03-02-2012: Matt Paxton - Shore Pine Walk
My favourite (Canadian) record label at the moment is Other Songs Music Co. They are responsible for several musical highlights of 2011 and they have no intention of stopping with releaseing great music. Their 1st release of this year is the new single of recently signed musician Matt Paxton called "Shore Pine Walk".
And it's an extremely beautiful song. His sweet voice, with a tiny bit of rawness somewhere deep down and the music that slowly builds up around him with a great up-tempo finish makes that this is a relaxing song that I play over and over again. It started snowing this morning and the world is covered in a good 20cm of that white stuff right now, I'm gonna put on my boots, upload this song to my mp3-player & take a long walk through the park. Thinking of my exciting week, listening to this song, that seems to be written for such a moment. Love it!
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01-02-2012: Album Everyman of Parts - Travelling Time
Always enjoy getting a great musical tip from an insider. In this case I receveid an email from Daniel Sharon aka Balto, the man behind October Road. One of my favourite albums of last year, but unfortunately released back in my '5-lines-per-item'-phase. He tipped me this new release by Andrew Sharon, who played on several tracks on his album last year and has now released his debut solo album Travelling Time.
This 9-piece album holds a little bit of everything, which makes it hard to define, but it helps keeping my attention with the music. After the 2 opening tracks, which are okay but not brilliant (I honestly think I like opener "Arid Eyes" the least), he picks up the pace with pure rocksongs "Dirty Laundry" and "White Lines". They rock in all the right ways and have me jumping around the room all the time.
After that the album slowly softens down. Resulting in beautiful distilled (love)songs like "Are You Cold" and closing track "The End of the Rope".
I really enjoy this album. Everyman of Parts did a great job at it. It holds several styles within, yet it's an album on which all songs fit together great. There are several great references to be found within the beautifully crafted songs and I guess it's perfectly clear for everyone to read: I'm a fan! Great album! Go get it!
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31-01-2012: The Foreign Films - Glitter / Night Without The Day
The Foreign Films is Bill Majoros' new project. He has released 2 tracks in November and I'm still not sure what to make of it stylewise. It has a rockvibe to it, but not in the traditional sense of it. There's a lot of extra layers added, with synths, horns and all kinds of little extras. Most referenced artists in my book are Robbie Valentine and his protege Valensia (anyone remember these guys?). That may suggest that this is past due music, but it's too 'catchy' for that. I've given both tracks about 20 spins now and have decided to name "Glitter" as my favourite. But although you can hear this is by the same artist, it's 2 different songs to me. Two very good songs, though. That is one thing I'm 100% sure off.
Download the tracks for free at bandcamp & keep up-to-date with The Foreign Films @Twitter.
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30-01-2012: Album LUIK - Owls
From time to time I receive remarks or questions about the extremely low number of posts I spend on music from my own country. I'm not 100% sure, but I doubt that it was more than 10 in 2011. on a total number of over 400 written items in the previous year. Without forcing myself to change the music I love I've decided to focus a little more on the Dutch releases that might be interesting. 1st pick that was handed to me was Blaudzun's latest record, which is supposed to be brilliant but not to me.
Something else that did get my attention though is this fine indie band from Utrecht called LUIK. It is extermely hard to find any data on them, but that's actually how I prefer to write about an album; let the music do the talking.
"By & By" is the closing track and my personal favourite. The slow pace, the dark low basics combined with the high notes of the guitar make it a perfect closing track for an album that was probably recorded in the dark and is best enjoyed in the dark. Listen to the instrumental "Spleen" and title track "Owls" and you'll see where this is going, it is 100% relaxation with a bit of a dark edge to it. But it's pure quality from the 1st words to the last dying notes. If there's more music like this being released in my country this year, there will be a lote more Dutch music coming your way!
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28-01-2012: Album F&M - Wish You Were Here
Four days ago I expressed my love for "I Wish You Were Here", a beautiful song by F&M. I was a little worried how my love for that one song would be influenced if the rest of the album was not as good, but I had nothing to worry about. The rest of the 8-track album is very good. In all fairness, "I Wish You Were Here" is still my favourite track, but "Amsterdam" is also mesmerizing just like the other 6 songs are all beauties of their own.
F&M are married couple Rebecca and Ryan Anderson. And they take turns on the songs when it comes to the lead vocals, "Goodnight" is a Rebecca-track, "Amsterdam" a Ryan-track, if I can split the songs down that easily. It gives the whole album a bit of a strange order. As we switch from sweet, sensitive whispering songs to more roaring guitar-based songs and back. But all songs are strong and beautiful and showcases the talent of this couple. And I for sure am extremely happy to have heard the entire album as it has not let me down a bit. Get the whole album via their bandcamp, it's totally worth it!
