Day 107: Angus Stone - Bird on a Buffalo

We know today's artist mainly from his cooperation with his sister Julia and their hit "Big Yet Plane". They had quite some success with their album Down The Way (2010). Unfortunately they made the decission to part and go in different directions. Angus told Surfing World Magazine, “Recording with Julia is cool but we both have our hands on the wheel. This was an opportunity to grab the wheel and do some burn-outs.”

And so Angus Stone was back on his own again, after his first solo debut in 2009 with the album smoking Gun. Soon he will be back with a new album called "Broken Brights" which will be released in July. Today's song is the second single of that album called Bird on a buffalo. For me it provides again that Angus on his own is nothing less (and at least as good as) then when he was still together with Julia.  Pastermagazine writes about the song "While the two animals must collaborate to ensure mutual survival, the lyrics “we got together like the bird on the buffalo” describe a metaphor for a musing relationship between lovers."

What I like about it, the creativity of the lyrics, the relaxt mood of the song and the voice of Angus which makes this song complete, like there is nothing to worry about and so you just have to take the time to listen to this song.

Day 106: Hot Chip - Look At Where We Are

Hot Chip have recently brought out their fifth studio album and it is already acclaimed by amongst other pitchfork.com to be their most lively ones. Producing their music in the genres of indie electronica and pop, Hot Chip is considered to be leading, so worth listening I found. In Our Heads sounds rather diverse and contains smart electronica pop tunes as well as indie dance tracks. Obviously, the eighties decade in musical sense must have been influential and inspirational, when composing the tracks, is what member Joe Goddard has stated earlier too. Not surprisingly, here and there a name such as Nik Kershaw is musically referred to, next to, as co-writer Justin mentioned, tracks that resemble the most to minimal techno.

Picking a song is not easy, since no track represents the album as a whole. So here is my favorite, a nice slow jam, sung in a beautiful melody and a right counterpart to the uptempo tracks. Listen to Look At Where We Are with a decent set of headphones to not miss out on superb production and deep bass. I Like.

Day 105: Deus - Quatre Mains

Since 2 years I have a weak spot for music from our neighbours from the south. Somehow, their music always fascinates me. This is not any different with the sudden release of the new studio album of Belgium Rock Band Deus, "Following Sea". 

On June 1st they announced that they would release their 7th album, which was quite a surprise as their last album "Keep you close" is only of November last year. In an interview on 3voor12 leadsinger Tom Barman announces: "We have created numbers which we don't want to lose, numbers that we didn't want to keep in stock for 4 years, so we broke with our traditional way of working and choose to finish the songs quickly and release them. It's 2012 for fuck's sake. The idea of waiting for months with releasing them seemed so old fashioned" 

This album contains the traditional Deus sound, with the great voice of Barman, who shows again that he is a great singer and songwriter. He even surprises us with a first song in French (posted below). And although the consistency between the songs sounds sometimes loose, as some of them were written before the previous album and some of them during their tour, listening to the album a couple of times confirms again that Deus is one of the finest rock bands from Belgium. And with this cd they are ready for the festival season.

Day 104 - Goldfish ft Morning Parade - Washing over me

Hello, there. After a couple of weeks of being absent from 365 singles we're back with some new fresh music. I had to find myself some inspiration and had to make new musical discoveries before I was motivated to write about music again. At the moment I write this I realize that this is one of the reasons for visiting concerts, venues and festivals.. To keep being motitaved for this blog. So I went to London Calling Indie Pop/ Rock festival in Paradiso with co-author Peter, danced the day away at Techno Edit festival in Haarlem and last Thursday visited Swedish Miike Snow at the O2 Academy in London with my brother. So enough inspiration for at least a while.

I keep it short today. Just looking outside makes me feel crappy. It's rainy, windy and the temperature has dropped till around 9-10 degrees Celcius. I need some energyzing, sunny, feel-good music to warm me up and make me dance inside my room.

This South African group is not really new, although they have found a new form of making music by working together with another great band from the UK. I'm am talking about the cooperation between Goldfish and Morning parade with their song Washing over Me. I fell in love with it while I drove home yesterday evening, the sun setting and the radio full open. Have a great summer... ;-)

Day 103: Absynth Minded - Space

When I was doing my internship, 2.5 years ago, I used to travel quite a lot by public transport. Equiped with my mp3 player and my favorite songs on it, I actually enjoyed this a lot. One of the records I listened to at that time was the self titled album of a small Belgium band called Absynth Minded; the song I preferred the most was one called Envoi (as a tribute to literature writer Hugo Claus). I could sing along with every word and one day I even wrote out the text on paper, so much I liked it. '

Now the band is back with their new album "As it ever was", a record based on heavy themes, with songs that are easy to listen to; yes, quite a contradiction but so great. Quite often I like albums of artists/ band because of their musicality and the feel a song gives you, without paying attention to the lyrics. This one is different as I discovered that there are also a lot of beautiful secrets hidden in the lyrics of this album. I think my co-writer Peter would call this something like layers that build up the song.

Today's song is called Space. It is the single of the album that was released in february this year. It took me a few times to discover the fantastic aspects of this song but for me that makes a song only more valuable and is always an aspect by which I would recognize a great song.

Please give this "hidden secret from Belgium" a chance.. I bet you will love it.

Day 102: Damien Jurado - Nothing Is The News

This fine song isn’t as much beautiful, as it stands out for being firm and relaxed at the same time. I’ve listened to it for a little while already and did not really know where to put it. ‘Nothing Is The News’ is the opener of Damien Jurado’s 2012 and eleventh album Maraqopa, so Jurado isn’t a newcomer. He is claimed to make music as a singer/songwriter in the tradition of Seattle indierock, yet this song refers back a lot more to, as you like to put it, seventieslike psychedelic rock music.

What I find so cool is the guitar solo that kicks in very early and lasts for almost the whole track. My  co-writer Justin likes to attach his posts to some kind of feel or mood you have in some occasion or moment of the day. This one I think is perfect for late night, just at that switch point between hanging back and eventually coming in action. After sitting down on some Friday night, having a couple of drinks. Taking in the laidback atmosphere of the song, but loading the firmness and confidence at the same time, when making up to go out.

Day 101: Isbells - Elation

A new song from one of my recent discoveries from Belgium, to start your weekend with a very relaxt mood. It's from Isbells, a melancholic pop-folk band that is centered around lead-singer Gaëtan Vandewoude who started this group in 2009.  After singing in many small bands as back-up singer he decided to start his own band. And he did an amazing job.

When I heard on the DWDD show last week I was convinced. I listened to the second album of the group (Stoalin', 2012) and loved it. It reminded me of the self titled album of Bon Iver (2011) but also of Fleet Foxes, not only the music but also the quality of the music. Dreamy, Arabic, Introvert pop-folk songs that suck you in...

This song, Elation, makes you totally feel at ease, creates a smile at your face (especially the part with the singing little children) and makes you think about how great life can be. And the part with which the song starts also ends the song... Slow, quiet and really relaxt...

Enjoy your weekend..