Paper People

Paper People, don’t know what to make of them. A bunch of guys from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland who began by jamming on an old mandolin.

The tracks are raw, lacking in polish and badly mixed. The vocals at best are impassioned, the level of musicianship leaves a lot to be desired but and I can’t stress this enough, they have a spark that cries out loud and proud “perfection is over rated”.

Yes, despite their shortcomings they have got something that makes you sit up and listen to their songs. Take for instance Mood Indigo which can be heard on their MySpace site. This is a schizophrenic little number the has a really pretty mellow groove building up to a raunchy electric guitar solo.

From their website:

The Paper People have evolved, from a few mates jamming with their granddads antique out-of-tune mandolin, to battle of the band competitions, gigs, promotions and album recordings. The thing’s that inspire the band’s songs are girls, life experience, and life experience with girls. But the generality of the bands songs come from the world as they see it from a musician’s point of view, which of course, may seem a little obscure. Not everything in life is about making money, it’s about what you experience and how you express it, it may be in the form of an art work, or a poem, but in The Paper People’s case, it’s all out, in-depth expressive alternative rock music.

Sweet Nothings is another standout track that really shows their potential. I’m unable to verify if they are still gigging but I hope they are.

Glen Hansard is the lead singer with the influential Irish Indie rock band called the Frames who have been around since 1990. He also has an ongoing collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Marketa Irglova called Swell Season. It is from this collaboration that the 2008 Oscar winning song Falling Slowly comes.

The track is from the 2007 album Swell Season and their personal story inspired Once “the modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin. The film tells the story of a street musician and a Czech immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story”. The songs were written by the pair and they also starred in the movie.

A couple of places to find their music:
The Swell Season on Myspace
The Swell Season website
Worth a listen, recommended.

Dead Hoodlums

Friday night and here is a Duggup to brighten the gloomy skies over Melbourne, bring a sparkle to your eye and a tapping to your feet.

By way of Oslo in Norway come the band called Dead Hoolums. Very much alive I fear and from what I can suss out about them, admittedly not much is out there, they are a dress-up and makeup kind of band.

If that’s not enough to pique your curiosity then how about the fact that that they play a sort of outlaw country meets circus. The band apparently defines their sound as “psychotic country” and yes, I think it fits – sorta.

To give you an idea of what I mean check out the video that wound up in my inbox. It is an animated video by Ritxi Ostariz, illustrated by Maria Picasso. The song is called No Cowboy from their 2008 album release Blood Moon.

Dead Hoodlum website.
and Dead Hoodlums MySpace for more high energy tracks like it, try London Town. Good stuff. Enjoy!

Leonard Cohen - photograph by Jools

I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at one his recent Melbourne concerts and I must say that he is an artist who only gets better with the years. Ably supported by talented singers and musicians whose work lifted the performance to create a truly uplifting night’s entertainment.

Leonard Cohen’s music tends to polarize musical opinion. But love him or not he has influenced a couple of generations worth of musicians and having seen him live in concert I have become a convert. Up until the concert I was mostly ambivalent – afterwards- well that’s another story.

I suddenly discovered that I had been working with closet Leonard Cohen aficionados for years. Some people when asked will dismiss his music as being depressing, their problem is I suspect a question of perspective. Everybody should listen to his music after having lived through it.

He displayed a great sense of humour, humility and generosity.Wearing his heart on his sleeve, with an intimacy that burns like fire, his voice croons and caresses in turn. Sitting in that audience I felt he was singing for me and I felt, fleetingly like I understood what his words meant.

Enough of my take, Thatch will post his review about the concert in due course and no doubt he will also feature some of the musicians as well. Meanwhile I want you to enjoy a little of the Leonard Cohen magic here presented by CBS Radio 2 from Leonard Cohen’s Live in London Concert.

YouTube holds a plethora of his songs both old and new. Take a few minutes to listen and if you get a chance to see him – do. Highly recommended.

They are from Austin, Texas and play a brand of American traditional music inspired by bluegrass mixed liberally with elements of European folk and the traditional American string band.

They are loose and lovely, raucous and rude; watch The Electric Mountain Rotten Apple Gang play Sally Ann live as they busk at the Maker’s Fair.

Their website is at www.myspace.com/electricmountainrottenapplegang where you can here more songs and view other videos by this band.

The Electric Mountain Rotten Apple Gang is Adam Kobetich- vocals, clawhammer banjo, three finger banjo, Amanda Kitchens- vocals, accordion, guitar, Patric Fitzsimons- vocals, mandolin, Daniel Edwards- flattop guitar, vocals and clawhammer banjo, Andrew Pressman- doghouse bass, vocals and Sick!- fiddle, backing vocals (Can’t work out if this last bit is a person or a comment, so we will leave it there – enjoy. Jools)

Circus Envy are from Hull in the UK and as their website tells us:

Circus Envy are a rootsy five piece based in East Yorkshire, with a sound equally influenced by classic rock, folk rock and Americana.

