W♥M (Archive)

Orba Squara - My Favorite Song

 

 

Orba Squara - My Favorite Song

Orba Squara

The iPhone was released yesterday (29th June), undoubtedly the most hyped product in the tech world. Don't be surprise to read headlines such as "iPhone solves world hunger!"

You might have seen some commercials, and if you have, then you'd probably heard "Perfect Timing This Morning" by Orba Squara.

There's really not a lot of information on these guys. Believe me: I've looked. From what I've gathered, it looks like the band is based out of New York and are relatively brand new (at least to the interweb). It looks like they're on Res Freq Recording, which specializes in electro, computer music, and synth. Which is odd because Orba Squara uses only organic instruments.

Their myspace page lists a variety of the instruments they used: Nylon string guitar, Dobro, Mandolin, Ukulele, Toy piano, Rhodes, accordion... etc. No electronic keyboards, nothing like that!

I asked Mitch from Orba Squara how they got involved with Apple:

[It] was one of those things where the CD was passed around between friends and they give it to their friends who, in turn, give it to their friends... and it made it to someone's desk who gave it to someone at Apple. Then the guys at Apple just fell in love with it and used it in the commercials!

I didn't seek them out or anything like that. But I am, of course, very happy that it found its way there.

I was going to use "Perfect Time" off their album, Sunshyness (2007), as that would've been the obvious choice. Although it's a perfectly good song, I think I liked "My Favorite Song" better.

vu www.orbasquara.com myspace.com/orbasquara

Julz Parker

I originally mentioned her in this post but she got a good reception by the WeHeartMusic hearters so I figure you won't mind some more.
As I've said all this stuff before, I'll keep it quick. I originally saw her playing guitar for some Australian singer in a small pub in London, knew nothing more other than she was the best guitarist I was ever likely to see play. Had a heart attack when I found out she'd joined my favourite band, then another when she left six months later to return home to Oz (damn you visas). Anyway, like I say she's the best guitarist I've ever seen play, and spends most of her time touring around the place playing with various different bands, but right now seems to spend her time performing as the Hussy Hicks with singer Leesa Gentz.

To demonstrate, here's some stuff that's popped up on YouTube - a young Julz performing with Phil and Tommy Emmanuel, something she'd apparently been doing since she was 15 though she's not quite as young here; and playing mostly on her own with singer Kirsty Lee (skip to the last minute for some good stuff). If you want more, there's extra YouTube vids, Julz's MySpace page and her own band Project Winterhaven. Let you feelings be known in the comments, anyone with a bad word to say will have Vu sent round on his bike to force feed you Durian.

- Christopher

Julz Parker with Phil and Tommy Emmanuel, Soave 2002

kristy lee and julz parker jam on 45

[edit] I think I've fixed it for you, Christopher. Tsk tsk, I don't think you can emb youtube videos (that need to be "added").  Also, remember that I bike in the snow as well.  - Vu

News: Morrissey Cancels New York Show

Morrissey calls off New York show | News | NME.COM

http://www.nme.co...

"Oh the pain in my arm, oh the pain in my legs!"

Morrissey - Tomorrow (Single Mix)

Morrissey

I'm testing out this new feature called Vox This, which is basically grabbing and inserting that link into your entry (link appears with an image that you can select). It looks pretty neat.

According to the news report, Morrissey halted his Boston performance due to a throat infection. His doctors ordered him not to sing for three days, so as a result he canceled tonight's performance.

Also, as noted by W. B. Mook that the RSS feed is now reduced to crappy version and full version. You must change the name atom.xml to atom-full.xml if you want to view the full atom feed. This makes sense because (personally to me) that feeds should be just be an excerpt of the full article. But I'm glad that they are also still making the full feed available.

vu www.morrissey-solo.com

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators

The album Keep Reaching up by Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators is the latest to come out of the European Nu Funk movement. Released by Timmion Records of Finland, this particular record is quite funky and reminiscent of 60's and 70's USA Motown grooves, however with a sleek modernity.

Nicole Willis, soloist and artist, is wife to Jimi Tenor a Finnish jazz electronic musician who also works on the album

 

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators - Feeling Free Hoop's JuJu Gumbo

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators

on flute, tenor, sax, horn, and string arrangements. The Soul Investigators is mainly comprised of ten members Jukka Sarapää on drums, Didier Selin on tamborine, guitar & bass, Pete Toikkanen on guitar & bass, Antti Määtänen organ, piano, Sami Kantelinen bass, Lasse Tolvanen tenor sax, Erno Haukkala trombone, Eero Savela trumpet, Antti "Kana" Lauranen on baritone sax & flute and Karri Siren as live MC & tamborine. Alongside Jimi Tenor, strings arrangements were contributed by Pekka Kuusisto. The perfect pairing of Nicole Willis, a vocalist hailing from Brooklyn, NY, and the Soul Investigators, a Nu Funk band, is very melodic, easy on the ear, and, well, groovy.

