Brought Them On: 15 Years To Gomez's Debut Album "Bring It On"

Gomez are a five piece English Indie band from Southport, comprising Ian Ball (Guitar and vocals), Paul Blackburn (Bass), Ben Ottewell (Guitar and vocals), Olly Peacock (Drums and synths) and Tom Gray (Vocals, guitar and keyboards). On 13 of April, 1998, 15 years ago, they released their debut record called Bring It On. From its release, it earned great reviews, including Spin magazine which called it "Damn beautiful album". That album was melodious thanks to the good collaboration of the voices of Ball, Ottewell and Gray, each having a great distinctive voice. It also sounds sometimes like an Americana album made in UK, but you cannot Deny the English accent... The album managed to win the 1998 Mercury Prize, defeating great albums such as Massice Attak's Mezzanine, The Pulp's This Is Hardcore and The Verve's Urban Hymns. I still find this album joyful, it seems that time hasn't harmed it at all... So here are five songs from that debut album

Make No Sound

 

Whippin' Piccadilly

Tijuana Lady

 

Get Myself Arrested

 

Bubble Gum Years

St. Vincent

Maybe the name Annie Erin Clark is not known for the most of us, but might heard about St. Vincent, which is the stage name of this talented singer from Tulsa, who started her career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens tour band before she started her own solo career. St. Vincent released three full albums and a collaborative one with David Byrne, The former leading singer of  The Talking Heads. She's also a multi-instrumental player, who can play guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and more while she sings with her clear, soft voice. This beautiful morning gave me an inspiration to go back to hear few of her songs, so here are five pearls I've found.

Cheerleader (Taken From Strange Mercy, 2011)

 

Paris Is Burning (Taken From Paris Is Burning EP, 2006)

All My Stars Aligned (Taken From Marry Me, 2007)

Actor Out Of Work (Taken From Actor, 2009)

Sleep All Summer (Featuring The National, Crooked Fingers cover version)

Stina Nordenstam

It seems that I've got some kind of Scandinavian spirit those days since that's the third Scandinavian artist that I'm writing about after Olof Arnalds and Olafur Arnalds. But this is all the similarity I can find between the Icelandic singers I mentioned above and Swedish Stina Nordenstam. That's been over nine years since we heard this great singer from Stockholm, who released 6 LP's between 1991-2004. Yes, She did guest vocals for some few songs of Nine Horses and Filur but she hasn't released something new by herself. It seems that she caught Baz Luhrmann's ears, who took her 1994 single, Little Star, to the soundtrack of Romeo + Juliet in 1996, giving us the opportunity to discover her beautiful music. Still, her music seems to be very close to what Bjork and Emilliana Torrini doing. For the ones who haven't heard about her (Yet...), here are five songs to start with... 

Little Star (Taken From And She Closed Her Eyes, 1994)

 

Trainsurfing (Featuring Brett Anderson, Taken From This Is Stina Nordenstam, 2001)

Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin cover version, Taken From People Are Strange, 1998)

Winter Killing (Taken From The World Is Saved, 2004)

  His Song (Taken From Memories Of A Colour, 1991)

Delta Machine (Depeche Mode #2)

After celebrating 20 years anniversary to fabulous Songs Of Faith And Devotion, it's time to move on to Delta Machine, the 13th album by Depeche Mode, which will be released on 26th of March, 2013. In contrast to the Rock and Grunge influences in Songs Of Faith And Devotion, Delta Machine is more Electronic and Dance oriented album. As such, it could be a very pleasing album if we were speaking about a new artist or band, but not for Depeche Mode. I must admit that I liked some of the tracks in the album, especially Alone and My Little Universe, which sounds great but as a whole it's quite disappointing to have such album from the veteran Trio consists of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore And Andy Fletcher. I'll let you judge it by yourselves, meanwhile here are five songs of Depeche Mode, Three of them from the last release.

Heaven (Taken From Delta Machine, 2013)

It's No Good (Taken From Ultra, 1997)

My Little Universe (Taken From Delta Machine, 2013)

Shake The Disease (Taken From Singles 81-85, 1985)

 

Alone (Taken From Delta Machine, 2013)

Jason Molina

It's still hard for me to accept the fact that Jason Molina is dead. One of the favourite voices of mine has been announced dead due too alcohol abuse only few hours ago, leaving me no chance to see him performing. Jason Molina was a musical vagabond moving from one musical act to another. Starting with Songs: Ohia (1997-2003), then under his own name (2004-2005) until he named his last band Magnolia Electric Co. after one of his Songs: Ohia albums. I think it would take a while until people will recognise his beautiful lyrics and warm voice, meanwhile I hope he'll rest in peace up there in paradise, leaving us some divine songs for moments of pain and disappointment. Here are five songs for his memory, RIP Jason Molina

