Laura Mvula

Just like my last blog, here's someone else I know barely anything about. Also like my last blog, I've barely heard anything by this lady. But what I have heard is enough to catch my attention. All I know about Laura Mvula is that she's from London and has released her first EP, She. Sadly it's not available on US iTunes yet, only UK iTunes, so I don't even know what songs to look for.

Out of the three songs that I've heard, She, the title track off the EP and the song that turned me on to her, is by far the best. Reminds me a bit of Lianne Le Havas, one of my favorite new artists of the year. Anyway, it's a beautiful song, especially once it really gets going about 2 minutes in. I'm just waiting until I can actually buy it on iTunes for myself. And until she releases a full album.

 

Kwabena Adjepong (Kwabs)

There isn't very much known about this guy from what I can tell. All I really know is that Kwabena Ajdepong (better known as Kwabs) gained everyone's attention with the following video, which apparently he performed at Buckingham Palace in front of the Queen.




After watching that I'm sure you can see why he gained so much attention, and why he started making the rounds on all the blogs. I've found a few more covers by him, but nothing of his own yet. My favorite is probably this cover of The Wilhelm Scream by James Blake (who you should absolutely go listen to. Ridiculously good debut album). Very different from the original, and he adds his own lyrics and stuff in.




I also know that he's apparently Ghanaian, even though he was raised in the UK, and still has tons of family there. So maybe I can count him as another African musician for the list.

RAC Remixes

One of the blogs I listen to has a lot of remix tracks on it. While I enjoy a good remix, they're not generally something I seek out. With a few exceptions of course (i.e. My Brightest Diamond, whose remix albums I look forward to just as much as her original albums. Cause she's brilliant.).

Anyway, so this blog has lots of remixes. Particularly lots of remixes by RAC. I'd taken notice of them but never sought to find more. Until today, that is. Was listening to the blog in question, and two amazing remixes came on, both of which were by RAC. So I learned that they are a cooperative of 3 guys who make remixes for lots of artists that I like. That's enough to know, I guess.

Anyway, first song I heard was an awesome remix of We Come Running by Youngblood Hawke. I like the original a lot, but I think I like this remix even more. And apparently these guys are popular and on the radio and stuff? Is this true? Anyway, this song is great from the first note. And then the second verse comes in and it gets even better. Fucking awesome.





The second was a remix of one of my favorites, Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. If you haven't heard the original, you must. The song is incredible. And this remix is also amazing. Luckily this one can be found on RAC's album Chapter One, along with remixes of plenty of other awesome bands.




And in case you need more, they have like a bajillion songs on their SoundCloud.

Because I like long songs

So sometimes I love an extremely long song. I especially love when a regular length song is played out to ridiculous lengths at a concert. That's always fun.

I got two new albums this week, both of which are great, and both of which contain songs of around 9 minutes. Both of which songs are fantastic.

The first one is Troubleman, off Mondo, the debut album from Electric Guest. I'm a bit partial to this band since they're from LA, but they also make excellent music. They're produced by Danger Mouse, which is always a good sign, and at times remind me of Graffiti6, which is also a good thing.




Then there is Gary Clark, Jr. This is one guy you should absolutely know about. I first heard him earlier this year with his song Bright Lights. That's probably still my favorite song by him, so even though only a measly 5:25, I will still share it with you.





This guy is pretty freaking awesome. Some have even called him the saviour of the blues. Great vocals, great music, and excellent songs of ridiculous length. Which brings me to another of my favorites from his major label debut album, Blak and Blu. This song is not only almost 10 minutes long, it also has a crazy long name: Third Stone from the Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say. And he doesn't even start singing until like three and a half minutes in. This is one of those tracks that, even though it's already stupid long, I don't want it to end. And I can only imagine how amazing it is live. Apparently it's a double cover, starting off with Jimi Hendrix and moving into Albert Collins.

 

Joe Purdy

Joe Purdy has been one of my favorites for years now. But he's one of those favorites that I haven't kept up with very well. Of course, it's hard with him. I just checked and he's apparently got 13 albums. And as it turns out, I kept up better than I thought with him. There was a time where he realsed like 3 albums a year, but I guess the last I heard was 2009's Last Clock On The Wall, after which he's only released two more. I guess I'll go buy them.

Anyway, my favorite track by him, and one of my favorite songs, is I Love the Rain the Most off the Julie Blue album. Julie Blue is a collection of acoustic tracks that he recorded in a river cabin in like a week with a friend. It's great. I've heard this song performed live with a full band, and it's still great, but there's something about the original acoustic version that is very special.