The Sharks, 7 EP's for FREE DOWNLOAD.

Let's see if we can't make Monday a little more palatable with seven EP's from The Sharks for Free Download.   I don't know an awful lot about the band other than that they come from Brixton, London and have some pretty up beat melodic, punky, power pop which ticks all the right boxes, oh and their interests include, breaking strings, Scrumpy Jack (cider), Puppetry and beards!

The more I have played through these tracks whilst putting this short feature of the band together, the more I love them and I was pretty smitten on the first listen already.  Each and every track here has its own picture cover with some excellent imagery on them, ranging from a traffic warden for the track "Sixty Five Quid" to some Pop Art for the track "On and On."   Why this band are giving their music away for free when so much time and effort obviously goes into the package, offering both excellent audible and visual experiences, is beyond me, but thanks guys......thanks very much!

The Sharks are:

DAVEY CANE - Vocals, Guitar, Puppetry

PAUL HARVEY - Vocals, Guitar, String Breaking

ROBBIE BUTCHER - Bass, Beards, Scrumpy Jack

WILL UDALL - Drums, Vocals, Beards

The band are embarking on a monthly gig from January next year, LIKE their facebook page to keep up with all the information regarding this.

Download all 7 EP's FREE here: Bandcamp

(Navigate your way through the EP's in the column on the right hand side.)

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Sharks here: Facebook

Press Contact: info@thesharks.co

The Mergers - Monkey See, Monkey Do. OUT DECEMBER 16th

The Mergers play "Beat!" Beat with a capital "B" and they do an excellent job of it too!

The band from Nuremburg are just about to release their fantastic debut album, "Monkey See, Monkey Do," upon the world.  Listening to the album, you will almost definately get a sense of time travel and find yourself back in 1966, bobbing your head, tapping your feet and discover a fear and loathing to go back to the present with its dirge of faux RnB singers from "Some shit holes got talent" type programme.  

This is real music as it was meant to be, abundant in melodies, harmonies and jangly guitars and even a bit of rocking piano.  There are several moments on the album that bring to mind The Beatles stint in Hamburg when they were raw, ready and exciting, maybe this is where the title of the bands album derives from?  

From album opener "All I Can Do" to the twelth track "We'll All Be Stars" the listener is treated to gem after gem, if you love your 60's beat music, like myself, then this album is definately for you.

THE MERGERS suddenly emerged on a disgustingly rainy day in Germany in 2011. 

Actually country-bred from an ancient beat community that was founded in 1966 in consequence of musical taste’s negative development.

THE MERGERS luckily were kept away from all upcoming musical influences. 

Aspiring music manager Annie Goldfinger discovered this kind of a new world (that surprisingly looked very similar to an old one) by accident and brought this incredible new band for their first time in life to the continent. Unfortunately they had no entry permit so they were forced to leave subsequently, but only a few months later they were finally ready and allowed to hit the stage.
But what’s the catch? Immigration department insisted on taking up residence in Nuremberg (once voted Germany’s most boring metropolis), for lightening up the dull & bored people’s lifes.
But these 4 young men are well known for meeting tough issues head-on.

The Mergers are:

Jerry Coma (Vocals, Guitars)                                           Henry Florence Jr.(Vocals,Bass)                                              Jay Le Saux (Vocals, Guitars)                                                 Winston McCloud (Drums)

The album is due for release on the 16th of December and will be avaialble from itunes, Amazon, at the bands shows and at soundflat.de.

Catch the band live here: Live Dates Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Mergers here:  Facebook

Grand Prix- Lejos & Hogar albums. NAME YOUR PRICE

This band from Buenos Aires, as their name suggests, owe a little debt to Teenage Fanclub with their sound, these albums contain some cracking songs, I have had both albums for many years now and still love them.  Some track are recorded in English and some in the band native Spanish.

I can't find out too much about them, so if you know anything, please enlighten us in the comments section.  Thanks.

Download both albums, "Name Your Price" here: Bandcamp

Nick Capaldi - A Shade Of Orange.

A few weeks ago I reviewed the brilliant "Stanley Arms Brigade" single by Nick Capladi on the blog and the album is due out just before Christmas and Nick very kindly sent me a copy of the album to feature on the blog.

I first heard about Nick Capaldi via one of the musicians in his band, Gareth Owen. Gareth used to lodge with me about 10 years ago and is one of those people that no matter what instrument you presented him with, he could just play it, I had all sorts of instrument around my home, keyboards, drums, guitars, Turkish instruments like Curnas and Zurnas, all of which he could play, so when he got in touch with me and told me that he was playing with Nick, I knew it would be something special and that he would be playing with an equal, if not greater talent, for the sake of my friend Gaz, we will say equal in this instance. Of course, I was correct in my assumption that it would be great.  We should not forget, of course, the two other, very talented, members of Nick's set up, Luke Watson (Drums) and Thomas Hughes (Organ)  who provide a very solid backbone to the band.

