Ready to jump start your heart back to its evergreen state: New Build @newbuildband and Ladyhawke @ladyhawkeforyou
The final week of the seemingly longest and most spiritually challenging month of the year, has kindly delivered some electro thrills for the financially-bereft music-loving masses. Your Nordman Firs may be long since dead, but this voltaic pair are ready to jump start your heart back to its evergreen state.
New Build is a musical merger consisting of members from Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem (Al Doyle, Felix Martin) and studio engineer, Tom Hopkins. The band are releasing music on their own label, Lanark Recordings, and their debut album ‘Yesterday Was Lived And Lost’ will be released in March, 2012. A new single, ‘Do You Not Feel Loved’ is also set for release on February 20th, 2012.
Ladyhawke delights fans with the much awaited follow-up to her debut album this year, before embarking on a major tour of the UK. ‘Anxiety’ is set for release on March 19th, 2012, with a new single ‘Black, White & Blue’ coming just before on February 19th, 2012.
Ladyhawke has said of her second album:
The tone of it is definitely darker. It’s still poppy and fun, but I listened to a lot of guitar rock when I was writing it, stuff like Pixies, Blur, Nirvana and I’ve always wanted to make a guitar record. There’s no synth, but there’s some organ. It’s more of a straight-up rock record.
Her New Wave roots still come through, as sure and certain as ever, which makes this slight yet marked genre shift less disturbing and more exciting for me. Ladyhawke plays The Ruby Lounge, Manchester on May 2nd, 2012 and tickets are available from this Friday (January 27th, 2012) via www.ticketline.co.uk.
shelleyhanveywriter 
Paddling out and @miikesnow; the true definition of being happy to me
My favourite electro-pop band, Miike Snow, have announced their debut single from second album ‘Happy To You’; ‘Paddling Out’ had its first airing on the Zane Lowe show last night, on Radio 1.
‘Happy To You’ is the follow-up to Miike Snow’s critically-acclaimed and evergreen debut self-titled record (2009) and hopes are high for what the Swedish electronic magicians have in store for us this time. ‘Paddling Out’ will be available to download on March 11th, 2012 with the second album getting its release a week later, on March 19th, 2012. An extensive tour of the US will follow.
Debut album tracks ‘Sylvia’, ‘Burial’ and ‘Cult Logic’ feature prominently in my list of favourite songs of my lifetime, and I fully expect their new album to add further poundage to that list.
Please extend that tour to the UK, guys!
shelleyhanveywriter
Untouched and golden things, courtesy of The Lonely Forest, 2:54, Paradise, Dog Is Dead and Discopolis
With every new year, comes fresh musical talent; artists and bands which remain untouched and uncharted, with all the gleam of future promise. Some are destined to remain in their chrysalis prison, forever dreaming of those first few moments of taking flight but for some reason never quite fulfilling their potential. Others however cannot be contained and are destined from stage one to achieve bright and beautiful things; let me introduce: The Lonely Forest, 2:54, Paradise, Dog Is Dead and Discopolis.
Please enjoy and support these great new talents for 2012.
www.soundcloud.com/paradiselovesyou
www.soundcloud.com/discopolismusic
shelleyhanveywriter
BRIT awards; and the nominees are…lacking
The full list of nominations for this year’s Brit Awards have been announced this week. The always eventful, albeit recently rather predictable ceremony (Laura Marling, aside) will be held at London’s O2 Arena on February 21st, 2012 and will be broadcast live on ITV1. I feel that the event organisers have made one rather startling omission – that of Will Young in the British Male Solo Artist category. For me, Young is the best British male solo artist around and his latest album ‘Echoes’ was typically brilliant, both vocally and creatively. For shame that he has been overlooked in such a way! I greatly doubt that it will have any kind of detrimental impact on Young’s future career or popularity with the British public, but recognition should be paid all the same.