Songs: Ohia - Come Back To Your Man (Taken From Axxess & Ace, 1999)

Jason Molina - Shore To Shore (Taken From Autumn Bird Songs, 2012)

Songs: Ohia - This Time Anything Is Finite At All (Taken From Impala, 1999)

Songs: Ohia - Being In Love (Taken From Lioness, 1999)

Magnolia Electric Co. - The Handling Down (Taken From Josephine, 2009)

Stereophonics

Stereophonics are a four piece Rock band from Wales, which released their eight studio album called Graffiti On The Train on 4th of March, 2013. The band currently comprises of Kelly Jones (Guitar and leading vocals), Richard Jones (Bass and backing vocals), Adam Zindani (Guitar and vocals) and touring members Stuart Cable (Drums) and Tony Kirkham (Keyboards). I haven't heard full album of this band since Live From Dakota (2006), so I didn't know what to expect ,but after listening to the album twice, I realized that I missed them for to many years. The melodies are well produced, the lyrics even better and you cannot ignore the fact that they're playing so much time together, that it sounds great. As usual, I've chosen three songs from Graffiti On The Train and two tracks from earlier releases just to help you remember how good they are....

Graffiti On The Train (Taken From Graffiti On The Train, 2013)

Mr. Writer (Taken From Just Enough Education To Perform, 2001)

Violins And Tambourines (Taken From Graffiti On The Train, 2013)

Maybe Tomorrow (Taken From You Gotta Go There To Come Back, 2003)

 

Indian Summer (Taken From Graffiti On The Train, 2013)

Nataly Dawn

Last month, Nataly Dawn, an Indie singer-songwriter released her debut album called How I Knew Her after playing for a while as part of the duo Pomplamoose with Jack Conte. What is interesting in Nataly Dawn's career is the role of Youtube and Kickstarter in helping her out to achieve her musical goals. Nataly released many songs through Youtube, some of them with fellow singer Lauren O'Connell, which made her popular so she could raise over 100,000$ for the production of her album using Kickstarter platform. Leaving all this things aside, she's got a great voice and I'm so glad that the internet era can help us discover such talented singers. So here are five songs by Nataly Dawn, three of them from the new release

Araceli (Taken From How I Knew Her, 2013)

I Started A Joke (Featuring Lauren O'connell, Bee Gees cover)

How I Knew Her (Taken From How I Knew Her, 2013)

My Hands Burn (Taken From (Her Earlier Stuff), 2009)

 

Counting Down (Taken From How I Knew Her, 2013)

Widowspeak

Widowspeak is an Indie duo from Brooklyn, New York which is made by the collaboration between Molly Hamilton (Vocals and Guitar) and Robert Earl Thomas (Guitar). Last month they released their sophomore album called Almanac. I think it's a good album which grows through every listening of their mixture of Indie, Dream-Pop and Shoegaze. Although they started their way as a four piece band, you can't feel that there's something missing, especially when you hear Molly Hamilton's magnificent voice. So for the ones that don't kno this band yet, here're five songs, three of them from the new album

Sore Eyes (Taken From Almanac, 2013)

Wicked Game (Taken From Gun Shy, 2011, Chris Isaak Cover)

Locusts (Taken From Almanac, 2013)

Hard Times (Taken From Widowspeak, 2011)

 

Dyed In The Wool (Taken From Almanac, 2013)

Do We Have To Let It Linger: 20 Years To The Cranberries' Debut Album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?"

On 1st of March, 20 Years ago, a young band from Limerick, Ireland released their debt album called Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? It was after releasing 4 EPs which hadn't got much intention those days.Then, the four piece band of founding brothers Mike Hogan and Noel Hogan together with drummer Fergal Lawler and singer Dolores O'Riordan, joined as a supporting band to Suede tour and became more familiar. After a few shows, they released Linger which became one of their greatest hits until today. This album is peaceful in comparison to its followers No Need To Argue and To The Faithful Departed, and more Innocent and immature but you can still enjoy it even though it's already 20 years old. Five songs will remind you why it was so great....

Dreams

Sunday

I Still Can't

Linger

Put Me Down

Jupiter And Teardrop: 20 Years To Grant Lee Buffalo's "Fuzzy"

Grant Lee Buffalo were formed in the wrong time and in the wrong place. The 90's in America started with great passion to Rock music of two kinds: Hard Rock such as Guns And Roses and Metallica on the one hand, and Grunge music such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana on the other hand. This Los-Angeles based Trio emphasised the blurred boundaries between Rock and Americana, So that their debut album called Fuzzy suffered from being in-between. Listening to that album 20 years later make you think "How to hell did I miss that great band?". The Harmonious playing and singing of Grant Lee Philips (Vocals and Guitar), Paul Kimble (Bass) and Joey Peters (Drums) made a wonderful album, that's still under-rated nowdays. That band survived only seven years, which produced four albums before they split and left us with memories for their unique Americana sound. Here are five reasons to remember that album....

