Sunday 8 January 2012

TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 08/01/2012

New year, new you, still holding on to those resolutions? We can't guarantee you keep them but here are four tracks that'll even whip Mr Motivator into shape...

Old Pa's Corner :-
Leonard Cohen - The Darkness


This is a nice preview to Leonard Cohen's new Album 'Old Ideas' which is released on the 30th of January 2012. It has all the hallmarks of LC which I like, a haunting menacing backing and the usual 'interesting' lyrics which you would expect. This is a live take from a concert in November 2009 at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.  There are several version on You Tube but this is definitely the best quality sound wise. If all the tracks are as good as this, then bring it on.


SFW:-
Lianne La Havas -' No Room for Doubt (feat. Willy Mason)' (2012)

I've been looking forward to new Willy Mason material for a few years, but alas, (due to him 'parting' from his label) nothing is available (just yet) so when I heard this just before Christmas I was pretty excited.  Lianne La Havas has been making waves (no she's not a wave machine) over the last few months and she's also nominated for the 2012 'new faces' lists that you'll see scattered on websites & music magazines over the next few weeks/months. She's already appeared on Jools Holland (always a good barometer) and everything I've heard by her has been pretty magnificent.  Certainly one to watch!
  
Shell Hunter:-
Ren Harvieu - 'Through The Night' (2011)


In the middle of my singalong in the shower with BBC6 playing over the iPhone, this little beauty hit me. I loved the drama, the strings, the retro sound and thought it was a golden oldie perhaps from Dusty herself. I discovered, with soap in my eyes when pulling back the shower curtain to hear better, that Ren Harvieu is only 21 years old, with a fabulous voice and was a contender for BBC's Sound of 2012. I have a feeling she is going to be big. Watch out for a rumoured potential collaboration with Johnny Marr!


Download the track free here

Flycasual:-
Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)




I love being musically ambushed! Another victim of those best of 2011 lists which prompts the question,  'where have I been?' It definitely would have been on mine! Kaputt is taken from Destroyer's 9th album of the same name, ninth! Which was also released early last year. It's completely unique in the sense that you're unlikely to hear anything quite like it these days. It instantly reminded me of Prefab Sprout, The Blue Nile and even Swiss behemoths, Double (Captain of Her Heart....love it!!). It's musical transportation, as it took me back to a simpler time of Flux Capacitors, a crush on Michaela Strachan and waiting for the next issue of Smash Hits. More importantly it has a Sax!! And I don't know about you but I always crave a bit of Sax, quite apt following my complaint of a lack thereof in my best of 2011 post!


What's that in your footlocker? A Jelly donut? Drop and give me 20! Or check out more of our Tracks of the Week...

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TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 08/01/2012
4/ 5
Oleh

4 comments

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8 January 2012 at 15:13

SFW - nice tune and agree would love to here some new stuff from WM.
SH - Maybe just a little Dusty there and great retro feel
FC - Musically ambushed - I like that, this is reall good stuff, love the vid...check out the New Order cover on You tube

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sfw
12 January 2012 at 10:25

FC - Pet Shop Boys meets Lisa Simpson - I like!
Old Pa - This Cohen fellow is not bad at all.
SH - I sprinkle of dusty

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12 January 2012 at 11:24

I am loving the 'Darkness', great feel to it, Sax too! 'No Room for Doubt', what an amazing song...great voices. Good video too, they're a bit gutted. Topped of by 'Through the Night', this cat can sing! I loved the strings and the big finish! Thanks for the download link..

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24 January 2012 at 09:27

I really enjoyed all three, so different!
Pa - Cohen can do no wrong really, I like it. Wish I was there in Vegas to see him. What were the crowd laughing about??
Sfw - interesting collaboration, I can't say I would have ever thought those two on the same track! Love the simplicity of it. I too have been missing mr Mason and everything I hear from ms Havas has been faultless.
Fly - what a bizarre video! Flying humpback whales?! Really like the 80s-ness of the track. Can't believe they've had 9 albums and I've never heard of them!!

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