The nominees are as follows:
British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran / James Blake / James Morrison / Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds / Professor Green
My tip: Ed Sheeran. Sheeran has been enjoying a soaring popularity of late and is very much the ‘in-thing.’ He’s also rather good and deserves to win against the other nominees.
British Female Solo Artist
Adele / Florence + the Machine / Jessie J / Kate Bush / Laura Marling
My tip: Adele. I would like Laura Marling to make it two in as many years, but I don’t think Adele’s star power and recent worldwide record of achievement will be overlooked this year.
British Breakthrough Act
Anna Calvi / Ed Sheeran / Emeli Sandé / Jessie J / The Vaccines
My tip: Jessie J. I enjoy a bit of Jessie J, but am not particularly wowed by this category in all honesty. Apart from Calvi, I find the nominations to be too commercial…not sure what I was expecting here.
British Group
Arctic Monkeys / Chase & Status / Coldplay / Elbow / Kasabian
My tip: Coldplay. I’d have liked to see Snow Patrol here and Noah and the Whale, but I would concede that Coldplay are probably the biggest and most consistently high-achieving band to come out of the UK in recent years.
British Single
Adele: ‘Someone Like You’
Ed Sheeran: ‘The A Team’
Example: ‘Changed The Way You Kiss Me’
Jessie J feat B.o.B: ‘Price Tag’
JLS feat Dev: ‘She Makes Me Wanna’
Military Wives and Gareth Malone: ‘Wherever You Are’
Olly Murs feat Rizzle Kicks: ‘Heart Skips A Beat’
One Direction: ‘What Makes You Beautiful’
Pixie Lott: ‘All About Tonight’
The Wanted: ‘Glad You Came’
My tip: Jessie J. ‘Price Tag’ would be my favourite of the above tracks, though I am partial to a bit of JLS and I’m not afraid to show it.
Mastercard British Album Of The Year
Adele: 21 / Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto / Ed Sheeran: + / Florence + the Machine: / Ceremonials / PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
My tip: Ed Sheeran. A tough category as record sales would stand some nominees head and shoulders above the rest, but for achievement; both musically and commercially, I would have to say Sheeran.
International Male Solo Artist
Aloe Blacc / Bon Iver / Bruno Mars / David Guetta / Ryan Adams
My tip: Bruno Mars. I like Mars’ style and work, but Bon Iver would be my personal favourite of the bunch. I’d be surprised if he were to be acknowledged in this setting though.
International Female Solo Artist
Beyoncé / Bjork / Feist / Lady Gaga / Rihanna
My tip: Firstly, Britney Spears, (‘Femme Fatale’)? I would say that Beyonce might walk away with this one, in light of her Glastonbury spectacular.
International Group
Fleet Foxes / Foo Fighters / Jay Z and Kanye West / Lady Antebellum / Maroon 5
My tip: Jay Z and Kanye West. A fan of neither, but I think their combined pulling power will prove victorious.
International Breakthrough Act
Aloe Blacc / Bon Iver / Foster The People / Lana Del Rey / Nicki Minaj
My tip: Lana Del Rey. The Brits have always hopped in to the sidecar of whatever is current and buckled up for the ride, so Lana Del Rey should walk away quite easily with this one. Glad to see recognition for Foster The People though.
British Producer: Paul Epworth / Flood / Ethan Johns
Critics’ Choice Emeli Sandé
Outstanding Contribution To Music Award: Blur
Fear not Will, you remain and forever shall be, the rightful Red Rum of the British male vocalist steeplechase.
www.brits.co.uk / www.willyoung.co.uk
shelleyhanveywriter
Top tips for 2012, featuring First Aid Kit, L.P. and Various Cruelties @firstaidkitband @LPROCK @v_cruelties
First Aid Kit is a Swedish folk duo, consisting of sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg. The siblings formed their band and began writing in 2007, aged just 17 and 14 and have since gone on to release their debut album ‘The Big Black & The Blue’ (2010) and to support Fleet Foxes in Europe. They have a great deal in common with the aforementioned folk septet, particularly with regard to their tight vocal harmonies and earthy songwriting style. The band are set to release their second album ‘The Lion’s Roar’, on January 23rd, 2012, from which I have selected one of my favourite tracks, ‘Emmylou.’
