New Music 2015 - Part 44 - Eloise Keating - Working Late

It is not unknown for me to write a post about a single song but it is far from usual. This is one of those exceptions and here is how it came about. Less than an hour ago I was listening to one of my regular doses of new music, on Amazing Radio as it happens, and went to the kitchen to check how my meal was doing. I came back part way through a song and my immediate thought --- is this a Lana Del Rey song I haven't heard?
The next thought was that Amazing Radio wouldn't be the vehicle for that; her label --- UMG/Polydor/Geffen according to territory --- would have that covered, at great cost, all over the world on more levels than I care to even contemplate.
I was right about that for this was not what it sounded as though it might be. You'll see in the style why I was so easily led. When it comes to the lyric a little listen will make you realise that the detail isn't quite from the same surroundings, be they cultural or physical, in which Elizabeth Grant as her alter ego portrays itself.

This is the latest song from Portsmouth-based Eloise Keating. She doesn't have major label backing. Maybe that is not what she seeks. What I do know is that I should expect some flak here - is it pastiche, parody or whatever else one might suggest? My opinion is that if she can get the measure of it as well as this, then there are no limits.

Interesting conversations... sometimes overheard.

More than once quite recently it has been mentioned to me that my blog, which unsurprisingly reflects my interest in music more widely, tends to feature more female artists than male ones.
As an observation that is true but my reply is always this or a close variation on it;
"Do I have a problem with this, do you have a problem with this or do you think that they [the artists] have a problem with this?"
I have never received a cogent answer. I like what I like and, to a great extent, that is what I go to see, hear and also write about. I have certainly never been given a response that goes any way to explaining the reason behind the original question. The result has for the most part been an embarrassed silence, but not one that has embarrassed me. I just wonder what they anticipated I might have said as some kind of apologia...
Life is not long enough to worry about nonsense like that. US commercial radio is, I am told, seemingly still almost entirely dominated by male presenters playing male artists...
A similar debate has recently surfaced in the UK, specifically concerning the line-up recently announced for Leeds/Reading Festival 2015.

Tomorrow is International Women's Day 2015.
I am going to listen to nothing other than female (fronted) music following the lead by Amazing Radio today. That is a given.
What should I listen to?
I might just post a play list after the fact. Please keep this serious in intent, but light hearted in tone, if possible. We should all give and take when it comes to poking fun at each other...

To get things started here is a little-known gem, 'Britney', from Tasha Taylor Johnson and her 2013 début album 'Feed Your Ego'.

New Music 2015 - Part 12 - Robert Chaney - Cracked Picture Frames

It is true that I spent much of January in self-imposed hibernation; the only obvious sign of life being that I wrote a fair number of posts here, which is something that I failed to do in January 2014, and have listened to a whole lot more that I have yet to mention.
This is not part of that, because I only became aware of it and only then via the artist Friday last. There are several issues at work here - I like it a great deal and it seems that it fits so well with much that I have been listening to over the last year or so. If there is a better case of musical 'transatlanticism', about which I wrote here last Spring, I can't think of one at the moment. The simple acoustic, sparse tales of assorted misfortune and missteps are applicable and in measure timeless wherever one might be.

Robert Chaney hails from Florida but moved to London a couple of years ago. This is his first LP.
What I do know is that if someone had spun me a false tale that said otherwise then I might very well have believed it. 'Cracked Picture Frames' is released in the UK by Jagged Lines (JL001) as a download on 15 February and on CD on 26 April. I have had the good fortune to be able to listen to all ten tracks on the LP a fair few times now. It is quite the reflective work throughout and final track, The Ballad of Edward and Lisa, is certainly no exception. In fact the tale it tells is horrific. It is not my favourite here, by a margin, but the point is there are absolutely no tracks that I would skip.
This is very definitely an album for listening to from start to end and then only in carefully chosen company; it's too good to waste on those who would not bother to listen attentively.

The playlist is as follows:

• Black Eyed Susan
• The Morning After
• Does Your Love Pay Out In Full?
• Patch It Up
• The Simplest Words
• The Cyclist
• I Didn't Want Her Anyway
• Birds and Bees
• Corazones Amarillos
• The Ballad of Edward and Lisa

I can also imagine that it could be stunning live on a small stage at a festival - indeed I have several such in mind - but for now I'll keep those to myself and wait to see how the situation plays out. It's still a full four months before the UK summer festival season starts to play out for real.
On 15 February 'The Ballad of Edward and Lisa' made its first near show-stopping début, and the artist's first appearance, on UK- based but internet-wide Amazing Radio on Baylen Leonard's weekly show 'The Front Porch'.

