The Frank and Walters - Greenwich Mean Time.

The Frank and Walters are one of the most recognizable alternative rock bands hailing from Cork, Ireland in the past 2 decades. The band: Paul Linehan (Lead vocal & bass), Ashley Keating- (Drums) Rory Murphy (lead Guitar) Cian Corbett (Keyboards) took the band name in honour of two eccentric Cork characters. Two decades on from the release of their very first record, and the Franks continue to defy expectations. With Indie hits such as ‘Fashion Crisis Hits New York’ & ‘After All’ (which reached the top twenty in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at 11. The group also appeared on Top of the Pops in support of the single; it went as high as 5 in the Irish charts). Their music today is as relevant as any of the new pretenders on the block and only a handful of bands anywhere in the world can lay claim to such longevity of popularity. Each year, the Frank and Walters perform sell out venues across the UK, Europe, and the US and their records, both new and classic, continue to sell across the world.

My first experience of the Franks, as we called them back then, was at the Escape club in Brighton on their first tour, these guys walked on stage in orange boiler suits and started playing some great poppy indie tunes with big smiles on their faces, almost tongue in cheek.
 Obviously they didn't take themselves too seriously which was refreshing in amongst the flocks of "too cool for school" bands that were treading the boards back then, I mean the orange boiler suits and the bowl haircut that Paul Linehan was sporting back then kind of suggested that, but that combined with the songs endeared them to the audience almost immediately, the in-between song banter from the band was almost impossible to understand with their broad Irish accents, this didn't matter, I loved them, the crowd loved them and during the last song, there were more people on the stage than there were in the audience, everyone was dancing and having a good time and the band seemed to enjoy it to, I spent half that song talking to the drummer, I couldn't understand him of course!
By the end of the evening my face was hurting from smiling, I imagine that was like many of the other peoples faces in the audience, great songs and a great fun band and the beauty of the Franks, is that they have never gone away, they have always been there like a light in a window that shows you the way home, when many of the other lights have been turned off.   Now they are back with another album of infectious, smile enticing gems, the orange boiler suits have been replaced with a more grown up orange tie and the bowl haircut has gone, but the great song smithery, the smiles and the fun remains.  Lets hope that the Franks will never go away and save the world one song at a time as they suggest and I believe they will!

The Frank and Walters new single.

Would you walk for miles and miles....you don't have to, they are probably coming to a town near you!

March 16th Leeds. The Northern Monkey

March 17th Liverpool. Zanzibar.

March 23rd Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms

March 24th London. Borderline.

March 30th Tullamore. The Thatch.

March 31st Dublin. Workman’s Club.

April 12th Cardiff. Buffalo Bar

April 14th Brighton Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

April 20th Clonakilty, Co. Cork De Barra’s,

April 27th Galway, Roisin Dubh

April 28th Limerick,  Dolans Warehouse

 I believe there will be European dates added too! (Which is good because I am in Sweden now...hint hint!) 

The Frank and Walters FACEBOOK

New album now available to download iTunes  and soon available in stores and across the internet soon.

Supergrass - I Should Coco

 

Tearing by at a breakneck speed, I Should Coco is a spectacularly eclectic debut by Supergrass, a trio barely out of their teens. Sure, the unbridled energy of the album illustrates that the band is young, yet what really illustrates how young the bandmembers are is how they borrow from their predecessors. Supergrass treat the Buzzcocks, the Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Blur, and Madness as if they were all the same thing -- they don't make any distinction between what is cool and what isn't, they just throw everything together. Consequently, the jittery "Caught by the Fuzz" slams next to the music hall rave-up "Mansize Rooster" and the trippy psychedelia of "Sofa of My Lethargy," or the heavy stomp of "Lenny" or the bona fide teen anthem "Alright." I Should Coco is the sound of adolescence, but performed with a surprising musical versatility that makes the record's exuberant energy all the more infectious. - AMG

 

Listen: HERE

The Jam - Sound Affects Deluxe Edition

Unhappy with the slicker approach of Setting Sons, the Jam got back to basics, using the direct, economic playing of All Mod Cons and "Going Underground," the simply brilliant single that preceded Sound Affects by a few months. Thematically, though, Paul Weller explored a more indirect path, leaving behind (for the most part) the story-song narratives in favor of more abstract dealings in spirituality and perception -- the approach stemming from his recent readings of Blake and Shelley (who was quoted on the sleeve), but more specifically Geoffrey Ashe, whose Camelot and the Vision of Albion made a strong impression. Musically, Weller drew upon Revolver-era Beatles as a primary source (the bassline on "Start," which comes directly from "Taxman," being the most obvious occurrence), incorporating the occasional odd sound and echoed vocal, which implied psychedelia without succumbing to its excesses. From beginning to end, the songs are pure, clever, infectious pop -- probably their catchiest -- with "That's Entertainment" and the should-have-been-a-single "Man in the Corner Shop" standing out.

Universal’s 2010 Deluxe Edition of Sound Affects contains a remastered version of the original album on the first disc and a wealth of bonus material on the second disc, much of which is absent on the complete box Direction Reaction Creation. The bonus disc begins with the single version of “Start!” and runs through the B-sides “Liza Radley” and “Dreams of Children” before getting into a host of demos and alternate takes, stopping on the occasional oddity like the fan club flexi-disc “Pop Art Poem.” Much of this previously saw the light of day either on the rarities comp Extras or Direction Reaction Creation, but there are a few items making their debut here: a demo with overdubs of “Pretty Green,” a demo of “Boy About Town,” a previously unreleased instrumental of “Scrape Away,” a demo of “Start!,” an alternate “Monday,” an instrumental demo, a “dub ending” of “Set the House Ablaze,” and finally a demo of “Waterloo Sunset."

