My favorite sailor song is "Jackie" by Sinead O'Connor. It's about a ghost who mourns for her husband, lost at sea and never found. It's very heartbreaking and I really love the use of violins to sound like a threatening thunderstorm in the song.
I've been dead for twenty years
Washing the sand with my ghostly tears
Searching the shores for my Jackie-oh
Below are some bands that's come across my email about the sea.
LED TO SEAwww.ledtosea.com
Seattle-based violist, Alex Guy, goes by the stage name Led to Sea. The exciting news is that she's touring with Thao & Mirah (and you know we love
Thao here).
I've dug around to find out more about Led to Sea and I think she has two albums now, the most recent is called
Into The Darkening Sky. From the reviews I've read, everyone seems to agree on one thing: she's amazing live... which incidentally brings us to her live dates - starting
today, April 22
nd at the Northwest Folklife Festival. I'll probably pick up her album at the Cedar show, she's coming here to Minneapolis on June 2
nd.
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04.22.11 - Seattle, WA @ Columbia City 04.24.11 - Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
05.01.11 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour*
05.02.11 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Soho*
05.03.11 - Oakland, CA @ the New Parish*
05.05.11 - Vancouver, BC @ the Biltmore*
05.06.11 - Bellingham, WA @ WWU*
05.07.11 - Seattle, WA @ the Crocodile*
05.08.11 - Portland, OR @ the Wonder Ballroom*
05.09.11 - Olympia, WA @ the Northern*
05.27.11 - Seattle, WA @ the Northwest Folklife Festival
06.02.11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center*
06.03.11 - Chicago, IL @ the Empty Bottle*
06.05.11 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace*
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06.07.11 - Boston, MA @ T.T. the Bear's*
06.08.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
06.09.11 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church*
06.10.11 - Washington, DC @ the Black Cat*
06.11.11 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506*
06.12.11 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle*
06.13.11 - Atlanta, GA @ the Earl*
06.15.11 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*
06.18.11 - Denver, CO @ High Dive*
06.19.11 - Albuquerque, NM @ Launch Pad*
06.20.11 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room*
06.21.11 - San Diego, CA @ the Casbah*
06.23.11 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American*
All tour dates * with Thao & Mirah
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SEAPONY
myspace.com/seaponyband
I don't know much about Seapony, other than that I will probably like them since they are on Hardly Art records (the
last two albums I reviewed from them are amazing).
Anyroad, it looks like Seapony is a trio: songwriter Danny Rowland, singer Jen Weidl, and bassist Ian Brewer (note: no human drummer).
Their music is described as "
fuzz-drenched guitar playing simple chord progressions, topped with concise melodic hooks and breathy vocals." Sounds excellent.
Their album,
Go With Me will be released May 31
st on Hardly Art. Tour information below:
04.22.11 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
05.06.11 - Portland, OR - Renn Fayre (Reed College)
05.07.11 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
05.28.11 - Santa Cruz, CA - 418 Project
05.29.11 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
05.31.11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
06.02.11 - Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
06.15.11 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
SEA OF BEES
www.seaofbees.com
Julie Baenziger is better known as Sea of Bees. I've previously reviewed her cutely named EP,
Bee Eee Pee, and I thought her vocals sounded like "small cute child".
NPR seems to agree, naming her top 100 acts at SXSW 2011 with a mention about her voice:
The press is buzzing:
But as always, the real star is Bee's lovely and distinctive voice.
Well, it looks like she's going on tour with Stornoway, a band that will
likely bring a dolly on stage.
Her new album is called
Songs for the Ravens and since it doesn't look like she'll be come through Minneapolis, I might look into trying to get her album for review (when I have more time).
Below are the tour dates:
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04.21.11 - Manhattan, NY @ The Living Room
04.22.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Spike Hill
04.23.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Sycamore
04.25.11 - Manhattan, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall
04.26.11 - Manhattan, NY @ Joe's Pub
04.27.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands
04.28.11 - Manhattan, NY @ Piano's
04.29.11 - Manhattan, NY @ Cake Shop
04.30.11 - Manhattan, NY @ Mercury Lounge
05.01.11 - Manhattan, NY @ The Living Room
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05.24.11 - Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo*
05.26.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
05.28.11 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall*
05.31.11 - Seattle, WA @ Triple Door*
06.01.11 - Vancouver, BC @ Media Club*
06.02.11 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir*
06.04.11 - San Francisco, CA @ the Independent*
06.05.11 - Los Angeles, CA @ the Troubadour*
* with Stornaway
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BAREFOOT DANCE OF THE SEA
myspace.com/barefootdanceofthesea
Barefoot Dance of the Sea seems to be an all-girls band (a trio of Rebecca Wood, Beth Gibson & Sophie Cochrane). Apparently two of them are from the Hot Puppies (which I'll admit, I've never heard of either).
Their upcoming release is called
'Til Voices Wake Us, a six-track limited edition EP (only 150 copies of the CD will be released), coming out May 16
th. The details I have is that it will come with a silver and translucent foiled packaging. Sounds delightful.
Described as "
two-and three-part harmonies and enchanting minimalist instrumentation", I would imagine it to be a lot of folk-harmonizing-action. I do like that melody-thing, so I might check them out later down the road when I have more time.
THE SEA KINGS
facebook.com/pages/The-Sea-Kings
Another folky/harmonizing band (although interestingly enough, "
medieval pop" was used to describe the band). Below is a proper description of the band:
The sound that The Sea Kings make is rooted in folk music, with branches twisting through crunchy jazz rhythms and contemporary pop melodies, all under an acoustic canopy. Their lyrics convey images of towering cliffs and sandy beaches, reflecting a shared longing for home derived from a life of self-imposed exile.
The Sea Kings is from England, but the email I got also mentioned that they are specifically
not from Scotland. Perhaps there's another band called Sea Kings ? This one consists of James Wills (Guitar), Joe Holtaway (Mandolin) and Jake Alexander (Percussion/Cello), all singers apparently.
I was also given a Spotify link, which is like a Unicorn in the States: it doesn't exist here. I know
Ryan and I talked about it for hours two years ago, but Spotify still can't sort it out here.
Their EP is called
An Introduction To The Sea Kings and available on most digital retailers.
THE NAKED AND FAMOUS
thenakedandfamous.com
The information I have is actually for The Naked and Famous, but I'm tossing them here because they are really excited about their new song, "Young Blood" getting a remixed treatment by White Sea (aka Morgan Kibby of M83). You can listen to the song on
soundcloud.com
Details of their continuing tour dates are listed below.
FRI 4/22 KANSAS CITY, MO Beaumont
SAT 4/23 ST. LOUIS, MO Firebird
TUE 4/26 CHICAGO, IL Metro
WED 4/27 COLUMBUS, OH Outland
FRI 4/29 CLEVELAND, OH Beachland
SAT 4/30 TORONTO, ON Phoenix
SUN 5/1 MONTREAL, PQ National
MON 5/2 BOSTON, MA Paradise
WED 5/4 NEW YORK, NY Webster Hall
THU 5/5 PHILADELPHIA, PA Theatre of Living Arts
FRI 5/6 WASHINGTON, DC 930 Club
SAT 5/7 BALTIMORE, MD Ottobar
SUN 5/8P PROVIDENCE, RI The Met
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