TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 19/02/2012 - Ben Howard, James Levey and The Blood Red Rose, Justice, Lianne La Havas,

Four tracks that were like a welcome Kebab after a night out....do you have any chilli sauces for us??!

Shell Hunter:-
Ben Howard - 'The Wolves' (2012)

I've been humming this for a few days so thought I'd do my best to find out who it was. When I discovered it was Ben Howard I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the track Sfw introduced from Tracks of the week 18/09/2011 but because he is part of the "singer songwriter" club, I didn't do much more digging. Heavily influenced by his parents' love of music and folky artists such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan (one for Old Pa), Ben Howard puts his own modern spin on things. Having started a more senior position at work, I feel like I've changed football teams and some of my old team mates have turned their backs on me! Delegation is not what it cracked up to be! That's why I find the line from the song "Because we've been fighting lately, we've been fighting with the wolves" quite fitting for my new role!


Flycasual:-
Justice - On'n'On (2012)

Sometimes you just need some Cock Rock in your life and the French electro maestros, Justice have that in abundance. 'On'n'On' is the latest single from the excellent album, Audio, Video, Disco which I have been listening to lately, previous single 'Civilization', was one of my favourite tracks of last year. As self confessed fans of testosterone fuelled 70's rock bands (Led Zep, Sabbath etc), they incorporate that retro feel with full on fuzzy riffs and big beats creating an epic sound which has become so synonymous with Justice. You can see from the over elaborate visuals and stereotypical Rock iconology in the video what I mean about all that, Spinal Tap would be proud!!

If you like rock and electro then the album comes highly recommended.

J'aime le Coq Rock..C'est chouette!

Old Pa's Corner :-
James Levey & The Blood Red Rose - 'Sneak Into my Room' (2012)

This is addictive, I heard one track and loved it, so I checked out the album 'Play to be Free' and it is a little gem. There are many winners on it. This is boy meets girl stuff and reminds me of the of the 60's. The songs are all well constructed and have really good melodies, there are strings, harmonies and I don't think they take themselves too seriously. But one thing I do know, they have a winner on their hands here and like I say, it is vey addictive. You will be waking up tomorrow humming these songs.

My current favourite is 'Hung to Dry' but could not find it on You Tube but 'Sneak into my Room' will do nicely.

SFW:-

Lianne La Havas - Forget (2012) 

 

I was really impressed when I first heard this acoustically on her fantastic EP, live in L.A. (see free download link below - you can't miss it!), but when I saw the video, it knocked me back and I couldn't 'forget' it - sorry! It has such a great contrast between the live version, the guitar riff, great beat and that fantastic voice makes Miss La Havas such great talent to watch out for.  The 'forget' EP was released this week.

 

 

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