Regret – Circus Envy

February 11, 2011

Last year, I introduced you to Mike, guitarist & bouzouki player for Circus Envy. They are now back with their new single Regret, which was released on 24 Jan.

Suprisingly upbeat given its title, Regret builds on the band’s sound from their previous EP A New Dawn. Incorporating a distinctive fiddle line as well as the odd tin whistle in a multi-layered accompaniment, which is held together by Mike’s energetic strumming – continuously driving the track forward but not being afraid to drop back as and when the lyrics demand.

Lyrically, the band have left behind the folky vibes of A New Dawn, Regret is very much a modern and original composition, which is distinctly pop-py at times. (And ever so slightly ear-wormy).

“Demain Sera Parfait” by Jean-Louis Aubert

February 8, 2011

Ever since moving into my new apartment, now five months ago, I never bothered to change the presets on my radio alarm clock. As such, I wake up every morning to mostly static coming from 88.1 WMBR, the MIT campus radio station. However, every Monday the songs come in loud and clear from their show French Toast, a show dedicated completely to French-language music. Normally in my morning stupor, I hit the snooze button about four times and don’t listen to anything, but this past Monday was different. I was greeted with an incredibly happy chanson, made to make you wake up on the right side of the bed. That chanson was “Demain Sera Parfait” by Jean-Louis Aubert off his latest album Roc’Eclair.

Jean-Louis Aubert is from the band Téléphone, the French version of The Rolling Stones. They lasted from 1977 to 1986 and hit huge with their eighties-taststic rock music. Since then Jean-Louis has been working solo with eight albums to himself. His solo work is less rock and more reflective, “as if each of his songs found the original virtue of music – to do good”.

Unsigned, Unreal: Artists To Know Before Everyone Else — Carl Hauck

February 7, 2011

Initially, I thought the chills rushing over me were from a lack of heat in my room, but after honing in on the reverberating chords floating in my head—alas: my chills’ true source was confirmed.

I don’t know where Carl Hauck came from, but what I really don’t know is why he’s yet unsigned.

He first started toying with the guitar in third grade, and it’s hard to believe that this ink-on-the-diploma’s-barely-dry recent grad has produced song after successful song (from his bedroom, no less) and completed an intense circuit of tours and shows only a few years later. Flawless vocals, guitar chords at turns simple and intricate, and lyrics that even Spenser wouldn’t sneeze at have been the fail-proof trinity of Hauck’s not one, not two, but four widely acclaimed albums.

I listened to his two latest, Windjammer and Counter Intelligence. And then I listened to them again. Then again. And this time it had less to do with my tendency to become obsessed with a song, album, or artist (see “Do Studio Effects/Production A Good Song Make?”), but more with a hankering to pinpoint my favorite track.

Is it still swearing if it’s the name of a band?

February 1, 2011

HolyF@#%. It is both a useful expression of utter astonishment and the the name of an electronica experimental rock band from Toronto, Canada.

The first thought is always “why the name?” A few weeks ago, Electricwolf mentioned their common sense prevented them from renaming themselves to S#!^ Pizza. Well, that sense didn’t quite make it to Holy F@#%. The name at the very least piques your curiosity, and then you find yourself pleasantly surprised at how often you turn back to them for more. It’s been getting them all sorts of press and whether the press be good or bad, it sure hasn’t hurt them. Ever since they banded together in 2004, Holy Fuck has been tearing up all sorts of music festivals in North America and the U.K.

Artists You didn’t Know Before Kanye West Introduced You (Don’t Lie: You Know You didn’t)

January 31, 2011

Okay, fine: maybe all of Review Artists’ readers knew of Bon Iver, but God knows prior to listening to Kanye West’s “Lost In The World”, I didn’t. And I’m willing to bet that a sizable number of those listeners holding the million plus sold copies of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy didn’t know who he was either. Or Aphex Twin, or Mike Oldfield, or King Crimson, or…or…: the list goes on.

There’s something to be said about the decisions that Kanye West makes: sometimes misguided, often unpredictable, always the mark of a creative genius. And in the case of his inclination to work with and sample certain artists? The latter two. West has an uncanny knack for (strategic? purely impulsive?) collaboration.