Music: Erica Wexler

Erica Wexler is pure and simple singer, songwriter, songstress material.  She is all about the vocals, and is successful with pretty turns and twists in a natural, Karen Carpenter way.

Fascinatingly, she also had a relationship with one of my favourite artists, Roy Lichtenstein, and will soon be putting up an array of his work on her website.  Also, from her website you can download a free MP3 of a new track Flesh.

Music: The Sound of Arrows - Conquest

The Sound of Arrows are to release their newest single, Conquest, from their critically acclaimed album Voyage on June 25th.

Stefan Storm (best name ever!) and Oskar Gullstrand have a sound similar to that of Lo-Fi-Fnk - electronic, contagious and just a little bit camp.  Their bass rhythms have the same gentle reggae/ska sway of Blondie's Tide Is High, and this applies to their remix of Maroon 5's Payphone, which you can listen to here.  There is constant change throughout the remix, but would be better if it was three minutes long rather than five.

Their remixes don't stop at their tinkering with other peoples songs - they've also had a fair few of their own tracks looked at by artists such as Tiesto and Fear of Tigers.  There will be a compilation of these remixes released at the end of June, which will be available from their band website and Facebook page (hint - follow).

Music: Hadouken - Parasite

So, here's how this will go.  Dub fans will tell me its terrible dub.  Drum and Bass fans will say it's terrible D&B.  And you'll both tell me it's all be done before.  But I don't even care because the hardened Hadouken fans will back me up I'm sure.

The bands that are successful are those that progress and stay ahead of the times - or at least keep up - but retain their sense of self.  They have a particular sound, whether it's their style or their voice, that can be applied to any track and you'll always hear it and know who it is.  Think through the most successful acts: Madonna, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Muse (OK they're along a different line to the others but it still applies).  Hadouken always seem to manage the same, and it's only to their credit.

Their blend of a million and one genres always manage to keep a certain... Hadoukeness that makes them unique.  With a new single soon to be released, Hadouken have given us a little taster of what's to come.  If you're quick you can download it for free by following this link.  Alternatively, you can buy it from iTunes bundled with some remixes (or have a listen below):




Listen to more Hadouken at Soundcloud!!

Internet: Beat Suite Tweets

Music and apps and social media - surely there is no better combination.  Red Bull's Beat Suite Tweets app is a clever little animal, turning your tweets into a little snippet of music based on the mood of your words.  I'm sure this video will explain it much better:

If you want to try out your own tweets on the Beat Suite click here.  It gets old pretty quickly, but if you fancy a ten minute break from work...

Music: David Bowie - Life on Mars

I've been singing this song for two days now and so I would like to remind you of it's existence...

Music: Two Wounded Birds - To Be Young

I'm not angry... I'm just disappointed

Goodness me, where to start?  Something could be said along the lines of "sounds like a wounded vocalist" or "this has literally wounded my ears", but that's not my breed of music reviewing, so I'm going to stick with frustratingly bad.

Remove the vocals, and the music has potential.  There's a classic feel to it, like it might be played at the Back To The Future school dance - it's been done before but it's upbeat and inoffensive, so well done musicians.  Sadly, the vocals have done the equivalent of a dog dragging it's bum across the new cream carpet.  This guy has listened to too much Morrissey (oooh woe is me, I must sound dark and mysterious) and too many bands from Manchester (whinge whine whine - looking at you Oasis).  There's an amount of flip flopping between these two styles and the result is an inability to understand what on Earth is being sung about.   The worst thing of all: he sounds like he can probably sing when he's not putting on this ridiculous show.  And that is what led me to frustratingly bad.

But regardless, have a listen below and make up your own mind.  Apparently Brian Wilson and Debbie Harry like them so what do I know anyway?  Credit where credits due - there is a little bit of this that won't leave my head.  Their Facebook page says the "band is bound to be written off by progressive tyres, excitement chasers and those who don't appreciate the art and craft of the popular song" but it also describes Johnny Danger's vocal tone as velvety.  Yes, that's right... Johnny Danger.

Music: Dear Reader - Monkey (You Can Go Home)

"Idealistic Animals is a well-crafted album; combining melancholic melodies with a real message" - Artrocker

Dear Reader, or Cheri MacNeil as her friends call her, has announced that single Monkey (You Can Go Home) will be released on January 23rd, to celebrate the release of album Idealistic Animals this week.

The acoustic version of this track (see below) featuring just Cherie and a piano, lovely though it is, is not a patch on the original version, full of strong drums and interesting strings and guitars.  She does have the voice of an angel and the poetic capability of Carol Ann Duffy, and this shines in an acoustic setting, but there is nothing like the beat-led original track, full of ups and downs and with a mysterious edge.  It manages to be soft and feminine, questioning and curious but at the same time strong enough to be different and at times, mainly towards the end, wonderfully chaotic.  It's a track that will appeal to a broad audience, from the Elbow loving masses right through to your mum... probably.

The original version:

Dear Reader - MONKEY (Go Home Now) by cityslang

And the acoustic version (good for hangovers!):

http://www.dearreadermusic.com/

Music: Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood Of Colour

For anyone who wasn't aware of Enter Shikari's new album release.  And for anyone who hasn't listened to Enter Shikari before, here is my favourite track Sorry You're Not A Winner - you should also keep an eye out for Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour.

Music: The Victorian English Gentlemens Club

"An aggravated three piece band making underground pop racket in the pop underground racket that is Cardiff"

There's nothing better than listening to something for the first time and knowing that it's great.  When you listen to a lot of new music you get used to reading good things about a band and being told their the best thing since sliced bread.  The you spend some time getting excited about them and then you finally listen to them... and it's the biggest anti-climax.  Music journalism is one let down after another and I'm not going to tell you all something is great unless I actually think it is.  This is one of the reasons you won't find a 'Best Music of 2011' or a 'Celebration of 2011's music' because on the whole I thought it was pretty poor.  There was a definite generic sound of 2011 and it's one that sounds just like Elbow, but unfortunately it now also sounds like 1000 other bands - and I didn't even like it on elbow.  If the sound was a colour, it would be beige.

And so, how lovely, a bit of light refreshment.  The Victorian English Gentlemens Club, are everything that is not Elbow, or chart, or Lady Gaga, or Professor Green, or those silly b*****s off The Only Way Is Essex.  Now, I won't lie, I listened to them for the first time this morning so we are learning together here but I please implore you to listen to the track below.  I've been through the album Bag Of Meat (which was actually released back in June - slow on the uptake!) and sometimes they're Gary Numan and sometimes they're MGMT and sometimes they're a big rock monster; sometimes they're Adam and the bloody Ants.  In the PR blurb they're described as "an agitable, tense and tetchy melodic laceration of neo/new/no/now/non/post/wave; an anthemic, torch bearing, porch burning anti-opera" and that almost sums up the non-sensical wonderfullness that is The Victorian English Gentleman's Club.

This is Conversation, which again was released months ago, and is supposedly a conversation between a woman and her executioner just before her beheading.  And if that doesn't strike up some kind of morbid curiousity I don't know what will.  But overall, if you're just looking for something that sticks two fingers up to Guy Garvey...

The Victorian English Gentlemens Club - A Conversation by thisisfakediy

Official Website with a listening page

YouTube