New Music 2011 - Part 9 - some things I am looking forward to.

My recent posts in this general category have tended to focus on either a single act or artist or sometimes two.  This is somewhat more general.  Both of the records are released (in the UK) tomorrow and I'll start with one that is by an artist already well known - Adele.

Her début album '19' (2008) was generally well received on both sides of the Atlantic and a vindication of XL Records' decision to sign her. When X-Factor included her song 'Make Me Feel Your Love' in late 2010 it sent the song (her original) to #2 in the UK singles chart and the album followed in the ascendency.
The second album is released in the UK tomorrow.  It is very likely that the first single from it, Rolling In The Deep, will top the UK singles chart later this afternoon.

The next act, whose second release also takes place tomorrow, is one that I first encountered at Latitude 2009 and is Mummers. They had just released their début album 'Tale To Tell'. I saw them live in the 'Uncut Arena' on Friday and they were excellent. I posted about it.

At this point everything in their world must have seemed wonderful.  I remember talking with others about the set that we had just seen and saying how much I was looking forward to seeing them again just two months later, as they were to perform at EOTR 2009.  It never happened...  When I arrived at EOTR 2009 there was a notice, handwritten, that simply read:

"Mummers have been forced to cancel. Sorry."

Of course I did not know the true reason why, nor did I suspect that it might be so tragic.  I very soon did, and it struck a chord with me, but I simply couldn't put it better than in this piece: Paul Lester in The Guardian, 20 January 2011.

The most welcome follow up is this EP released tomorrow and on Big Bass Drum Records once again.

Mink Hollow Road is billed as an 'EP' but, with six tracks and running for around twenty-five minutes, it should surely be regarded as a mini-album?  I would so much like to see Mummers live again at a festival in 2011. Please.
   
In the end I still focussed on just two (old habits die hard) but ones with a quite different recording history. I might well do another post today, perhaps focussing on things taking place across the Atlantic.

Note added January 26. 2011:

My own Mink Hollow Road, on CD, awaits me collecting it from the Royal Mail Delivery office tomorrow morning. I'll try to do the lyric, starting with 'Fade Away' if I can and because you asked about it. I can't imagine why I did not post the track list in my earlier post but here it is:

1. Call Me A Rainbow
2. Fade Away
3. Driving Home
4. Cherry Heart
5. Your Voice
6. Stuck In The Middle

I hope to do more tomorrow and, furthermore, would appreciate it if Google could overcome the current issues associated with uploading pictures [specifically to my blog] but a more general problem that happens at certain times that are not entirely unpredictable.

Further posts on New Music 2011:

Part 1  ---  Esben and The Witch

Part 2  ---  Yuck

Part 3  ---  Duke Spirit

Part 4  ---  Low Anthem
Part 5  ---  Go!Team

Part 6  ---  Rhosyn

Part 7  ---  Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo

Part 8  ---  Those Dancing Days
Part 10  ---  More things I am looking forward to.
Part 11  ---  New Heads On Old Shoulders?
Part 12  ---  Snowglobe - Jesca Hoop
Part 13  ---  Queen of the Minor Key

New Year 2008

Yesterday I somehow lost heart with 2007 at the very last moment but that is not to say it, in any way, was a year to forget. It certainly wasn't and I would like to think that 2008 could be even better, if not for the major labels. The next big things are fairly easy to predict and the single Chasing Pavements by Adele Adkins from Brixton is almost certain to be the first of them but here, and just for starters, are two others and while the first pretty much does 21st century pop and the second 21st century folk that is not something to be held against either of them.

• The Ting Tings
• Laura Marling

Amy Winehouse, meanwhile, has serious competition in making her third album despite the new contributions by Mark Ronson. The second album by Lily Allen is likely to be important too and Ronson is likely to work on both these and also has on Adkins début. Pop will, for all its curious beauty and as I suggested yesterday, probably make a significant return in 2008 but everything live will remain at the forefront: only live performance makes money these days and so, in 2008 as in 2007, things look rather lean for the major labels.
The third in my list is American singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder, of One Republic, and were his only mention to date the writing of Bleeding Heart for Leona Lewis then that alone should be enough to ensure that he gets a major award in 2008 - the truth is that, very likely, he won't have to rely on that. Apologize, written by Tedder and co-produced with Timbaland, has done neither of them any harm.
Then there is another huge issue looming because in 2008 downloading, whether legal or otherwise, quite simply won't go away. The majors might wish it would but in fact it will become an issue more pressing than ever before and, while once again largely self-inflicted, DRM should ensure that it does.