Songs You May Have Missed #383

04 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

brainstorm

Brainstorm: “Maybe” (2001)

brainstorm 2

Brainstorm, the Latvian pop rock/band–not to be confused with Brainstorm the American funk/R&B band from Michigan, or Brainstorm the German power metal band, or Brainstorm the experimental pop band from Portland, or Brainstorm the doom metal band from Ukraine, or Brainstorm the punk band from Serbia, or Brainstorm the jazz rock band from Germany, or Brainstorm the death metal band from Bulgaria, or Brainstorm the hardcore band from Salt Lake City, or Brainstorm aka electronic musician Moby, or Brainstorm the rapper from Washington–attained international notoriety when they finished third in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000 (although they’d been around since 1989).

Since 1999 they’ve been releasing albums both in Latvian and English. The band remain active despite having lost bassist Gundars Mauševics in a 2004 car accident.

Songs You May Have Missed #382

03 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

bees

The Bees: “Chicken Payback” (2004)

The Move, the Kinks, Small Faces, and even the Delfonics and Syd Barrett-era Floyd all seem to be points of reference for the Bees (formerly Band of Bees) on their Free the Bees LP, which takes its listener on a kaleidoscopic tour of sixties rock and pop. This is a band that time forgot.

“Chicken Payback” sounds like someone randomly rearranged the lyrics of those 60’s dance-craze-of-the-month songs (“The Payback”, “Camel Walk”, “Mickey’s Monkey”, “Funky Chicken”, “Donkey Walk”) perhaps with Austin Powers sitting in as executive producer.

Songs You May Have Missed #381

03 Apr 2013 1 Comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: , ,

nilsson

Nilsson: “The Most Beautiful World in the World” (1972)

 

Harry Nilsson…where do I begin? Underrated singer, overlooked songwriter, a favorite of the Beatles, a bad influence on John Lennon, and kind of a wacky character. But never dull.

After his massive breakthrough album, 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson, and just when he’d caught the world’s attention with his Grammy-winning worldwide hit recording of Badfinger’s “Without You”, Harry seemed bored already with the whole platinum-selling record thing. Follow-up Son of Schmilsson featured: a lead single with an F-bomb in the chorus, a false take interrupted by a belch, a Jim Stafford-esque parody country song, and a sing-along featuring residents of a retirement home with a chorus of “I’d rather be dead than wet my bed“.

The album’s closing track is a cheeky tribute to…the world. Like, personified. Hence:

Your mountains when you’re mad/Your rivers when you’re sad/And those deep blue seas

I love you for your snow/Your deserts down below/I love the way you wear your trees

The most beautiful world in the world/And though there are times when I doubt you/I just couldn’t stay here without you

So when you get older and over your shoulder/You look back to see if it’s real

Tell her she’s beautiful, roll the world over/And give her a kiss…and a feel

So much for a mainstream career.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/05/24/songs-you-may-have-missed-419/

Songs You May Have Missed #380

03 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

never

Never Shout Never: “Fifteen” (2010)

Christofer Drew is Never Shout Never, in the same sense that Adam Young is Owl City; both are young men with distinctive, not-everyone’s-cup-of-tea voices who built followings by posting their homemade, self-penned singer-songwriter pop online. Both were successful enough doing so to eventually sign recording contracts and release legitimate albums. And both have broad popularity among very young listeners.

“Fifteen” was a download-only extra track from Drew’s debut, and is for me the most engaging 90 seconds of the record. Subsequent releases have featured more ambitious, full-band arrangements.

Drew’s candid lyrical sensibility and knack for melodic hooks occasionally raise his material above the level of standard adolescent emo-fluff. With maturity and experience I think he has a chance to come up with something really special–I intend to keep listening for it.

never shout never

Songs You May Have Missed #379

02 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

camel

Camel: “Elke” (1977)

With guest appearance by Brian Eno on mini moog, bells and piano, English prog band Camel’s quietest tune is the ultimate song for stargazing–either mental or actual. It’s not the only Andrew Latimer song, instrumental or no, to evoke extraterrestrial landscapes: their 1976 Moonmadness album was a gentle and sweetly melodic masterpiece of space rock.

But close your eyes while “Elke” plays if you wish to let the infinite beauties of the cosmos flash in the mind’s eye. Camel were among the best at making music that did what so much of the best progressive rock can do: sweep you away to far-flung realms of the mind.

My theory is that anyone with a good imagination has a favorite prog rock band. Some just haven’t discovered theirs. Yet.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/10/23/recommended-albums-27/

Songs You May Have Missed #378

30 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

celts

Enya: “I Want Tomorrow” (1986)

In all likelihood you’ve already formed an opinion about multi-million selling Celtic new age superstar Enya. Still, you may not be familiar with one of her most beautiful melodies, “I Want Tomorrow”, from her debut, which was served as musical score for the BBC-TV series The Celts a couple years before the Watermark album–and international acclaim–came her way.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2016/01/13/songs-you-may-have-missed-565/

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