Wednesday 30 December 2009

Home

I've just arrived home from a white Christmas up north and so I'm hoping to catch up on some blogging over the next few days.

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.

MP3: Home - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

I hope that someone gets my...

I've really enjoying all the retro stuff that 6music are playing in the run up to the New Year. They have had whole days dedicated to the end of the last four decades (1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999). Don't know much about 1969 (I wasn't born) but the two days covering 1979 and 1989 have brought back some great memories of what must be two of the most classic years ever in music. By contrast, however, 1999 was crap. Go on, I dare you to suggest anything exciting that came out of 1999...

Anyway, the day on 1979 reminded me that it is now 30 years since I bought my first 7" single. I remember going down to Rotherham town centre on the 140 bus (2p for the trip) and walking up to The Sound of Music to buy my copy of The Police's 'Message in a Bottle'. I was 8 years old then, and really at the mercy of Radio Hallam (the local radio station) for my musical taste - probably why my next purchase a week later was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. Still, The Police track was a fairly decent start, and it was followed by lots more classics from 1979 - if Jal lets me, I may do a Top10 playlist like I did for 1989.

Anyway, here's a hot-link to The Police's Message in a Bottle to keep you going until Jal's next post.

Happy New Year!
Schonberg.

MP3: The Police - Message in a Bottle

Monday 28 December 2009

Cold War Kids + The Futureheads Free Tracks

Record Label, sorry RCDLBL are giving away new tracks from The Futureheads and Cold War Kids. The Futureheads come back with a track that starts off sounding like Kaiser Chiefs (sorry to tell you this Schonberg) and by the end Struck Dumb is sounding like Super Furry Animals, download it off RCDLBL's web site or stream it here (in theory, I've not tried this before so hopefully it will work):




Cold War Kids are not topping the bands I look out for but a band that have produced some decent stuff in the past. Give it a listen and see what you think. Again you can download it from RCDLBL's web site.

Monday 21 December 2009

We Have Band Free Track


When I posted We Have Band's track 'Oh!' earlier this year I thought it would be similar to a lot of the tracks I post, a decent amount of downloads but clearly missed by half the people who visit the site. However, I miss judged We Have Band, they're more popular than I realised. Oh! is one of the most downloaded tracks and thankfully it was one they were giving away, if memory serves me, to promote their appearance at SxSW. They are now giving away another track, will you all take to it like the last one? Only time will tell...

MP3: Honey Trap - We Have Band

Thursday 17 December 2009

Christmas - Home Alone

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.

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Christmas - Barenaked Ladies

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.


Tuesday 15 December 2009

Christmas - Scrooged

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...

Monday 14 December 2009

Christmas - Glasvegas

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.

Sunday 13 December 2009

Christmas - Elf

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!

Friday 11 December 2009

3WTM's MySpace Find of the Year


Myspace has the ability to frustrate and amaze you. Clicking on a Myspace link can take you to average land as someone just playing around with music posts their tracks online. Yet, what you always hope for is to be led to something new, an artist, a track that will brighten up your day.

When I came across this band I thought they were good, after a few listens I thought about writing about them. Not many more listens later and I couldn't get their tracks out of my head. So What Wrong With The Mainstream's Myspace find of the year is Yes Cassette.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

3WTM's Freebie of the Year

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.

Monday 7 December 2009

Important Interuption

Before another post for our end of year awards I thought I'd better point out that The Courteeners are back with a new track and their new album 'Falcon' is out in February. Speaking on Zane Lowe's show on Radio 1 Liam said it was the fastest song he's every written, saying he'd written it on the piano in 5 minutes when taking a break from the band.

It's an unexpected sound and definitely a change of direction. Zane was quick to point out that while it was a more mature sound it wasn't necessarily a reflection of the new album as a whole. A friend of mine described the first album of The Courteeners rock 'n' roll by numbers, as most rock stars probably can't count it's probably no surprise that the well educated Fray is the only one able to complete all the numbers. I also remember similar comments being made about Oasis at their peak yet no one was able to replicate their success.

As an early Christmas present the band have made the song available for free and if you go on their web site you can get tickets for their gigs ahead of the crowds and an exclusive pre-order offer for the album

MP3: Cross My Heart and Hope to Fly - The Courteeners

You can try to get it from their web site but I have been slapped on the wrist for offering a free download of a free download. Think of that what you may...

Sunday 6 December 2009

3WTM's EP of the Year

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.

We get quite a lot of EPs sent to the 3WTM inbox and there certainly has been competition for this accolade. However, this EP has three tracks that are so good that if they were on a ten track album you'd pick these as the singles. I believe The Twang's earlier EP had Wide Awake and Either Way on, I just hope this EP can lead on to the same success as The Twang's did.

You, dear regular reader, are totally aware of this band as we have mentioned Kalenko on here many times BUT I've saved the best for this post. 12 (Twelve) is the track that got me in to them and originally all I had to post was a cover of the track, now I have the original version. Enjoy and get in touch with Kalenko and get hold of their EP, there is still one track off it I haven't posted.

Friday 4 December 2009

3WTM's Album of the Year

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.

Anyway on to the album of the year, in fact for me this band pick up two awards, album of the year and live band of the year. The second title being an unfair contest as I have been to very few gigs this year and that tips it in their balance. If you haven't guessed yet the winner is White Lies, early promise was matched with a cracking album, one that had a consistent theme throughout yet the songs were varied. Seeing them live just impressed on me even more what good artists they are, from the lead singers voice to the sound they created. Not always easy in the not-so-good O2 Academy in Bristol. To celebrate them winning I thought I'd post the cover they played at the gig, Heaven, originally by Talking Heads. This recording is from their gig in Berlin this year, thanks to Just Music That I Like for the track, Jessica you're a star.

If you don't own White Lies album you know what you need to do...