L.P. or Laura Pergolizzi to the over-familiar amongst us, is a rock singer and songwriter from New York. Since signing to Warner Music Group, she has amassed considerable songwriting credits, including tracks penned for the likes of Christina Aguilera, Rihanna and… ahem, Heidi Montag. Currently working on her debut release for the major label; I have selected the track ‘Into The Wild’ to give you a taste of what’s to come from this fiesty rock frontrunner.
Various Cruelties are a four-piece band based in London, who make ‘Motown-influenced indie’ music. The band centres around songwriter and frontman Liam O’Donnell who, inspired by his Northern Soul roots in Leeds, moved to London to write about his experiences to date and stumbled across some bandmates along the way. Fast forward two years and O’Donnell and co are set to release their debut album in the Spring of 2012. They have found themselves on several ‘must watch’ lists and have enjoyed high praise from several notable TV performances, including Jools Holland at the back end of last year. I think this band have a great deal to look forward to in 2012, particularly with their USP (O’Donnell) at the helm. My favourite track to date would be ‘If It Wasn’t For You’ which I have loaded below. The band are currently touring the UK.
shelleyhanveywriter
www.thisisfirstaidkit.com / www.twitter.com/firstaidkitband
2011 in review…and Happy New Year!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Merry Christmas from shelleyhanveywriter…
As 2011 draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone who has spared the time to read any of my pieces on here. I write for my own enjoyment, but there’s still no better feeling than hearing someone say that they like your work. I appreciate every click, every ‘Like’ and every ‘Subscribe to this blog’!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2012.
shelleyhanveywriter
xxx
Pnau’s new album ‘Soft Universe’ is sure to set electro hearts and minds on fire @pnau
Pnau (pronounced “pah-now”, to rhyme with meow) is an Australian synthpop duo, consisting of musicians Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes. The duo have enjoyed considerable success in their native country: with award-winning debut album ‘Sambanova’, critically-acclaimed – and top of Elton John’s personal record collection – 2008 release ‘Pnau’ and one of my favourite electropop outfits; breakthrough side-project Empire of the Sun. Indeed, such is Elton’s love for the duo; after hearing ‘Pnau’, he swiftly arranged for them to become his new musical apprentices. A couple of years later and the euphoric delight that is fourth album, ‘Soft Universe’, has finally come to fruition.
I have selected my top 5 of the 10 tracks on offer, kicking off with ‘Epic Fail.‘
This is probably my favourite track from the album and the most in keeping with Empire of the Sun ‘s sound; sure to set electro hearts and minds on fire when the record is released in the UK in early 2012.
Next up, ‘Everybody.’
This track was the perfect choice to kick off ‘Soft Universe’; Littlemore is also a Cirque du Soleil musical director, a fact not all that surprising when you hear the rousing synth guitar riffs and souring melodies on this track.
And so, on to ‘The Truth.’
Widely regarded to be one of, if not the strongest track on the record, ‘The Truth’ was released in early 2011 as the first single in Australia. I’d describe the track as ‘Solar System rock’; it wouldn’t sound out of place as the backdrop to one of these very quirky, very dumbed down Science documentary series. I use ‘dumbed down’ in an entirely first-person narrative context – it may look pretty and it may be fronted by a quasi-cool man with an indie haircut…but I still don’t get it.
Next up, ‘Something Special.’
This track is just pure electronic bliss; if you like Hurts, you’ll love this. If the album does well in early 2012, we might be treated to some UK festival appearances; if so, this would be a great feel-good show opener.
And finally, ‘Waiting For You.’ This is a serene love song, complete with intoxicating vocals and a melody that can’t help but get in to your head and play on repeat.
shelleyhanveywriter
www.pnaupnau.com / www.twitter.com/pnau / www.myspace.com/pnau
James Vincent McMorrow @jamesvmcmorrow – the cause of my temporary blindness.
