From the Ground – Heather Woods Broderick (Part I)

I recently posted quite a bit of music by a brilliant young musician called Peter Broderick who has released some beguiling records on a variety of labels including a particularly gorgeous album to fall asleep to. And wouldn’t you just know it –  the deep and abiding musical talent so inherently clear in his work runs in the family: for now his sister, Heather Woods Broderick has released an album and it is every bit as beguiling and beautiful as Peter’s best work.

Her little opus is called, From the Ground and is available on an Australian label, Preservation Records.  Gorgeously packaged the CD mines the same rich vein as her bro – deceptively simple melodies married to somewhat ethereal vocals and wonderfully evocative soundscapes made up of piano, strings and the gentlest percussion.

Music Monday III

The third music monday – my how time flies.  Not had much of that over the past few days to post more bits and pieces what with Christmas looming ever closer.  I promised that my next post music-wise would be a little livelier than has been my wont to pop up here of late and so this time I’m posting about a guy who has been getting a lot of praise on various blogs and websites over the past few months and deservedly so.

His name’s Dayve Hawke who, like Goldmund (see the last post) records under a variety of monikers.  His latest album is an amalgamation of two different personas – ‘Weird Tapes’ (electro infused dance) and ‘Memory Cassette’ (more electro but slightly more whimsical) to produce ‘Memory Tapes’, which is rather apt for this blog I think.
The album, called ‘Seek Magic’, is available on limited edition exclusively at Rough Trade in London – the link (as always) is below.  They say this album sounds like “Cocteau Twins, New Order and My Bloody Valentine” which, apart from the My Bloody Valentine reference (which I can’t hear) is a neat summation of sorts – what it definitely is is brilliantly original woozy synth pop.  And I hope you like it just as much as I do!

The Malady of Elegance

I found another gorgeous album by an artist I hadn’t heard of before this week – a musician called Keith Kenniff who records under a variety of pseudonyms including ‘Goldmund’ and ‘Helios.’ The album below (embedding a whole album here – if it works!) is his second under the name Goldmund for the Type A record label. It’s a lovely piece of work – beautifully meditative and brilliantly recorded (I love the fact that you can hear the subtle beat of the piano pedals and the hammers striking the strings before the note sounds – it makes you feel as though you’re in the room.) The second track, ‘In A Notebook’ is just sublime and it’s one I’m finding myself returning to late in the evening many times.

Normally I’d post this kind of music on a Friday evening for chilling to at the end of a busy week but I’m off tomorrow so here it is a day early. It’s getting kind of reflective in here music-wise so my next music post will be something a little more up-tempo. Hope you enjoy this little slice of pianistic heaven as much as I did – especially ‘In A Notebook.’ Let me know what you think…

You can buy the album on CD here: http://bit.ly/7y5ySb

Peter Broderick – And it’s Alright

So last Friday I posted some music to sleep to by the remarkable musician Peter Broderick and I thought this Monday I’d cover a little more of his music because it’s definitely worth hearing more of.  Hailing from the US but now living and recording in Copenhagen (or Berlin – accounts seem to differ on where he actually is but location’s not all that important really is it.  So I’m not sure why I even mentioned it except it seemed a good intro at the time.)  Anyway, this ferociously talented musician is only 21.  21!  And yet his music belies any age; its seemingly effortless simplicity masking a deeply complex and evocative body of work that is well worth seeking out.

I think ‘And it’s Alright’ is one of the loveliest songs I’ve heard recently – it’s like a big hug.

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus

So – have already posted a few tracks today but was at Rough Trade earlier and picked up a superb new release that I just had to post because I’m listening to it right now and frankly it’s so good that I think you should hear it too!

Band is called Phoenix and they’ve just released a 2-disc edition of their album, ” Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” with a second disc of rmx’s by Animal Collective, Passion Pit and Devendra Banhart – which makes this a pretty much essential release for the second disc alone.

Here are some of the standout tracks:

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

The Temper Trap and Wild Beasts

So for this Monday here’s a couple of songs/videos by two great new(ish) bands: The Temper Trap and Wild Beasts.  Both have a lead singer who sings in a falsetto but with very different and thankfully unmannered results.  I love The Temper Trap’s debut album, “Conditions” whilst Wild Beasts’ cd (also their debut) “Two Dancers”  is a more patchy affair – I think the song below is the best on the album.

There are a few reviews out there of these two releases so I won’t offer a critique, I’ll just let the music do the talking: