Rosie Thomas just announced the release of a new album.
The album ”With Love” will hit the streets Febuary 14th on Sing-A-Long Records, produced by Dave Bazan and Blake Wescott, and features performances by Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), BroBro Brian Thomas, members of Sufjan Stevens’ band, and plenty of other talented musicians/friends.
With a back catalogue like Rosie, this is something to look forward to. Greatness to expect.
Meanwhile…
One of Sweden’s most talented singer/songwriters I’m Kingfisher – Thomas Jonsson, released the video for ”Svalbard” from the great album ”Arctic” (Playground Music) today.
The album made it to the best of 2010, and keeps rotating on our lists. Arctic is an masterpiece. The video is no exception.
Listen to the album, find the magic.
Surprisingly enought it took me some time to see it. The band name, and one of the main characters. Mark Dean, Dark Mean. But I got it.
Band members Mark Dean, Billy Holmes, and Sandy Johnston started recording an album in 2007, and released it in June, this year. I am sure that we are the last blog to find these guys, but we found them at last.
Been listening to these fellas for quite some time, and I cannot seem to get them really pinpointed. It just keeps showing up more stuff, with every listen. This is some great work. I hear a whole lot of stuff in here. But the thing that hits me every time is the banjo and the brass instruments, the drive, the voices all blended together. Working its way through the well written, well performed great music.
Take a cup of Beirut, a pinch of Ryan Adams, some 80’s poprock,Indie, Folk and plenty of love for the music. That is a start to begin to describe. You need to discover for your self.
Take a load off, take a listen. I know you’ll enjoy this. Know I do.
sdaf
Kickstarter help a lot of great musicians to fulfill their dreams. One of those is Patrick Norton. He’s releasing his debut album in November, thanks to Kickstarter and the people who has funded his project. While listening to a couple of his tracks, for the upcoming album, it became very obvious why. This is sweet sweet Americana, Western Rock, whatever you wanna call it, it is great stuff. This is a dedicated man.
As he puts it himself ”In addition to recording my own songs, I also engineer and produce for other artists in a recording studio that I co-own.”, and from what you can tell from the music, it is done very well indeed. I sincerely hope that more people get to meet Patrick Norton, and his great music.
Take a listen to what it sounds like for yourself:
Links:
The NYC indie-pop group, led by Marc, release their new video via Papergarden Records.
The video features Katie Costello and is directed by Cetusss and Le Contremaître et sa Contremaîtresse.
Enjoy the world premiere, right here, right now:
Links:
The New York based indie-folk-pop band Swear and Shake has caught our attention with their enchanting music and sound. When we first listened to them, it felt as if we had been friends for years. This is something you have to get your ears into.
After last years EP ”Extended Play”, they are now finishing up their new release. This is truly a band to follow. We hope for great success, nothing less.
Kentuckyseven got curious and wanted to know more about this awesome group of people, so we had a chat with Kari Spieler, the great vocalist and musician:
When listening to your music, one thing comes to mind. You guys complement eachother extremely well. How did you all get together?
”Adam and I met while studying at SUNY Purchase ( a state university just outside of New York City). While we weren’t close friends, we were both active singer-songwriters on campus and often had class together. About a month or so before graduation (2010) Adam asked me to sing on his song Johnnie and things instantly clicked between us. We immediately started booking shows and thinking up band names. Our drummer and bassist, Tom and Shaun, joined us shortly after that. The boys grew up together on Long Island and had been playing music since they were in grade school. It all happened very naturally.”
There are thousands of bands accesible to everyone today online, how has that effected you career?
”The internet is a bands best friend. Especially this band. We are huge advocates for using social media outlets. We are all over Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. We’re proud to be on internet radio sites like Grooveshark and Spotify. Through great websites like Frostclick.com our first EP was downloaded for free by over 200,000 people. We successfully funded our forthcoming record with the help of our fans and Kickstarter.com. We are big supporters of all different types of blogs, big and small.
It’s important to get your music out there to anyone and everyone. Using the web is a good way to keep in contact with people, and it’s also enabled us to bring our music to lots of ears without the help of traditional music business outlets. I think people appreciate being able to connect with us directly and we enjoy it as well.”
How would describe your music to someone who never heard you?
”We usually put ourselves in the Indie-Folk-Pop genre. We write singable stories you can dance to. That’s how I like to think of it. If I were to compare us to other bands or musicians I like to say Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros meets Mumford and Sons with a little bit of Cat Power for attitude.”
While riding to a venue, what do listen to? Are you synced, do yo agree on the same tracks?
”This is a good question. My one rule is that once you put something on, you have to let it play through without changing it. We don’t always agree on everything. I usually get vetoed actually, haha. Pandora on our phones is usually a good compromise and that works out well assuming there’s good service. I enjoy listening to classical music stations on NPR when we’re driving for several hours at a time, that makes the boys fall asleep, anyway. My favorite thing is to watch Tom jam out to Styx while he’s driving.”
What artists have influenced your music?
”Our influences come from all over the place. Starting with the classics, The Beatles, Dylan, The Mama’s and The Papa’s, as well as soul music like Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, and Smokey Robinson. I’ve found great inspiration Patsy Cline and Kitty Wells. On the newer side of music, we love The Format, Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s, The Avett Brothers, Broken Social Scene, and we are proud Phantom Planet fans.”