Listen: HERE

The Joy Of Painting - Asterisk. Name Your Price Download.

 

I love stumbling across bands on the internet, especially when they are this good and why is nobody shouting about them?  Why am I not already aware of them?

The Joy of Painting are from Nashville TN. and they play some really great tunes with some fantastic 3 or 4 part harmonies, I can't quite work it out but what I do know that to stumble blindly through the world wide web and find something as delicious as this is a brilliant feeling.

The songs on this seven track album are recorded live which gives you an indication of this bands enormous talent.

What others are saying:

"Accidently grandiose and bursting with color and energy." -Murfreesboro Pulse

"I hear a lot of Weezer in this record...it is certainly some catchy pop, but it also has the fuel of post-punk." -No Country for New Nashville

"From Self to Kyle Andrews to Fun [Nashville] has managed to produce a number of the best artists of the past few years. Go ahead and add Joy of Painting to that list, because their first EP is an artistically brilliant debut that will truly surprise you." -Obvious Pop

Colorful and delicious like your favorite cereal, full of groovy gravy beats and mom-approved hooks.

 

Photo by Melissa Mills

Listen to the brilliant No Bones 

Upcoming Shows.

3/24/12 - TBD

Oklahoma City, OK

w/Deerpeople

4/14/12 - TOUR DE FUN

Murfreesboro, TN // WEBSITE

BIKE & MUSIC FEST

5/25/12 - Prevervation Pub

Knoxville, TN

Go over to the bands bandcamp page and listen to and buy the album, it is a name your price download for the digital album: HERE

Contact and follow the band here: FACEBOOK

The Joy of Painting: Official

Daemon Familiar - Brontosaurus Rex

 

Daemon Familiar is a power-pop trio from Chicago dedicated to reviving the lost art of the catchy pop/rock song. A tight meld of their musical roots Cheap Trick, Husker Du, and Sloan creates their raw riff-driven compositions. Infectious hooks, vocal harmonies, and crunchy guitar melodies are their stock in trade. Not since Cheap Trick has a band from Illinois set out to deliver songs so unforgettable they'll be tattooed on your cerebral cortex.

Formed in 2006, Daemon Familiar has quickly built a following both locally and online, playing shows throughout Chicago at venues such as the Beat Kitchen, Elbo Room, Reggie's Live, The Empty Bottle, and the Underground Lounge, as well as other locations in the Midwest. Their sound has drawn comparisons to bands as varied as Cheap Trick, Sloan, Husker Du and Barenaked Ladies. The band released its debut album, Dawn of the Albatross, to strong reviews in 2009, with the Illinois Entertainer proclaiming, "...there's no denying the crunchy sweetness of Daemon Familiar's Dawn Of The Albatross." Daemon Familiar has also appeared on two compilation CDs, including Fabsound Records Fights Autism.

 

[Photograph by Mio Nomura]

Brontasaurus Rex  is a 7 track Power Pop album filled with chopping guitars and nifty hooks driven along by solid drum and bass section.

The album kicks of with the infectious and catchy song "Kate" filled with Ba Ba Ba's and the ultra catchy chorus which is almost impossible not to sing along to.  Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles gets a dedicated song on the album, hailing her as a Power Pop queen in a driving wall of guitar sound.

Brontasaurus Rex is a straight up, well produced body of work and incorporates just about everything you need, and want, from a Power Pop band that melds the likes of Cheap Trick with the stylings of Husker Du and Weezer.  A perfect driving album!

Here is a video of Daemon Familiar doing it for the kids, playing "Kate" at an all ages Chicago dance show!  I don't think they really play on Rock Band instruments!  ;)

Listen and buy Brontasaurus Rex: CD Baby

Contact Daemon Familiar: Official Website  Facebook

The Monks - Black Monk Time 1966

 

1964, West Germany. Five American GIs in a rockband combat Beatlemania by attempting to be the "anti-Beatles." Managed by Situationist-minded German advertising gurus, they're wholly branded as The Monks: dressed in black cassocks, tonsures shaved on heads, nooses hung around their necks. They strip the drum-kit of its cymbals, bash a banjo as a percussive instrument, and grow ever tighter and nastier as they tour Germany constantly, playing for audiences who usually despise them. They make one viciously-rhythmic record, Black Monk Time then implode in the face of the public's disinterest/dislike. But they leave their mark: the subsequent generation of German krautrockers owing an obvious debt to The Monks' devotion to repetition.

Listen:HERE

The Twin Sets - Take Your Rest. FREE EP DOWNLOAD

 

Another new band hailing from the North West of Spain (A Coruña) with a really nice set of jangly power pop songs....they must put something special in the water up there!

The Twin-Sets are:  Borja Fernández - Guitar, Denís Graña - Vocals, guitar, Nacho - Bass, Lito-Drums.

The EP has three tracks of melodically satisfying tunes with a really nice uncomplicated driving beat behind them so as not to detract from the jangly guitar sounds.

 

The band quotes artistss like The Nerves, The Jam, Teenage Fanclub, The Kinks, Badfinger and The Lemonheads as influences and they have certainly caught that sound without directly mimicking any of them.

 

I really like this bands sound and for a band that have only been together since 2011 they seem to gel very well as a group. 

 

Whilst all the songs on the EP have a standout quality, "We won't turn it back" which is sung in their native Spanish seems to flow better than those in English, which seem quite nonsensical, this however, would be my only criticism of this band and they will certainly be one on my watch list and I would actually be more than happy listening to more offerings from them in their native tongue!

Download the bands FREE ep: HERE

Befriend and follow the band: FACEBOOK