James Vincent McMorrow is an Irish folk singer-songwriter, whose voice I am currently enjoying somewhat of a love affair with. My romantic dalliance was struck up one night last week, on an otherwise perfectly average weekday evening; what wasn’t average however, was the voice streaming out from my television which had put my senses in to a positive spin. I couldn’t even tell you what the advertisement was for, such was the thrall of the track which had resulted in my temporary blindness.
The voice; James Vincent McMorrow. The track; ‘Higher Love.’
Pleasantly wooed, I vowed to learn more about this mysterious stranger and have to concede that I am yet to be disappointed by man or music. McMorrow released his debut album, ‘Early in the Morning’ in February, 2010 to critical acclaim in his native Ireland. His official website describes the record as “…a completely self recorded and played affair, filled with beguiling and vivid stories, fables that move from a whisper in your ear to a mountainous crescendo in the space of a song.” Unsurprising therefore, that several of the tracks have already been picked up to feature on various high gloss American teen dramas – they do love a suitably striking track to accompany their dark and destructive passions.
McMorrow has spoken about his rather fragmented approach to songwriting; he has a first line in his head and a vague sense of the end point or conclusion, but prefers the body of the song to be predominantly about the melody. Listening to tracks such as ’If I Had a Boat’ and ‘We Don’t Eat’, it would certainly be difficult to define the absolute meaning of the lyrics and I think that this was very much McMorrow’s intention, he has since said:
When I write lyrics they come together in a pretty uncoordinated way, lines get written, slowly link up until a story reveals itself. It was only when I was finished that I looked back and saw the words for what they were, realized what they meant.
The beauty of lyrics for me, is their ability to evoke different responses in every listener: to bring comfort and peace to one, whilst stirring buried and unresolved feelings in another.
‘Early in the Morning’ has just been included in NPR Music ‘s ’50 Best Albums of 2011′ list. Listening to the album in full, it becomes clear that we shall be seeing and hearing a great deal more from James Vincent McMorrow in 2012.
www.jamesvmcmorrow.com / www.twitter.com/jamesvmcmorrow
shelleyhanveywriter
2 years, 1 month and 11 days; the wait is over…new music from Miike Snow @miikesnow
Miike Snow is Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg and Andrew Wyatt; an indie-electronic band from Sweden and the US, and one of my personal favourites. The band released their self-titled debut album in October 2009, which includes such internationally- acclaimed tracks as the infectious ‘Animal’ (for which I am yet to find an antidote) and the sublime ‘Burial’ (still, one of the most stunning music videos I’ve ever seen.) The album in its entirety is a masterpiece of electro-pop; see ‘Cult Logic’ and ‘Plastic Jungle’ for proof of such a grand statement. I watched the band perform live for the first time at V Festival 2009 and was transfixed by their stage presence and the musical and technical creativity that emanates from each member. Like their avatar; the mythical Jackalope (half rabbit/half antelope), Miike Snow are somewhat shy and elusive in temperament, yet remain effortlessly cool.
Last week, the band announced that after 2 years, 1 month and 11 days, their second album was complete:
The videos are being shot. The artwork is being finished. The tour dates are being planned.
A taste of what was to come was provided this week in the form of new track, ‘Devil’s Work’, with accompanying video by Andreas Nillson. Heavier drums take prominence over keys on this track, but the band’s original aim when they formed, to:
…merge the sound of a live thing — piano and drums — with something that is very programmed and old.
is still clearly very much at the forefront of their sound. Andrew Wyatt’s captivating and unique vocals are definitely one of Miike Snow ‘s unique selling points and sell they shall, in abundance if there is any justice in this business which they call music. Miike Snow ‘s as yet untitled second album is set for release in early 2012 with a new single in January. I’ll be first in the virtual line for this much anticipated body of work and wonder.
shelleyhanveywriter
