Sometimes I hear a song, or some kind of songwriting, that surrounds my soul in a special way. It’s always hard to know why these minutes of music affect me this way. Maybe I don’t even wanna know.
I do know that the mighty Gothenburg duo of Castlewoods hit that nerve deep inside of me, that emotional epicenter of severe satisfaction. I’m officially moved and enjoying the ride, to say the least.
Castlewoods are Sofia Assarson and Maja Fredriksson, both freakishly talented singer/songmakers from Sweden. They make folky indie music that surges from the green treetops and down below ground. Songs light as a feather and heavy as the black rain of a revolution.
Try these songs below, a demo called Little Black Sparrow (just imagine this one fully produced…) and a cover of the Springsteen tune I’m On Fire.
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PS: I can’t help of thinking of First Aid Kit, the breathtaking Swedish duo who is (well-earned) conquering the world. Castlewood is the next big thing. Are you reading this and owning a record label? Well, sign them up.
Kentuckyseven went and saw DeerTick in Copenhagen, a late Tuesday night, 28th of January. The band gigs Pustervik in Gothenburg this Friday – be sure not to miss it. They’re on top of their game, just the perfect, noisy, most wonderful rock orchestra around.
Introducing the band, all the way from Providence, Rhode Island:
• The frontman: JohnMcCauley. A Tuborg loving genius with the voice, presence & nerve. You never know what he´ll do next; skittish, flighty, volatile. A brilliant, wonderful bare-fist-fighting rocker.
• The guitarman: IanO’Neill. The Angus Young of Rhode Island. Stomping around the stage with a nervous breakdown in both legs. Does great Pete Seeger (RIP) covers and shines on stage.
• The bassplayer: ChrisRyan. Very preppy, very cool, very Draco Malfoylike. Lock up your daughters.
• The drummer: DennisRyan. Very happy, very bearded, very Hagridlike. Lock up your mothers.
• The keyboard/saxophone: RobertCrowell. Very mature, boogie-woogie. Lock up your dads.
We salute them all with a 21 Gun Salute and a shot of the preferred.
The band is just beautiful, mixing rock, folk, blues with their own songwriting and at the same time; very appreciative of their heritage, it´s all about the roots. They end the gig in Copenhagen with La Bamba in their own magical way and yes – the roof blew off poor little danish Vega.
They played 1,5 hours and every song was meant to be. John McCauley drinks his green beer bottles with no hands, frusting and spitting. I don´t know where this band is heading, but they got rock n’ roll in their veins. They got it all. The brilliance, the nerve AND a good time. They laugh, kiss and fool around on stage. Pretty fucking far from Woods.
Listen up Deer Tick’s latest record Negativity. And for Pete’s sake don´t miss the 2010-masterpiece Black Dirt Sessions, with the song Mange. And please, check out the brilliant show-opener The Rock below.
Man, this is groovy as a snake tail in Virginia County. I can´t sit still and – BY GOD – I won´t. It´s boot stompin, hoot humpin, loot lumpin. All of my trouble – and trouble is my only friend.
The Temperance Movement is a wonderful, british americanaband that will rock’n’roll our ages this fall. Hell aint a bad place to be…cheers to Glasgow-born singer Phil Campbell.
Check out this great tune Only Friend, from the debut LP (namned after the band – The Temperance Movement) out this fall. Rock. On.
Kentuckyseven brings you the wonderful debut single from space invader TDeL2 – the remarkable song Fearless Youth. The song is a great wide open, massive sound, subtle guitar, epic and uplifting. An auspicious beginning for this new artist.
TDeL2 is the alias of Tony DeLuca, based out of Omaha, Nebraska and he is the first artist Monkey Records has signed from the USA. The debut album, Barnegat, will be out early November.
It´s all over, baby blue. Way out West deliveres year after year, it´s like an old shoe that fits better for every step we take. Thank you for the music!
On the last day Phosphorescent (check the vid below – love this guy), Iris DeMent (country-gospel-school-church-dirt-boots, perfect tent stuff) Goat (what a smoking rocknroll show) swept us of our feet. The ending with Alicia Keys was as powerful as a holy mighty powerballad back in the days. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
• Thursday came and went with the awful news of Ponchos hand. The Crazy Horse guitar man broke his fingers and Neil Young cancelled the show. Too fucking bad. In our humble opinion Mr Young could´ve picked up a acoustic guitar, lit up a small bonfire on stage and given the audience a solo show of the ages. But hey, hey. Shit happens.
So thank god for the Alabama Shakes. The voice of Brittany Howard mesmerized us and the garden of lunatics back at Slottsskogen. A rocking sweating emotional gig to remember.
Then friday came. Or should we say Håkan Hellström. The swedish all star just slammed dunked his hypnotic eyes in the super bowl of love. Songs like ’Valborg’, ’För sent för edelweiss’, ’En midsommarnattsdröm’ and the ending, evergrowing ’Du är snart där’. Tears in our eyes.
A special note to Of Monsters And Men & Johnossi who both made beautiful shows. Cracking stuff.
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Today we enter on a high. Phosphorescent, Dungen, Iris DeMent, Goat, Cat Power, James Blake, Alicia Keys, Miriam the Believer. We calleth upon ya´ll.
Hours til this shit´s gonna hit our fan in a major blowup kinda way. Yes, we are excited.
Iris DeMent from Paragould, Arkansas, got the country twang all covered. She´s been around for ages and just keeps gettin better. This is well hopped stuff from the heartlands – got us all jingle-jangely. Iris DeMent got a well deserved bump from Stay to Way, and we got a date on Saturday afternoon.
PS: You know the Goo Goo Dolls song Iris? Yepp, namned after fräulein DeMent.
Stuffs been heating up. Rodriguez onboard, Håkan Hellström up for a friday fight, The Roots checking in. Ten days to go, and we got some piece of advice: Do not miss Cat Power.
Cat Power or Chan Marshall, singersongwriter from Atlanta, Georgia, is very special to us. She´s what great music is all about. On the level, love and hate and everything inbetween. It will be emotions all over the place when she enters the dear stage.
We´ve got 15 days to go til the epic Way Out West start their everlasting engines in Slottsskogen, Gothenburg, Sweden. Kentuckyseven are proud to be onboard and covering this shit for ya´ll.
First out in our countdown of violently cool artists who´ll tender our loins – hero and musical freedom fighter numbero uno; Neil Young. Mr Young will take his crazy horses upon stage August 8th. Hey, Hey. My, My.
Check out his great whistelingtune ’Walk Like A Giant’ from the beautiful 2012-album ’Psychedelic Pill’. 16 minutes of pure heaven.
FOLKROCKTALK. Magnus Säfström, Jonas Löfvendahl and Matthew Barzun at the US Embassy, Stockholm.
• The former American ambassador of Sweden, Matthew Barzun is an avid indie music lover and a great fan of Kentuckyseven. Mr Barzun was Obamas money man and chief fundraiser thru the reelection campaign who gave BO four more years.
Matthew Barzun has emerged as the overwhelming favorite to be the next United States ambassador to London. The White House is expected to officially unveil Barzun as Obamas choice for the plum diplomatic job within weeks.
We rout for Matthew Barzun to land The Court of St James, and give ya´ll a gem from his fav Swedish artist, folkhero Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth. Enjoy ‘Walk the Line’ from TTMOE epic debut-EP.
