This will take a while. I re-installed this whole thing, but there are still a few issues that I need to figure out. It failed to import most of the images and such.
Hayward Williams – The Reef, John Statz new single + album kickstarter
I teamed up a couple of albums produced by the great Jeffrey Foucault on this little blog entry (and these guys are also all originally from Wisconsin if I’m not mistaken). First we have Hayward Williams from Milwaukee and his new full-length The Reef that just came out. I fell in love with Hayward’s song Cotton Bell many moons ago, but haven’t been the most dedicated follower during the years and probably missed a release or two. However, I’ve been spinning this new one on my way to work and back on the car stereo and I’m liking this a lot. And that Spotify thing I used probably doesn’t do any justice to this beauty. Even though I usually prefer if things stay small, I do love all that gospel influence and how those backing vocals lift the songs to new heights. It’s not a very accurate comparison, but somehow those Stephen Stills solo albums came to mind once or twice, because of that. Anyway, The Reef is a great melting pot of folk, rock, soul and gospel and it’s out and available now. I couldn’t find anything official to share from Youtube, Bandcamp or Soundcloud, so here’s the wonderful title track The Reef from Spotify.
A long-time favourite John Statz also recorded a new album TULSA with Jeffrey Foucault. This one isn’t out until March 2015 and John currently has a kickstarter crowdfunding going on so that he can deliver this new baby into this world. Hit that link below, if you want to be a part of it. If you want to get an early taste, the first single from the forthcoming album is already out there. The single is called Home at Last and it goes like this.
Merry Christmas and Yuletunes
It’s the 20th anniversary of the best Christmas compilation Yuletunes. The album contains a huge amount of fantastic holiday songs. One of them is my all-time favourite Christmas song, Big People’s Piece For Christmas (a classic among Räkärodeo listeners). Lulu is probably wondering why I’m posting her home video every year. This is Big People and Piece For Christmas.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKRsMFSMhk]
Herb Eimerman recently made a video for his great contribution on this compilation. The song is entitled You Gave Me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBeuBHz5bFw]
And last but not least. Here’s Material Issue’s fabulous Yuletunes song Merry Christmas Will Do.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMb8-5906k]
And why not a couple of newer ones as well. The Swedish power pop heroes The Genuine Fakes made a version of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas couple years back and it’s included on Thistime Records’ new Christmas compilation.
And a repost of the new Joe Algeri & The Sugarbrits tune is also a must. This one has a Finnish connection as well, because The Sugarrush guys are playing on this one. And Joe Algeri is obviously massive in Finland.
This was the last post before the new year, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. See you in 2012. I try to get EPs of the year and the reissues of the year lists done right after the holidays. I was just too lazy to finish the EP year list before Christmas, but I want to do it because there were some really great ones like The Genuine Fakes, Marmalakes, Hurricane Fighter Plane, The Wonderminers, Burning Hearts… And well I couldn’t make the reissue of the list yet because I always buy some of those as a Christmas present to myself. This year I have the Mickey Newbury set and The Poets anthology waiting for me under the Christmas tree. But I try to get those lists done in early january. Take care folks.