R.L. Cole – Live from Cherryvale & Patrick Sweany – Daytime Turned To Nighttime
Stepping out of my comfort zone for a while. It’s time to head on to bluesier surroundings. I stumbled upon Denver-based songwriter R.L.Cole a while back and I think he masters this old-fashioned blues storytelling exceptionally well. He has a couple of releases out over at Bandcamp for name-your-price deal. Those are filled with rather awesome blues songs. This is one of my biggest favourites, Abel Johnson’s Baby Blues.
A long time favourite Patrick Sweany also dropped a new album Daytime Turned To Nighttime a couple of months ago. This new one is definitely a bit more beautiful and subtle than some of his earlier material. So if you are looking for that intense blues rock side of Patrick, you might be slightly disappointed. There’s no need to worry about the quality though. That remains equally high as before and the album contains a bunch of gorgeous songs. I’m especially fond of Afraid Of You and this wonderful song called Mansfield Street.
Martin Courtney, Elvyn & Euros Childs
I’ve always been sort of a semi-fan of Real Estate, but never extremely excited about them. This new Martin Courtney solo album on the other hand. Oh my, I’m totally into this. A bit strange I guess, because it doesn’t differ that much. Still there’s something extra for me here. Or perhaps there’s actually something less here and that’s why I love this sound so much. It’s pure ear candy for me and an absolute beauty of an album. This is Northern Highway from Martin Courtney’s solo album Many Moons that just came out on Domino.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvN4wroh2Wc]
Canadian pop group Elvyn are finally back and ready to give birth to another pop treasure. In case you’ve been following this blog for years, you might remember that I’m a big fan of the band and absolutely loved their previous album The Decline. I still love that thing. It’s among my favourite harmony-filled pop albums of the past ten years. Albums like The Decline by Elvyn, You Love It Here by I Was A King and Learning Love by Bobby Emmett should be world-famous.
The new one is called Valley Of The Kilowatt Hour and it’s due out 15th of November. I haven’t spent too much time with it yet, but it’s definitely another good one. It’s got a bit less of that “west coast meets TFC in Canada” kind of stuff which they master so perfectly. That’s a bit unfortunate, because I so love that. No harm done though, because there’s a lot of great songs and truckload of gorgeous melodies. For example the first three songs are all killers, the sweetest kind of killers. This is the opener Ellie.
The legendary Euros Childs is also back in this ball game delivering the sweetest kind of music. New album Sweetheart is now out and available. Just visit his website for more information. Here’s a tune called Fruit and Veg from the lovely album. Euros Childs with friends playing a sweet pop song, plus there’s a cat in the video. Who wouldn’t love that. This is all for tonight. Tomorrow something completely different. Take it away Euros Childs.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=yiyQUOlHfcA]
Steven Lambke, Austin Craig & Andrew Bryant
I think it’s time to get back to this blogging thingy and update frequently during the next two months. There’s a few dozen amazing 2015 releases and songs that I haven’t mentioned or posted and that’s just not right. Let’s kick of with some of my current favourite songs. Ok, the favourite song is still Fuck The Government, I Love You, but these aren’t far behind.
I wrote a bit of a preview about Steven Lambke’s album Days Of Heaven earlier in the week. Now the album is out and available and it’s indeed magnificent. I can understand if it isn’t everyone’s cup of capuccino. Steven isn’t the greatest singer in the world and the songs are really short and fragile. I don’t have any complaints though. I do love this wholeheartedly. Perhaps Barna will keep that #1 spot, but a top 10 should be guaranteed. This is something similar to me as was The Shapes That Kiss The Lips Of God by J.E.Sunde. Not that they sound similar, but they managed to capture something insecure and fragile and turn it into something stronger than the character Jaws. This one below is the key moment of the record for me. A song called Memory Forever. It’s simple, but it touches me deeply. That moment where he sings “strong enough to love / strong enough to be loved / to listen close to love / and hear love” is probably my favourite moment of any song this year.
This one is actually from 2012, but I want to repost this, because I still return to this song on almost on a weekly basis. I’m not sure is Austin Craig still making music, but I sure hope so, because this whole A Country Dark EP is amazing. Sure it’s indeed very dark and almost uncomfortable to listen to. I don’t mind though. In a way sad songs are the foundation my happiness is built on and this whole heart might break if I took them away. This the amazing title track of Austin Craig’s 2012 EP A Country Dark.
Back to the finest of 2015. Andrew Bryant’s This is The Life came out early in the year and has been on heavy rotation throughout the year. The album is finally available on Bandcamp as well and I have to use this opportunity to share one of my favourite songs of the year. Sure there are plenty of other great ones on the album as well, but this is the one I love the most. Such a perfect song. My Own Saving Grace by Andrew Bryant.
Alert: Possible Album of the Year out this Friday – Steven Lambke – Days Of Heaven
Someone drag me back to surface. I’m getting over-excited. I’ve only heard two songs from the forthcoming Steven Lambke album out this Friday (Oct.30.) on the ever lovely You’ve Changed Records, but I’m already convinced that this is going to be a masterpiece. If the rest of the album will live up to Days of Heaven and especially Memory Forever, Barna Howard will indeed have a late contender for that album of the year title. I can’t wait to hear this one in a few days time. These two songs are just so brilliant. The songs remind me a bit of the late great Sparklehorse. Could be just me. Anyway, I’ll try to get back to this once I’ve actually heard this in full. Meanwhile check out the video premiere for Memory Forever at Exclaim (I didn’t embed the video, because I’m not sure is that allowed when someone has the premiere still going on, but I highly recommend watching it. The song is wonderful and the video includes some of my favourite people that I’ve never met, Steven, Ian Kehoe and Tamara Lindeman). This one is the other song that is already out there. The wonderful album opener and title track Days Of Heaven.