Any bookworms in the band, any advice on authors to check out?
”We all enjoy reading but none of us are bookworms. I’m not up to date on new authors. I’m currently reading The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway. Shaun and I share a love of Kurt Vonnegut. One of my favorite books is East of Eden, John Steinbeck which influenced a few of my songs. I remember reading in an interview with Mumford and Sons that they too found inspiration from that story.”
What can we expect from your coming album?
”Expect a very dynamic record from us. The best thing about being in this band is the collaborative effort between all of us. While Adam and I write the songs, Tom and Shaun bring them to life. It definitely represents us as a matured and seasoned group. The EP has more of a singer-songwriter feel. This record has a depth you can really get into. It shows our versatility and passion. You can expect to hear usual stories of love and sorrow as well as songs about demolition, adventure, and much more.”
Tell us about the idea for financing the new album, who came up with the idea?
”Kickstarter.com has become a very popular fundraising website in the past couple years. We’ve known a few different bands that have successfully funded their projects through this site. It was Adam’s idea to give it a go and we took to it pretty quickly. It follows our philosophy to get our fans and family involved as much as we can. We really attribute the record’s existence to the them and Kickstarter and we’re very grateful and humbled by the experience.”
Last, if you would name one band who you wished would have a breakthrough in 2012, except yourself, which we are hoping for, who would you choose?
”The band we would choose to have a breakthrough with out a doubt is Pearl and The Beard. They don’t really need our best wishes, they are really kicking butt right now. We love these people and love their musicianship. Definitely check them out.”
Listen to ”Johnnie” and get to know the music. Check out the website for more information: SwearandShake.com
One week has past since Iceland Airwaves finished and after getting
our feet back on solid ground and trying to compose ourselves it’s
time to summerize Airwaves’11. When doing so we’ll highlight those
moments which didn’t make it in earlier reviews and picking some K7
highlights and low-water marks.
Beach House
Reykjavík Art Museum
These guys tried to be secretive and mysterious to the point where
they lost contact with their audience. With smoke enough to choke the
front row and lack of light made the band almost impossible to see for
the better part of the set. It’s like Beach House doesn’t want to
really make the most out of the gig. And it sounds just like on
record, it’s just to perfect… almost like on record. The entire
point of seeing a band live is lost. Well except the fact that I now
get to say ”I saw Beach House on Iceland”.
Not worth it though. Maybe these guys need a break from touring? I
don’t know. Maybe I’m just spoiled after a cavalcade of great live
performances.
Of Monsters and Men
Nasa
This young group is said to be the next big thing out of Iceland with
their folky approach on pop but I’m not so easily convinced. When an
entire set is spent waiting for that one last song you’re still a
one-trick pony. Admittedly OMAM do that trick very well and puts that
silly smile on your face but in order to be the next big thing you
need more than just that one song.
Cute, but have some growing to do.
Lockerbie
Harpa
Lockerbie looks like they’re barely of legal drinking age but that
doesn’t matter when you make pop music that good. When compared to Of
Monsters and Men above I for one believe that these guys are more
likely to be the next big thing. If you absolutely need put that
rather absurd title on any up and coming band.
The audience was small to begin with put grew as the set progressed. I
was worried about how these guys were gonna be live after seeing a
youtube video that scared me off but during the week I heard friends
raving about their brilliance live (they of course played their fair
share of off venue gigs). As many other Icelandic band they manage to
combine regular pop music with elements from their own string section
and that just makes me wonder… what’s up with the music education on
Iceland? How do these kids manage to compose string arrangements? K7
loves them to bits either way.
Austra
Reykjavík Art Museum
Pretty music, one-sided live performance. The singer danced the same
steps over and over, never standing still. Maybe Austra isn’t the best
live act ever, but I can tell that her whimsical manner is real and
that she really can’t be still. This is just to much fun. And it is,
and it should be. K7 let’s Austra do her thing while getting in line
for… a special someone.
John Grant
Harpa
Yes, that special someone is John Grant. K7 had the pleasure of
running into him again at the airport when arriving to Iceland. We
talked about touring, the magic of Iceland, him working with Swedish
producer Kleerup (”we’re both control freaks”) and how to get on a
crowded bus with 345 other tired and grumpy passengers shoveling and
muttering swearwords in Icelandic.
When he did his off venue gig at KEX there was a line outside with
enthusiasts trying to get in. K7 was in that line, in the heavy rain
and cold winds. Packed like penguins we tried to keep warm but to no
avail. The warmth came from two open windows from where John’s warm
and soothing voice spilled out.
The main gig at Harpa left everyone in the venue with goose-bumbs and
a lump in their throat. He started with walking up to the mic and
telling everyone about his upbringing, him being gay and the
difficulties that he faced as a consequence. His voice seems to
tremble and we kind of understand. Not really, but almost.
He gets all of the more well known songs out of the way early on which
leaves room for a more personal connection with the audience.
John declares his love for Iceland and we declare out love for John.
It works both ways, there’s even a dialog between him and the crowd
during the set. K7 smiles stupidly at this.
There’s so much to say and John is a K7 sweetheart for a reason. We
thank him for his warmth and honesty.
With John Grant Kentuckyseven rounded up Airwaves’11 in the best way
possible. Coming home to Sweden was a stark reminder of reality. With
the magic of music though we will survive this winter as well.
Until next time.
/Maja, K7 correspondent
