First, some news about Mellow Music. There won’t be daily updates anymore starting tomorrow, because I’ve got to work, which means a daily “eat,work,eat,sleep” and not much free time. But I will do some updates every weekend and if I can find some time, so don’t abandon us >_<
Dashboard Confessional is going back to being a one-man affair: singer/guitarist Chris Carrabba will return to his roots and will tour this fall in a solo acoustic tour; dates: Sept. 14 - O’Rena Athletic Complex, Rochester, Mich.
Sept. 28 - Rams Head Live, Baltimore
Sept. 29 - Norva, Norfolk, Va.
Sept. 30 - Meymanid Concert Hall, Raleigh, N.C.
Oct. 2 - Center Stage, Atlanta
Oct. 3 - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
Oct. 5 - House Of Blues, Orlando, Fla.
Oct. 8 - La Zona Rosa, Austin
Oct. 9 - Warehouse Live, Houston
Oct. 10 - Palladium, Dallas
Oct. 12 - House Of Blues, Las Vegas
Oct. 13 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Az.
Oct. 14 - Soma, San Diego
Oct. 16-17 - Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
Oct. 19 - Warfield, San Francisco
Oct. 20 - Wonder Ballroom, Portland, Ore.
Oct. 25 - Ogden Theatre, Denver
Oct. 16 - Uptown Theater, Kansas City
Oct. 29-30 - House Of Blues, Chicago
Nov. 1 - Kool Haus, Toronto
Nov. 2 - Clutch Cargo’s, Pontiac, Mich.
Nov. 3 - Newport Music Hall, Columbus, Ohio
Nov. 5 - Webster Hall, New York
Nov. 6 - Highline Ballroom, New York
Nov. 8-9 - Palladium, Worcester, Mass.
Nov. 10 - House of Blues, Atlantic City, N.J.
Nov. 12-13 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
Nov. 14 - “Magazine” Theater at Gramercy, New York
You can prelisten some of the new songs on ‘Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon’ of Devendra Banhart on his Myspace.
Bright Eyes has had a lot of people around him making animated video’s of songs of ‘Cassadaga‘: check them out here!
Tracklist
1. Contact
2. All The Love In Your Hands
3. Animal
4. Call Someone
5. Follow Me
6. A Lot Of Silence Here
7. Spirals
8. Talking To Sirens
9. Under The Sun
10. Spark
11. Ones And Zeros
Review
Well another one for the Coldplay, Keane, Travis, Starsailor and others - lovers … and especially the Coldplay-lovers. Because this album resembles very much what Coldplay brings you, many even say a ‘bad imitation’ (’Just listen to how Contact begins … Yellow, anyone?’). And partly I do share this opinion: Thirteen Senses lacked uniqueness in their sound in their previous album, and now they even lack more … They do make great music though. I do like their previous album, The Invitation, a lot more: first of all, because that album did have some ‘hit’ songs and secondly because they were more mellow and soft. Now they try to be hard, powerful and passionate, and that doesn’t really suit them in my opinion (others say that they show more ‘personality’ now … but that’s their opinion). Though intermittently resembling Coldplay, these guys are far from being an audio depiction of grey. This band has all 13 of their senses switched on and make great music!
Tracklist
1. The Iron Sea (Magic Shop)
2. New One
3. Maybe I Can Change
4. Thin Air
5. Untitled II
6. He Used To Be A Lovely Boy
7. Let it slide
8. The theft of Octo
9. Call Me What You Like
10. Wolf At The Door
11. Tyderian
12. On A Day Like Today
13. With Or Without You
14. Closer Now
Review
This is also a compilation of b-sides made by fans, but has other songs than Little Broken Words! These B-sides are also of very high quality and there are some really superb songs. Like on Little Broken Words, this album has a lot of those slower mellow ballads that I love of Keane, and songs that remind us of their first album ‘Hopes And Fears’. There are also some songs without vocals and only electronic sounds that unfortunately aren’t really that great. On the upside, their cover of U2’s ‘With Or Without you’ is very beautiful! Not many great songs, but a lot of good songs … but what else to expect of an album with B-sides … Have fun with The Theft Of Octo!
My favorite songs:6. He Used To Be A Lovely Boy, 13. With Or Without You
Tracklist
1. Diane
2. Careful
3. Amsterdam
4. Backyard
5. Homecoming King
6. Ramona
7. Jesus on the Radio
8. Keep It Together
9. Come Downstairs and Say Hello
10. Red Oyster Cult
11. Long Way Down
12. I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today
13. Silence
14. Two at a Time
Review
Guster brings you acoustic indiepop that is very vivid and mellow at the same time. They bring you catchy melodies with quirky electronic sounds and lots of playfulness. A negative side about the songs is that they don’t keep lingering in your head: the songs sound too ‘conventional’ and aren’t really well-written; there isn’t really any song that keeps repeating itself in your head. Nevertheless, if you want poppy energetic indie-songs with nice melodies, then get this album!
