Day 89 - Lianne La Havas (ft Willy Mason) - No room for doubt

Two months ago some good friends came up with the name Lianne La Havas, an artist of which I never heard before. She was going to play on Eurosonic/ Noorderslag festival but she would also do a gig in Rotterdam, and my friends were going to see her. As always, I listened to some of her songs and soon became quite enthousiastic.

But what I listened to was recorded, so I asked my friends: When is this gig ? And unfortunately I couldn't attend. If I wouldn't have been in the plane to Thailand, I certainly would have joined my friends to watch this young talent.

La Havas, a young, only 22 year old, a black singer songwriter from London, UK, is relatively new in the music business. She released her first single "No room for doubt", featuring Willy Mason, last year oktober and will release her debut album later this year. This year she will be touring with Bon Iver in his North American Tour as his support act. She already worked with Gary Barlow and Bon Iver as wel.

What's so special about La Havas is her unique, vulnerable, smoky, pure voice, combined with her lovely, quiet, relaxing singer-songwriter songs. Her songs never become dull as she has enormous reach and variation in her voice (comparable with Rihanna/ Beyonce on one side and Erykah Badu on the other hand)

Enjoy your weekend with this promising talent of which we will definitely hear more this year.

"We all make mistakes, we do. I learned from you"

Day 88: Boy & Bear - Part Time Believer

Boy & Bear is a remarkable name for a band, but I chose to listen on the basis of the band’s sound’s description. For example, VPRO’s Luisterpaal ('Listening Pole', at www.3voor12.nl) uses words as indie, pop and folky, which is a combination, maybe not too outspoken, but interesting enough for me to give it a try. Listening to their songs, Coldplay, once again, pops up in my mind. That happens more often and I believe for mainly two reasons. Firstly, because Coldplay have been influential enough to let lots of bands make sound themselves as they do. Their songs are far from copies of Coldplay’s songs, but marks of Coldplay’s first two and best albums are slightly and more or less noticeable. Secondly, these bands all shows what Coldplay could have been like, if they would not have chosen the path of constantly fabricating stadium songs. That is: too loud, too resonant and too predictable.

Amongst many, many others, Boy & Bear keep their attention to the art of playing attractive, yet subtle and intelligent pop songs. Their 2011 debut LP Moonfire offers a joyful mixture of modest songs and uptempo folk songs. One of them, Part Time Believer, stands out and for me personally, that is as a consequence of that striking verse, in which something so recognisable and pleasing is sung. Per definition, every remark to the Rolling Stones refers to the spark that occurred when my father did his part of musical education.

I remember sitting back on my balcony

I was listening to the Rolling Stones

See I was waiting for my dad to come from work

So I could show him all the chords that I learned

Day 87 - The Roots - Ligthouse

1,5 years ago this group was introduced to me when I read about their cd "How I got over" in a little booklet from a local music shop. I decided I would give their cd a try and I was surprised in a positive way. Like when you're surprised to receive a postcard you didn't expect, when you eat something and taste something that's just delicious. That kind of surprise it was.

And for the last 1.5 year this cd was one that I kept on listening too. Especially during evenings, too relax, too chill with, together with friends or girls.

But in August this year their came another surprise, I saw this band live at a music festival in the Netherlands. And it was a great performance. This group gave a show away that was absolutely fabulous, better than you would expect from a hiphop band. Jamming, slamming, they knew how to turn the Alpha tent upside down, and they did.

And when I didn't expected it, there came another surprise this January when I read about their new album "Undun". It's their thirteenth studio album and they're still going strong. A solid album with good music combined with strong texts (about the life of gangster Redford).

Today's single is my favorite from the album and I have to be honest with you, although it sounds really good, this time it's about the text, which moves me..

"And no one’s in the lighthouse
You’re face down in the ocean
And no one’s in the lighthouse
And it seems like you just screamed
It’s no one there to hear the sound
And it may feel like there’s no one there
That cares if you drown
Face down in the ocean"

Day 86: Bart Constant - Joralemon Street

Sometimes you need to take a while off to get some inspiration, to create some new fresh ideas, to listen to and read about a lot of new great music that's around. So you have enough energy and motivation to start the musical season 2012 and keep continuing writing on 365singles.