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27-01-2012: Mausi - sol.
Bring on the Summer with this fine and extremely danceable tune by Mausi. It may be cold outside, and it'll be another 6 months before we can dance to this on the beach with a cold beer and our feet in the sand, but what a fine debut single this is. Sometimes words just get in the way of great music, so just listen to this great tune. Which you can download for free via their bandcamp, or you can support the band next month, when the song is being released on single! Keep an eye out, this is Summer Fun at its finest!
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25-01-2012: EP The Oh Hello's - The Oh Hello's
This 4-track EP by The Oh Hello's (which is a pretty cool bandname) was released on December 1st and I've discovered it a few weeks after that. I've been hearing it for about 2,5 weeks now and it is truly great music. Opening song "Hello My Old Heart" starts of sweet, but builds up to become something amazing. It is the perfect introduction to this EP.
The 2nd track "Lay Me Down" is a good song, but a little loud after the intimate sweetness of the opener. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it shakes you up aswell. The 4th track "Trees" is another great track, as this EP only has fine music on it, you can feel the passion burst out of your speakers as it finishes off beautifully. You can this EP for a "pay-what-you-want" price. Which is, off course, an absolute bargain.
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24-01-2012: F&M - I Wish You Were Here
This is a song from an album released in August last year. I've known this song for some time and I love it so much that I have always had the urge to listen to the rest of the album. Which is really easy, as it is for sale via the website of F&M, aswell as via iTunes and Bandcamp. Sometimes though, a whole album just doesn't give me what a single track can provide. That the single track is so overwhelmingly fine, that the rest of an album just can not keep up with it. I'm sure the full album ain't bad, that is pretty much impossible. But i also doubt that the entire album is as good as this one track, as that would mean that it's one of the best albums that 2011 has seen. When the album is not as good as "I Wish You Were Here", it'll be a bit of a disappointment and it would take away a little bit of my love for this track.
So I've been a little unsure on whether I would listen to the entire thing for some time, but I've made my decision. Based on this story about the one track, you might think I won't listen to it, but I will. Right after I've expressed my love for this beautiful sweet whispering folk-track to you. Which I think, I've succesfully done with this little story. Now that I know that my love for this great song is stored, I can safely listen to the rest of the album. And who knows, maybe I'll get back to you on that..
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24-01-2012: Brae - Another Time And Place
Beautiful and extremely addictive track here from Brae aka Brandon Husken. As an ex-drummer this musician decided to go solo in 2008, forming Brae on his own with different musicians helping him out recording his 1st two albums and doing live-shows with him. In 2011 he recruited a more steady base around him and nowadays Brae is a more 'regular' band, with a total of 5 members. This Friday they'll be releasing Brae's 3rd album, the 1st real band album. This one song is addictive as hell and has dominated most of the stereo today. Can't wait to hear the entire thing this weekend!
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20-01-2012: EP Warm Weather - Looking Through
About 2 weeks ago Warm Weather's new single "A Promise" was introduced to us and I was pleasantly surprised by that track back then. Their previous ep 'dances' was cool, but did not stand out for some reason. It was a little too blank for me, if that makes any sense. "A Promise" was something else though. A beautiful, addictive track that kept on demanding airtime here @pluginbabynl. This week this LA-band has released the full ep and it's fantastic for every second of it. The songs stand out in the constantly changing playlist and I find myself listening to this 4-track ep more than once every day. Warm Weather released a nice ep last year, but they've released a GREAT ep this year. Makes me wonder what 2013 will be like with this band.. For now: get it for a "pay-what-you-what" price via their bandcamp.
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19-01-2012: Album Young Fathers - TAPE ONE
This was released a little over 2 months ago and i am truly bummed the f*ck out i didn't find it earlier, cuz this is a 20-minute mixtape by UK-hiphop collective Young Fathers that is simply addictive as hell! I had planned to just add all 8 tracks to this item and not type any lines along with it, as with most good music I strongly feel the urge to not waste your time by typing about it and just want you to listen to the music.
They have their fairly unique sound, but the rappin' style really reminds me of Q-Tip. In a total different music setting though, this is darker and has a certain rawness to it, there's also elements of reggae to found throughtout several tracks and that works surprisingly well. Making this an album with original beats, intelligent lyrics and 8 great tracks. Get it for free at their website & share it with everyone. This is great music!
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