Daine Angel feat. Theo Altieri - Txt Me Back

Joe writes: This is so good. Theo Altieri is a singer songwriter in his early teens. Daine Angel is a rapper with hearthrob good looks whose father is the techno DJ and producer Dave Angel. Both Theo and Daine are from Swindon and on Txt Me Back they get together and perform alchemy. Emotion, hooks, songcraft, it's all there. Who does it sound like? Maybe G Love & Special Sauce. Whoever it is, it's a sound no-one else has done recently and it feels like the right time.

Julio Bashmore

Joe writes: Julio Bashmore is the producer behind one of my favourite tracks of the year so far, 110% by Jessie Ware. Superficially what he's doing isn't that different to the last two decades of house music, but he has somehow succeeded where so many others have failed - he makes accessible tracks that also sound modern. He has also started DJing on Radio 1 and he's pretty good at that too. Here's his solo track Troglodytes, in the fine tradition of dance tracks featuring spoken word samples.




Talking of which, here's Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb, featuring a sample of an interview with Rickie Lee Jones (and various other samples according to the Wikipedia page):

The theme from Prometheus: Chopin Prelude in D Flat Major

Joe writes: I went to see Ridley Scott's film Prometheus tonight which was better than I'd feared, and features my favourite piano piece as its theme, Chopin's Prelude in D Flat Major, also known as the Raindrops prelude.




The same prelude also inspired the theme to the '80s soap opera Howard's Way (sorry, couldn't resist):




Here's a scan of an autographed page from the Paderewski edition of the sheet music:

 

Wind and Walls by The Tallest Man On Earth

Joe writes: My favourite track from the new Tallest Man On Earth album. Also my favourite track of the moment. It's an orgy of melody.

more Rumer originals: Richie Havens and Stephen Bishop

Joe writes: Here are my other two favourite discoveries of songs covered by Rumer on her Boys Don't Cry album.

It Could Be The First Day by Richie Havens is simple, concise and beautiful. Rumer has said she was introduced to the song by the producer Steve Brown.




The Same Old Tears On A New Background by Stephen Bishop can't be found on YouTube so here it is on a long-forgotten corner of the internet called MySpace: The Same Old Tears On A New Background

Art Garfunkel actually released the first version of Same Old Tears... on his album Breakaway, but Stephen wrote the song and released his own version on his album Careless.

Here's Stephen's greatest hit On And On:

Otto Knows - Million Voices

Joe writes: Big dance tune from a protege of Avicii.

Vaguely reminds me of the classic Da Da Da by Trio, being based around a vocal riff that's not really a lyric.

original versions of the songs from Boys Don't Cry by Rumer

Joe writes: I get excited when artists with great taste make covers albums - it means I can download all the original versions and reasonably expect to discover some great tracks in doing so. Rumer was already planning the release of Boys Don't Cry before she'd signed a record deal. It features lesser known songs of heartbreak by well respected but not necessarily well known male singer songwriters of the early '70s. In other words, music to my ears. A lot of the song suggestions came from Steve Brown who produced Rumer's first album but didn't produce this one after falling out with Rumer.

I have three favourite discoveries from the album. Two of them aren't on YouTube yet which I may remedy shortly. The one that is is Be Nice To Me by Todd Rundgren. I liked the YouTube comment "Ben Folds should give Todd 30 cents of every dollar he makes".

The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved

Phil writes: Not really being very clued-up about the music of today, apart from things that Joe tells me about/posts here, I must confess that 'The Voice' has been a bit of an ear-opener  -  Tom Jones was the only judge whose music I was at all familiar with.

Just happened to catch the video of this on a music channel. Pretty impressive even on first hearing:

 

Benny Hill meets dancehall

Joe writes: Every summer, London's Choice FM used to playlist reggae and that was where I first heard Sorry If I Hurt Your Feelings by Tenor Fly tune in I think 1996. Great lyric, great melody, an amusingly Benny Hill-esque backing track... it should have been huge.



Which reminds me of the time the Benny Hill theme became the dancehall beat du jour. My favourite take on it was of course Lady Saw's excellent Jealous.

Jimmy Webb's Ivor Award

Phil writes: This recognition of his great songwriting has meant several TV and radio interviews, plus an appearance on Jools with Rumer:



I love this song of his:



And this (though not the best audio quality):

The First Thing You See by Bruno Charles

Joe writes: This is pretty, by new artist Bruno Charles, really good singer, guitar player and songwriter

Janis Joplin and Bessie Smith

Phil writes: A contestant on 'The Voice' was told by Tom Jones that she reminded him of Janis Joplin. She later admitted that she hadn't heard of Janis. But she's only 17 so has some excuse. For anyone else who hasn't heard of her  -  and there will be such people out there  -  here she is. First, the amazing song she really made her own:



She could perform lesser material equally successfully, making it memorable:



Janis herself was compared, undertandably, with the legendary Bessie Smith. So here's Bessie:

Lost classic: First Kiss by Lovatux

Joe writes: There was a lot wrong with Lovatux, not least their name. They signed a record deal and got nowhere in about 1997. But First Kiss, the demo that got them signed, was pretty near perfect.

this was the best song I heard at Great Escape Festival

Joe writes: It's an old Cornish folk song, Little Eyes, performed by Cornish band Crowns

Ray Charles - Georgia on my mind

Phil writes: This blew me away when I first heard it many years ago. Somewhere out there there'll be people who've never heard it. They're in for a treat:

Hollow Talk by Choir of Young Believers - the theme to the BBC4's The Bridge

Joe writes: Thanks to Fiona for telling me about this one. Nice YouTube clip as well.

Nina Simone - For all we know

Phil writes: A distinctive and stunning version of a much-covered song:

just found out that Chris Ethridge from The Flying Burrito Brothers died earlier this week

Joe writes: He co-wrote my favourite Burritos song, Hot Burrito #1, as covered by Elvis Costello under the title I'm Your Toy

The Robbie Boyd Band - I won't let you go

Phil writes: Graham Norton played this on Radio 2 and I thought it must be a new Mumford song. It's a very good song, performed well:

Lou Doillon - I.C.U.

Joe writes: I don't know much about this, but from what I can work out it's the debut release by a new French artist. It's a proper song that manages to avoid sounding old-fashioned or schmaltzy. Very classy.