Caitlin Rose
‘Still Feelin’ Blue’ [Gram Parsons cover]
These days, the appellation of “up and coming Nashville singer-songwriter” is more likely to send a shiver of fear up people’s spines than it is to provoke excited expectations of a new Loretta Lynn or Patsy Cline, but Caitlin Rose is one young lady worth paying attention to. Her 2008 EP Dead Flowers was a gutsy romp through generations of country music of the coarser, more genuine type than we usually hear in artists barely into their twenties, marking her out as a straight-talking, no-nonsense star with a bright future. A year later and she’s just been picked up by the good people at Names Records, home of Alela Diane, so expect that future to get increasingly interesting very soon. In honour of what would have been his 63rd birthday, Caitlin is offering up her cover of the Gram Parsons classic ‘Still Feelin’ Blue’, the lead track from his 1973 solo debut GP, as a free download. Compared with previously released efforts by the likes of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Australian country darling Kasey Chambers, Caitlin’s version is rawer and rougher and all the better for it. Caitlin is making a rare trip to play some shows in the UK this December, starting with a visit to our friends at The Allotment (at the Betsey Trotwood) on December 1. MP3 after the jump.
Heather Greene
‘Moon Hangs Fire’
Much has been made of Heather Greene’s other role as a US Ambassador for whiskey giants Glenfiddich, making her one of the world’s only female Scotch whiskey experts, but her music is far removed from the usual cliché of a gravel-voiced soak tearing up a saloon bar with all the delicacy of a Texas tornado. Her latest album Sweet Otherwise follows on from where 2005’s Five Dollar Dress left off, building on that album’s palette of sounds, occasionally venturing into poppier material and utilising subtle electronica, but never really abandoning the moody, smooth and mellow ambience she is so good at. ‘Moon Hangs Fire’ is an unshowy, sophisticated piano ballad with a country lilt and judicious use of glockenspiel. The opening line “I have to admit / I like heartache” is expertly sighed out as if she’d been instructed by Lori Carson, setting the scene for the remaining, contemplative four minutes. Indeed, the whole song could be an extract from Carson’s 2001 album House In The Weeds, but that’s no bad thing at all. Few people can do lonesome lullabies quite as well, but Heather Greene is up there with the best. Gorgeous. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: charlotte richardson andrews, saint etienne, the pains of being pure at heart
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
‘Higher Than The Stars’ [Saint Etienne Visits Lord Spank remix]
NYC-based indie-pop quartet The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart released one of the early contenders for album of 2009 in the shape of their self-titled debut back in February, and followed that up in September with the swoon-worthy EP Higher Than The Stars containing four new songs and four remixes, one of which was this retooling by UK pop legends Saint Etienne. The Pains’ keyboardist / vocalist Peggy Wang-East has become something of an indie pin-up in the process, but aside from being a rad and very pretty musician, she’s also a blogger for the viral real-time site Buzzfeed, a role she meets in tandem with the band. Her vocals were all too often buried in the mix on the album, deferring slightly to the dreamy tones of frontman Kip Berman, but this remix puts them on equal pegging. While the identity of the mysterious Lord Spank is never quite explained, the Saint Etienne tag is all you need to know to get a sense of this track’s dreamy, dance-pop quality. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: ash koley, charlotte richardson andrews
Ash Koley
‘Mary The Inventor’
Ash Koley has come a long way from her stint as a member of Canadian ABBA tribute band Super Trooper. Recently signed to Nettwerk Music Group’s management roster, the Winnipeg-born singer-songwriter is poised to release her debut album in the new year, the culmination of a career that started aged 5 when she first took up formal singing lessons. While her debut is being honed, she has a quartet of EPs waiting in the wings for digital deployment, each one colour coded (The White EP, The Blue EP, The Red EP and The Black EP) and comprised of produced demos given a sparkly sheen by longtime musical partner, Phil Deschambault. Obviously fans of DIY quirk, the pair have produced a number of music videos, using time-lapse photography in some and a no-frills homemade approach in others (see their aptly named ‘Bathroom Series’). Their songs have also featured on mainstream TV, including ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and high-school drama ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’, which should give you an indication of Ash’s accessible pop sound. ‘Mary The Inventor’ is the lead track from The White EP, out next week. Between them, Koley and Deschambault count Eurythmics, The Cardigans, Imogen Heap, Erasure, Madonna and ABBA as inspirations, and a thread or two of these can be picked out in this track. Musically, ‘Mary The Inventor’ is a wholesome number, energetic and affable in equal measures, and Ash’s voice is both sweet and voluminous, clearly well trained and practically made for pop. MP3 after the jump.