There is a healthy variety of styles on the album that are amalgamated to blend perfectly throughout the playing experience, a touch of soul on "Read Into Me," featuring the lovely vocals of Lynne Jackaman, a more rocking feel on "You Aint No Woman To Me," Jangly guitars on the slightly country feeling "We Fall,"and a nice bit of Power Pop on "My Car Was Born To Ride" which is possibly my favourite track on the album, if I had to pick one, which is very difficult to do on this 10 track album.

I would be hard pressed to catergorise this album into one genre, but even with the crossovers within, it flows really nicely from start to finish, it doesn't have one awkward track like some albums, that leaves you wondering what the artist was thinking when they included that one!

Gareth Owen (Left) Nick Capaldi (Right) Photo by Nadia.

Overall this is a very solid debut album which finishes up with the rocky "Eyes On The Road" a stomper of a track and maybe a reference to a band that are looking forward to where they are going, which, should be somewhere pretty cool, if the world is a just place.

Listen to and download the album here: iTunes

Official website here: http://www.nickcapaldi.com

Contact, follow, befriend, like and love Nick Capaldi here: Facebook

Live Dates:

AIR Raiser - The Corn Exchange Dorchester
Dorset
3rd December 2012
Various Artists gather for a great night of live music
Tickets £5 on the doorDoors open at 8pm


Camden HeadCamden
London
8pm
3rd January 201312 Bar
Denmark Street
London
31st January 2013

Mother Live
333 Old Street
London
EC1V 9LE
8.30pm
13th Febuary 2013

The Jac - I See Things Differently. FREE FESTIVE DOWNLOAD

The Jac kindly bestow a Christmas gift upon us to help us get into the spirit of the season.  These 15 tracks of seasonal joy don't follow your usual stylings of Christmas songs (as the title suggests) and may not be suitable for your Granny, who likes to sway away to Cliff's "Mistletoe and Wine" or some other piece of dirge that gets rammed down our throats at this time of year, this is a refreshing take on seasonal songs that won't drive you mad.  Light the fire, throw on a yule log, stoke it up with all those old Christmas best of's albums and play The Jac loud!

Surely you can’t expect a Christmas album from the southern hemisphere to be normal?

It always seems to confuse Westerners in the northern hemisphere that the festive season in Australia falls in summer where it’s not uncommon to spend Boxing Day at the beach because it’s so hot. The idea of a white Christmas belongs in a postcard or a movie here.

I make no apology for this compilation of songs I’ve been recording since 2001 being so dis-jointed and occasionally odd; I just wrote whatever came into my head that particular year. The more unorthodox and eccentric elements set the blueprint of this year’s debut JAC album, Faux Pas.

“I See Things Differently” features everything from a sincere and whole-hearted look at the themes of distance and longing (Sweet Baby Jesus, Stockholm Christmas, If Santa Makes It Down), to being generally fucked up (Yuletide Heroine Blues, All I Want For Xmas Is Cindy Brady, Psychotic Psummer, Going Down) and even a little something for the kids (Surfin’ Santa & I Saw Santa With A Gun). If there is no track to tickle or amuse you then you just don’t believe in Santa.

More than anything to do with religious beliefs or traditional festive messages, this compilation simply chronicles my beginnings in home recording; none of these tracks have been recorded or mixed in professional studios. In fact the idea of the Brtiannicas, a band the where the members lived, wrote and recorded their parts in separate countries, was born out these early recordings.

I feel honoured that there have been so many friends that have contributed to the recording of these songs; some one off and others continue to appear more often than not. In particular, I’d like to thank Herb Eimerman and Magnus Karlsson from the Brits, Stefan Johansson and Lars Brusell.

As of 1 December, all the 15 tracks can be downloaded for free online: www.thejac.com.au Lyrics and information on each track are also available there.

Whatever you do or don’t believe in, I wish you happy holidays and all the best for 2013. Thanks for your support in 2012.

Warm regards,
Joe Algeri (the JAC)

Download "I See Things Differently" FREE here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Jac here: Facebook 

Phenomenal Cat - Yours Sincerely.

Phenomenal Cat release their 11th single of the year and whilst I could rave on about this band for a lifetime, like I have all year, I am handing this one over to my lovely guest contributor "Interplanet Janet."