Jupiter And Teardrop (Live Show From 2011)

The Hook 

 

Fuzzy

Stars 'N Stripes

 

You Just Have To Be Crazy

Ordinary World: 20 Years To Duran Duran's "Wedding Album"

After being one of the popular Pop bands in the 80's, Duran Duran faced a great challenge. On one side, they were so popular that they could continue to make fluffy-Popy songs for teenagers. On the other side, the world was changing and new voices has risen from Seattle, which offer to revive the Rock music in a new form. Duran Duran was a broken group the years before The Wedding Album: two of its founders: Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor left the band for different reasons and they become a Trio: Simon Le Bon (Vocals), John Taylor (Bass) and Nick Rhodes (Keyboards). For their seventh album, they called Warren Cuccurullo (Guitar), a founding member of The Missing Persons, which played with legendary Frank Zappa. The result was an album, which moves from Pop to Soft Rock, becoming a great comeback album, which features some great hits and a beautiful cover to The Velvet Underground's song, Femme Fatale. So here are five songs which celebrates 20 years since the releasing of that beautiful album

Come Undone

Femme Fatale

 

Too Much Information

 

Ordinary World

 

Breath After Breath (Featuring Milton Nascimento)

 

20 Years To Radiohead's Debut Album - "Pablo Honey"

On the 22 of February 1993, Radiohead, a young Rock group from Abingdon, Oxfordshire released its debut album called Pablo Honey. The five members of the band: Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway and Ed O'brien couldn't imagine that they'll become one of the most popular bands in the world. The first single from that album, Creep, was ignored by Radio stations and didn't make it into the mainstream playlists. But then something changed. An Israeli DJ named Yoav Kutner discovered that single in kept playing it as much as he could. The band became famous in Israel and their popularity moved on by EMI representatives all over the world. 20 Years later, Pablo Honey still sounds relevant and vital, so here're five songs from that great release.

Anyone Can Play Guitar

 

You

Creep

I Can't 

Thinking About You 

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

I must admit that I'm not the most addicted fan in the world of Nick Cave's music. Although he released great songs along the years, I've never found the time to listen to a whole album of him with The Bad Seeds. When They released Push The Sky Away (2013) last week, I listened to the stream at The Guardian web site and suddenly I understood that I missed a great band along the time. This album is the first without the founding member Mick Harvey, but it seems that they got over his departure. Along with Barry Adamson, Martin Casey, Warren Ellis, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos and Thomas Wydler, The Bad Seeds made a great album which sounds like a coming storm, which is waiting to demolish everything. Before all hell falls down, we can meet the Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds trying to push those grey skies away, although there is a lot of dirt in this world. Listening to this album is like a spiritual event and it's very recommended. Of course, that gave me an opportunity to go back to their songs from the past 14 albums, so here are five of their best.

Mermaids (Taken From Push The Sky Away, 2013)

Henry Lee (Taken From Murder Ballads, 1996, Featuring PJ Harvey)

 

Jubilee Street (Taken From Push The Sky Away, 2013)

The Ship Song (Taken From The Good Son, 1990)

 

Higgs Boson Blues (Taken From Push The Sky Away, 2013)

 

The Joy Formidable

Last month, The Joy Formidable, an Indie group from Wales, released their sophomore album called Wolf's Law. Led by Ritzy Bryan (Vocals, Guitar) with Rhydian Dafydd (Bass) and Matt Thomas (Drums), they produce stuff between Indie and Alternative Rock. Wolf's Law is a great album for a Rocky mood and it seems that we'll hear from this band for a long time. You can listen to five of their favorite songs down here, three of them from the last release.

Little Blimp (Taken From Wolf's Law, 2013)

 

I Don't Want To See You Like This (Taken From The Big Roar, 2011)

 

Forest Serenade (Taken From Wolf's Law, 2013)

 

The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade (Taken From The Big Roar, 2011)

 

The Turnaround (Taken From Wolf's Law, 2013)

Anne Frank's Diary Dream: 15 Years To Neutral Milk Hotel Album, "In The Aeroplane, Over The Sea"

Ruston, Louisiana isn't the first place you'd go in search of Indie music but, 15 years ago, on 10th of February, a young Indie band called Neutral Milk Hotel released their second (and last until this writing date...) album, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998). Jeff Mangum, the leader of this band said he was widely inspired by reading Anne Frank's Diary then so it became an integral part of his creation. Working with Jeremy Barnes, Julian Koster, Scott Spillane and Robert Schneider they made a wonderful Lo-Fi album, which became one of the most hear albums for any Indie fan. It's pretty sad that they hadn't released anything since then, but maybe it's better after achieving such a great height. Here are five magnificent songs from that album.

