DATE ARCHIVES : April 2014

Ottilia – ‘Siren’

otillia 2014

London based Swede Ottilia was the recipient of some lavish praise around these parts, about this time last year as it happens. It was presumed, from this quarter anyway, that we’d have heard from her long before now but how and ever, she’s back with further musical enchantment.

Ottilia’s new track, ‘Siren’, is as minimalist as they come, much like last year’s ‘I Don’t Let Myself Fall In Love’. Utilizing little more than Ottilia’s woozy and haunted voice, repeated guitar strum and a slightly rough round the edges feel to fashion a despondent and mournful ballad of hurt and self-deprecation. Amid these gloomy, doleful surroundings and stark strum her voice is so smooth and tender, and wielded ever so wonderfully. It’s pretty hard not to be carried away by this emotive little gem, and it should have the hairs on the back of your neck on end.

Hopefully we’ll be hearing much more from Ottilia in 2014 but for now there’s ‘Siren’, check it out below.

Echo and The Bunnymen – ‘Market Town’

Laneway Festival Sydney

Echo and the Bunnymen have unveiled ‘Market Town’, the lead track from their first new album in five years, Meteorites.

It’s probably a fair to assume that most people are acquainted vintage Bunnymen, that of the 1980’s and tunes like ‘The Killing Moon’, ‘Lips Like Sugar’, ‘The Cutter’ and ‘Seven Seas’. This longevity isn’t really surprising seen as how good those early Echo and the Bunnymen songs are, and how remarkably well they’ve stood the test of time. Even in more recent years they’ve managed to release some rather tasty material, saying all that, it’s been a while since they’ve sounded as vital as they do on ‘Market Town’. McCulloch’s voice, which has got better with age, rises vibrantly above shimmering guitar lines, whispery harmonies and New Wave synths to generate an infectious groove and waves of sparkling effervescence.  ‘Market Town’ is an anthemic seven minutes which brings to mind some stunning moments from the group’s earlier life. It’s familiar enough to be classic Bunnymen, but different enough to sound fresh and new, and in doing so ‘Market Town’ has set the bar pretty high. Let’s hope Meteorites follows suit when it’s released in June.

Meteorites is due out June 3rd via 429 records but before all that, cop a load of ‘Market Town’.

Introducing: Dan Amor

Rainhills Trials

Rolling out of the mountains and valleys of North Wales comes songwriter Dan Amor, and his new album Rainhill Trials, due for release 12th May 12th.

Rainhill Trials is Dan Amor’s fourth LP, yes fourth LP. In normal circumstances a talented artist with a hefty back catologue would preclude an ‘introducing’, but outside of his Welsh homeland, his delectable talents have remained largely untapped source of aural pleasure. Performing in both Welsh and English, he slips between the two, retaining his own sound and style, infused with Welsh culture. Amor is drawn to obscure and different sounds, which work to shape these beautifully frail songs, that radiate a lingering warmth. The frailty in his work recalls moments from Syd Barrett’s fractured solo years or early work of Graham Coxon. Similarly, so does the feeling that Dan Amor is an unassuming personality with buckets of talent but slightly uncomfortable sharing it with the rest of the world. Ahead of Amor’s forthcoming album release, ‘Sister Anne’ illustrates what he’s all about. A beautiful piano led ditty, ‘Sister Anne’ is a classic pop song, very ’60s, ‘Beatles/Lennon-esque’ even – it’s reflective and introverted with the vocal often delivered in a hushed, semi-spoken voice. ‘Dusk Bird’ offers an equally self-effacing but grittier insight. A marvelous talent and one which just might be about to have his cover well and truly blown wide open.

Rainhill Trials is out on May 12th through Recordiau Cae Gwyn Records, home to fellow Welsh language musos Sen Segur and Mr Huw. Check out ‘Sister Anne’ & ‘Dusk Bird’ below.

Toddla T Sound – ‘Acid’

Toddla-T-Acid-1-750x0

UK producer Toddla T has always been a reliable source of feel-good party tunes over the past number of years, and the dancehall-loving producer’s latest track, ‘Acid’, is no different.

Taken from his Toddla T Sound project, ‘Acid’ combines some old school Acid House vibes with his penchant for all things dancehall, and cements his rep for always being able to bring the party. This is a deep, hard driving and banging tune – the hypnotic bassline, the clattering kick snare and the oh so glorious 303 squelching make it everything that it is and the latter in particular, brings the driving Jamaican vocal sample to life. Yet another solid production from Toddla T and hopefully the rest of 2014 is a productive one.

‘Acid’ is taken from his forthcoming three-track EP, On Acid, which is out on May 5th through Defected. Check it and it’s video below.

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