 

 

On their myspace page, Nicole Willis states "The sound of this group reminds me of dancing to the new James Brown 7" in the record shop on Clarkson Avenue with my sister when we were 6 & 8 years old." Similarly, it reminds me of my parents old records. It conjures up some of those old classic curatorial funk and Motown archetypes, yet its got that lounge feel thats new and sophisticated enough to listen to while drinking a martini.

I like their track Feeling Free, a peppy inspiring track that evokes memories of listening to Komeda out of Sweden. The song is a happy one that might make you want to "boogie" and dance your blues away. This light and catchy tune has two versions. The first above is the Hoop's Juju Gumbo mix from their myspace.  The second below is the version from their

 

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators - Feeling Free

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators

album.You be the judge of which you like best.

 

Another superb track, their lead single This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is), nominated on BBC Worldwide's "Track Of The Year" list, adopts a thoroughly vintage Motown sound. If you have always wished for a continuation of the golden oldie songs of the 60's, this is your ultimate tune. It's quite a sad song about love gone wrong. From Wills' lovely alto to the ethereal ending of the flute, the song is tightly arranged and has a lovely immediacy for the listener.

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators together have succeeded in resurrecting that old funk and Motown sound many of us secretly love to groove to, yet despite its exact replications, which are a sign of our times perhaps, they make it totally fresh and very now.

As the trends would have it, a turn back to these old time grooves is what we have been seeing with a lot of the new generation of pop singers, like for instance the UK's Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. Is it any wonder that Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators have been enjoying popularity on the UK scene as well? Those who dig the Verve Records remixes of classic jazz songs will also love these new tunes. Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators is not to be missed by anyone who is lovin' this modern take on jazz.

 

Nicole Willis & the soul Investi gators IF THIS AIN'T LOVE

 

                                                                                                  -review by Jessica

 

Wally Pleasant - Let's Play Life

Trivia

Milton Bradley commissioned Reuben Klamer to come up with an idea for their 100th anniversary, in 1959. Klamer invented "The Game of Life", inspired by a "Checkered Game of Life" game board he saw in the Milton Bradley archives.

 

 

Wally Pleasant - Let's Play Life

Melinda (who's on W♥M) is the person that introduced me to the wonderful world of Wally Pleasant. We were working at KFSR and she used to have to review records to put on rotation. She noticed that Wally had some drawings of Morrissey, or something, in the liner notes of Houses of the Holy Moly (1994), at least that's the story that I can best remember!

Of course we had to listen to it!  My instant favorite off that record was probably "Alternateen".

You can probably guess from listening to "Let's Play Life" that Wally's style is a comedic (but smart) folky style. He became more involved with playing his music, while studying political science at Michigan State University. With the exception of Music for Nerds & Perverts (2004), all of his releases are from his own record label, Miranda Records.

He seems to have a large following in Oregon or something, read this from his website:

We always are happy to hear from people on the message board so keep those "Wally should come play in Oregon" requests coming. If anyone is interested in booking Wally for performances please call 517-803-8467.

If you like what you hear, you can get some CDs (out of print CDs are still sold as CD-R) on the official website. You can also download some samples: www.wallypleasant.com/music.cfm

vu www.wallypleasant.com

Free Music: Pitchfork Music Festival

Pitchfork Music Festival

Here at weheartmusic.com we don't just like to tell you about great music, we also want to help you find some awesome bargains...

With that in mind, I'd recommend anybody with an emusic subscription follows this link for 17 free tracks including the likes of Voxtrot, Of Montreal, Deerhunter and Sonic Youth.

I am assuming these artists will be performing at the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2007 - Ryan

Bentley Rhythm Ace

 

 

Bentley Rhythm Ace - This Is Carbootechnodiscotechnobooto

Bentley Rhythm Ace

Like most people, I discovered Irvine Welsh through the movie Trainspotting, which I had already loved the soundtrack. I read the book, it was really hard to read and understand because it was written in a working-class Scottish dialect. Here's an example:

Ah suppose man, ah'm too much ay a perfectionist, ken? It's likesay, if things go a bit dodgy, ah jist cannae be bothered, y'know? Ah git good vibes aboot this interview the day though man, ken?

I didn't get his short stories collective book, The Acid House, but I did end up buying the soundtrack to the movie.

There's some really good tracks off this compilation, including Bentley Rhythm Ace, or otherwise known as BRA.

I was so impressed with them that I picked up a few singles (clearance, of course!), and their debut album.

 

 

Bentley Rhythm Ace - Who Put the Bom in the Bom Bom Diddley Bom

BRA are two DJs, Richard March and Mike Stokes, both former members of Pop Will Eat Itself (with sometime guest appearance by James Atkins of EMF). When they play live, they have Fuzz Townshend as their drummer.