Diverting from the mainstream by using instrumentation as exotic as the cajon, and the bouzouki, Circus Envy delight audiences when playing both electrically and acoustically, building on the strengths of each to create a subtly different, organic sound every time.

This indie band is hot and despite the fact they are only offering about 1 minutes worth from their songs, you can’t but help get sucked into the souring vocals of Leigh Hirst; if you have a Last FM account you can listen to the whole album or if you haven’t, it’s worth considering to hear it before buying a copy.

The rest of the band are James Paddison on bass and vocals, Mike Richmond on bouzouki, guitar and mandolin, Andy Clark on guitars and Mick Harding on drums, percussion and vocals. Their debut album “Take Me Home” is ripe with juicy tunes all vibrating with life and energy.

Pop/rock tunes with a folk feel, great voices and a really trippy band. Recommended.
Their website: www.myspace.com/circusenvyband

Wendy Ealey has a voice that takes me back to smoke filled folk venues of Melbourne 30 odd years ago. With good reason, she has been a performer on the folk scene both in Australia and in Britain since the 70’s.

Hers is a big beautiful voice that resonates with passion as she sings songs penned by herself and others accompanying herself on guitar. Political songs nestle comfortably with love songs to form a quilt of human experience.

A song written by Mary Caruana with Brent Parlane called “Bigger Than This” can be found on on her MySpace site, is a ballsy dig at the treatment of “illegal” immigrants. “Child of My Heart” is the story of grief felt by an infertile woman.

She also performs with friends in a quartette called Unsung. Here is the video for “Winter Sun” written by Moira Tyers performed by Unsung (Wendy Ealey, Leticia Maher, Neil Robertson and Moira Tyers) at the Darebin Songwriters Guild at 303, Northcote, Melbourne, Australia on June 8, 2008

A selection of MP3’s are available for download through her website, including “No RIght Way” another song that ponders the choices that people make.

If you aren’t lucky enough to catch her act live then a CD “out of the Shower” is available for purchase through IndieCDs.com.

Me, I love the Blue Oyster Cult and their song “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. Here that song is covered by SftBH. Described as a “folk collective” from East Anglia in the UK. They have done justice to this classic track with it’s kick snare bango combo and mellow vocals. They also perform original folk/pop influenced numbers that bubble forth from my headphones in a joyful rush.

SftBH consists of a core of three musicians with a background ranging from acid punk through pop; James Partridge on vocals and guitar, Shane Kirk on guitar, vocals and Bouzouki, Gibbon on bass, vocals and keyboards. Added are the main songwriter and vocalist and flautist Helen Mulley, Richard Lockwood on fiddle and Tony Winn and banjo. Dropins also include piano, percussion, drums pedal steel and a moveable feast of other musicians and vocalists.

Musically the recorded sound is big but it has a lot of space and freedom about it. The songs are melodic and the vocals and arrangements lift them above the usual. Surprisingly their live perfomances are tight too going by the vids on YouTube.

A rollicking number by Songs from the Blue House: Her

A countrified Songs from the Blue House: Big Dipper

These guys are good and worth more than just a casual listen, view their MySpace page for a selection of their songs and visit their websiteto dip into their bios and pics.

It has been a busy year with lots of wonderful music – both reviewed and listened to. My MP3 player has had a working out this year. I toyed briefly with an Apple iTouch and those ghostlyghastly bud earphones but was left wanting so I have returned to my modest Sandisk with Sennheiser phones until something better turns up.

Having said that, the top three artists who survived and thus presently inhabit my musical world include but are not limited to American Marc Cohen reviewed very early this year, Pájaros de Plomo from Buenos Aires, from Australia – Pete Murray, from the UK Show of Hands and from Austin Texas The Lovely Sparrows.

Well there you go – I can’t count again. Since life is too short to review music I don’t like it is fair to say that everything that I have reviewed in 2008 had something special going for it. Chose an act, any act and you will find something worth listening to.

Lots of great stuff coming up next year but in the meantime, treat yourselves well and have a very joyful and safe Christmas and New Year.

Silver Spire

Silver Spire are an eclectic mix of influences reflected in their choice of repetoire. They play a range of Celtic, Americana, Folk, Bluegrass, Old Time Gospel, and some unusual contemporary acoustic numbers.

The four piece acoustic band are from North Carolina in the USA and is comprised of Zack Meadows – Drums, Ukulele, Erin Murphy Campbell – Flute, Whistle, Alison Trombley – Fiddle, Vocals snd Buzz Trombley – Guitar, Vocals.

By far their instrumental pieces are the strongest although Alison Trombley has a lovely clear voice which is pleasure to listen to. You can hear her on CDBaby where 2 minute samples from their self produced CD “Epiphany” can be heard and of course from which the album can be purchased.

There are also some classic full length tracks on their MySpace website. Take a listen to their violin version of “Moscow Nights”; or watch a video version of Star of the County Down.