Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts

Monday, 10 October 2016

Lucy Dacus - No Burden SA


What a month, what a selection. It kicked of with Angel Olsen and Jamie T, ventured through The Head And The Heart and Deap Vally and finished up the month with Public Access T.V. and Wyatt Blair amongst many others. September had some absolute corkers and you can check out my whole playlist HERE.


Kicking off my top 3 is Writing Of Blues And Yellows by Billie Marten. Due to a Google Music cock-up, I initially listened to the deluxe version of the album in a mixed up order and heard the alternative version of Milk & Honey before the released single version and I have to say I think it is better than the original, so now it has a permanent spot starting the introduction to the album. The LP as a whole has quite the mellow vibe with the odd occasion heading to the more haunting side of life. And lest we not forget this is just the debut and I think Billie is going to continue to rise as a great musician and songwriter. Check out the video for simply poetic Bird below.




In the second spot is the man, myth and or legend Mr Jamie T with his 4th release Trick. As a fan of all of his previous work, I was unsure what to expect with this new release but I knew it would be exciting and potentially more experimental that his previous. He did not disappoint that is for sure. Straight from the first track Tinfoil Boy (video below) there is a dark tone which goes throughout the LP with abrasive instrumentation and strong, powerful lyrics that all take from a variety of genres to make an interesting mixture. I was pleased that there were the lighter more cheery tracks in there with the likes of Tescoland and a couple of my personal favourites Robin Hood and the epic Joan Of Arc. If you haven't listened to Trick yet, where have you been!   




My absolute number Juan is No Burden by Lucy Dacus. An LP that flows with an effortless ease, beautifully narrated by Lucy herself. It truly seems like a collection of chapters taken straight out of her journal. Personal, heartfelt and emotional with the right amount of power when the track calls for it, No Burden pushes my personal feelings right to the brink of where they need to be without going too far and even more importantly, without sounding forced or false. Which might I add, can easily ruin an album. And yet another perfect example of a great debut LP with high expectations from me for where she is going to go next. Enjoy the smashing single below!



Thursday, 21 April 2016

Jessica Lea Mayfield AS


As I hope you can tell, I have had a bit of a re-brand of this blog. Musicopedia no longer....now The Beacon, I think it looks and sounds nicer, more professional and all that good stuff. I hope you like it too. Anyway, on with the feature:

This month I want the whole world to know about Jessica Lea Mayfield and fall for her music as hard as I have. She is a 26 year old singer songwriter from Kent, Ohio and has released 4 solo and one joint album to date. Yes she is incredibly prolific.

Her first released material back in 2005 was called White Lies and she released it under the name of Chittlin'. The album is very much rooted in folk/roots sounds with a splash of Country here and there. Finding out she made this when she was a teenager shows how talented she was from such a young age.

Following that came her first release under her birth name called With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. The difference between her first and second album (and so far all following releases to date) is the progression and experimentation that is added and grown with each piece of music she releases. WBSH shows JLM keeping the great guitar techniques from the previous but mixing and messing with vocal effects and adding other more electronical sounds and techniques to the music. One of many of my favourite tracks off of the album is Bible Days which has haunting yet melodic vocals that I find oddly hypnotic.

Her next release was Tell Me which was released in early 2011 and is her most commercially popular LP to date. On first listen I noticed a clear difference with the vocals (than from the previous work), possibly how they were recorded, they sounded slightly brighter, definitely clearer, the instrumentation sounds more refined and you can tell she is getting even closer to truly becoming a  master of her instruments.

The latest solo release 'Make My Head Sing...' is a turn down a different alley in terms of sound. If the previous LP was JLM sounding slightly 'pop' this has dirty grunge written (or wiped) all over it. Straight off from the first track 'Oblivious' you can tell, everything has a darker, more dulled down sound with catchy chugging guitars and more down heartened vocals. This album has to be my favourite from JLM, I think it includes the bits and pieces that I loved from each of her previous albums and combines them to create this epic piece of music.

JLMs latest musical venture is with Seth Avett (from The Avett Brothers fame) They have released a 12 track album of Elliot Smith covers. Prior to this LP I hadn't really heard much music from Elliot Smith, only references made of him from people in movies and TV trying to sound cool. But these two singers make the songs feel so heartfelt and full of emotion I can imagine that they are in a relationship singing the songs into each others eyes. Beautiful performances all round.

Wherever she goes next, I know it is going to be magical and truly exciting. Check out the video below for some live tunes. She is a talent and hopefully keeps making stuff for years to come. Enjoy!








Thursday, 30 July 2015

Natural Child - Saturday Night Blues SCS

SoundCloud Song

This is my second SCS on Thursday because thanks to the music heads and the new music albums release being moved to Fridays this means that there is one more load of releases that I want to take into consideration before sharing my favourites this month.

So this week I have chosen a track from Natural Child which is a year or two old but on my first listen I thought it sounded a lot older, like from a previous decade. It has a nice bouncy, springtime like feel whilst including the country and rock and roll tinge. It could almost be a theme tune to a 90's teen sitcom. Enjoy!