Great Peacock, Hip Hatchet & Grand Lake Islands

greatpeacock

Great Peacock from Nashville is getting ready to release their debut full-length Making Ghosts. It will hit the stores and our hearts on the 12th of May and it will come out via the most excellent label This Is American Music. Expectations are high after that awesome EP that surfaced a few years back. As a taste of great things to come, they recently released a first outtake from the forthcoming album called Broken Hearted Fool. This has a couple of moments that reminds me a bit of Finnish alt.country band Ben’s Diapers. I count that as a good thing.

Great Peacock Website

hiphatchet

Portland-based Hip Hatchet aka Philippe Bronchtein is also releasing a new album this spring. The album Hold You Like A Harness will drop into your soul on the 14th of April. The first outtake Coward’s Luck has been a big favourite in this apartment during the past week and I’m really looking forward to hearing the whole thing when the days get warmer and longer. Coward’s Luck goes like this.

Hip Hatchet Website

grandlake

Last but not least something that is already out and available. We are still sticking in Portland, Oregon where folk group Grand Lake Islands have released their debut full-length Song From Far. I already liked their earlier EP, but never featured it on the blog. So it’s time to make amends by posting a song from this really good debut full-length. This one below is Monterey from Song From Far. If you want to make further studies, you can find the music video for the song Diamond Eyes by hitting this link.

Grand Lake Islands Website

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Vähäsarja – Vähäsarja, Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear

vähäsarja

I’ve already mentioned Vähäsarja a few times, because I’ve been really eager to hear his debut album. The wait is finally over, because Helmi Levyt delivered this beauty into the world on the 13th of February. I don’t have a physical copy yet, because it hadn’t reached the local record store last time I visited. Therefore I’ve only listened to it a few times over at Spotify, but I’m already hooked and very convinced that it will live up to my sky high expectations. Petri Vähäsarja is one of the most interesting Finnish folk singer-songwriters these days. He has already shown this with his band Suomen Zorro & Elämän paineet and this solo debut is a further proof of his talent. He has found his own voice and writes unique material that will always challenge the listener. Perhaps this album can’t be filed under easy listening, if you pay attention to the lyrics. However, despite all that sadness and somewhat heavy subjects, the album still manages to sound warm, comforting and peaceful. I’m not exactly sure how he is able to achieve that. This is the closer of the album called Herra on mun on kanssa.

Vähäsarja at Facebook

fatherjohnmisty

I don’t need to get into details about this one. The actual music media will take care of that, because I’m sure this will receive a whole lot of hype (and already has probably). But still I had to make a little mention that I think this is absolutely brilliant and my favourite album in the world at the moment. Up until now, I kind of preferred those early J.Tillman albums over this stuff released under the name Father John Misty. But now I’m not so sure anymore. I mean I still love that J.Tillman stuff, especially the first two should be world famous folk classics. Still, I Love You, Honeybear is fucking incredible and I usually hate everything that sounds big and ambitious. I’m down to earth guy and prefer to stay on the grass root level. However, I love everything about this insane(ly) beautiful masterpiece. Ok, maybe The Ideal Husband is not that great, but everything else is just gorgeous and it’s a bliss to listen to this. I’ve listened to it for hours and hours and find it really difficult to stop. I suppose that’s not really a problem. This is Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins).

Father John Misty Website

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Ochre Room – The Fowler (video + 7″ single)

fowler

Major news alert! Ochre Room just released a new song called The Fowler and it sure is another awesome addition to their song catalogue. The Fowler comes knocking your door shaped as a 7″ vinyl single with Blue Devil on the b-side. The package comes with a CD that contains these songs + some songs from their albums as a bonus. So purchasing this is a rather good way to get to know the best band in Finland, if you aren’t familiar with Ochre Room at this point. Sami Pöyry directed a gorgeous music video for the new song and you can see that beauty below.

The Fowler from Monadi-Filmi on Vimeo.

And for my German friends. Ochre Room will be touring there in late February / early March.

25.02. Hamburg, Hasenschaukel
26.02. St. Peter-Ording, Café Instinkt
01.03. Wetzlar, Cafe Vinyl
02.03. Dillenburg, Erbse
03.03. Dresden, Societaetstheater
04.03. Berlin, Posh Teckel
05.03. München, Glockenbachwerkstatt
06.03. Wuppertal, Bürgerbahnhof
07.03. Stuttgart, Galao

Ochre Room Website
Lumpeela Julkaisut Website

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Michael Feuerstack – The Forgettable Truth + Finnish tour dates reminder 6.2-7.2

feueri

Michael Feuerstack in Finland:

Friday 6.2. Valoa-Festivaali, Artturi, Tampere
Saturday 7.2 Flavour of the Month, Pikku-Torre, Turku

Canadian singer-songwriter Michael Feuerstack is currently on a tour around Europe and he will be spending the next couple of days in Finland. He will perform at Valoa Festival, Tampere on the 6th of February and a day later on the 7th he will be playing in Turku at our Flavour of the Month event (Pikku-Torre). I hope you attend one of the shows, because Michael is a first class singer-songwriter and I’m very confident that these concerts will be awesome.

This Montreal-based troubadour is also getting ready to release his new album The Forgettable Truth that comes out on Forward Music Group later in February. I’ve had the chance to listen to The Forgettable Truth for the past week and I’m loving it a lot. I think it even might turn out to be my favourite Michael Feuerstack / Snailhouse release and that’s a lot said, because I’ve really enjoyed everyone I’ve heard so far. I was just hooked straight from the get-go and these songs just reveal something new during every listening session. He can write a melody that easily finds the heart of a pop fan like yours truly and then there’s those literate and thoughtful lyrics that get stuck in my head and either instantly or slowly unveil something about the way the character in a song, Michael or even I look at life. I also really like the arrangements. Despite sounding very down-to-earth at first, there’s actually a lot of bits and pieces going on. There’s no devil in the details though. There’s a lot of beauty in those details. The Forgettable Truth is a complete work of art and sets a rather high standard for 2015 albums. This one below is the first outtake Clackity Clack.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKs4rgiWztU]

Michael Feuerstack Website

Michael Feuerstack in Finland:

Friday 6.2. Valoa-Festivaali, Artturi, Tampere
Saturday 7.2 Flavour of the Month, Pikku-Torre, Turku

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