Sax Please. We’re British.
How Phenomenal Cat Are Reworking the Brit Sound

When I was nineteen and the irresistable lure of London reeled me in, I met a member of a soon-to-be successful Britpop band, and discovered to my delight that he was my neighbour. We bonded in our mutual insomnia and spent many a late and early morning hour listening to his records and discussing all things music-related.  One night, as we sat on his floor and drank tea, the conversation led him to accuse me of being an Anglophile.  I was nineteen, from The Midwest in America, and in all honesty— pretty thick. I was taken aback. What did he just call me? Confused, and suspecting that I just had a very British insult hurled at me, he went on to clarify that this simply meant a love of all things English. Looking back, he was most definitely right in his assessment, at least when it came to music. Now, many years later, and me being hopefully a bit less thick, I still wear that label with pride, but also because I don’t know the proper term for lover of all things British. Never mind. The point is, from those educational wee hours to this very day, I am always  astounded by the quality music that comes out of the UK.
So what’s the scene like now? If your looking for something a bit more interesting and with a bit more depth than what’s in the charts, there’s no better place to start than with Phenomenal Cat, an eclectic band from Kent who are carrying on the tradition of flying the Union Jack high, both in imagery and in sound. At times, one could almost mistake them for an exuberant 90s Britpop band, if it weren’t for some key differences that make them so very now (for example, their genre-hopping instrumentation). Postcards From The British Empire is an ambitious twelve-month project wherein the band write, record and release one song for each month of 2012. Aside from the songs themselves, I think it’s worth noting that the imagery on each single’s cover art is fabulously retro, wonderfully nostalgic and very creative. 

There’s a problem though. Whenever I see the word British Empire, the Critical Studies scholar in me eventually tries to force her way into my consciousness. What does it mean to be British? What about the contentious post-colonial legacy? I’ll stop myself here, for the sake of not boring you into a coma but also because that’s political. When used in the context of popular music, Britishness always strikes me as an immensely positive thing. A proud, yet irresistable mix of tongue-in-cheek humour and likeable self-awareness attached to a cultural identity that Brits and music lovers across the globe just get. The musical genealogy of Britain is too vast to even attempt to sum up in a few words, besides, you already know it. Instead, like Phenomenal Cat, I’ll give a nod to bands like the Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, but also Blur, Pulp and many other 90s Britpop bands who lamented aspects of modern Britain but who also carried a sense of pride along with them and, to boot, had the pluck to challenge America’s sense of entitlement in the international music scene. 

Yours Sincerely is Phenomenal Cat’s track for November and it is a rolicking romp of brass and rocking guitar licks, sung with an accent guaranteed to charm the pants of impressionable Americans. Having now listened to  all the eleven singles that have been released to date, one can see musical patterns and lyrical themes merge into what one might think of as the band’s distinct sound. It’s a delicate operation though. Just when you think they may be in danger of becoming a caricature of a Brit band or a pastiche of all the Brit bands that have ever been, they do one of two things:  they create a bridge and continue to play a very different song. The three-songs-for-the-price-of-one approach to songwriting that Paul McCartney does so well springs to mind here. I always loved that about Macca and it works with Phenomenal Cat as well. Oh, and if I forgot to mention it before, you should know that this band can rock when they want to. The other novel thing they do in some of their songs is adopt a piece of Americana to balance things out a bit. If you listen closely to all the tracks, you should be able to spot a jangly Byrds riff, what I think is a slide guitar and, I kid you not, at least one cracking sax solo. Yep, that’s right. I know the saxophone is a mainstay in some British stalwarts like The Specials, Madness and other funky bands like Ian Dury and The Blockheads, but they fall into what I would consider a different subgenre. It’s remarkable how Phenomenal Cat manage to deftly and brilliantly incorporate so many different features of British music to date, across the spectrum and throughout time.  

 On top of that, they throw a little Americana into the mix that, quite frankly, has left me thinking if I hadn’t heard it for myself I’d say it couldn’t be done well. This is all while still trying to get the absolutely brilliant and ultra-catchy single from March, also titled Postcards From The British Empire, out my head.  Ah, but there’s plenty of room in there.

Interplanet Janet

Download the single for a "Name Your Price" fee or Free, but definately download this single, Ray Davies would have liked to have penned this one!  Get it here: Bandcamp

The band are producing a bespoke box set of the years singles ready for Christmas, show someone you really love them, with that one, diamonds are forever, but music is for longer! All details on the Bandcamp page.

Like, love, befriend, contact, follow Phenomenal Cat here: Facebook

Many thanks to Interplanet Janet, again, for her contribution to the blog.

The Barbacans - No Hits For The Kids. OUT NOW

Fuzz and Farfisa galore, The Barbacans, from Fano in Italy, really rip it up on "No Hits For The Kids,"  guitars chopping so hard and fast, they could clear a forest in under 3 minutes, which is ideal, as in true 60's garage style, not one song on the album passes the 3 minute mark, short, sharp and great!

The band recorded their debut album, "God Save The Fuzz" in 2009 at the famous "Circus Perrotti Studio" in Gijon, Spain and was released on the excellent "Boss Hoss Records" label, gaining the band media interest and wall to wall positive reviews.

During one of their concerts in Italy, two members of the band were shot by an ex policeman who was angry about the volume, leaving one of the band requiring surgery for their injuries, an experience the band want to forget, but a story that will stay with them for life.  The offender, strangely, served no jail time!

The Barbacans name is derived from local slang, with Barbacan meaning a bad and lazy man, which, when you look at this bands touring schedule, you have to wonder if they chose the right name for themselves?  The band have played extensively in Europe and in the early months of 2012 played Mexico and China.

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Barbacans here: Facebook

Stream the bands first album here: God Save The Fuzz

Buy the bands album from: Boss Hoss Records