Several days too late I know, but August was such a good month, that I couldn't let it pass. Here goes. Album of the Month St Vincent – Marry Me What to choose? It's been a pretty blinding month for album releases. We've had Richard Hawley, MIA, New Pornograhers, Super Furry Animals and Eugene McGuinness for starters. It's been a hard 'un but I'm going with Annie Clark's debut album, just because it's a [...]
The second radio session of the day is by none other than Emmy the Great , making it a double Emmy whammy over the past couple of days on The Daily Growl. She came into the very same Xfm studios to play another live Xfm session for John Kennedy. This time it was all about plugging her new My Bad EP of course, so she played City Song , MIA and The Woods , not this time featuring Lightspeed Champion , but instead ably backed up by mysterious friends who [...]
It's been 10 weeks. 1 June was the last time I was at a gig. That's what having a baby does to your gig-going habit. But that's OK – I haven't exactly been bursting to get out. There are just too much other things to do, and tiredness is also a big factor. However, I have been getting itchy feet lately, so I nipped out on Tuesday night to head down to Rough Trade East for the Trouble Records party featuring Crystal Castles and HEALTH . [...]
This week M.I.A.'s new album Kala leaked and her charming brand of transglobal brainfuckery can now be found all over the internets. So, rather than more madness from Miss Arulpragasam, here is a song named after her...
Yeah, I know I'm wayyy behind with stuff on this blog, but I'm playing catch-up on a heap of stuff, and now on 5th July, it's time to cast an overdue glance back (as I normally do) over the past month. Except this time it's the past two months. My review of May didn't happen for obvious reasons . Now the problem is that May seems too far away, and June passed in a bit of a blur, without much contact with the outside world. So forgive me for a less than coherent post. Still, I'll try anyway. [...]
Not much time for proper blogging at the moment, but I've got an excuse for that . Instead enjoy a couple of film clips of two of The Daily Growl's favorite artists playing songs in the back of London black cabs. These 'black cab sessions' are the work of the people at Hidden Fruit . Nice start folks - who next? Londoners can also try to work out where the cabs are driving. Emmy the Great [...]
After this post from Best Week Ever , I was gonna do a post called "A Pack of Wolves". As there are oodles of bands with "wolf" in the title. Instead, The Duke will feature bands with the word "Great" in their name. Fourteen bands to be exact. In beta-alphaical order: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain ~ Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps The Sixth Great Lake ~ Everybody Loves To Be Loved The Late Greats ~ [...]
This Sunday sees the return of Nottingham's no.1 music festival, Dot To Dot but as my university sees it fit to give me 3 exams in 3 days in the last week of term, i very annoyingly can't make. I say very annoyingly because this year boasts the best line-up the festival has had in its 3 year existence. Many a funfunfun loved band are playing and i probably could have been busy running around the grotty streets of Nottingham between venues to catch the hottest bands from midday to midnight...non-stop. But NO...i'll be stuck in the library, [...]
Last year, it was hard to move far on this blog without some mention of Emmy the Great , but this year it's been a bit quiet so far. That's because she's been pretty quiet. I don't think there's been a London gig since her headline show at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen back in January . But now things seem to be moving at camp Emmy again. First, she's back on stage – first on tour supporting Emma Pollock this month, then at a few festivals over the summer. And hopefully [...]
My little sister shows up today... My first family visit since moving to L.A. two years ago. Rough, huh? Well here's a track from her namesake, who I found off of good weather for airstrikes . My first impression was that it sounded a little too precious, too coffee house... but the lyrics made up for that. I love name-dropping of other bands, so the Magnetic Fields line sold me. There's a depth to the song that the simple presentation betrays. I especially like the "dealing with this badly" description of her mood. That and the fact that [...]
...i'll think of this and I will cry, perhaps i'll drop my toast... Emmy The Great is the heroine of London's anti folk scene, with a whistful charm akin to being slowly buldegoned to death by a cute lamenting, and mildy unhinged, art student. Hiding behind the twang of an acoustic [...]
