Featured, International music, News

Ryan Allen and His Extra Arms – Heart String Soul & Taylor Knox – Lines EP

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ryannall

Getting back to the basics. Which means getting back to power pop or melodic pop music in general. No matter how far in the country zone I have traveled, this will always be the foundation of my music taste.

First we have Ryan Allen and His Extra Arms and their new album Heart String Soul. I’ve had this one on my playlist for several weeks and I’ve been enjoying it a whole lot. Heart String Soul is such a damn fine rockin’ pop record. Unlike some others, Ryan hasn’t forgotten that there’s a word “power” in the name of the genre. I also love the fact that the album keeps on reminding me of all those fairly unknown, but magnificent pop bands that I found from the Not Lame catalogs. It makes me want to pick up those records and keep on spinning them for the first time in several years. However, first I’ll play this new Ryan Allen and His Extra Arms album as loud as the neighbors can tolerate. This is the album opener Should Be Me.

Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms Website

taylorknox

I’ve been following Canadian Taylor Knox for a few years and I’ve been waiting for a full-length album. Unfortunately I still don’t get that full-length, but he will release a new Lines EP later in March. Taylor Knox has played with a lot of great Canadian bands/artists like Sloan and Hayden. Mostly drums if I’m not mistaken. It would be a good time to step up front and sing his own tunes. I think this guy has a lot of talent and does that Sloan-ish melodic power pop rather perfectly. I’ve pretty much loved everything I’ve heard so far. I haven’t heard the EP yet (unless the songs are the same he has released by himself before, I know some are at least), but I’m fairly confident that it’s going to a really good one. This is a live video of I See Lines from the forthcoming release out 31st of March on Maple Music Recordings.

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

Taylor Knox Website

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Playlist

One Chord To Another Playlist: Week 11

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This is the weekly playlist that I was planning on posting yesterday, but the hockey game lasted forever. This is just the stuff that I could find on Spotify. My absolutely favourite song in the world right now is Nostalgia Blues by Simon Joyner (but that’s not there), Closely followed by that new John Moreland track that kicks off this little playlist. Now back to enjoying Couch by Couchwest festival.

https://open.spotify.com/user/veslau/playlist/6z6ydHb3j6nX9zyB1sMjcZ

Spotify Link

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Featured, Finnish music, International music, News

Simon Joyner, A Grave With No Name & The Rollstons

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simonjoyners

This is a quick post of three songs I fell in love with today.

Simon Joyner – Nostalgia Blues

First we have singer-songwriter Simon Joyner and his song Nostalgia Blues from his forthcoming album Grass, Branch & Bone (out 31st of March). I pretty much forgot to breath while listening to this work of art. The big question is why the hell I haven’t I been paying attention to Simon Joyner for years? I think the last one I bought is Hotel Lives, but that beautiful thing came out ages ago. Somehow I just lost track of him. I have some catching up to do, if he has been this amazing throughout the years. This is the awesome Nostalgia Blues.

Simon Joyner Website

A Grave With No Name – Onion

A Grave With No Name is something completely new to me, but I instantly fell in love with his music when I somehow saw his label’s tweet and went to listen to his songs. He is about to release his fourth album (so yeah, I’m really late to this party) in May. It will be produced by Mark Nevers and called Feathers Wet, Under the Moon. There’s a couple of songs out there already and both are absolutely gorgeous. My favourite one is Orion mostly because it does remind me a lot of one of my all-time favourite bands Sparklehorse. I’m very eager to hear the whole album in the spring. This is Orion by A Grave With No Name.

A Grave With No Name at Facebook

The Rollstons – A Silent Film

And last but not least. The Rollstons just posted a new song from their forthcoming album. A Silent Film is another future classic and I still love listening to the blissfully twisted pop music of The Rollstons. They are even playing a concert here in Turku (at Bar Kuka) next friday and I’m obviously extremely excited about that. The only downside is that I probably have 4am wake up on Friday morning and therefore I might be a bit sleepy when the evening comes. However, I’m fairly confident that The Rollstons can kick me awake with their live concert. This is The Rollstons and their new song A Silent Film.

The Rollstons at Facebook

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Featured, Headline, International music, News

John Statz, Joe Pug & Chris Porter

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johnstatz

Another brilliant week of new music. These three great singer-songwriters all released a new full-length album earlier in the week.

John Statz is a Denver-based folk/americana singer-songwriter and his new full-length is called TULSA. I took part in his Kickstarter project and therefore I’ve already had Tulsa on repeat for several weeks and I think it’s a very impressive effort. It feels like the best album that John Statz has made. That’s actually a lot said, because the previous one Old Fashioned was already pretty great on all accounts. Nevertheless, John Statz sounds even more confident now and has written some great stories. Tennessee, Exposure and Old Pro are mighty good examples of first-class storytelling. Tulsa was produced by Jeffrey Foucault and came out on 10th of March. I’m not sure is this a bit weird favourite song, but this song Tennessee just really struck me from the get go and never seems to let go of me. This is Tennessee.

John Statz Website

joepug

I’m long time Joe Pug fan, but this time I have one negative thing to say. Even though Joe Pug is a really handsome man, I still don’t like that cover art. Not that it matters much, because the music on his new album Windfall seems to be wonderful once again. During these first listens I’ve especially enjoyed the latter stages of the album. Windfallen and Pair Of Shadows are such a beautiful combo. It’s a really good album as a whole as well and full of Joe’s poetic songwriting that most likely will continue to amaze me throughout the year. This one is another early favourite called The Measure.

Joe Pug Website

chrisporter

I already wrote a bit about Porter’s album a few weeks back, so this one is just a reminder that Chris Porter’s excellent new solo album This Red Mountain is now out and available. This one is Don’t Let Me Go from the new album.

Chris Porter Website

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