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

Fine music from Idaho, California, France, London, Melbourne and Reykjavik and even from just up the road in Suffolk.
The big lump out to the north east of London (East Anglia) is renowned for its relatively flat landscape and “big” skies. Today, clouds were bubbling up into quite intense and beautiful shapes as music was selected from all around the world for your listening pleasure.
 
Resemblence – Subanez (Boise, ID, USA)
Kevin Auger, A.K.A. Subanez, is a one man alternative metal band with modern rock under pinnings. Subanez is a study of the human condition. The music is Kevin’s attempt to understand and live in a world that can be extremely cruel and chaotic. As a shy child growing up in Portsmouth, NH, Kevin spent a lot of time alone. He’d take his bike out on a seemingly endless journey around town to avoid the stifling tension at home. From an early age, Kevin struggled with his need for a meaningful connection to others and his inability to find it.
Kevin/Subanez recently went into the studio to record a new version of “Resemblance.” He played all the guitars, bass and sang, while Grant from the band Fly2Void sat in on the drums. It’s clear that working in the studio brings an extra layer of polish to Kevin’s work.
www.subanez.com
www.reverbnation.com/subanez
 
Good Looking – Jonneine Zapata (Highland Park, CA, USA)
Coming from the east side of Los Angeles, she seems about as far from the gloss & glitter of Beverly Hills as is humanly possible. Gritty. Earthy. Real.
LA Record described her as “the closest thing to Jim Morrison in the Silverlake scene and her live show is mesmerizing” and it’s not far from the truth.
Infused with smoky, psychedelic instrumentation and slow-burning swells, Jonneine Zapata delivers a definitive grand-slam with her debut release, ‘CAST THE DEMONS OUT’, a record that luminously captures the musical essence and prowess of this one-woman army. Featuring the tantalizing, come-hither single “Good Looking”, each song on this ten-track collection is laced with dark overtones and an arresting magnetism reminiscent of PJ Harvey and Patti Smith.
www.myspace.com/jonneinezapata
 
Cantinabomb – Motion Potion (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Motion Potion (aka Robbie Kowal) is one of America’s most versatile, experienced and flat-out joyous party rockers. 
San Francisco’s bootleg indie remix partypusher, is known for a rare ability to play exactly the right music for the moment and an expertise with a wide variety of genres that he seamlessly melds into a coherent blend.
His decade long mission is to ‘put the party back into the party’, and to connect the casual music fan with the hard core dance music mavens; proving that music is more than just beats. He calls his style “funklectic dancefloor nostalgism”.
There is a suggestion of comparison with Mr Scruff – I can see that.
www.motionpotion.com
www.myspace.com/motionpotion

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Bonnes Gens – Deskaya (Feurs, France)
Recorded live at ‘Le Fil’ – SAINT ETIENNE on 6th March. If you are wondering Feurs is about 50 km west of Lyon and about the same from St Etienne where the track was recorded.
Gaspard (rhythm guitar with the band) got in touch earlier today to say hello and mentioned that he had that track and would I be interested – silly question. He got his brother to send it over at lunchtime and here it is in your ears perhaps within hours. 
http://deskaya.fr/
www.myspace.com/deskaya
www.jamendo.com/en/artist/deskayarockband
 
Awaken – Filthy Kicks (London)
The first track from the album Dirty Little Secret on Jamendo but honestly I could have played any track, they are all excellent tunes and beautifully produced.
Filthy Kicks are Darren Turze, Violeta Barrena, Roland Heap, Beats Boy, Ibrahim Sha’ath and Jana Skene.
You can download the MP3 album from Jamendo or trek over to the band’s site and you’ll have a choice of MP3, FLAC or glorious Apple lossless downloads.
Then you can just listen and enjoy it or accept the band’s invitation to share and remix their work under the Creative Commons licence arrangements: attribute it to Filthy Kicks, non-commercial use and distribution only under the same licence terms. Neat. Creative Commons is such a useful system.
www.filthykicks.co.uk/
www.myspace.com/filthykicks
 
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org
 
Lay me low – John Ward and Mario Price (Lowestoft, UK)
Track is from the Waking Dreams album. John and Mario have been gigging together for a frightening 20 years and they have their anniversary concert at the Waveney Folk Club on June 18th. The club is held at Crown Street Hall in Lowestoft (most easterly point in the UK) although the entrance is in Factory Street.
Another piece of news is that work is well under way on John’s 6th album. It’s a collection of songs inspired by or from  this part of East Anglia, he’s hoping for a release later in the summer, so I’ll be keeping an eye on the website where you’ll also find all the other up and coming gigs.
www.johnward.org.uk
 
Close my eyes – Rudely Interrupted (Melbourne, Australia)
Aside from selling out shows in Toronto, Bristol, Manchester and London, they played before the United Nations in New York City. No biggie, right? Yeah, while we spent our 2008 in front of computers, these badasses played their Flaming Lips-meet Big Star-inspired fist-pumpers in front of the most important people in the world.
“If you’ve never heard them before expect some extremely well-crafted music by a bunch of guys who happen to be saddled with slightly wonky sets of genes” – Vice Magazine.
It transpires that the band comprises entirely autistic musicians. Rudely Interrupted are back by popular demand, slated to make appearances up and down the east coast of North American this month. 
06-10 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl – Benefit Disabilities of NYC
06-11 NYC, NY – Pianos
06-13 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
06-15 Ottawa, ON – Zaphod Beeblebrox
06-18 Montreal, QC – Lion d’Or
06-19 Toronto, ON – Sneaky Dee’s (NXNE)
www.rudelyinterrupted.com
 
You little fruitcake – Ingi (Reykjavik, Iceland)
Coming from a country more known for exporting cutting, surreal sounds, Ingi proves to be an exception as his music holds more in common with the legendary Bob Dylan rather than fellow country people Bjork and Sigur Ros. 
Icelandic music is a passion that slides into your life and takes over, possibly because its endlessly creative nature and schizophrenic styles takes a minute to fascinate and a lifetime (more realistically two or three) to understand, but one form has consistently found a place above almost all others – that of the solo singer/songwriter. Scratch under the surface, just past the multi-million selling artists from Iceland that half the globe can name, and this music is the heartbeat and soul of the country.
With his new album Human Oddities recorded in San Francisco and produced by multi platinum award winning producer Scott Mathews who has worked with the likes of David Bowie, Johnny Cash and Eric Clapton to name but a few, plus well renowned session musicians like Tom Leukens, it is no wonder Ingi’s music is proving to be a hit with the Icelanders.  
Quoted as being a remarkable album which will sit proudly in any collection, you can find more information including details on how you can purchase Ingi’s material on his website 
www.myspace.com/ingitunes