New Music 2011 - Part 3 - The Duke Spirit, Laura Marling, &c.

The Duke Spirit is one band my love of which pre-dates my days as a blogger.  They are a five-piece and are well advanced in the recording of their third album.  They are also awesome live and this is just how rock should be...

The Duke Spirit live in New York last weekend.

Too much reliance on the, albeit marvellous, digital age can have its downside! Still there is solace to be found in things thoroughly analogue...  FM radio and a pile of vinyl recordings.


While what I am to mention next actually belongs in 2010 its inclusion in prospects for 2011 is also apposite. Since she appeared on the new folk scene in 2006, most notably then as part of Noah And The Whale, barely a few months have gone by without her releasing something to delight us.

She recently apologised for the delay in the release of her third studio album (now due "sooner rather than later" in 2011) but instead consider it in this light. In these days a gap of  at least two years between studio albums is now quite normal due in large part to the more profitable touring commitments that might follow: her second album 'I Speak Because I Can' was however released on May 3, 2010.  That is not to say that she has stinted on the latter front and for those lucky enough to be attending the Crunch Festival, Hay on Wye next weekend you are in for a treat not least because she is headlining the music aspect on Friday evening:  There are still some tickets left if you have a gap in your diary.

I saw Laura Marling live at Latitude 2010 and the performance was flawless even in the rather wide expanse of the Obelisk stage. As well as the obvious highlights of her own song writing there is the ease with which she interprets and incorporates cover versions into the proceedings. If you can find a recording of her recent performance at Cecil Sharp House (for BBC Radio 1), with Mumford & Sons and covering Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', then I suggest you do so.  Her latest release, vinyl 7" (TMR044) physically, but also available to stream from Spotify, is another pair of covered songs recorded at Third Man Records' studio in Nashville by, label founder and analogue addict, Jack White.

The a-side (it is so good to write that and really mean it) is 'Blues Run The Game', written and recorded by Jackson C. Frank (1965) and from the album of the same name, which was to be the only one from someone stalked by misfortune from a young age.

The b-side is more a reflection on the misfortunes of others by one whose career has lasted decades, is very much ongoing, and in the current musical climate increasingly influential.  'Needle and The Damage Done' saw Neil Young tackling such territory and it was originally released on the 1972 studio album 'Harvest' but it was performed live somewhat before that and I have an admission to make. 'Harvest' was something of a joke in the days when I first started to appreciate vinyl and it always seemed to be in the 'bargain bin' - "Any 3 for £1" - and guess what?  I'm listening to 'Harvest', quarter of a century later and on original vinyl, while writing. I paid over the odds for it too - it cost me £0.50 in December 1986 - and I know that because I made a note of it inside the sleeve!

On the face of it nothing - except for my mysterious taste in music - connects the worlds of Duke Spirit and Laura Marling but in that you are perhaps misguided. In 2006 The Duke Spirit released a 7" Covered In Love comprising two tracks by artists who were then recently deceased.


 2011-related posts about Laura Marling's music:
http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2011/01/few-bits-and-pieces.html


Further posts on New Music 2011:
Part 1  --- Esben and The Witch
Part 2  --- Yuck
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 9  ---  Some things I am looking forward to.
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

To listen to in 2008 - Part 1

Things are hotting up after the Christmas hiatus and the next month is going to see a whole slew of releases that I've been waiting ages for.

Here are two for starters:

The London five-piece release their second album, following on from 2005's Cuts Across The Land. In place of 'Loog' it is released on a new label, 'You Are Here', but this album is also released on 12" and so no complaints from me! Touring their first album cemented their live reputation and this one may demonstrate that, with Liela Moss on lead vocals and as principal lyricist, 'The Duke Spirit' are now the most remarkable female-fronted rock band of the 21st century so far.

If that wasn't enough then Glaswegian four-piece 'Sons and Daughters' also have a new album - This Gift - the third from the 'Domino Recordings' artists.
In so far as it is possible to pigeon-hole their music they are the finest exponents of folk gone punk.

Unless they have turned seriously soft since 2005's The Repulsion Box, which took no prisoners whatsoever, do not expect anything approaching a ballad and even if it sounds like one the lyric will almost certainly suggest something very different. What makes The Repulsion Box quite remarkable is that, while it is performed with military discipline, it was written with unbridled vengeance.

It is to be hoped that This Gift will be available on 12" too, as their previous releases both have been, but I can't confirm or deny that yet. If you know better then please let us all know...

Note added 19th January:
A wet weekend is the perfect excuse to stay home and listen to music while also reading about it! This Gift is definitely available on 12" and the latest single Darling is out now and available on 7".

The above is the artwork of the CD single but I'll put that right as soon as I can! I've heard much of the album already and all I'm going to let slip is that it's been well worth the wait. It was produced by ex-Suede co-writer and guitarist Bernard Butler: a name that is going to recur in 2008.

Added 26th January:

The 7" vinyl artwork, as promised.
By the way the 12" LP of This Gift is indeed a treasure to behold.

Cardiff is where the sŵn shines at night!

It all makes more sense when you know that 'sŵn' means 'sound' in Welsh and that the (indoor) Sŵn Festival is taking place in venues across Cardiff this weekend. I rather wish I was there but originally, for reasons of a prior commitment, I couldn't really make it. As that fell through I actually could have been! What is worse is that the list of artists includes two I mentioned a couple of weeks ago - The Duke Spirit and Sons and Daughters. Well, at least I've got their new vinyl releases as a consolation and here is one of them...

The Ex Voto EP, on 10" vinyl, signed by all five band members.

The Ex-Voto EP is an indication of the direction that the second album from the London five-piece, entitled Neptune and recorded in America, is likely to take and that would seem to be somewhat less intensely heavy than was Cuts Across The Land (2005). When heard live then I suspect that it might be less so but it is still stunning. Not much has changed otherwise; Liela Moss is still singing in her distinctive style and the four others are still (largely) keeping her covetousness for their instruments at bay! I saw them live in at 'The Astoria' in London in May 2005 and it was an absolutely blistering performance.
Not so long ago I mentioned their December 2006 7"-only (at least in a physical format) single 'Covered in Love', which was a tribute single to Desmond Dekker and Arthur Lee. The 7" (Velo Records) has rather sensitive cover versions of '007 Shanty Town' from the former and 'A House Is Not A Motel' from the latter, while the download version has four tracks. The others are Jessie Mae Hemphill’s ‘I’m So Glad’ and another track by Love, 'A Message To A Pretty'.