New Music 2014 - Part 18 - Table Scraps

Whilst pursuing my New Year Resolution to listen to more new (at least to me) music - my target was 8 hours/week and I'm doing well almost six months in - I was listening to Simon Raymonde's show on Amazing Radio yesterday evening when something came on which, although quite new wasn't as simple as that.
It was 'At The Bottom of Our Stairs' by Birmingham duo Table Scraps.

It immediately struck a chord as there was something about the female vocals that was distinctly familiar but from a long while back. I'd decided that it wasn't one or two possibilities when it was announced that the band was Scott Vincent Abbott and Poppy Twist. It could have been a coincidence, just possibly, but it certainly wasn't. This post could just as easily have been titled 'Whatever happened to Poppy Twist?'
The last time I heard of her was the 2007 release of the six-track  mini-LP 'Follow Me Down' as the lead singer of female four-piece Poppy & The Jezebels. Here is that record, Reveal Records REVEAL 19LP.

To say that this had influences beyond their years is not the half of it - many an artist would kill to write the song 'Gracelin'. The passage of time has, if anything at all, only made it slightly easier to classify. It certainly hasn't detracted from its worth.

Table Scraps keep the angular, feral sound. I like this.

New Music 2014 - Part 11 - The Cadbury Sisters

I wasn't really planning on a new post so late tonight but then these things just demand attention - now.
It is becoming clear that Bristol sibling trio The Cadbury Sisters is garnering much attention for their acoustic harmonies but not just because of them. Much inspired by Laura Marling they say, but also by artists that are much older than either her or them. The first place I heard their music played, although I was already faintly aware of them, was on Amazing Radio, where Kathryn Tickell has been on the case for some time now, hence the session below. So have others, including the likes of BBC6 Music.

It is three-part harmony but quite unlike The Staves and certainly not like Haim either. Their latest EP 'Close' is released by Bristol-based label and live event promoters Fear of Fiction in June. The Cadbury Sisters are appearing at many festivals and suchlike during the summer and it would be a mistake to miss the opportunity to see them live on a small stage.

The EP and me.

Around about six years ago I had a problem concerning music.
I had started blogging about six months previously, and discovered that liked doing so, but now I had a shortage of new material.
This was soon to presage my conversion to festivals, but I didn't yet countenance it at this time; that would take another three months or so. It did however turn my mind towards looking for new music beyond that which could be heard on the mainstream radio or learned about in the traditional music press.
What this means is that, for me at least, music changed forever. Way back then I thought that the EP - in any format - was a thing of the past although I had a few from back in the day.  That was only one thing that I was totally wrong about!
If I were to put all the (physical) EPs that I have accumulated since then in a pile it would be quite impressive. I shall continue by mentioning a few more that have very recently come to my attention...
The first is very recent and, as far as I am aware, currently only available as a download. It is from an act that, while dividing its time between widely spaced parts of our island, pulled this out of the bag.

It is their début release and I owe it to For Folk's Sake for bringing it to my attention and needless to say there is plenty more great stuff on show there.

The next one is very real, in a CD sense, and it arrived this week. I have mentioned this EP and the artist Pip Mountjoy before. This is the follow-up to the 2012 Lousiana EP. I have, more than anything, Deer Shed Festival to thank for letting me find out about this artist.

Still unsigned, I believe, but for how much longer? Certainly BBC Introducing have her locked on the radar and she's playing at venues and supporting better known artists as each month passes.
This next artist I have to thank Folkroom Records for bringing to my attention, courtesy of their first compilation.
Salwa Azar works a line surprising, and works it very well indeed. This EP is also download only and, oh my goodness, is it worth it.

It also provides a pivot on which to turn to a new album, but not her own although she has mentioned a forthcoming Kickstarter project, that has caught my attention very recently. In fact an artist that became known to me via another valuable resource for discovery - Amazing Radio.

Here is a taste of that; 'Between Destinations' is the first single from album 'The Story Of Me'. This is the début album by Laurence Made Me Cry aka Jo Whitby. It is available now as digipack cd here or widely on mp3 from the usual sources.
  

New Music 2012 - Part 26

Here we go again! This comprises two acts that I really should have paid more attention to in 2012. The problem is that I didn't and therefore I don't have sufficient experience of their LPs to include them in any current list (except those albums that I want for Christmas). Here are two that come to mind.
This first Stealing Sheep, a three-piece, from Liverpool or thereabouts. The début album, Into The Diamond Sun, is right up there. It's diverse, somewhat electronic, somewhat folky and quite lovable.

This next is quite possibly less well known. It is the début album, Star Map, by North Wales-based duo Golden Fable and was released in September 2012.
  

It is hauntingly good. Watch out for both acts in 2013 and more links to follow.

If you think this is worth a listen several other tracks will surprise you.