Lou Rhodes
‘There For The Taking’
Lou Rhodes, contrary-voiced singer from electro band Lamb, is back with her third solo album One Good Thing in March, preceded by a UK tour. Recorded ‘live’ in a studio over two short weeks, the result is described as “a record of disarming honesty”. Lou drops names like Nick Drake and Nico, and it’s easy to see the comparisons with their substance-over-style mentality. ’There For the Taking’ is a beautiful, floating song: a little Elliott Smith, a little Ane Brun. It’s pared right down to the bone, with pretty guitar wanderings and the lyrics providing an uplifting address to the listener. Think echoes of a wooden-floored room, a scrubbed kitchen table, soaring green hills. The lyrics are simple, but the edge of whisper to Rhodes’s voice makes it seem like she’s imparting secrets. The combination of acoustic guitar, an unusual voice and a smattering of strings isn’t breaking new ground, but does provide the perfect rainy-day soundtrack. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: danielle spencer, kirsty logan
Danielle Spencer
‘Citizen’
After releasing her debut album White Monkey in 2001, Australian singer-songwriter Danielle Spencer dropped out of the public eye to concentrate on family life. Eight years later, she’s back with a new album Calling All Magicians, helmed by legendary David Bowie producer Tony Visconti and described as “thirteen stories of observations and experiences”. It’s hard to imagine what else inspires music other than observation or experience, but the songs are certainly heartfelt. The choral voices, spoken lyrics and string-heavy beginning of ‘Citizen’ has an air of Rasputina, but this swiftly turns around into a hodgepodge of styles. The sound is layered and changes pace frequently, making it tricky to get a hold on. The combination of sweet vocals and dense bass harks back to European metal bands like Drain STH and Lacuna Coil, but this is far friendlier. Spencer’s voice is adequately honeyed and the production values are high, but the song seems to build to a crescendo which never arrives. Calling All Magicians is out in January. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: alina simone, charlotte richardson andrews
Alina Simone
‘Beautiful Machine’
Against the backdrop of a tumultuous childhood, her family having fled from Ukraine to the US to avoid the repercussions of her parents having refused KGB recruitment, Alina Simone began her musical career in earnest on the cusp of her teen years. As well as her own tentative material, her early recordings included a clutch of Madonna covers, and she distributed her homemade tapes DIY-style among her friends. Her sharply-titled debut album Placelessness arrived in 2007, quickly followed by last year’s Everyone Is Crying Out To Me, Beware, an homage to the works of Siberian punk poet and songwriter Yana Stanislavovna Dyagileva, who drowned in suspicious circumstances tragically early into her career, leaving a small but inspiring legacy of work.
The fire and passion that Alina has become renowned for is instantly evident on ‘Beautiful Machine’, an exciting preview of her upcoming third album Make Your Own Danger, due out early 2010. A simmering alt-rock number shot through with a streak of defiance, it’s driven by Alina’s rousing vocals that seem to cry out in a personal call to arms and should rally more than a few keen new listeners. Keep an eye out for Alina’s accompanying collection of humorous essays about Russia, family and the tragic-comic struggles of an aspiring indie-rock artist, also out next year. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: charlotte richardson andrews, summer camp
Summer Camp
‘Ghost Train’
Named after the rite of passage that brought them together in their youth, Summer Camp are seven friends from Dalarnas Iän, Sweden, who clearly try to keep the dusky, pubescent magic of their early years alive in warm-hearted, joyous pop numbers. Rumoured to be residing in London, little is known of the mystery band, who have released only a couple of very retro-looking photographs depicting a group of people who “may or may not” be the band. This coy posturing serves to make their very romantic anonymity all the more special, evoking a secret admirer-like mystique. ’Ghost Train’ is a trippy little gem, nostalgic and lying somewhere between the gentle eccentricities of The Sugarcubes and the melody-rich vocals and soulful sound of Those Dancing Days. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: 2009, charlotte richardson andrews, emilie lund, music
Emilie Lund
‘Sad Blue Mountain’
A Stockholm native, 22 year old Emilie Lund studies theatre by day and takes night-time strolls through the vibrant city to inspire her songs, which gravitate around such winsome desires as “looking for love and long lost childhood friends”. But while the bustle and pulse of the city waken her muse, it’s the remote Swedish countryside that serves as a refuge for her writing, a connection she owes to growing up in a house “practically inside a forest”. Emilie namechecks Nick Drake and CocoRosie as core inspirations, and their influences may be felt to peek out a little in the piano confessions of ‘Sad Blue Mountain’. The dusky harmonicas evoke a gleam of Mazzy Star, but Emilie’s heartstring vocals are cut-grass fresh, far sharper then Hope Sandoval’s dreamy tones. A wonderfully honest number, heartfelt and burning with her discerning, questing voice, ‘Sad Blue Mountain’ is taken from her debut self-titled EP, currently available here as a free MP3/OGG download. If this track is anything to go by, she’s one to keep an eye on. MP3 after the jump.
Filed under: free music friday, mp3 | Tags: 2009, asha ali, charlotte richardson andrews, music
Asha Ali
‘Hurricane’
Born in Ethiopia but raised in Stockholm, Asha Ali made quite a splash in Sweden with her 2006 self-titled debut album, gaining instant praise and nominations for a Grammi and a Swedish Radio P3 Guld award. Taking her cues from indie, pop and soul, her influences range from Jeff Buckley, Dolly Parton and Nina Simone to Kate Bush, David Bowie and Patti Smith, though her accessible and original arrangements seem to owe more to modern singer-songwriters. As a single, ‘Hurricane’ has actually been around since April, but it’s well worth checking out if you’ve yet to hear Asha’s unique, piano-driven arrangements. Her effortlessly soulful vocals dance along with a Regina Spektor-like cadence on this jubilant number, tailored perfectly to accent her vibrant, honest melodies. A fresh, impeccable song that bridges the gap between radio pop and indie credibility, it’s a lovely opener for the recently released album of the same name, which we most definitely recommend. MP3 after the jump.