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Oh Comely

Holland, 1945

 

Communist Daughter

Two-Handed Boy

Broken Window: 10 Years To Massive Attack's Album "100th Window"

On the 10th of February, 2003, Massive Attack, a Bristol Trip-Hop group, released their fourth LP called 100th Window. That was no longer the group which released the previous acts such as Mezzanine and Protection, but a duo project lead by Robert Del Naja (3D) and Neil Davidge. The other two founding members, Andrew Vowels (Known as Mushroom) and Grant Marshall (Known as Daddy G), left shortly after the release of Mezzanine, letting the other members adopt the musical direction of 3D. The result was a dark experimental release featuring Sinead O'connor, Horace Andy and Blur leading singer, Damon Albarn (Named on that album, 2D). It's one of the popular albums of that group, but it worth listening, even though it's 10 years old. Here are five songs that remind me why this album was so brilliant at it's time.

Small Time Shot Away

Special Cases

What Your Soul Sings

 

Butterfly Caught

 

A Prayer For England

Eels

Eels is a long time, one man project led by Mark Oliver Everett, who is known as E. Their new album Wonderful, Glorious was recorded with The Chet (Guitar), Knuckles (Drums), Koool G Murder (Bass) and P Boo (Additional guitar) and it is their 10th release since the mid-90's. Eels producing a melodious Indie music, with intelligent lyrics, which changes upon the album issue. As you already know. I won't bother you with too much words, so let's hear five songs, two of them from the new album, which was released today and got more Rock N' Roll sound....

Peach Blossom (Taken From Wonderful, Glorious, 2013)

A Line In The Dirt (Taken From End Times, 2010)

I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart (Taken From Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, 2005)

This Is Where It Gets Good (Taken From Tomorrow Morning, 2010)

New Alphabet (Taken Wonderful, Glorious, 2013)

Foxygen

As I mentioned on January's best albums list, Foxygen's sophomore album, We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic, will probably be one of the best releases at the end of the year. Jonathan Rado and Sam France formed Foxygen in 2005, based on a mixture of 60's music, Psychedelia and Experimental music. Their debut album, Take The Kids Off Broadway, was released in 2012, but it wasn't as mature and sharp as the recent. Now, it's a great time to listen to five picks I collected from both albums, seems we're gonna hear them for a long time...

Oh No 2 (Taken From We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic, 2013)

Abandon My Toys (Taken From Take The Kids Off Broadway, 2012)

San Francisco (Taken From We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic, 2013)

Shuggie (Taken From We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic, 2013)

Teenage Alien Blues (Taken From Take The Kids Off Broadway, 2012)

New Order

What a great news it was to hear that New Order is releasing previously unreleased songs as a new album called, Lost Sirens (The name refers to their last released album Waiting For The Sirens' Call from 2005). You can not ignore that this album is not very ground-breaking but it's always good for me to listen to the remains of legendary Joy Division: Bernard Sumner (Vocals), Peter Hook (Bass and Synthesiser), Phil Cunningham (Guitars and Synthesiser) and Stephen Morris (Drums). The release gave me an opportunity to hear again some of their greatest songs so far. In the list below you can find five songs as usual: Three from the new release and two songs from earlier releases. enjoy!

1) I'll Stay With You (Taken From Lost Sirens, 2013)

2) Bizarre Love Triangle (Taken From Brotherhood, 1986)

3) Hellbent (Taken From Lost Sirens, 2013)

4) Crystal (Taken From Get Ready, 2001)

5) I Told You So (Taken From Lost Sirens, 2013)

David Bowie

It's 8th of January and the boy is already 66 years old. It's hard to imagine the modern music without the wide inspiration of David Bowie. With 23 studio albums since the 60's 'till now, Bowie is recognised as one of the most intelectual and talented musician for such a long time. For his birthday, I picked one song from each decade and putting at the end, his new single from the forthcoming 24th record, which will be released on March 2013,called The Next Day. I know it's very far of spanning all Bowie's career but we'll start from here....

Space Oddity (Taken From Space Oddity, 1969)

 

Moonage Daydream (Taken From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, 1972)

China Girl (Taken From Let's Dance, 1983)

 

Thursday's Child (Taken From Hours, 1999)

 

Where Are We Now? (Taken From Forthcoming Album The Next Day, 2013)