SnC153 – Wed 21 Jan 2009

Podcast: Play in new window

Congratulations are due to the people of the USA for electing Barack Obama to serve as their president. The inauguration yesterday was hugely impressive (even on TV here in the UK) and gives confidence that enough of the people are behind him to bring the perception of USA back into the realm of civilisation again. UK next?Having said all that, most of the music this week seems to be from Canada and France. Oh well.This city’s a mess – Said the Whale (Vancouver, BC, Canada)Although Said The Whale’s sounds may sometimes be labeled "poppy" and "bouncy", the band makes it clear within the first ten seconds of listening that it is NOT a band to take lightly. This is indie pop-rock at its finest!Howe Sounds/Taking Albonia builds on the success Said The Whale has already attained in Vancouver. It’s apparent that Said The Whale is a product of the thriving independent music scene in Western Canada and the Northwest USA, yet Howe Sounds proves that they are still able to stand out as a compelling up-and-coming band.The collective brainchild of Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft, now recently turned five-piece band, Said the Whale has accumulated a solid fan base from a litany of previous bands (My Buddy Dave, The Millionaires, WordsOverMusic), and Said The Whale are quickly winning over new fans with every show.March 6 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaretwww.myspace.com/saidthewhaleAMPed show162 went up on Monday – if you’d like to check it out please do at musicpodcasting.org the player is on the left.Weight in Gold – Tony Kehoe (Liverpool, UK)Our Graham at It’s a Frog’s Life Acoustic Podcast put me onto Tony Kehoe. Tony is a returned native of Liverpool and is building a reputation for himself having taken to playing and singing around 8 years ago.www.myspace.com/kehoesongs   Prairies – Ours to Destroy (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)Ours to Destroy are a band from Calgary Alberta with a talent for adding modern indie edge, psychedelia and found sounds to folk music. We call it Anarchist Folk Rock.Anarchist Folk Rock: a genre where compositions start in the realm of folk or rock with solid story telling and melody but venture deep into the realm of experimentation."We’ve released a bunch of tracks off our first album as free downloads. The entire album will be released over the next two months as we gear up to release our 2nd full length album during 2009."All the tunes on their MySpace are available for free download. Go to the  band’s MySpace blog for links & full info.www.OursToDestroy.comwww.myspace.com/ourstodestroyhttp://cdbaby.com/cd/ourstodestroyG SpotJeremy Gugenheim called by with a track for us from his blues podcast. It’s not that often that The G Spot comews to find you!www.smallsystems.co.uk/thegspotNos Larmes – The Duo (Paris, France)Claude Langlois and Pascal Mikaeliain who have been playing together and apart for the past 10 years.Jeremy will doubtless tell you more on The G SpotBTW Nos Larmes actually means "Our tears”14 Feb The Duo en Quartet à Le Belvédère, CHAMPIGNY/MARNE, Ile-de-Francehttp://pagesperso-orange.fr/theduo/www.jamendo.com/en/artist/theduofeat project instruu 2 – Stouffi the Stouves (Lille, France)From the Jamendo album the featuring project volume 2 A very interesting, experimental setup taking snipets from other people and making something quite extraordinary from them.Vavrek says, "the third track…inspired my own little personal revolution. 🙂 love it !!!!!!!!!”www.jamendo.com/en/artist/STOUFFI_THE_STOUVESPC Podcast show 250 will be going up on SaturdayCongratulations to Pete Cogle and my thanks for putting me onto some of the more wonderful (and sometimes weird) music.www.petecogle.comBodmin Dubbing – Bagas Degol  (Penzance, Cornwall, UK)The band is Rick Williams (clarinet), David Twomlow (bag pipes and soprano saxophone), and Dave Trahair (tabor drum and percussion).From Penzance in the far west of Cornwall, BAGAS DEGOL has a fast growing reputation on the Cornish music and dance scene with their distinctive style of traditional music delivered with a powerful, raw edge. Their name in Cornish means ‘Feast Day Band’ in recognition of the occasion for which they originally came together – to accompany the famous Tom Bawcock’s Eve lantern procession in Mousehole.From their magnificent album Party like it’s 1399, still (just) available from Cornish Music – but hurry.http://cornishmusic.comSkeletons in your closet – Rick Fowler (Georgia, USA)I played a track from Rick in the summer. Rick Fowler’s musical honesty creates an unsurpassed morphic resonance between him and his listeners. With a raw soul reminiscent of early Johnny Winter and aural suspense akin to Trower, Fowler delivers the energy, joy, anger and torment found in the very best of blues-rock. His album Back on my good foot is available direct from his site or from CD Baby.http://rickfowler.com/www.myspace.com/rickfowlerbandCradle – The Joy Formidable (Mold, N. Wales)The Joy Formidable are Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd and Matt ThomasThe beginnings of TJF began several years ago, when school friends Ritzy and Rhydian chatted on a night out in their hometown of Mold, North Wales. Both opinionated and madly into music, an instant respect was formed and they began meeting regularly at the legendary Buckley Tivoli; then a North Walian mecca for local and touring bands. It was a source of much inspiration to the musically aspiring pair; alongside Ritzy’s parents enormous, exhaustive record collection. Nevertheless, in an otherwise provincial, sleepy setting, itchy feet and a fleeing were inevitable; Ritzy to Washington DC and Rhydian to Manchester, where they enjoyed separate but strangely parallel journeys as singer songwriters. It was a single phone call that reunited them, this time they would write together, but it was little known that a more intense partnership would develop between them.www.myspace.com/thejoyformidable