And that's what I did while travelling through Thailand for 3 weeks. With my iphone + spotify, a notebook, the latest release of OOR magazine and my earphones I was a really happy man and I must say, the musical energy is back after this amazing trip.

Today, I would like you to listen to a single of one of the greatest albums of 2012 already. It's from Bart Constant, a Dutch musician/ producer who works in Berlin, and created this magnificant album (Tell yourself whatever you have to) The songs together form a musical journey, that takes you away from the "allday" live for a while..

With different sounds, pace, various instruments (horns, violins), interesting drumbeats Bart Constant really shows that he is a musical master with vision and passion.. With today's single standing out as my favorite, as it is complex and simple at the same time.. And it makes me laugh as well with sentences like ""If you see the cookie crumble, blow the candles and take the cake"

It's good to be back...

Day 85: Spinvis - Kom terug

Spinvis issued his first album more than 11 years ago and many were pleasantly moved by the sound of his tunes. The most interesting fact was that he ‘assembled’ all of the songs on his own in the attic of his house. At that time, he had no public musical background and he held up the image of an all average, boring type making at the same time apparently brilliant music. In the years he has developed his music making, but throughout his albums always has kept the signature to his songs.

Here’s the first single of his 2011 release ‘Tot Ziens Justine Keller’ (Goodbye Justine Keller), named ‘Kom Terug’ (Come Back). What I find most fascinating is that the apparent simple songs come across as so touching. Simple here means no complex chord schemes or virtuoso play of instruments. It’s the skill of giving his songs a certain sound that lifts them and while not a brilliant singer, the lines add a dimension too, in form and in meaning, when you’re able to understand the language. That sound, again, may come from him fabricating the songs together on his very own. While performing them on stage with a band.

Spinvis is a very special one in the landscape of Dutch music, as not to say unique. Therefore I need to share this one, if it’s only for being one of the more accessible songs of his and inviting for more to listen.

Day 84: James Vincent McMorrow - This old dark machine

Sometimes you just hear something of which you think "Wow", that's unique.. A sound that's really relaxt, that's sweet and innocent, thats sensitive.. which also makes you think about the important stuff in life and moves you.. And which at the same time you really enjoy..

James Vincent McMorrow is an artist of which music critics have predicted that 2012 will be the year of his breakthrough.. And with THE release of his debut album "early in the morning" I think he gives a good shot at it.. I certainly think that this year we Will certainly hear a lot from him.. I think that he will be one of the artist that we Will see a lot on the dutch summer music festivals..

Right now, during my trip in Bangkok and the southern parts of Thailand this is a pleasure to listen too.. It completes THE Holiday feeling..

I hope you like one even more..

Day 83: William Fitzsimmons - The Tide Pulls From The Moon

The saying 'never judge a book by its cover' implies one needs to take further reading of matter, even though it's tough on the beginning. As for music, quality songs will only reveal their beauty after several listening sessions. Instantly likable songs may seem nice, but all the same seem to last less longer. This is my rule of thumb when consuming music. But, to every rule is an exception. On a Saturday morning in December I got track of William Fitzsimmons´ songs, a singer –songwriter I had never heard of before. I started listening and decided it to be ´the music for the weekend´. The songs I heard from different albums were amazingly beautiful: well crafted, well played guitar and instruments, straight to the heart and visualizing (but that may be personal). My rule of thumb did not apply here. The evening I had two tickets booked for his concert, which happened to be in weeks from then in Groningen.

This song is the very recognizable opener of his last, 2011 album, Gold In The Shadow. As with many of Fitzsimmons’ songs, they might not seem highly complicated but are therefore very effective in putting forward the emotion of the song. Yet there is a lot to discover in, from subtle percussion to his delicate playing. As he, not once, jokingly put it himself, most of the songs have a little bit of a sad feeling, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. This one  is a ‘live’ version in an Amsterdam hotel room (mind that detail on 3:15).