The music blogs that get my respect today are those that don’t mention the band R**i*h**d. Any mention of that band automatically brings a blog down several notches. Do you really think they need any more help promoting this record? You’ve had it for 5 hours how can you really say whether it’s deserving of any serious consideration?
Anyway during one of my series on British americana and alt-county I stumbled upon the band The Epstein. At the time they were unsigned and had very little recorded or much info up on their site but I was nonetheless impressed with the song “Charanga”. I’ve since learned that they were recording their debut record at the time and as of Nov. 3 that record, Last Of The Charanguistas, will be released.
“Leave Your Light On” is a simple song with a compelling message of love. No new ground is covered either lyrically or musically but the slight tremor in the lead singer’s voice expresses more emotion than you could imagine. Musically the mandolin fills and female harmony vocals are just beautiful. “Just The Wind” rocks a little harder and adds electric guitar and horns to the mix.
Leave Your Light On
Just The Wind
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Completely unrelated (although I guess he is British, if he is indeed from this planet) is the new song from Darren Hayman (in the form of a YouTube video or .mov file). Darren (Hefner) has a new record out on Track and Field called Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern.
Darren recorded an interesting and at times amusing podcast about the making of the record. It’s like turning your favorite dvd’s commentary track on.
From the song below, “The Wrong Thing”, and the songs interspersed into the podcast, this record has transformed Darren’s sound from humble, lo-fi bedroom pop into a much more produced, albeit, very rough studio sound. None of the intimacy is lost with the fleshed out mix (upwards of 8 musicians on the record), nor are the songs any less immediate since they were written and recorded on the spot in a matter of hours. This may be Darren Hayman’s solo breakout record given the quality of the songs and the ability of Track & Field to get it out to consumers. I hope so, as I consider him one of the true hidden treasures England has to offer.