All credit on this one goes to Sharleen. I just love when someone passes you a cd out of the blue and says 'think you might like this', and you end up loving it on the first spin. That was the case with this one and the good people at Rolling Stone agree. Don't hang about, check it out on Seeqpod below.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Using a combination of Pandora and seeqpod, I recently came across a very cool artist called General Fuzz. Pandora 'recommended' him to me based on my recent interest in Ulrich Schnauss. I did some research, well - being honest I did some torrent searches and some googling. The latter resulted me in discovering the guys website and blog. Not only is he a seriously cool writer, producer, etc but his music is completely free to download.

All at the same time, his music reminds me of Kruder & Dorfmeister, Orbital - a great mix I'm sure any 'electronica' fans will agree.

Enough from me. If you like the sound of this, you can go download all this stuff for free with no need to feel guilty.

Labels: electronica, general fuzz, new

Saw this dude with his band supporting Cold War Kids at the Ambassador last night. Check out their latest album, Close to Paradise, which has just beaten the likes of Arcade Fire, The Dears and The Besnard Lakes to the Polaris Music Prize. There are a couple of free downloads on their web site .

Don't miss them next time they come back to Dublin...

Here's what NME had to say....

Every so often, say once every five years, a hardened, cynic of a music fan stumbles across something that's come from nowhere (or in this case Canada) that totally floors them.

As any one who's seen him live will attest Patrick Watson and his eponymous band are the latest curveball. Coming from the bohemian Montreal scene that birthed Arcade Fire, it's inevitable that current musical trends don't get a look in. The influences are much more classic and even classical in one case. Across the 13 tracks you'll find the grimy booze-sodden blues of Tom Waits, the woozy widescreen drama of Portishead, the moody piano-bothering of Debussy and above all Watson's mercurial vocals, which are evocative of - and this isn't a comparison to be made lightly - Jeff Buckley.
It starts on a wheezing asthmatic note, blinking into the light with the title track. It sets the tone of the album, being an impressionistic beauty that evokes intimate smoky 4am romances before bursting into a sumptuous widescreen epic.

It's an album of immense variety: the spooky carnival whirl of 'Weight Of The World'; 'Daydreamer' sounds like the Victorian music boxes that spill out exotic clicking insects before a tender banjo comes in; 'Mr Tom' features the piano from the hotel in The Shining, if it had one. The centrepiece, though, is 'Luscious Life'. In just over three minutes it captures and celebrates the essence of why life is great without being cheesy. Most artists would be happy to have an album comprised of 13 versions of 'Luscious Life'; most record labels would be even happier. The album avoids that trap though. It's that rarest of artefacts, at turns beguiling, strange, beautiful and moving - the sort of thing that makes the souls of cynical hacks do cute little cartwheels of joy.

Ulrich Schnauss has just released his new album "Goodbye" which I have on order so its coming to us soon :)
Was just re listening to "A Strangely Isolated Place" and its so good.

If you haven't heard him I highly recommend checking him out, saw him live in the sugar club which was amazing, weird watching a gig where its just a guy on a laptop...

Some great tracks I've got recently, heard a lot of these on newbit a great place to hear good stuff.

• Jim Rivers - Restore EP
  love this guy, 2 totally amazing tracks on this EP, absolutely worth getting. Check out his myspace page too he puts up new stuff pretty regular.
  
• Red head - Beauty In My mind
  Sweet track available here on Juno.co.uk
• Harald Bjork - Brus
  This was played on newbit had to get it after hearing it, available on Juno.co.uk
  
• Si Begg - Hornsey Slap
  Also just heard this on newbit, fantastic track, any fans of "Bend Over" on Musipal will love this track, reminded me of it instantly sounds like the same kid, anyway a must have!
  Available on Bleep
  

I simply cannot remember who/what recommended this one to me but since I 'obtained' this little gem it's been mostly gathering computer dust. I've resurrected it recently and regretted letting it sit there unlistened, because it's a good 'un. This really is yet another one of the contenders for album of the year. The Philadelphia based ' Rock / Psychedelic' (according to their MySpace site have put together a collection of really catchy tunes here, reminding me in ways of The Charlatans, Supper Furry Animals and even the Stone Roses in parts. I guess the only real way for you to determine their inspiration is to check them out yourself, something I would highly recommend you do. Curiously, the Mazarin website says 'Mazarin is presently undergoing a transformation from it's former self... a transformation of name and direction. Details coming soon...' We'll see what that means soon I guess.