TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 26/02/2012 - Keaton Henson, Major Look, JayFarrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames, Jake Bugg

FOUR TRACKS THAT SMASHED IT FOR US THIS WEEK!

Old Pa's Corner:-
Jay Farrar,Will Johnson,Anders Parker & Yim Yames - 'Old  L.A.' (2012)

Jay Farrar,Will Johnson, Anders Parker & Yim Yames are, I suppose what you would call another 'Alt Country Super Group' (not another one you say, remember 'Monsters of Folk') 

They have this album 'New Multitudes'  out on the 5th March 2012 of songs written by Woody Guthrie and they have done the music etc. These are all new songs which have not previously seen the light of day and are taken from the Woody Guthrie archives, with full cooperation from Woody's daughter Nora. It is in honour of what would be Woody's 100th birthday. Woody's back catalogue seems to go on for ever, as this is the 4th volume that I can recall.  'Old L.A.' is a pretty good taster and I will look forward to the full album release.

Shell Hunter:-
Jake Bugg - 'Troubled Town' (2012)

Impressed. That's what I was after hearing how old Jake Bugg was when listening to Music: Response with Mary Anne Hobbs on XFM the other day. He's 17! It reminds me of when I heard Nick Waterhouse(see Tracks Of The Week 16/10/2011), a master of recreating a genre from yesteryear. The lad from Nottingham, quite simply puts it, "I play guitar and sing". He sure does! I love the retro sound of this track and will definitely be keeping an ear to the ground to listen out for the next rumble of his strumming!

Become a "friend" and download it free from Jake's Facebook page for a limited time only here!

Flycasual:-
Major Look - 'Hush ya Gums' (2012)

I don't know at what age it becomes against the law to use words such as, wicked, cool, nang, dope etc. But there's only one word to describe this track...SICK!! With everyone out of the office I finally got to hold the 'radio conch' for awhile, I scanned through and I flipped onto BBC 1Xtra to catch the tail end of the Drum and Bass show. I'm pretty partial to a bit of D'nB but I only skirt around the periphery these days but in the space of half an hour I heard some excellent stuff, 'Hush Ya Gums' was by far the stand out track. I just love the contrast of the slow, almost laboured MCing over the rapid and frantic beat.

SFW:-
Keaton Henson - Charon (2012)

I shared another Keaton Henson track a few months ago when I first discovered his music (my wife put me onto him!) and was delighted when I found out that 'Charon' has been released as I'm amazed by this guys talent.  The singer/songwriter market is always very saturated and because of this, they need to stand out. For me this can be done in two ways, 1., the 'said' singer songwriter will need to impress (or depress) me by baring their broken soul or 2., write something so poetic/melodic it gets you chanting it like a religious sermon. In young Keaton Hensons case, he's got both and he does it very well! His album 'Dear' is out on the 2nd April, and a bonus version is out through Rough Trade Record Shops - I truly cannot wait!

More tracks of the week?? Click here bruv!!