Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Who The F#@k Is Jake Bugg?



If you're going to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Snow Patrol this fall on their latest North American swing, you may want to get to the venue early to catch Jake Bugg.  Who the hell is Jake Bugg I hear you ask?

Jake Bugg is a singer/songwriter from Nottingham, England who play a no-nonsense brand of rhythm and blues inspired rock n' roll.   One listen to his songs and you will most certainly hear more than a few tinges of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.  But don't let that be the sole basis of judgement.  After repeated listens to his first four singles 'Trouble Town', 'Country Song', 'Lightning Bolt' and 'Taste It', the most striking thing is how adept a lyricist Bugg is.  Write about what you know they say and you can tell he is doing just that.  Oh, and did I mention he's only eighteen and he's already played the Glastonbury Festival.

Below you'll find a couple of samplings of his style.  Jake Bugg's debut album is scheduled for release on October 22nd via Mercury Records.





Thanks for reading!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Settle Down, It's New No Doubt

As a fan of No Doubt, I've been anxiously waiting for new music from the SoCal quartet.  With a new record Push And Shove slated for release on September 25th, it was only a matter of time before the album's first single was released.  Well, today No Doubt unleashed debuted the first single 'Settle Down'.   Eleven years is a long time to wait for a band to release new music and this has not been without its fair share of hype.

My only question is: was it overhyped?  Return Of Saturn, the follow up to 1995's Tragic Kingdom (the album that put No Doubt on the map), was five years in the making, and while it contains a few of my favourite ND tunes, it sounds like a band trying too hard to live up to their new stature.  They  followed Saturn up quickly with Rock Steady the following year.  One could argue that Rock Steady is their most cohesive body of work.  In fact, I will.  So, perhaps, they are a band who produce their best stuff when working quickly?

My biggest fear was that new No Doubt would sound like another Gwen Stefani solo record.  Thankfully, 'Settle Down' doesn't...for the most part.  It has the band's trademark ska/pop/rock sound and while it's not what I was hoping for/expecting from a "comeback" single, it is nice to have them back on the musical landscape.  It's a song made for summer and will sound great on my balcony while I down margaritas.  Check it out for yourself below.  Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Bloc Party Stutter Back Into The Light

I wasn't sure what to expect when news of a new Bloc Party record surfaced.  I had loved their debut Silent Alarm, have a like/hate relationship with A Weekend In The City and just didn't get the direction they took with Intimacy (but I think it's due for a re-visit).  Today, the first single from the band's upcoming album Four was released.  The track is called 'Octopus' and I must say, I wasn't immediately grabbed, but I've been listening to it most of the day and it's growing on me.  Jangly stuttered guitar over a driving beat and falsetto vocals give way to a super catchy chorus complete with "ooh ooh" backing vocals.  Not sure about the guitar "solo" though.  But the real question is: does anyone else think it looks weird seeing Kele Okereke wearing a baseball cap?



Thanks for reading!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Blur Debut Two New Songs



If you are a fan of Britpop, today is a wonderful day.  A (somewhat) recently reunited Blur took to an anonymous London rooftop to perform two new songs, especially written for their upcoming gig closing the London olympics.  The first, 'Under The Westway' is a beautiful, mournful ballad that reminds me of 'Best Days' off of 1995's The Great Escape.


The second one, entitled 'The Puritan' is a bouncy little number which also wouldn't have sounded out of place on any of the Britpop Trilogy (1993's Modern Life Is Rubbish, 1994's Parklife and the aforementioned The Great Escape).  It's quintessential Blur and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Both tracks are available for download on iTunes at this very moment and a limited edition 7" is available for pre-order (to be released on August 6th) here.


Thanks for reading.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Canadian Bacon

If you stop by periodically (or daily - wink wink, nudge nudge) you know that I write (read: ramble) a lot about bands that are predominantly British.  It's just my musical DNA I suppose.  Well, today is Canada Day here in the Great White North and I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite songs by Canadian artists.  While compiling these ten tracks, I realized it would be virtually impossible for me to narrow the list down to just ten, so think of this as the tip of the iceberg.  It also goes to show that Canada is more than just Justin Bieber and Theory Of A Nickelfault.

The Stills - 'Still In Love Song' (2003)




Odds - 'Make You Mad' (1996)




Metric - 'Monster Hospital' (2005)




Sloan - 'People Of The Sky' (1994)




Limblifter - 'Tinfoil' (1996)




Pluto 'When She Was Happy' (1996)




The Grapes Of Wrath - 'I Am Here' (1991)




The Inbreds - 'Any Sense Of Time' (1994)


Tristan Psionic - 'Promise' (2000)




The Gandharvas - 'The First Day Of Spring' (1995)


Thanks for reading!