Great new music from independent labels and artists all around the world

Music this week from Northern Ireland, Pennsylvania, San Diego and Vancouver.
The Lingus – No Wonder
The first Irish band I’ve had the opportunity to play.
To quote from their website: The Lingus are a 3-piece rock band whose latest EP was released in March 2005 to critical acclaim. They are: Michael Dillon (vocals/bass), John Donnell (vocals/guitar) and Mark Dillon (drums/vocals).
The band are gigging regularly at many venues across Northern Ireland and beyond but it’s a well kept secret where they’ll be playing next (no dates on their website). Live highlights include performances at the BelFEST 2005 festival and the NI:NG weekend in the Windmill Brixton. Their songs have been featured on various unsigned compilations including PSB 6, released by UK indie label Smalltown America.
www.thelingus.com

Norfolk and Suffolk accents Compooters and moobile phoons.
Commuters against the flow crossing London Bridge.
Community development really inspiring use of digital technology in regenerating local communities – more to come (I hope).

The Old Souls – Ridiculous
The Old Souls describe themselves as “honest gentlemen from parts of Philadelphia and New Jersey”. Indeed their music has an honest, straight-ahead feel about it. They are:
Brad Carney – Vocals / guitar
DJ Hughes – rhythm guitar
Brian Newell – drums
Dave Kasper – bass

They also suggest that their live shows make a good accompaniment to drinking. You can discover the veracity of this claim at the currently listed gigs:

Apr 28 2006 Millcreek Tavern Philadelphia., PA
May 6 2006 Kensington Arts Fair Philadelphia, PA
May 10 2006 Trash Bar Brooklyn, NY
May 27 2006 The Pontiac Grill Philadelphia, PA
Jun 15 2006 Khyber Philadelphia, PA

www.myspace.com/theoldsouls

Bio fuels – Suffolk is leading the way (at least in the UK) in cranking up a potential revolution in vehicle fuel by converting agricultural products into a petrol substitute. Morrison’s supermarkets are making bioethanol fuel available at five of their stores in East Anglia and British Sugar are investing £20m in a plant (no pun intended) to convert sugar beet into bioethanol at their Wissington sugar factory. This is an interesting parallel development to the use of bio diesel which is made from recycled cooking oil etc.
Morrison’s Bioethanol
Actress Daryl Hannah has a video podcast on environmental issues which is worth a look – she drives a car running on bio diesel fuel which she claims has a toxicity somewhere between table salt and maple syrup. Of course the big point is that although burning such fuels produces some carbon dioxide this is offset by the process of growing it which consumes carbon dioxide.
www.dhlovelife.com

Brain Buckit – Rocket Science
This, from the Brain Buckit website, probably says it all: ‘Brain Buckit renders a tight mix of jazzy rock; rocked out with funky horns. Its like AC/DC goes to Mardis Gras! Like the neo-blues roadhouse funk they like to riff on (The Meters, Taj Mahal, Hendrix), the overall underbelly feeling of BB’s back alley grooves is best left unspoken. Just show up, turn off your temporal lobe and listen to your loins.’
They produce a huge sound from just guitar (Chris Kelly), bass (Aquilino Soriano) and drums (Chad Matthew), enhanced no-end by brass section consisting of Corey Keach on trombone and Amy Stickney on sax.
Upcoming dates are posted as:
April 22 Leucadian, CA
May 5 The Tiki House, San Diego, CA
June 2 The Tiki House, San Diego, CA
June 7 Winston’s, San Diego, CA
June 16 Rosie O’Grady’s, San Diego, CA
Brain Buckit’s music is available through CD Baby an Tower Records – there are links on the band’s site.
www.brain-buckit.com

Lack of podsafe non-western music time for a push on this? Got any ideas?

Paula Toledo – Break it down
Yeah, I know I’ve played a few tracks from Paula – this one is a bit different to the quieter stuff I’ve played. I particularly like the very carefully, almost random percussion in the intro, just before the song takes off. I tell you what, you don’t get sounds like that on samples and loops! It almost sounds like the late Keith Moon (drummer with The Who) falling into his drum kit! A sight to behold and sound to relish. He had the talent to make it sound great.
The juxtaposition with Paula’s voice is particularly effective here and as the song takes off, all the elements come together – magic.
Paula is scheduled to play the New Music West Festival at The Morrissey on Granville St in Vancouver next Friday 27 April.
www.paulatoledo.com

Sorry about the delay in getting the show up this week – frantic? – just a bit! Next week doesn’t look a lot better either, so I’ll apologise in advance.

Peter