Jem is Down To Earth again...

Who made up all the rules?
We follow them like fools!
Believe them to be true
Don't care to think them through.

I'm sorry, so sorry
I'm sorry it's like this.
I'm sorry, so sorry
I'm sorry we do this.

Part of the lyric of They (2004).

Some time ago I wrote a post, Asleep Again?, wondering what had happened to the artist Jem. It is now confirmed that her second album will be released by ATO Records, initially in the US, on September 16.

Down To Earth, not to be confused with the 1979 Rainbow album of the same name, is already on order based both on my continued liking for her 2004 début album Finally Woken, which was one of the first handful of albums I ever reviewed and I stand by what I wrote then, and the fact that Lester Mendez (Shakira Dónde Están Los Ladrones and others) has been involved in the production of this album. Stranger still is that, perhaps because Jem is now resident in California, some in the US are portraying her as their new best export to us here in the UK.

It will certainly be a good trick if she can do it, not least because she was brought up in Penarth (Glamorgan) and the other UK female solo artist currently making headway in the US is Duffy, with her album Rockferry, and she comes from Nefyn, a small town on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd. While their music is very different indeed what we have here is two singers, from almost opposite corners of Wales, neither of whose music is noticeably inspired by traditional Welsh music. It is not that Wales is a vast land but neither is it crowded; at 8022 sq. miles it is about 10% smaller in area but has only 30% of the population of New Jersey.

2000 copies and counting...

Universal have now done the decent thing --- they have announced a vinyl release of the album Rockferry (it is currently available on pre-order).
Some albums simply need to be owned on vinyl and this is surely one of them.

There is a downside too - just 2000 copies worldwide - so if you want one of them acting quickly is a real issue. You could try www.reflexcd.co.uk if you are interested but sadly I can offer no guarantee of success. Feedback from SXSW 2008 suggests that she might just stand a chance in America.

Lyrics for those who live to ask...

Hedfan Angel

Dim ateb yn fy nghof - dim golau yn y pellter
Yma yn y tywyllwch - ac yma dwi i fod.

Dim gair a dim rheswm - dim byd o fy mlaen
Yma nawr ti wedi fy ngadael-
Yma mae pob dim ar chwael…

Hedfan Angel.
Hedfan Angel.

Ryw ddamwain brwnt a nawr fi sydd yn marw…
Wyt ti'n gwylio drostaf tra dwi yn cysgu yn sownd?

A roi di cusan i mi yn ysgafn dawel?
Yma nawr ti wedi fi nghadael - yma nawr ti di fflio…

Hedfan Angel.
Hedfan Angel.

Mercy - it is legal too!

I think that Duffy has today become the first UK female solo artist, never involved in a reality TV show and not previously involved as a regular member in any chart band, to take a self-written single to #1 in the UK before the release of her first album!

I'm fairly sure that no female artist has ever done
that in the UK singles charts in the last 30 years.

That is on downloads alone and also before the release of her first album, Rockferry - released 3rd March, which is currently ranked #1 on sales on amazon.co.uk!

Please feel free to add a comment or if you suspect otherwise. You can add a comment directly from here; to e-mail me, should you wish to do so, go via My Profile that is at the top left of every page.

Soaring angel...

Nothing is ever the complete story. The hype currently surrounding the imminent release of Rockferry by Welsh singer Duffy might lead you to believe that the single Rockferry released late in 2007 was actually her first release. As far as her new label, Roughtrade/A&M, is concerned it is but that isn't quite the start of her recording history...

In 2004, and as Aimée Duffy, she released an eponymous CD single (AWENCD-212) on Recordiau Awen, a small independent label based in Pentreath, Anglesey. It is, at least at the time of writing, still available new at a sensible price.
It contains the following tracks:

• Dim Dealltwriaeth
• Hedfan Angel
• Cariad Dwi'n Unig
  

Just a thought.

More new artists for 2008...

Real talent will out and with talent like this who needs reality TV music contests?

The first is, after perhaps Adele, the singer-songwriter that has recently occupied more column inches in the newspapers as the release of her début album Rockferry moves closer.

If the single 'Rockferry', released in December 2007 and of which this is the artwork of the 7" version, is anything to go by the hype is justified. Duffy comes from NW Wales but Rockferry is a mythical location in it - well not that mythical, this is actually Porthmadog Harbour station in disguise! The deliberately retro-look of the black and white picture is quite understandable and so, I believe, is much of the hype surrounding this release. Last week she played her first live gig in London, at a small venue, and the reactions that have filtered out from those who were there is one of bewilderment: they expected it to be good but not even half as good as it was.

This should be the album artwork and it is due for release on 3rd March . It is currently #12 in amazon.co.uk music pre-orders fully five weeks before release, which suggests a very high entry on the week of release.

Cob Records is indeed a proper old-fashioned music store and it is also to be found in Porthmadog High Street, virtually opposite the aforementioned station.

Now some bands:
Foals are widely tipped to explode across the face of the UK in 2008, in perhaps the kind of way that The Klaxons achieved last year. Again they have worked up a huge live following before the release of their first album Antidotes, due 24th March. Expect them to be at many of this summer's festivals.

Ubiquitous at last summer's festivals were the outrageously entertaining Brazilians CSS who will return with their second album in the early summer of 2008. This summer they might even have some southern hemisphere competition and if they do I suspect it will come from a five-piece whose combined age is only about 20% more than Mick Jagger's!

They hail from Queensland, Australia and they are Operator Please! Their first album has not yet had a full UK release but it is neither too hard or too costly to find an Australian import copy.

Yes Yes Vindictive - Operator Please!