Last Thursay night in East London was a bit chaotic. Liverpool Street Station and the street outside was closed off and the traffic was backing right up Shoreditch High Street. The absence of buses going to Hackney meant that the streets were full of disgruntled communters trudging north. I was in that crowd, but I had more of a spring in my step as I headed to Hoxton Square to see Emmy the Great . I knew it was going to be a good show. In addition to Noah and the Whale, an email from Emmy a few days [...]
[Giovedì sera] L'uragano, il ciclone o quello che è stato tocca Londra solo in minima parte, giusto per spostarci un po', mentre camminiamo all'ora di pranzo ancora beati dell'effetto colazione inglese preparata dai nostri albergatori agrigentini, e per creare delle magnifiche nuvole sullo sfondo delle nostre barb-osissime foto da turisti. In serata tutti parlano del barb-osissimo affare Shilpa. Domani Giovanna Newsom suona al Barb-ican e tutto torna e tutto è esaurito. Certo non avrei sentito lì per la prima volta Ys tutto insieme. Questa settimana non ci sarà la serata indie Spiral Scratch e quelle di [...]
On top of all of the bands I normally discover on the net, my inbox is constantly filled with great new music, so one of the ways I wanted to get some of those tunes out to everyone is this new feature which will run each Friday. It only makes sense to facilitate getting more music out your way! Lovvers : Hailing from Nottingham, UK, they have played with Blood On The Wall and xbxrx and cite Unwound, Rites of Spring and Skull Kontrol as influences. I'm [...]
I've just realised that all the bands and artists in my long list of tips for 2006 are British (or at least British-based). But maybe that's not a surprise. After all, that's where I'm from, and I can leave the North American-based tips to my blogging brethren across the Atlantic. Looking forward to hearing theirs. In the meantime I'll press ahead with my next instalment – today, singer-songwriters. All young, solo people with good songs and a lot to offer in 2007. Adele [...]
#19 Emmy The Great 'Paper Trails' Download MP3 Website Myspace I've really tried to get into the music of Emmy the Great, but I can't seem to do it. Maybe I've been hearing the wrong songs or something, but all of the tracks that I've picked up from various blogs haven't done very much for me. All except this one anyway. It's quite a feat for an artist I don't particularly like to get to [...]
While I?m trying to work out what my top 20 songs of the year are (so many songs, so hard to choose!), I?ll press ahead with the next installment in my end of the year best of lists - my favourite gigs of the year. And because I?m not finding much time to post these days, I?ll save myself some writing time by quoting my own reviews of these gigs. 10. No-Neck Blues Band @ Barden?s Boudoir (13 Dec) The self-quoting lark has got [...]
The other week I was in Rough Trade buying some music when I stumbled across a small pile of CDs which looked like they might be free. Sure enough they were, and never one to resist an interesting-looking freebie I happily snapped it up. It intrigued me because it was a folk CD - Folking it Up - compiled by DJs du jour Queens of Noize , denizens of the London indie clubs, and now with their own weekly show on BBC 6Music . I hadn't really thought of them as [...]
Sunday morning started bright and sunny, in contrast to the grey skies of Saturday. The sun kept shining until just after I’m From Barcelona’s set, which seemed appropriate, given their sparkly day-glo pop music. In the hands of one man and an acoustic guitar, these songs would be insufferably twee, but coming from a 29-piece all singing (literally), all dancing (yep, that too), all throwing-confetti-around, and generally riotous and fun Swedish band, they sound just right. Coming on a bit like the Polyphonic Spree, without the cultish overtones, and with better tunes, they were the perfect start to [...]
Anti-folk music. Apparently. NME say "honey voiced Angel". But thats way to sweet. Even twee is pushing it. Drowned in Sound hit the nail on the head and really do her justice by mentioning Regina Spektor and Bob Dylan in a review. The beatiful Emmy the Great creates beautiful and simple stories of dreams, moves, crows, sewing needles and a ball of string. The charming and shy intensity of the voice is matched by a marked concentration from a stunned crowd, witnessed at Truck Festival - her performance in the middle of the afternoon was undoubtedly [...]
The Daily Growl
Pinglewood.com
The Late Greats
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Exitfare
Another Form of Relief
Nothing But Green Lights
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Garbage – “Not Your Kind of People” Concert @ Webster Hall, NYC (May 22, 2012)
Childish Gambino – “Black Faces ft. Nipsey Hussle”
