At the album release party for their debut "Up From Below" at LA's Roosevelt Hotel in July, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros raised money for the Gulu Widows Group of Uganda. The women used the band's donation to start a farm to sustain their community. They recently had their first harvest; to celebrate and show the band their appreciation they made this video in which they sing the band's song "Home."
"Home" in Gulu from The Voice Project on Vimeo.
Singing in to a hair brush, stood in front of a mirror in just a towel is probably not how you want to be remembered by millions of people but when you hear this track you can't help but think of Macaulay Culkin, sorry Kevin MacAllister, as he relaxes in the knowledge he has made his family disappear.
Barenaked Ladies' take on Christmas and 'the holidays' is pretty hit and miss. I wasn't expecting much when Pia, my Canadian blind date (don't worry wife if you're reading this it was purely a music fling briefly last Christmas) sent me my Christmas CD that was peppered with Barenaked Ladies tracks. However God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen stood out straight away. While they may be a band that don't take themselves seriously they did for this track and it works so well - OK maybe there was a small bit of tongue in cheek. Anyway enjoy God Rest Ye... and the other end of the scale with Carol of the Bells.
Scrooged has got to be up there with the best Christmas films and the opening music sets the scene perfectly, a Christmas feel with a hint of terror, well mild peril. No surprises then that the music features on an album called Music For A Darkened Theatre Vol 1...
As it's Schonberg's birthday I thought I'd post a track by one of his favourite bands. This was a track given away by the BBC last year and was one of the most downloaded tracks off this web site in 2008. So for those of you who haven't got it enjoy Glasvegas' version of East 17's 'classic' Stay Another Day.
As Elf hits our screens today I thought I'd post the main theme from it. I got hold of this after my Elf post last year so I've not posted it before. Don't worry after some Christmas themed posts I'll return to the debate that's been raging on Facebook, Album of the Decade!
Have I gone on about this track enough? I don't think so. It's got so many elements to it, one second a great bit of bass and then next second I think I hear a bit of Suede. A track like this is just the reason I got in to writing this blog, a song that without reading blogs I wouldn't have discovered and that, because of the way the music industry works, is not being played in the mainstream. My aim has always been to share tracks I like that aren't getting the attention they deserve. Sit up and take notice, this should be in your collection.
As always with the blog, I comment on music as it comes to my attention, it doesn't matter whether it was recorded 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, if I'm playing it now then I talk about it. What's Wrong With The Mainstream's EP of the Year only came to my attention this year but I believe it was released last year. Who cares.
Deciding on the album of the year has been a difficult one this year, some years an album just takes it by a country mile. This year it's not been so simple, no one album has stuck out that much for me. There have been a lot of notable albums from already established artists such as Doves, Muse, Kasabian, Reverend & The Makers, The Maccabees, Jarvis Cocker and returning The Prodigy. Add to that debuts from Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros , La Roux, Florence and the Machine and The Airborne Toxic Event. It gave me a whole heap of albums to look at. Before you say anything I was disappointed with Green Day and Arctic Monkey's latest albums, I hope you are enjoying them more than me, that's all I can say.
