Inside Nokia Music

I’ve actually had dreams that were less good than this.

Gaslight Anthem are out on a US tour to support the new album, American Slang. Gruff punk legend Tim Barry is supporting, and they’ve been covering Lucero’s “The War” on most of the dates. Luckily a fan posted the video on youtube so the rest of us can share in the greatness.

So, watch and behold. Tim Barry, Lucero and Gaslight. It’s like the holy trinity!

It’s been a whirlwind week for me and Miss Caitlin Rose, I only got her debut EP “Dead Flowers” on Tuesday and fell so hopelessly in love with it that on learning she was fortuitously touring the UK I went to see her last night (and I’m planning on going again on Saturday when the smart folks at Screen on The Green Islington have her singing before a late night showing of Badlands – a match made in -slightly disturbing- country heaven).

Hailing from Nashville, and with a sense of sass and humour beyond her 22 years she hates it when people call her indie and is fervent about her country stylings. Now, I’m a sucker for songs about whiskey & cigarettes & heartbreak anyway, but combine that with the most gorgeous of all Tennessee twangs and smart and funny wordplay that would sound just as at home on a Plan-It-X release and I’m sold.

Last night miss Rose treated us with an hour of songs from her debut EP and a few from the upcoming album, due out in July (the one about New York is actually incredible) and a Fleetwood Mac cover, in between regaling us with tales of Bobbys Dairy Dip, nightmares about Ashton Kutcher& Kate Hudson and her hatred of romantic comedies. She’s everything I expected her to be and much more besides.

Do yourself a favour and pick up Dead Flowers, and then wonder how you survived up until now without these 7 songs in your life.

With unapologetic glee, as with all Jim Moray gigs, I realised that I’ve nearly reached my 10th gig of his and it was just as enjoyable as the ones preceeding it. Folk artist Jim Moray is not only a very talented musician but he’s so humble and unassuming about his skill. Future Inns as a venue is a strange one as it’s part of a hotel so as one of my companions pointed out it does feel a bit like a cruise ship but nevertheless the acoustics were surprisingly well suited to Jim’s soaring vocals.

The audience was treated to a set of solo piano and guitar numbers spanning all three of Moray’s albums and a couple of new songs. Despite the fact that poor Jim had only just recovered from losing his voice the week before this was only apparent when he had to cough a couple of time, but the strain on his vocals could only be heard on the very high parts and the enthusiasm he expressed in his performance was unbridled.

A particular highlight was new song ‘Jenny of the Moor’ a hypnotic ballad which I later learned from talking to the the man himself after the gig, was to be a duet on the new album. Other standout songs were, personal favourite, ‘Lord Bateman’, Nic Jones penned song, ‘Billy Don’t You Weep For Me’ and ‘Lord Willoughby’. It was also nice that when performing his penultimate song, ‘Two Sisters’, he brought a touch of the sampling and mixing that you hear on the recordings.

The sheer love and passion that Mr Moray holds for folk music is clear as inbetween songs he stopped to talk about the origins of the songs and their content. The subject matter of folk is pretty bleak at times, very few songs go by without a ghostly apparition, a murder or the parting of lovers by war or death, but often because the melody is so jaunty it is easy to get swept along in the moment.

Each and everytime I have attended one of Mr Moray’s gigs I have never been disappointed. He is so talented and is definitely worth checking out if you ever get the chance.

Can’t wait for the new album now! In the meantime please enjoy Jim’s most controversial track ‘Lucy Wan’ from his album ‘Low Culture’ an ancient ballad of rape, incest and murder. Somehow it works, Jim Moray’s sweet angelic tones jarring with grime artist Bubbz’s modern take on the tale.

You can download Jim’s material at Nokia Music Store. If you’re a Comes With Music member you can get his music for free!

THE GIG

Late last year a friend of mine convinced me to see a band called Subsource. I was planning on staying in that night and catching up with some much needed sleep. But soon as she mentioned that they were a live dance band on a similar tip to The Prodigy and better than Pendulum, I quickly ditched any ideas of relaxation a got a Taxi down to the centre of Bristol.

This was a wise choice as I wasn’t disappointed. They were a high energy group of lads with some amazing and varied songs. A good mix of genres from Breakbeat, Hip Hop, Dubstep, Punk and DnB kept the mood fresh throughout their performance.

THE BAND
The Band consists of lead singer and Double Bass player – Stuart Henshall, Vocalist – Mutanda Kimba, Borg Ng on keys and percussion, Paul Frazer on guitar and keys and Neil Shervell on Drums. They all come from very different backgrounds both musically and geographically, which is probably why they have a sound which is a hybrid of all the bass heavy electronic music we all know and love.

THE IDES
Their new single The Ides out on Doomsday recordings on Feb 22nd February is
a good In-sight to how this band operates.

The glitchy, distorted, electronic noises at the start are reminiscent to the Prodigy’s more recent material. After a short intro it kicks into a rock style chorus, backed by a big breakbeat and more of those glichy noises.
The structure of this song has been designed for the dance-floor, as the songs edges out of the breakdown it changes to a Dubstep rhythm with a chorus wobble bassline. This all supported by soaring, lush pads and arpeggiated synths, both of which have warm analogue tones of 80’s synthesis.
The Ides, when you listen closely has a complex depth that shows off the skills of all the musicians involved. But it’s still a catchy dance-floor track that will wake you out of any tired state. It worked for me.

Here’s the video for their last single The Reason available now on the Nokia Music Store

Well the rumours turned to fact last night as Josh Homme/Dave Grohl/John Paul Jones supergroup Them Crooked Vultures took the stage at the O2 Academy Brixton in support of Arctic Monkeys.

The results were a deafening hard rock onslaught of the highest order that left me fuzzy headed and grinning ear to ear. This coupled with possibly the heaviest set ever played by Arctic Monkeys made for a monumental event of historic proportions.

It’s fair to say I can transcend this life now!

The Black Cab Sessions is the simple, well conceived idea of video recording bands and artists in the back seat of a London cab. It’s been going for a couple years now and has played host to the likes of Brian Wilson, Seasick Steve, Peter Bjorn & John and humorously so Death Cab For Cutie, but a recent discovery came as quite a surprise to me in the form of Sixto Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is a Detroit born folk singer songwriter who’s parents immigrated from Mexico in the 1920’s, his music focuses on the strife of inner city living with songs about Pushers and Prostitutes. Rodriguez only ever recorded 2 albums, “Cold Fact” in 1970 and “After The Fact – Coming From Reality” in 1971 but due to poor album sales was dropped by his label shortly after.

Though achieving significant airplay in Antipodean countries in the 70’s and a cult following that would span several generations to come, Rodriguez himself knew not of this and was also rumoured to be deceased. Now there are conflicting rumours as to how he came to learn of this dedicated following. One claims that his eldest daughter discovered a website dedicated to him in 1998, the other claims that 2 friends went to seek him out and found him working on a building site in Detroit. Whichever it may be didn’t matter to me, what did was that as a lifelong fan that assumed I’d never see him live actually did back in 2005 and how wonderfully ironic it is that he finally seems to be receiving his comeuppance so long “After The fact”

Find the Rodriguez session at The Black Cab Sessions