Review
This is one of my favourite albums and one that I hope most of you already have. It is Coldplay’s debut album and in my opinion also their best one. This is an album that doesn’t really (need to) convince in volume and edge, but that excels in mellowness and melancholy. All the songs are unique and beautiful and make you long for more (or for the repeat-button), and perfectly written. Guitars have never sounded so smooth, drums have never sounded so simple and satisfying and Chris Martin’s voice is just superb. This album is as mellow as you can get and perfect for quiet contemplation in a bedroom. Have fun with it!
My favorite songs: 4. Sparks, 5. Yellow, 6. Trouble
The new album of Coldplay, currently being recorded by the band in Barcelona, will have a Hispanic Theme. As can be read on their blog:
The sights, sounds and flavours of Latin America and Spain have definitely been infused on this album. The band visited Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico earlier this year. Chris [Martin] then came up with the idea of recording in Spain. The music and lyrics have begun to reflect the strengthening Hispanic theme.No maracas or castanets, but a vibrancy and colourfulness that owes much to the atmosphere of Buenos Aires and Barcelona.
Nottingham Social (October 22)
Wolverhampton Little Civic (October 23)
Brighton Komedia (October 24)
Leeds Cockpit (October 26)
Manchester Night and Day (October 27)
Glasgow King Tut’s (October 28)
Sheffield Plug (October 30)
London King’s College
Bristol Fleece (November 1)
Here we have a cool video of The National performing live at Letterman (I love this song ^^):
Devendra Banhart has announced the tracklist for ‘Thunder Canyon’:
01 Cristobal
02 So Long Old Bean
03 Samba Vexillographica
04 Seahorse
05 Bad Girl
06 Seaside
07 Shabop Shalom
08 Tonada Yanomaminista
09 Rosa
10 Saved
11 Lover
12 Carmencita
13 The Other Woman
14 Freely
15 Remember
16 My Dearest Friend
And you can see him live:
08-10 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-11 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-13 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
08-15 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
08-16 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08-17 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-19 Brecon Beacons Powys, Wales - Glanusk Park (Green Man Festival)
08-21 Paris, France - L’Europeen
08-23 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches
08-24 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-26 Reading, England Reading Festival
09-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
09-02 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival *
09-04 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
09-06 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theater *
09-07 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
09-10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (Native American benefit) #
09-12 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium #
09-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall Theater #
09-15 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue #
09-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater #
09-18 Chicago, IL - Portage Theater !
09-19 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater !
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall !
09-22 Montreal, Quebec - Le National !
09-23 Burlington, VT - Davis Center Grand Ballroom at University of Vermont !
09-25 Boston, MA - Roxy Ballroom !
09-27 New York, NY - Grand Ballroom !
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts !
10-01 Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue !
10-04 Nashville, TN - City Hall $
10-06 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater $
10-07 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa $
10-09 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater (Native American benefit) %
10-10 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater %
10-12 Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theater %
10-13 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre %
* with Noah Georgeson
# with Rio En Medio
! with Matteah Baim
$ with Jana Hunter
% with Hecuba
Tracklist
1. Little Flowers
2. Everything But Sleep
3. Ringing Of The Bell Tower
4. Are You A Dreamer?
5. East From West
6. California Brown And Blue
7. Castle And Cathedral
8. Worry All The Time
9. Grandma Mary
10. Finding Your Feet Again
Review
Denison Witmer is an acoustic indie singer-songwriter. ‘Are You A Dreamer?’ is one of his latest albums, and in my opinion also one of his best ones; as stated on Pitchfork: ” ‘Are You a Dreamer?’ provides more of the same, a far softer and more traditional record than those from Elliott Smith or potential points of comparison such as Damien Rice and Sufjan Stevens.” On all his albums he makes use of poetic and thoughtful lyrics and simple, yet complex finger picking guitar parts. Therefore we get a nice mellow sound. Dreams supposedly drive this album but are only hinted at in its lyrics. A bit of a negative note is the fact that all songs blend together. Therefore it’s difficult to remember just where one ends and one begins. This is because Witmer never changes his vocal tone and the melodies are not that interesting overall. Nevertheless, ‘Are You A Dreamer?’ is overall a great album that gives you that mellow autumn feeling. Listen to it and love it!
My favorite songs: 1. Little Flowers, 4. Are You A Dreamer?
Similar Artists: Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Damien Jurado
Tracklist
1. I Want You Now
2. Never Be Lonely
3. Fill My Little World
4. Kettle’s On
5. Sewn
6. Anyone
7. Strange
8. Love It When You Call
9. Rose
10. Same Old Stuff
11. Helicopter
12. Blue Piccadilly
Review
The Feeling is a five piece inspired by 70s pop-rock; 10cc, Supertramp, ELO, Queen and the like. Yet you don’t really hear this influence all too much in their songs (unlike in songs of The Darkness). Twelve Stops and Home, the debut album of The Feeling, brings you britpop/soft rock like Thirteen Senses and Athlete do. The Feeling has a more unique sound than Thirteen Senses; it brings you a better voice (in my opinion) and prettier melodies (better songwriting skills). We have some real superb songs on this album; ‘Sewn’, one of their singles, is one of my favourites. The piano ballad ‘Rose’ is also very beautiful. Along with their great pop/soft rock sound, you get a lot of emotion and lush harmonies.
My favorite songs: 5. Sewn, 8. Love It When You Call, 9. Rose
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