Music

Music recommendation: 8mm – Songs to Love & Die By

I hate seeing good bands not doing well. I’ve been listening to 8mm for ages now, I recently noticed their album was out so went to search on Kelkoo UK only to find Amazon UK were the only company stocking it in this country. So here’ my little bit to promote 8mm. They are a 3-piece trip-hop band, similar to Lamb, (one of my favourite bands) from the USA. So if that’s to your liking then have a look at their MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/8mm

They also have an official remix page here that has a few remixes of their song, Stunning:
http://www.myspace.com/8mmremixed

They also have a YouTube site at:
http://www.youtube.com/8mmvideos

Check out the video for ‘Stunning’, all recorded on mobile phone. Don’t forget to look at their official band site at:
http://www.8mmaudio.com/

And you must buy their album.

Music

Interesting link: The First Post

I’m starting to really like this site. It’s called The First Post. It’s basically an online news site. Very well written (though the sports articles appear to be from offline papers, well they did on Sunday) and nice big photos (which makes a change to the stupidly small thumbnail size pics you normally get). You can subscribe to several regular e-mail subscriptions and RSS feeds, which seem to come at you at about 9:45AM (in the UK anyway ). I particular like the Arts section and their roundup of all the news for the week that is posted every Sunday.

The main site is:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/

There is a news in pictures section here:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=1513

And a picture of the day section here (with a link to the archives):
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=6934

Music reviews are here:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=4&subID=1452

Plus a good round-up of the Sunday papers is here, erm, every Sunday :
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=0&subID=7

You can find all these links easily from the main site and there is even a photography page here.

Music

Music recommendation: Maps – We Can Create

I cannot remember how I found this artist, but I’m really happy I did. Their new album is brilliant and is well worth a listen. They are said to sound like Ulrich Schnauss and Band of Horses and are classed are a indie-electronic band. For a preview of their sound check their MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/mapsmusic

AllMusic have this to say about him:

Originally going under the name Short Break Operator, Maps is essentially Northampton U.K. sound sculptor James Chapman, who combines indie electronic with atmospheric, sleepy rock that owes as much to Spiritualized and My Bloody Valentine as it does to Four Tet and Boards of Canada. Chapman has released a few EPs, including Start Something via Last Space Recordings in 2006, and is assisted by a full band when playing live. Released by Mute in mid-2007, Maps’ debut full-length album, We Can Create, was co-produced by Valgeir Sigurosson (Björk) and mixed by Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós). Mute released the album in the U.S. in summer 2007.

If it all sounds good to you, give their album a go:

Music

First music recommendations

Another new category, this blogging is becoming addictive.

I thought I’d post some CDs I’ve bought recently. I just love music and in the last year or two I’ve started digging a bit further to unearth some lesser-known artists and bands (which you usual find are better than the drivel that you head in the charts), so you may or may not have heard of these. I rarely buy an album as most are just pants, when I buy a CD it’s becuase I love 90% or more of the tracks on it, liking 6 out of 10 just isn’t enough for me. So recent purchases are (in no particular order): -

Reindeer Section – Son of Evil Reindeer

 

This is what Snow Patrol’s lead singer did before, a little softer/slower

Freelance Hellraiser – Waiting For Clearance

 

This is fantastic, Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol supplies vocals for a few songs (he gets about, doesn’t he). “We Don’t Belong” is currently out on single. It’s a sort of dance number. This was in my CD player for a very, very long time, it’s place was taken by an equally brilliant (if not better) album…

Union of Knives – Violence & Birdsongs

 

Alternative dancey record? “Operated on” and “I Decline” were singles last year and “Evil Has Never” is their latest.

Bat for Lashes – Fur and Gold

 

I heard one of her songs on the radio, I couldn’t find anything else about her music, so thought the one song (“Bat’s Mouth”), was so good I bought the album and luckily the album turned out to be great!

Mint Royale – See You in the Morning

 

A couple of years old now but is really good, sort of dancey; big-beat/electronica album.

Hybrid – I Choose Noise

Hybrid are perhaps the best known out of this bunch, they are one of my favourite bands, I heard this album and wasn’t too impressed (compared to their previous records) but it has grown on me a lot.

Also, I bought this album a week or so go: -

Feist – The Reminder

 

Canadian born singer-songwriter (whatever that means), I’d recommend at least a listen to this record. No, she’s not another Alanis Morissette and her full name is Leslie Feist.