W♥M (Archive)

W♥M040: Amber Ojeda

W♥M040: Amber Ojeda [download (20 mins)]

Subscribe to our show at itunes.com (RSS). Our podcast show requires large amount of data to upload and download, so I apologize in advance if you have problems downloading the show (offtopic: in late December, podcasting service Podango closed its door).

First off, huge apology to Jen, we had taped a segment, but the audio recorder didn't quite work out. I'm going to look into other Skype recorders, yes, I will even pay for it (the current one I'm using is free). If you have any Skype recorder suggestions, let me know.

Amber Ojeda - Lady Like Amber Ojeda - Here I Am

Today's special guest on We Heart Music Radio is Amber Ojeda (pronounced 'oh-hey-da'), R&B / Urban Pop singer from San Diego/Los Angeles area. You can find out more about her music via amberojedamusic.com (which actually redirects you to myspace) or follow her on Twitter.

She first came to my attention for her involvement with Veronica Mars, a show that I'm sad to see have ended with the third season, and I wanted to have her on to ask about working on the show. If you want to find out more about her as an actress, IMDB does a great job on compiling her appearances.

Veronica Mars: Amber Ojeda

As for music, you can download her 9-track album over at True Anthem for FREE. However, you get what you pay for as there is a brief 15 seconds or less 'commercial' for Old Navy prior to the song playing (which doesn't actually seem like a commercial at all). Also, if you download all the tracks, True Anthem will allow a bonus video for download. The video is professional shot and edited of a live performance of "Don't Rush". Definitely worth checking out, especially for the sax!

Some of the topics we chatted about:

• Her influences
• Veronica Mars
• Tara Caballero
• True Anthem
• social networking
• What she's listening to lately

Victory Ship at the 400 Bar, Minneapolis (01/18/09) ♥ photo by Brody

Also, just quickly, I just wanted to mention I did make it out in the cold-snow-Minneapolis (shock, shock!) to show support for Brody's show. I caught most of Sika (sikaband.com/myspace) and Victory Ship (myspace). I'll have to say, there was quite a good crowd last night. Not really sure if Sika and Victory Ship should be paired together because they don't really sound that similar - Sika seems really Muse/Story of the Year and really passionate on stage. Victory Ship came off as sounding very sixties Americana-sounding.

It's also kind of funny to see the mystery of Brody unveiled in tcdailyplanet.net:

Whomever Brody McCoy was, he had reason to be proud. Last night’s show, the first ever presented by Brit Rock at the Top, was a great success. McCoy is a Shoreview native, but as its name suggests his blog celebrates all things British and rockin’; the thread meant to tie the night’s three acts—Joey Ryan and the Inks, Sika, and Victory Ship—was a degree of trans-Atlantic affinity.

I'm sure the success of this show will ensure more shows in the future.

�01/18/2009 22:41:26�♥ vu ()♥weheartmusic.com♥podcast.weheartmusic.com♥news.weheartmusic.com

Levellers

Levellers - A Life Less Ordinary Levellers Tour Dates 02/03/09 Holland - Breda - Mezz 02/04/09 Germant - Osnabrück – Lagerhalle 02/05/09 Germany - Köeln – Werkstatt 02/06/09 Germany - Hamburg – Knust 02/07/09 Germany - Berlin – Kato 02/08/09 Denmark - Amager Bio - Copenha 02/10/09 Holland - Nijmegen – Doornroosje 02/11/09 Holland - Uttrecht – Tivoli 02/12/09 Holland - Enschede – Atak 04/21/09 Portsmouth Pyramids 04/22/09 Cambridge Corn Exchange 04/23/09 Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall 04/24/09 Stoke-on-Trent Victoria Hall 04/25/09 London Forum 04/26/09 Support - Pama International 04/28/09 Cheltenham Town Hall 04/29/09 Edinburgh Picture House 04/30/09 Newcastle Academy 05/01/09 Wolverhampton Wulfrun 08/21/09 Beautiful Days Festival - Escot Park Devon

In our first non-recording podcast, I had promised Sally that I would do an article on a relatively obscure British band. I was thinking along the line of Heavy Stereo (a band that Oasis and Elastica had tried to promote incessantly, but ultimately doomed to obscurity), The Wonder Stuff (I hated the singer's hair), and Inspiral Carpets (ooh yes, we'll have to get to them much later). When I brought up Levellers, Sally dismissed them immediately saying that she heard one of their song on the Help album, and it put her off on the Levellers for good.

