International music, News

The Explorers Club – Grand Hotel

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The long-waited new The Explorers Club album Grand Hotel comes out tomorrow on 14th of february. I’m confident this will be a harmony-filled pop treasure. Because one apparently can’t write about The Explorers Club without mentioning The Beach Boys and Burt Bacharach, I’ll get that out of the way now. The Beach Boys and Burt Bacharach. Before I send my application to the school of lazy journalism, I will spend some quality time with these smooth and beautiful pop sounds that admire the past, but aren’t completely stuck in it. The debut was already gorgeous and based on one listening session at Spinner, I know that this new album is also marvellous. Time to hit the buy button tomorrow.

This is Run, Run, Run from the new album.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LBeHeBosgU]

The Explorers Club Website

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International music, News

Otis Gibbs – Harder Than Hammered Hell

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Twitter told me yesterday that there’s a new Otis Gibbs album coming out on 28th of february. I was excited because I was totally into the previous album Joe Hill’s Ashes back in 2010. After listening to the new album twice, I’m even more excited because now I know the new album Harder Than Hammered Hell is at least as amazing. Otis has again written an extremely convincing album that showes that he is a great folk/country singer-songwriter. You can pre-order the album from his website (which I’m gonna do early next week) and/or listen to it at bandcamp.

This is Don’t Worry Kid from the new album.

Otis Gibbs Website

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International music, News

Video of the Day #86: Daniel Ledwell & Jenn Grant

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I remembered Daniel Ledwell & Jenn Grant today, because Jenn Grant’s album (which was produced by his husband Daniel) was nominated for a Juno award. I have the first two Jenn Grant releases Goodbye Twentieth Century and Orchestra for The Moon and I really like them. However, I had never heard of Daniel Ledwell until I red Herohill’s blog post sometime late last year. I was immediately hooked and then I kind of forgot about it because I couldn’t track down a physical copy of the album. Were there even any? I think I just I need to buy the download, because this still sounds marvellous to me. Do note that this isn’t actually new. It’s from 2008 I think, but still worth all the praise. I’m sure Daniel is a wizard behind producer’s desk, but let’s hope he keeps on writing music as well, because Two Over Seven sounds like a little folk / indie treasure. Kind of something like Liam Finn’s beautiful debut on Yep Roc. This one is entitled Daisy, You’re a Liar.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwamdGVY-_Q]

And this is the latest video Baby’s Been Away from Jenn Grant’s Juno nominated album Honeymoon Punch. Starring Jenn Grant and Daniel Ledwell.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQZfbyqaR38]

Daniel Ledwell Website
Jenn Grant Website

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Featured, Finnish music, News

Ochre Room signs a deal with Lumpeela Julkaisut

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I feel so damn ashamed that I never wrote anything about the first Ochre Room release, Blue Ribbon EP. That debut EP was already really good, but I still didn’t expect them to be so amazing as they were last friday at Flavour of the Month. I was instantly in love with their sound and I’ve watched the concert half a dozen times afterwards. Ochre Room is definitely one of the finest finnish folk rock / americana bands out there at the moment and I’m extremely excited about them. The EP already showed that the lead vocalist Lauri Myllymäki has a wonderful singing voice and now the addition of female vocalist(s) has lifted the songs to a new level. The band recently signed a deal with Lumpeela Julkaisut and starts recording their debut album in march. It is hard to picture a better home for Ochre Room, because I know the label boss Juha Mäki-Patola is definitely into this kind of music.

Blue Ribbon from the EP:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/11041622″ iframe=”true” /]
 
And here’s a live version of Promissory Look from friday’s concert. You’ll find a couple more in here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxYgRwMFEkI]

Ochre Room Website
Ochre Room at Facebook

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