Fever Marlene

The Chelsea Hotel in New York City (made famous by Leonard Cohen) hosted Fever Marlene for 4 nights and 5 days, which resulted in the band's second album, due for release in March. They sound like a new Britpop sensation, although they're from Milwaukee. Earlier reviews (of their debut album Civil war) compared them to Oasis, Death Cab For Cutie and Arcade Fire.

The release party for the album is on the 5th of March, at the Yield Bar in Milwaukee, WI (10 PM).

Further gig dates :

March 6th : High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI

March 7th : Turner Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI

March 15th : Café Montmartre - Madison, WI

April 5th : Shank Hall - Milwaukee, WI

May 8th : Majestic Theater - Madison, WI

Enjoy these songs :

• Don't know why I worry so (mp3)
• Oh Berlin (mp3)
• All the kites in the world (mp3)

You can buy their music here

Destroy Cowboy

Supporting the likes of Tapes 'n Tapes, Cold War Kids, Stars, The Stills, The 1990s and Tokyo Police Club, Birmingham based Destroy Cowboy have tasted some live success. Now they are trying to make their hometown the new capital of contemporary music, with 4 new songs on their MySpace and their website.



You can buy the tracks here

Another free album : The saltire wave - Downliners Sekt

If you like your guitars to dominate, your drums to be kicked half-dead and don't mind the absence of vocals, you might very well like Downliners Sekt. Their electro/post-rock oriented second album is available for free download on their website (as are earlier releases).
This band have chosen to release their albums for free on their website, because they believe they can have a greater impact thus. They claim this way they have some of their songs, released more than 7 years ago, still played at dubstep sessions.


Personally, I quite enjoy this music. They have clearly put a lot of effort into making music that generates a mood you're most likely to catch between 3 and 5 in the morning, somewhere drunk in the gutter, left alone by your girlfriend that is now doing it with your best friend, by your best friend (you know what he's doing right now...) and even by the smelly cat that came down the alley. Well, anyway, you catch my drift... If I knew where they're playing, I'd tell you to go and see them !

Before checking out their website, and maybe donate to keep them going, enjoy this selection of songs :

• Scope creep (mp3)
• Panic! Sonik monk (mp3)
• Point omega (mp3)

If you want to help these fine artists, mail them to ask what you can do !

Video : Wanna be myself - GTA

GTA, an Oxford (England) based hip hop group, has released their new track Wanna be myself for which you have just watched the video (or are about to...). They released one EP before (Love is here) and have played in support of KRS-1, Amp Fiddler and Flavor Flav.

This track is featured on their forthcoming debut album The way. It's a track with potential, I would say, as it has a good vibe, sounds quite well and sticks to your memory like a Post-It to a mirror...

The track will be available on iTunes, Napster, etc... from the 14th of April)

The Kills

The Kills are about to release their new album Midnight boom on 10th of March. You'd better get ready for some real rock 'n roll attitude, with dirty guitars and all...

They'll be playing a lot of shows, possibly near you :

29 Feb 08 - 20:00 - Stereo - Glasgow
2 Mar 08 - 20:00 - The Art - Nottingham
3 Mar 08 - 20:00 - The ICA - London
4 Mar 08 - 20:00 - The Cube - Bristol
6 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Duke Of York - Brighton
7 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Electric Palace - Dorset
12 Mar 08 - 20:00 - SXSW - Austin, Texas
15 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Bikini - Toulouse
16 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Le Transbordeur - Lyon
18 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Olympia - Paris
19 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Olympic - Nantes
20 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Aeronef - Lille
22 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Melkweg - Amsterdam
24 Mar 08 - 20:00 - AB - Brussels
25 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Gebaude 9 - Cologne
27 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Debaser Malmo - Malmo
28 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Umeo Open - Umea
29 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Debaser - Stockholm
30 Mar 08 - 20:00 - VoxHall - Aarhus
31 Mar 08 - 20:00 - Vega - Copenhagen
2 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Logo - Hamburg
3 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Maria - Berlin
5 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Flex - Vienna
7 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Fri-Son - Fribourg
8 Apr 08 - 20:00 - MusicDrome - Milan
10 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Apolo - Barcelona
11 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Heineken - Madrid
12 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Casa Da Musica - Porto
15 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Liquid Rooms - Edinburgh
16 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Oran Mor - Glasgow
18 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Cockpit - Leeds
19 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Academy 3 - Manchester
20 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Carling Academy 2 - Liverpool
21 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Carling Academy 2 - Birmingham
23 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Koko - London
24 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Soundhaus - Northampton
25 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Wedgewood Rms - Portsmouth
26 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Trinity - Bristol
27 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Zodiac at Academy - Oxford
30 Apr 08 - 20:00 - Paradise - Boston, Massachusetts
1 May 08 - 20:00 - Webster Hall - New York, New York
2 May 08 - 20:00 - Black Cat - Washington, DC
3 May 08 - 20:00 - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4 May 08 - 20:00 - Cabaret - Montreal, Quebec
6 May 08 - 20:00 - Opera House - Toronto, Ontario
7 May 08 - 20:00 - Magic Stick - Detroit, Michigan
9 May 08 - 20:00 - Metro - Chicago, Illinois
10 May 08 - 20:00 - Annex - Madison, Wisconsin
14 May 08 - 20:00 - Richards - Vancouver, British Colombia
15 May 08 - 20:00 - Neumos - Seattle, Washington
16 May 08 - 20:00 - Berbati\'s - Portland, Oregan
17 May 08 - 20:00 - Slims - San Francisco, California
19 May 08 - 20:00 - Casbah - San Diego, California
21 May 08 - 20:00 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, California
22 May 08 - 20:00 - Brickhouse - Phoenix, Arizona
27 May 08 - 20:00 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, Tennessee
28 May 08 - 20:00 - The Earl - Atlanta, Geo

