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

A quirky mix of tunes for you this week with tracks from LA, Munich, Toronto, Sezged in Hungary, Brooklyn (of course!), London, Alicante (Spain) and Flint, Michigan.The first hints of snow are falling here in Suffolk so I’m glad I’ll be in Barcelona for the two days recording a feature on one of my favourite artists, Luthea Salom, who is recording an album there, rather than in her home city of Manhattan. I wonder why … and aim to find out!I’ll try to drop a few Tweets along the way, connectivity permitting. Follow @suffolkandcool You just behave yourself while I’m away. OK?World Upside Down – Rusty Wright Band (Flint, MI, USA)Rusty Wright is an experienced Musician, Composer, Engineer and Producer with several full length CDs and multiple film and TV credits.
He is the Lead guitarist/vocalist for the Rusty Wright Band a 5 piece group with an emphasis on blues based music but with multiple genre influences. Rusty describes them as this. "We’re like the Allman Brothers but with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt sitting in".World Upside Down is from the album "Playin’ with Fire"Aggressive Blues with a Southern Rock boogie featuring Guitars, B3 Organ and duel male female vocals.www.rustywrightband.comwww.myspace.com/rustywrightbluesShotgun – Dudley Saunders (LA, CA, USA)A track from quite an old album by Dudley Saunders’ called Restore.Dudley just blogged:I couldn’t go to New York for the Outmusic Awards, and there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d win anyway.  Except, then I did.  Chicago’s Scott Free had to phone me at midnight with the news (including the fact that the ceremony will air on MTV/LOGO within the next two weeks – without my smiling face accepting.  Oh well.).  Has it made any difference?  Yes: my email list is exploding, and I can’t keep up with the Facebook messages.  These are happy problems.   Maybe I’m one of those people who only becomes cool when they’re old.  I could live with that.www.dudleysaunders.comSimplistic – Gedismuss (Munich, Germany)My sincere thanks to Rowley Cutler at The Dark Compass for getting hold of this track for me.geddismuss is a Project instigated by the Munich-based Great British Artist "SIR GED” in the late Summer (Sept;) of 2005. SIR GED who together with "Mr TO-NAAL” , and "Mr BLAB” and a unique collection of like minded arteests, musiko..s and technophiles, have developed a Unique Sound & a New Dancefloor Explosion is Presently taking place. Incorporating elements of "RAGGA”, "FUNK”, "REGGAE”, "ROCK”, & "TECHNO” And also by combining a great deal of "FUN”, "HUMOUR”, & "WIERDNESS” into their musik, They have managed to Develop an Individual Sound that has been sweeping the Dancefloors of GERMANY, and BAVARIA! for the last few Months!www.myspace.com/geddismussThere is an interview on Darkcompass at www.darkcompass.com or if you want to go straight to the Gedismuss show http://tinyurl.com/yd2lv4aUnderachiever – Ché Aimee (Toronto, Canada) Ché’s debut solo album; Underachiever, has her displaying one of the strongest collections of songs to come out of an independent act in years. Having idols such as Cat Power, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley to contend with; Che has aspired for a long time to create something that is as pleasing to the soul as it is to the ears. Endeavoring to create "something that has its own form of genius” as opposed to another pop diva record that revolves less around content and more around presentation. Underachiever’s both rootsy and contemporary feel is the result of this inspiration, conveying both the heartbreak and the joy of life as seen through her own experiences. (See more detail under show 196)www.cheaimee.comwww.myspace.com/cheaimeeRico – M.W.D. (Sezged, Hungary)The last Budabeats release in this year is Singing Forest by M.W.D. (alias Corp), who is a regular dj at Radio Mi from Szeged, Hungary. His music genres are nujazz and broken beat with a little downtempo and electronic spice; amazing rhythm and jazz inspirations. Cool stuff for nujazz-lovers! – and the rest of us!www.myspace.com/mwdwww.budabeats.comGloom Doom Buttercups – Kittens Ablaze (Brooklyn, NY, USA)Time was, an indie rock band would catch more than a few sideways stares for enlisting a – gasp! – string player. So sacrosanct was the gilded less-is-more template favored by the genre’s progenitors (one more time with feeling, Malkmus, Marsch, etc.) violinist and cellists made a band seem bloated, seem like grubby over-reachers. But that was then, back before the likes of Kittens Ablaze (and contemporaries Ra Ra Riot, Cursive, etc.) proved that indie rock wasn’t about instrumentation as much as it was about implementation. After all, you can play intricate rhythms on a cello, too, people! Hence, wonderfully rickety orchestral rock music  gets its shot. Today, the six Brooklynites in Kittens Ablaze specialize in the stuff, turning parts of classical music, protest folk and punk rock into one disarming whole. In ’07 they bowed with their five-track debut EP. And earlier this year, with assistance from Nic Hard (Bravery console-minder) the band returned with The Monstrous Vanguard, a record that’s landed Kittens Ablaze on stages at SXSW and CMJ and in the pages of Vice Mag and RollingStone.comwww.kittensablaze.comwww.myspace.com/kittensablaze Bridges – Juliana Meyer (London, UK)Juliana was in touch this week with some news:I have some exciting news to share……I won Best Female at The EMAE Awards earlier this month!!I was nominated for both Best Female Artist and Best Pop Song, and was so delighted and surprised to win!I also found out recently that Music-News.com chose my Album ‘Holding Up The Sky’ as one of their "Best Albums of 2008", two places ahead of Oasis and two behind Take That!www.myspace.com/julianameyerLa Batalla – La Olla Express (Sant Joan/Mutxamel, Alicante, Spain)Debut Jamendo album is called PANIC – and an accomplished debut it is too, some very strong tracks throughout. LA OLLA EXPRESS nos presenta su primer larga duración: PANIC, una colección de canciones donde se entremezcla ROCK, PUNK, REGGAE, SKA…  una fusión de colores enérgicos y letras comprometidas. Con el espíritu del "Do it yourself" el grupo nos regala su fusión de sonidos, jugueteando con la electrónica, el reggae, el punk… siendo en directo donde mejor se comprueba la herencia de grupos como The Clash o Mano Negra.El disco, producido por el propio grupo junto a Carlos Suay y Dani Sáiz, se grabó a finales del 2008 en los Estudios Sacramento de Alicante y se está presentando en Directo a lo largo y ancho de España… el próximo objetivo: invadir Europa!!!!Fieles a sus principios de libertad, el disco se edita con licencia Creative Commons, para que todo el mundo pueda disfrutar de este sonido fresco y embriagador.Recommended by Lebosqui on Jamendo to whom sincere thanks.www.myspace.com/laolla