre: electropop
Since: 2011, first track "Finding Reasons"

Day 94: Iron & Wine - Godless Brother In Love

Let me put it straight forward, this song is very likely, if not certainly on my favorites list at the end of the year. I’m not sure how exactly I picked up Iron & Wine, but it once more proves the fact that music is an ocean where the more beautiful fishes do not necessarily swim near the surface. The album that holds this song was issued already in early 2011, however I really feel the urge to share the track with you, all the more since Godless Brother In Love seemed to be issued as a single just lately.

Iron & Wine, which is Sam Beam, has made several studio albums and EP’s since 2002. Fascinating is the consistent high level of the music on these works. Most tracks stand alone in their character, brilliance and creativity, where Beam often uses different layers to make his songs interesting. At this point in my knowledge of all of his songs, the one similarity between most of the songs is the fact that the all songs are intelligent and yet accessible. Whether they're calm and acoustic or louder and more uptempo.

Godless Brother In Love is a song that really welcomes to hold still for a little less than four minutes and be quiet, listening to Beams voice singing a calm and wonderful melody and being smoothed after by a beautiful choir. Without saying he cleverly combines his falsetto with his regular singing voice.

365singles is all about bringing special songs to the surface to give the attention they deserve and so open up a little that beautiful depth of the sea. Here’s one perfect example.

Day 93: Lola Kite - Energy could be our closed friend

The second cd of a dutch band within 2 years time. That's certainly something..
A band that decided to give a popular soda "Cola Light" a twist to name their band. Especially when you give the album a chance and you decide to start to listen the whole album through.. Then realize this is an album made from music lovers. The album has an overall psychedelic feel and contains a lot of great songs from which you can feel the experience of the creators..

If you like Bon Iver, Washed Out, M83... This album will certainly become one of your favorites of 2012.

Today my favorite song from this album: Energy could be our closed friend.. (And not only because of the title which I absolute love..)

Day 92 - We Have Band - Where are Your People

Name: We Have Band
Album: Ternion, 2012
Genre: Electropop
Place: UK, London
Since: 2006
Song: Where are your people

Every month I create a playlist in Spotify with my personal favorite new songs that I discover in that particular month. I search the internet, read OOR magazine and the Plato cd reviews, search other persons playlist in Spotify. Most of the time, I listen to a whole album and I pick the song from the album that I find the most interesting. Because I travel quite a lot in my car, most of the times this playlist is played repeatedly untill the next months arrives and I can start creating a new playlist. For this month, this song would be my favorite. It gives me a lot of energy for the day as I get into my car, early in the morning.

We Have Band is not an average band as they already won the Glastonburry Emerging Talent Competition in 2009 and have been touring around ever since. Ternion is their second album after their debut album "We Have Band" which was released in 2010. The album keeps surprising me and I would definitely put it onto the 2012 promosing album list. And I hope to see them life at one of the summer festivals. (see on the right: 2012 - promising albums)

The sound of this album, and in particular this song, is really refreshing. It combines a great "rock-band" voice of the male lead-singers with a totally different female voice of Dede Weg-Prosser. Add to that an extremely, but also very exciting, danceable beat and interesting guitar and synthesizer loops. It has a dreamy feel but this song is also like a soundtrack of a really thrilling action movie of which you don't know what is going to happen next. If I had to summarize: a song with a lot of exciting, interesting layers that keep surprizing you.

Day 91: Case Mayfield - The Title

Yesterday I got smashed in the face twice by the name of Case Mayfield. In the first place by listening to his recent, 2012 album The Many Coloured Beast for the first time and in the second by reading a ruthless interview he gave to Dutch magazine Nieuwe Revu. Mayfield comes from a place in the Netherlands called Volendam, a town spawning a fair number of singers and musicians over the years, who are all alike but sound a lot different than Mayfield does. In the interview he claims his co-residents and fellow musicians may have talent, but merely use that talent to produce ‘vomit and shit’. He regrets that and heads for another direction. 

Mayfields album is very interesting to listen to, especially having associated his name wrong for a few weeks. He seems to seek for experiment, since the tone of his songs vary from dramatic, sad and sour to contemplating and more joyful or cheerful. He turns from modest to more expressional, between twenty to thirty percent consists of almost silence, building up to a climax. Not so much technical skills, but strong songwriting the more. All in all, Case Mayfield sounds genuine. Very genuine, considering the lines in his interview as well. I like to hear more from him and I think he deserves to be heared by many other people too. 

I wanted to show 'You Should Have Seen The Way You Danced', but there isn't a good video version available. Though, the song has a hooky intro and a chorus which seems to be the verse at the same time. Go check it out yourself.

Here's 'The Title', which is the first single of the album.

Day 90 - King Jack - Take me Home

In 2008 this band had a breakthrough with their performance in the dutch tv -show "De wereld draait door". 3 years later they released their second studio album with SONY BMCG, which I discovered a while ago. And when I started listening I soon realized that this was a Dutch rock band. And not one one of the many Dutch rock bands we have in the Netherlands, but a bloody good one.

It would go too far to call this band the Dutch Black Keys but there are certainly similarities, of which the main would be the rockin capabilities of both bands. A firm rhythm section, with ex-Anouk band member Boaz Kroontjes on the bass and drummer ferry Kunst, certainly makes this possible. On the other hand this band sometimes reminds me of one other great Dutch band which is quite popular at the time, Go Back To the Zoo. The lead-singer, also Boaz Kroon, has the same kind of roughness in his voice as Cas Hieltjes, which I really like. The fact that he is also able to sing more subtitle, slower, songs on the album, tells me that this guy is a great singer with a lot of experience.

And that's what this album (and this song) tells me: This is a band with a lot of musical experience. That, and the great variety of songs on this album makes it a pleasure to listen to.

Today's song is also used in a commercial by Vodafone and it has a catchy refrain, it rocks and it is pleasure to listen to. And one particular thing I like are the hammonds that are used in this song. And I posted the live version played with Gerard Ekdom in the FreakNight at 3FM, one of the best versions available on the internet. Have a nice saturday !!