Enjoy these (earlier) songs:

• Ticket man (mp3)
• Love is a deserter - do da mix (mp3)
• No wow - Test Icicles remix (mp3)
• Passion is accurate (mp3)

You can buy the new single Cheap and cheerful here

You can remix the single yourself if you wanna give it a go

Buy their albums here

Tragically Hip

In spite of their name, they never became quite that hip. A strong fanbase however welcomed them at every concert, and with each new album I was among those that grew to like them more and more.
The Tragically Hip have, so far, released 11 regular albums, 1 live album and 1 compilation (double) album.

Enjoy these songs :

• Grace, too (mp3)
• Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) (mp3)
• Lake fever (mp3)

Enjoy this video for Ahead by a century :

You can buy their albums here

The Tabasco Collective

Antwerp based The Tabasco Collective has entered one of the country's finest rock concours, Humo's Rock Rally. They've reached the semi-finals, and I think they could do very well...

Enjoy these songs :

• Once around the block (mp3)
• Coca coma (mp3)
• 900 corners (mp3)

If you want to buy their music, contact them at info@thetabascocollective.be

Clocks

In addition to the covers in the previous post, here's another great cover : Coldplay's "Clocks" as re-interpreted by the Dutch band Zea.

Enjoy it : Clocks - Zea (mp3)

Buy Zea music here

Lazy Monday : covers

Today I feel like relaxing with these great and extraordinary covers :

• The robots - Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto (mp3) : Kraftwerk goes latin...
• Daydreaming - Lupe Fiasco featuring Jill Scott (mp3) : a Wallace Collection classic that got an uplift last year...
• Crazy in love - The Magic Numbers (mp3) : Beyoncé made smoother than ever...

Buy these albums, containing the original hits :

• Laughing Cavalier - Wallace Collection
• Dangerously in love - Beyoncé
• Die Mensch-Machine (The man-machine) - Kraftwerk

Time to funk !

Scott Grooves once made the RE-connection to the mothership (and was remixed by the likes of Daft Punk), but I wanna let you in on the original mothership connection, by funk's funkiest grandfathers, Parliament (featuring George Clinton, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley,...).

On their live album Tear the roof off (1974-1980) you can get into funk like you never could before, and the mothership track is the absolute best I've heard in funk EVER !

Enjoy these tracks :

• Mothership connection (Star child) (mp3)
• Funkin' for fun (mp3)

Buy the album here

100th post comes with free album

...but you shouldn't really thank me, but Canadian singer-songwriter Share (not to be confused with Cher !).

His debut album, Ukelele Tragic, has been made available for free download (here) to celebrate the release of his new album (his third already...) Pedestrian.
Andrew Sisk, the man behind Share, claims to be influenced by early Leonard Cohen and the songs from the Harry Smith Anthology of American folk music. The ukelele plays a big part on his debut album, but on his second album, Can Can Missile, electronic instruments have joined it, and it's no real surprise that he chose for an organic sound base, building upon it with samples, synths and programmed beats.


Upcoming tour dates (Eastern Canadian tour) :


Feb. 21 Montreal, PQ Casa Del Popolo
Feb. 22 Wakefield, PQ Blacksheep Inn
Feb. 23 Ottawa, ON Cafe Dekcuf
Mar. 6 Picton, ON The Acoustic Bar and Grill
Mar. 7 Toronto, ON Tranzac (CMW)
Mar. 11 Hamilton, ON Casbah w/ Wax Mannequin
Mar. 14 London, ON Call the Office
Mar. 15 Guelph, ON Jimmy Jazz
Mar. 17 Peterborough, ON The Spill
Mar. 18 Kingston, ON Queen St United Church (Apple Crisp Series)
Mar. 19 Ottawa, ON Mavericks
Mar. 20 Montreal, PQ Barfly
Mar. 21 Fredericton, NB The Capital
Mar. 22 Halifax, NS The Seahorse


Already, you can enjoy these songs :


From his debut album :

• Soil (mp3)

From the new album :

• The yard (mp3)
• Too shy to blush (mp3)

You can buy the album Pedestrian here