#150 – Remembering Etta James

It’s been about a week now since Etta James, one of the most talented and recognisible characters in the Rhythm and Blues scene of the 50’s and 60’s, passed away. She had a sound that blended Jazz, R&B and Rock & Roll and Gospel in equal parts with a voice that stands head and shoulders above her peers.

12 Days Of Christmas – 29th December

After yesterday’s song by The Black Keys and the good reception it’s had, I thought I’d keep things similar. The Calimocho Club are a two man garage/blues rock duo from Salford. They make an absolute racket, and from what I hear their live shows are something to be seen. I spoke to guitarist/singer Gary L Hope about one gig they played…

“We once unwittingly played a show in an establishment ran by militants. All had The Red Hand of Ulster stitched into their jackets – now there’s an argument that says this symbol has been misappropriated, but in this case…you’ve seen the scene in The Blues Brothers where they play behind chicken-wire fencing? Yeah, like that.”

12 Days Of Christmas – 28th December

Good afternoon. If you’re lucky like me, you’ve got another week off until you’re back at work again. Which is great, but it also feels like a countdown now. Before you think I’m going to post that classic by Europe, I’m not. Instead it’s the forthcoming second single from The Black Keys’ 2011 release, called ‘Run Right Back’. Much has been made of the way that they’ve moved away from the blues influences a little and are sliding towards the 60’s and 70’s, so I shan’t go on about it. This song has got a riff that crunches its way through the uptempo song, with their distinctively compressed voices occasionally breaking into a fun falsetto on the chorus. It’s a song that I can’t wait to see live.

#107 – Little Foot Long Foot Told Me To

These guys are Little Foot Long Foot and they’ve taken our “Suchandsuch Told Me To” feature and added a little twist to it, by giving us a brief walkthrough of their new album called Oh, Hell. It’s pretty enlightening to hear the process that went into making the songs/choosing the names/general anecdotes about the band. The fact that it’s a cracker to listen to doesn’t hurt either: punky, angsty in all the right places, heavy and there’s a fair bit of good old-fashioned rock organ in there too. Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of weeks for a full review, but for now this will get you salivating a little. You can listen to their lead single, ‘Sell Out While You Can’ here, and read about it at the bottom. Although you can probably figure it out from the title. If you want to listen to the songs they’re talking about, do that here.

Little Foot Long Foot – Sell Out While You Can

Neko Case Hate Fucks Kurt Cobain

#82 – Lewis Floyd Henry

Hello all. Here’s a note about a guy called Lewis Floyd Henry and the fact that he’s playing a gig for some friends of mine soon. If you’ve not heard of him, Mr Henry is a busker who’s been creating quite the stir with his one-man-band setup and his Hendrix-esque voice. Not to mention the fact that the songs he makes a bloody good! His album, One Man & His 30w Pram, came out in February and he’s been ‘touring’ is since then. Which is to say, he’s been finding a spot in a UK city and playing.

It’s not pretentious music, it’s not madly complicated music, but it is bloody good fun. It deserves to be listened to loud with a drink in hand. Which is where my friends over at the After Church Club come in.

#80 – Weekly Roundup

Another week’s gone. Sadly, so has another weekend. So let’s bury our heads in the sand at the prospect of another week of work and listen to some music. Here’s what I’ve been listening to over the last seven days…

To start things off, here’s a new song from Animal Farm. It’s got a great chilled, old school jazzy vibe and a cool bassline. It’s pretty conscientious lyrically (well, it’s not rapping about guns and dolla) and the chorus is fly. Oh, it also features Talib Kweli.

Animal Farm – Test Of Time Feat. Talib Kweli [Myspace]

From some old-sounding hip-hop to some very contemporary stuff, here’s the lead single off Theophilus London’s debut album Timez Are Weird These Days that’s due to drop on July 19th. It’s a great blend of electronic, indie/rock and rap that’s probably got a legacy in the original mash-up album from Linkin Park and Jay Z. Which, for the record, I liked when it came out. I was about 12/13 though, so I make no apologies for that. Mr London is the master of networking and talking himself up and in that respect this is the perfect single to take us to his album; he introduces himself (once or twice) and isn’t afraid to blow his own trumpet. With any luck the LP will live up to his hype. In the mean time, listen to this and let us know what you think of it. If you like it you can retweet it here and get it for nothing.

Theophilus London – Last Name London

Now to move a long way away from rap. The below track is by The Coppertone, which is the name under which Amanda Zelina records.

#39 – What’s That Song?

Here are two very different songs for you. The first is a pretty recent rap song that got some heavy rotation over the summer. When I read that NaS and Damien Marley had put together an album I was tripping. NaS is one of the best East Coast rappers out there, and the fact that he was married to Kelis for two years (one of my favourite R&B/pop singers) only makes him that much cooler. The fact that the guy who wrote Illmatic and the most talented son of Bob Marley were releasing a record together was (literally) music to my ears. This is the lead single off that album, As We Enter.

NaS & Damien Marley – As We Enter [Buy]

And this is the original sample. It’s by a not-very-well known Ethiopian artist called Mulatu Astatke. While he’s been very influential in his native country, cross-over appeal has been late in coming. It was only really after the film Broken Flowers that he became better known. Anyway, this is a great song and a fantastic example of a good ‘world music’ song that’s been able to infiltrate modern pop music.

Mulatu Astatke – Yegelle Tezeta [Buy]

#35 – Alex Told Me To

Here’s a little something by a friend of ours, Alex Martin. He’s quite the fan of old blues and while on the phone yesterday we were discussing Bo Diddley. Anyway, he sent me a little selection of some of his favourites, so here they are.
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I’ve always liked listening to original versions of songs made more famous by covers. All these songs have been made more famous by the likes of Rolling Stones, Hendrix and, err, Canned Heat.

Oh and then there’s a gem from Ray Charles (a cover no less) which I’ve put on here because it’s what I like to think the 60’s sounded like and can inexplicably imagine it being blared out of the Tannoy over Tracy Island.

Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley

#10 – Revolutionary Music

Vive La Revolution!

I’ve been in Bordeaux this past week and they’ve been making a right racket about these reforms to the pensions. In a nutshell, the government is trying to up the retirement age to 62 from 60, and up the age when you can claim a state pension from 65 to 67. Obviously the unions are pretty upset about it and so they’re doing what the French do best… Striking.