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Austin Lucas Finland Tour (10.11. – 14.11.)

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austini

Major news on the One Chord To Another scale. One of my favourite singer-songwriters Austin Lucas will be touring in Finland next week. I’ve been a big fan since his 2009 album Somebody Loves You and the last three albums have all ended up on my year-end top 10. Therefore I’m actually really ashamed that I haven’t seen Austin Lucas live before this current solo tour. He has been playing in Finland several times since that, but I’ve just been either too lazy or busy to drag myself to Helsinki. I’m really excited to finally see Austin Lucas perform at Dynamo, Turku next Saturday. That’s the last date of his current Scandinavian / Northern Europe tour. Earlier in the week, Austin will play in Maarianhamina, Jyväskylä, Tampere and Helsinki. Here are the Finnish dates.

Austin Lucas Finland Tour (10.11. – 14.11.)

Nov 10, Maarianhamina
Nov 11, Tampere, Telakka
Nov 12, Jyvaskyla, Lutakko
Nov 13, Helsinki, Bar Loose
Nov 14, Turku, Dynamo

There’s at least a dozen of Austin Lucas songs that I hold very dear, but I think I go with this most recent favourite. This is Splinters that ended his previous album Stay Reckless in perfect fashion. The video is from his Start A Scene Sessions earlier in the year.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjuRJd5cuc]

Besides creating some of the finest and most captivating songs of the past ten years, there’s also more reasons to love Austin and that’s his bond with Sally. Actually, the only downside of Austin’s Euro tours is that I miss Sally photos. I’m pretty sure Instagram was created because of Sally & Austin and their mutual love and respect for each other that shines so brightly on the photos that Austin posts. Nowadays, my wife and I even often refer to Austin as “Sally’s dad” on our conversations. Every time I open that app, the first thing I do is that I check out what Austin and Sally are up to and I don’t think I’m the only one. Looking at a photo of Sally sitting in the guitar case while Austin sings his heart out. There hasn’t been a day when that hasn’t brought a smile on my face. And I’ve had some pretty fucked up days during the past year. Thank you Austin for the music and thank you for the photos of you and Sally.

Austin Lucas Website

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Featured, International music, News

R.L. Cole – Live from Cherryvale & Patrick Sweany – Daytime Turned To Nighttime

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rlcole2

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.

R.L. Cole at Facebook

sweanynight

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.

Patrick Sweany Website

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Featured, International music, News

Martin Courtney, Elvyn & Euros Childs

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courneymartin

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]

Martin Courtney Website

elvyn

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.

Elvyn Website

eurps

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]

Euros Childs Website

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Featured, International music

Hayden, Widower & Claire Cronin

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haydenhey

I haven’t talked enough about the greatness of the new Hayden album Hey Love. It has been a real grower for me during the year. I did like it from the get go, but it still felt a little bit dissapointing after masterful Us Alone. Where were my ears and especially heart last spring? What an ignorant twat I really was. This is an amazing piece of music. It is one of the albums that will subtly break your heart into thousand pieces and then puts them back together in such a beautiful way that you still end up feeling more whole than before listening. Hey Love has so much to love. Great songs, carefully crafted instrumentation and Hayden’s voice that will melt an iceberg or two and so much more. My favourites are Orange Curtain Light and especially the opener Hearts Just Beat. It’s dreadfully cliche-ish, but that song makes me want to be a better person. This however is another beauty called Troubled Times. Hey Love came out last spring on the great Arts & Crafts label.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=q_Hkun6c1TM]

I also recommend this gorgeous live at Massey Hall video.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cCgpSLL6TO0]

Hayden Website

widowerdark

I was extremely addicted to Widower’s Fool Moon album a couple of years ago. Thoroughbred ended up taking the song of the year award and I still hold that album very dear. If you need a shoulder to cry on, Fool Moon is there for you. The new EP Dark Blue is another beautiful tearjerker and available from his Bandcamp for the price you decide. This is Your Copy of The Catcher in Rye from the Dark Blue EP.

Widower at Facebook

clairecronin

Staying on the dark, but beautiful side of things. Claire Cronin is a new find for me. I stumbled upon her Over and Through album a couple of weeks ago and instantly fell for it. Label Ba Da Bing Records threw in names like Jason Molina and Karen Dalton. Of course Claire is not that good. Nobody is that good. But this is rather remarkable, captivating and amazing album. It’s certainly not for everyone as things tend to get pretty dark occasionally. Thankfully Claire’s beautiful voice keeps the devil just out of reach.

I look forward to hearing Claire Cronin’s full band debut due out next spring. It could be something very special. Not that there’s anything wrong with the bare lo-fi approach of this one. It actually fits perfectly to this music. This is They Say from Over and Through.

Claire Cronin Website

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