Alabama Shakes: the new Janis Joplin?

   / Southern-Rock, Soul, Blues-Rock, USA

                                                                                                               (posted in Danish, April 26, 2012)


Another of my friends who has an ear for music, Alex, pointed my attention to this band... thank you, Alex :)

The Joplin thing... if you ask me, this band / singer has A LOT of potential.

Alabama Shakes is a real intense band. They have an original sound and catchy, groovy, bluesy swing.  I love them already, here a few minutes after watching them on Facebook.

Now I've done a bit of research...

Alabama Shakes is a band out of Athens, Alabama. The lead singer (Brittany Howard) og bassplayer (Zac Cockrell) met at highschool in 2009 and started meeting after school, writing songs. They tried out a lot of genres connected to "the old southern USA" and after a while, they got the drummer Steve Johnson aboard. They started writing and recording music. But for performances they found a guitarist (Heath Fogg) who later became a band member. They would play Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, AC/DC and James Brown-songs to fill up 45 minutes of concert. Then they changed their name from The Shakes to Alabama Shakes, to avoid being confused with other bands that were named the same. By 2011 Ben Tanner (keyboards) joined them on tours.

Below is more info, but first an hour-long concert from New York, aired on MTV...

Edited: the concert has been removed, but here is another, just as good :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFxxvxjkAU

Their 1st EP was released September 2011. It attracted the attention of people in some cities, and after having their song in a big tv-commercial, MTV added them to the list of 11 bands to pay attention to in 2012! They got a record contract and were nominated for the prize of Best Live Act. They have had several big talkshow-appearances, including Letterman on his birthday.

And now they are playing at Roskilde Festival 2012. I'm 100% sure it will be a fantastic concert.

(Editet: Their 1st Album "Boys & Girls" was released in 2012 and the 2nd one "Sound & Color" in 2015 - listen on Spotify)

MUSIKKlik:

Alabama Shakes' 1. musikvideo "Hold On": http://youtu.be/Le-3MIBxQTw

Alabama Shakes' homepage (scroll below picture): http://www.alabamashakes.com/

Alabama Shakes in Gaffa: https://gaffa.dk/search/14647

NEW SPOTIFY APPS

   / Streaming music, Technology.

(Released in Danish, 2012 April 4th)

(Unfortunately Spotify stopped supporting 3rd-party apps years ago, although some of them was really good and useful. Sadly the (full) functionality of the apps haven't been adopted by Spotify. Some stuff is still useful in other ways. Read on below the video of a piece of music featured in the original article; music I discovered with one of the apps, Diggster's section on popmusic featured on Roskilde Festival that year... Adrian Lux: Teenage Crime)

The new apps (well, they were new in 2012, descriptions are edited to suit the present):

Classify:

You really could search and choose better than ever in classical music... composers, instruments, eras, moods, categories and "recommended".

The Complete Collection:

Not only music, but full album art, zoomable, flipable etc.

Def Jam:

Playlists from Def Jam label. Some are found on Spotify. Nice urban stuff. Link below.

Digster:

Their many playlists for all occasions are to be found in Spotify, and on their homepage (link below).

Domino:

Playlists from Domino label. Some are found on Spotify. Link below.

Filtr:

Was a great app for making playlists, where you select style, mood, instrument, artist and / or intensity from start to end of the playlist. The app is gone, but Filtr offers a homepage where you can do something similar, and then save the playlist on Spotify... Link below

The Legacy Of:

Sony Music. Artist's full backlist, highlighted albums, biography, photos and extended playlists with cover versions and artists that influinced them and who they influenced.

Matador Records:

Albums from that label, and tourdates of the bands. Categorized by year or "new". Experimental, hardcore and indie. Their playlists are to be found on Spotify, link below..

[PIAS]:

A sales platform / home for independant artist, and also artist's own playlists. Some playlists are still on Spotify, link below.

TweetVine:

A hitlist from tweeter, was updated every hour, showing what people tweeted with #nowplaying. Mostly mainstream.

The Warner Sound:

Songs, albums and playlists (also genre playlists) from Warner Music Group. Album of the day, with description, Family-tree where modern artists were chained to their musical roots, and the artist's own playlists.

MUSICClick:

Spotify: https://www.spotify.com/dk/

Def Jam Recordings on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/defjamrecordings

Digster: https://www.digster.fm/

Filtr: https://filtr.com/dk/spotify

Matador Records on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/matadorrecords

[PIAS] on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/pias_uk

MODESELEKTOR: heavy, multifaceted and long-lasting.

