New Music 2014 - Part 34 - Awna Teixeira - Wild One

To be quite honest this is a heads-up for March 2015 but after her 2012 début 'Where The Darkness Goes', which I still play often, I couldn't resist giving it a mention right now. The album itself is done and dusted. What she is trying to do now is raise money via Kickstarter to give it the launch and promotion that it deserves. Here are the bare facts: she is aiming to raise 9900 Canadian Dollars (£5500 to all intents and purposes) and in old music industry terms that is small change - the sort that would soon be frittered away on 'expenses' by those that...

Here is ten minutes of music from the album accompanied by stunning video of the wilds of her adopted home of Canada.

You can pledge a minimum of Canadian $1 (£0.56) and every little helps. For CAD 25 (about £14.35) you can have a signed CD and that includes delivery to the UK if that is where, like me, you are located.
She is going to reach the target but it has to happen by 10 October. I want that signed album so I pledged. Needs and wants are quite different things.
She needs this to happen more than any of us want material goods.
There is a theme that the LP both explores and seeks to support the wider understanding of; and that is depression.

Update (8 October 2014, 21:00 UTC+1):
The target was reached with 50 hours still on the clock. If you fancy owning a signed copy of 'Wild One', but haven't done so yet, then you can still pledge until the cut-off time (in about 48 hours).

2012 In Music - Albums - Part 1

No real change in presentation here from the last two years; two lists of a dozen albums each and both strictly in order alphabetical by artist. In no way is this intended to be a balanced list, far from it in fact: It is quite utterly biased to what has caught my attention in a lasting way in 2012.  It is vastly influenced by artists that I have seen live, either this year or somewhat previously, and I make no bones about that fact. Here it is:

• Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
• Awna Teixeira - Where The Darkness Goes
• Bex Marshall - The House of Mercy
• Boy - Mutual Friends
• Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog - Draw Dros Y Mynydd
• Ellen and The Escapades - All The Crooked Things
• First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
• Hurray For The Riff Raff - Watch Out Mama
• Joanne Shaw Taylor - Almost Always Never
• Karine Polwart - Traces
• Phantom Limb - The Pines
• The Tatsmiths - Curiosity Shop
• Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

Please feel quite free to add comments, queries, suggestions or questions. It is what this is all about, whether negative, positive or simply mystified!  All comments are moderated (by me alone, so you know that I read them) and while I prefer it that you can put your real identity to your piece, because you should believe in what you are saying and be prepared to stand up and be counted, I will sanction the publishing of "anonymous" comments. Comments that are defamatory, offensive or totally irrelevant will not be published.

I don't bite either. I'll attempt to answer questions and comments either in comments of my own in reply or in a more general 'round-up' post.

I intend to post the second of these lists later this coming weekend. I am intending to add links to related content in both the above mentioned posts as soon as I can.  It is my intention to deal with the ever more interesting category of "EPs and mini-albums" in the meanwhile and I'd like to do that as a post complete with such links from the get-go.

The Procession - New Music 2012 - Part 24

Much of the new music that I have mentioned, and indeed purchased, of late has been driven by artists that I have seen over this summer's festivals. These two solo albums, both by artists whom you may know from their 'band' guise, were released in August. I saw neither live this summer.
Tamara Schlesinger, also of '6 Day Riot', released her second solo album and the follow-up to 2004's rather wonderful (but currently hard to source) From Home To Home. Her new LP is The Procession, released on Tantrum Records as TANTRUMCD008.

It is made up of many layers of her vocals recorded acapella with the subsequent addition of strings and some judicious electric guitar and percussion. The playlist is as follows:

The Procession - Tamara Schlesinger

1. Yai Yai
2. I Go
3. Can You See Me?
4. So Long
5. My Future
6. Get Down
7. Find a Way
8. My Home
9. Again
11. Who's Won?

The next is this is from over in Canada and the début solo album from 'Po' Girl' member Awna Teixeira.

It may well come as no surprise, if you know my likes in music, that both LPs cover a fair range of subject matter and far from all of it is cheerful but then neither is it overly depressing; it comes with a healthy dose of optimism and redemption inbuilt. This one is released by Hazy Tales Music.

Where The Darkness Goes - Awna Teixeira

1. Stand Tall 4:53
2. Minha Querida 4:09
3. Where the Darkness Goes 4:44
4. Some Kind of Dream 3:49
5. Faden 5:17
6. Prince of the Park 4:06
7. Rest Your Mind 4:36
8. Stargazer 3:44
9. The Little Review 4:57
10. Little Piggy 4:16
11. Blooming Bounty 3:12

I recommend these particularly if you are finding the current mainstream (radio, etc.) content lacking something new. It takes a little time and ingenuity, but almost no money, to legally discover more new music than you ever knew you didn't know about. The artists will be delighted for the publicity too, should you like what you hear and see fit to tell others about your finds.