Levellers - Search Lights

The Help album (incidentally the complete title is Help: A Charity Project for the Children of Bosnia) had some awesome artists at the time: Sinead O'Connor covering "Ode to Billie Joe", Massive Attack's "Fake the Aroma", Suede's "Shipbuiding" (for a time, this was the only place where Suede fans could get this song), Manic Street Preachers' covering "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", and Salad/Terry Hall's covering the standard "Dream a Little Dream".

The said Levellers song that forever turned Sally off, is "Search Lights". I think the song may be about something else, but I've always thought it was about Stonehenge. Particularly when the line comes up, "I see fences where there was no fences before... The man around is paid a weekly wage just to turn you back/Oh how they keep their petty kingdom well in view."

Anyway, Help remained one of my favorite compilation, actually, because many of these songs are exclusive to this release. In fact, "Search Lights" was exclusive until the 2007 reissue of Zeitgeist, as one of four bonus tracks.

While I'm no huge expert on the Levellers, I know enough about them to get by. I first came to know about them through one of my first UK pen pal, Charlotte. This was very early 1991, or so, and piercing and tattoos were a new thing (or at least gaining popularity), and Char was all pierced up. Charlotte describes herself as a 'crusty' and the music she listened to was 'crusty' music, including her fave, New Model Army and Levellers (both of these bands stole their name from the Oliver Cromwell). To this day, I have come to the conclusion that the term 'crusty' is more or less land-lovers/hippies.

Levellers - One Way

I think by 1992, Levellers had a real major hit with "One Way" from their break-through album sophomore album, Levelling The Land. I distinctively remember seeing the video played only twice (both times on 120 Minutes), but I loved it. The song really is a protest against the establishment, telling you that "there's only one way of life, and that's your own.

That's pretty much where I left the Levellers. So, fast forward some fifteen years later, the band is still going strong - mostly building up their audience through constant touring. They released an original album last year called Letters From The Underground.

My favorite song on the album is "A Life Less Ordinary", which takes me back a little to that indie-protest 1992 song that made them so famous. I love how the song sounds like a fighting Irish song, complete with angry fiddles. I wish the rest of the album was more like "A Life Less Ordinary", but I suppose the band's grown since those early 90s days.

Oh, one thing that's kind of cool is that the band maintain a fanclub called "On the Fiddle" for £15 fee, members received a Levellers freebie CD of early demos and unreleased tracks from Letters From The Underground. There are very few bands that does that anymore, let alone staying together for over twenty years.

Come to the 400 Bar tom. night Jan. 17th!

http://www.startr...

Attention, local Brit-rock fans: There's a new blog in town called Brit Rock at the Top, run by l...

PS, I wanted to mention this time-pressing matter: Brody's Brit Rock at the Top show at the 400 Bar tonight (January 17^th). I doubt we have any readers in Minneapolis, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The three bands playing are local Minnesotans, Victory Ship, Joey Ryan and the Inks, and Sika. The show is cheap, only $5. Pretty much the price of a glass of beer.

I may show up for moral support, but don't count on it since I rarely go out in the Winter time. It's cold here, brrr.

 01/17/2009 03:50:20 ♥ vu () ♥ levellers.co.uk ♥ myspace.com/levellers

Simon Wistow wrote: Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 6:51 PM

[this is good] The crustys or traveller movement was fairly big in the late 80s and early 90s in the UK. The Levellers' track "Battle of the Beanfield" is about a clash in 1985 between Police and new age travellers at Stonehenge.

The Levellers used to be pretty synonymous with Glastonbury (I posted a couple of videos of them performing in 1992 and their headlining in 1994 - still considered one of the best Glastonbury sets ever) and they're still touring - if you ever get a chance go see them. Their gigs are pretty energetic.

Personally I like their first 3 albums - "Levelling the Land" (which has the brilliant "15 years" on it), "Weapon Called the Word" and "See Nothing, Do Nothing, Say Something" but their fourth "Zeitgeist" for all its birthing difficulties was pretty good too.