 

They had a huge hit with Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out (youtube), but I've always been fond of "Who Put the Bom in the Bom Bom Diddley Bom".

Unfortunately, the band broke up in 2000.  However, Irvine Welsh is still around and a new collection book called "If You Liked School, You'll Love Work" will be released next week.

PS, If you use delicious, please bookmark us. I'm not really all that interested in del.i.c.i.o.u.s. (can never remember where to place the dots), but certain ranking website relies heavily on delicious users (WHY?!?).

vu www.irvinewelsh.net www.smashingpress.com/bentleys

Francisco Nixon

Trivia

Did you know that La Costa Brava, since 2005, have abandoned the traditional concert venues and have played at odd locations (such as people's homes) to only handful of people?

Bonus Trivia

The girl on his album cover, Es Perfecta, is Romania's Nadia Comaneci.

Francisco Nixon - Alumno o profesor

Francisco Nixon - Banderas Rojas

Hooray, Vox Spain loves us (see their neighborhood). So in honor of this, I have chosen Spanish indie hero Francisco Fernandez to write about today.

Fran Fernandez was in the band Australian Blonde in '92. I have always assumed they broke up when Fernandez joined La Costa Brava ("The Brave Coast") and Sergio Algora. Plus Australian Blonde's last album, Canciones de amor y gratitud, was released in 2004! However, the information from es.wikipedia seems to suggest they're still around.

In 2006, Francisco Fernandez decided to change his name to Francisco Nixon, and released a solo album called Es Perfecta ("She's Perfect") on the Siesta Label (who signed such artists as Club 8 and The Magic Whispers).

Es Perfecta's origin seems to be a series of demos called Maqueta (Model), which Nixon put up its entire content on his website. He showed Siesta those songs and they've collected them (and added an extra track) and released it as Es Perfecta on December 2006.

The track that I liked off Maqueta is "Banderas rojas" (Red Flag) and "Alumno o profesor" (Student or Teacher). They're both slow, but melodic.  "Banderas rojos" especially seems cheerful.

PS, Cristina suggested I go eat some tapas. I don't know what that is, but it sounds tummylicious.

 

 

Francisco Nixon - Nadia

Updated, from Francisco Nixon: 

I think "Nadia" is the most important song of the album, there's a clip.

 

vu indiesdemierda.com/francisconixon

The Actual - This Is The Worst Day Of My Life

Sorry for all these posts, if you are my cover lover neighbor, you can see why I need to get all this done before tomorrow. I will be very busy, so I will probably not be able to review too many new/unsigned bands, but please keep those emails coming!

 

 

The Actual - This Is The Worst Day Of My Life

The Actual

Anyway, I was asked to pass on this information that fuse.tv is holding a contest called "The Worst Day/Best Video Contest". You have to create a video of your worst day for the band The Actual. The judges are: The Actual, Scott Weiland, Marco Siega, and Ravi Dhar.

Since it is sponsored by JVC Mobile Entertainment, you get some JVC Camcorder, Car Stereo - but best of all, you get your video shown on the Fuse Network (will have an introduction by Scott Weiland & The Actual).

It occurred to me that it's very clever of them to get users to submit videos to them rather than hiring a professional music director *(see update). I've read that a good music video can cost as much as a small independent film (if not more!), so it's definitely a lot cheaper for them to just get people to submit their videos.

I did ended up listening to their song "This Is The Worst Day Of My Life (Do You Want To Come Over)" and it doesn't sound that bad. It got a little whiny at the end "hey, please come over". I'm probably offending all the sensitive readers now... On the bright side, if you can get that Stone Temple Pilot guy to endorse you, it's at least worth checking out, right?

According to their biography, Scott Weiland caught these guys at one of their show and liked them enough to sign them on his record label, Softdrive Records.

*Update: I didn't know this, but just to clarify, they already have a video for "Worst Day" (the director is one of the judges). And yes, the video cost a small fortune.

vu www.theactualsounds.com fuse.tv

Daft Hands - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

 

 

Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby

 

Daft Hands - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Have you had a chance to watch this infectious video called Daft Hands - "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"? You must wait until the fingers starts coming out. It's pretty amazing. I think towards the end, she started messing up, but it is okay because it's so awesome.

If you were curious, the song is by Daft Punk off their Discovery (2001), and heavily used samples from "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong.

There's not a whole lot of information on Birdsong on the internet. The only thing I can piece together is that it seems that Birdsong is a funk and soul artist from the late 70s, who's career spans into the mid-80s.

 

Update: Thanks to connectionsuisse.vox.com:

 

 

Groovy
Uploaded by Ombre

vu esotericexpress.blogspot.com youtube.com/user/FrEckleStudios