   / Electronica, Breakbeat, Experimental Techno, IDM, Germany
                                                                                                 (Released in Danish, 2012 April 3rd)

The many, very telling tags above (IDM = Intelligent Dance Music) could be even more. Modeselektor is a mix of genres - the new disc Monkey Town is also hip-hop, it's Moby (many tracks) and it's Zappa + Mothers (track 9) and more. As the band puts it, commenting on the style of music they play: "Happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk. We don’t like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don’t really care about all that."

Below - Modeselektor feat. Miss Platinum: Berlin

The story of Modeselector is that in 1992 they met and performed acid house live at illegal raves in Berlin. They called themselves Fundamental Knowledge, but after four years they changed their name to Modeselektor - a name from an electro-music machine from the firm Roland. In 1999 they began to publish music. And cooperated with various artistic collectives dealing with video and music.

The video: Modeselektor feat. Busdriver: Pretentious Friends (live)

Noticed the sign 99.201.208.134.035 people like this? :-D

Editet:

Modeselektor have released 4 studio albums, 2 compilations and 2 albums under the name Moderat in cooperation with the german electronic musician Apparat.

Above - a fanvideo (combo with a french movie): Modeselektor feat. TTC - 2000007



M U S I C Click:

Video: Modeselektor feat. TTC: Dancing Box
https://youtu.be/e4ZUspBCFWc

Video: Modeselektor: Black Block
https://youtu.be/g0vpWsNqNpE

Video: Modeselektor: Evil Twin
https://youtu.be/3Sp8Vhwts6U

Video: Modeselektor: The Dark Side Of The Sun
https://youtu.be/beP6TpRJP60

Video: Modeselektor: Monkeytown
https://youtu.be/htV1-ZTUzQw

A very interesting fanvideo (combo with Metropolis movie): Modeselektor: Blue Clouds https://youtu.be/3YHBFmMMECg

Modeselektor's website
http://www.modeselektor.com/

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THE JAMES CLEAVER QUINTET

   / Post-Hardcore, UK          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 25th)



... or "Weird-Core" as they call this genre on Facebook ... on MySpace they call themselves an "indie / punk / trash" -Band. The genre is difficult to define, but it's hard, fast and straight forward.

The James Cleaver Quintet is a new band. They have just released their debut album called "That Was Then, This Is Now".

The band is relatively unknown yet and it is pretty hard to find much info about them.

(The video Sink or Swim)

They have last year been involved in a commercial for an energy drink. The video is fantastic, showing the band riding bikes, skateboards etc, while playing a song, as seen below.

The band has already gained attention. Said about The JCQ: "Along with Exit Ten, it seems quite likely that this band has the potential to become future leaders of a generation of British hard rock." (Quote: Ramblings of a rock fan) which is quite cool label to get. And I agree, they may become great.

The band: Jacky Udon - Vocals
Maud E. Licious - Guitar / Vocals / Tenor Sax
J-SPLAFF - Bass
Crabman Scoop - Drums / Cymbals
Dr. Quarkoon Puffoon - Organ / Guitar / Vocals / Samples



Editet: The band changed their name to The JCQ, but is since 2014 no longer active. Totally they released 1 EP and 2 albums. The Facebook and Myspace-sites are dead, and their homepage is removed.



M U S I C Click:

Video Chicken Shit (For the Soul) by The JCQ
http://youtu.be/S0NASwPYwns

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CHARLI XCX: New, fresh and nostalgic

   / Goth-Pop, Dance-Pop, Electro-Pop, UK.          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 8th)

I went surfing on New-York music blogs and found a concert by female London singer: Charli XCX.

She sounds so fresh and different that she must be mentioned here.

The genre is described as Goth-Pop.

Charli XCX's real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchinson and she is just 19 years old. She is inspired by the synth-pop wave of the '80s, eg Talk Talk, Johnny Hates Jazz and The Cure.

(More below the video Nuclear Seasons)

She self-published her song. There is not much more to say about the girl yet, she is pretty undescribed. Learn more via the links at the bottom.

Edited:

Charli XCX has by now released three albums, are doing her own gigs with over 1,000 tickets sold per night and are touring with big names like Coldplay, Ellie Goulding and Kate Perry. Read more about her, see links below these videos, released later than article was first published.

Here a hit called Boom Clap

Below: the video Break The Rules

Finally: Famous (live, London)

M U S I C Click:

The video Superlove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPWcX-16A9Y

Charli XCX on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charli_XCX

Charli XCX's website
http://charlixcxmusic.com/