Showing posts with label Tancred. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tancred. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 September 2020
Sunday, 13 September 2020
Fantasy Festival number 18: The Lineup
otta: Finnish/British musician otta's debut EP was released earlier this year. Including as it did the broodingly minimalistic 'Near Enough A Woman', it's fair to say that this young songwriter has created a stir amongst those with an interest in slightly jazz influenced understated songwriting. You can find out more on otta's Bandcamp.
Jess Williamson: Texas born, LA dwelling singer/songwriter Jess Williamson is rooted in country but she also inhabits a wild, sweeping soundscape that goes beyond Americana. You imagine prairie winds but you can also sense speakeasy's and dark and seedy LA streets. You can find out more here.
Ailibhe Reddy: Irish singer/songwriter Ailibe Reddy could perhaps be described as urban folk. Her songs have a tradition of folk songwriting behind them, but her concerns are of the urban life: Tube trains, shame, relationships. There is noise and grit in the mix, and she is certainly a songwriter for our times. You can find out more here.
Tancred: Jess Abbot's fourth album as Tancred, Nightstand, was released in 2018. In equal measure pared down and intimate confessional and brash guitar led indie rock swagger, it deserved a greater degree of success than it had. Those of a certain age might think of early Liz Phair or, more likely, Mary Lou Lord, but Abbot is her own woman and transcends all comparisons with the quality of her voice and her songwriting. You can find out more here.
The Coathangers: The garage rock band from Atlanta, Georgia make catchy, thrashy, occasionally sixties girl group esque songs that will remind you of both the Shondells and the Rondelles, as well as - inevitably - the Girls In The Garage series. You can find out more here.
Tei Shi: Colombian-Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Valerie Teicher Barbosa makes harmony based, R&B flavoured indie pop, with a slyly subversive edge. You can find out more here.
Harkin: Katie Harkin began her musical career in Leeds as one half of teenage indie punk band Sky Larkin. Since then she's collaborated with members of Wye Oak and Wild Beasts and become a member of the Sleater-Kinney touring band. Her debut self titled album was released in early 2020 and was a series of crisp, hook based songs in the indie rock tradition. She will be back to promote the album, it is to be expected, in 2021. In the meantime, you can find her on Insta.
Nadine Shah: South Tyneside singer, songwriter and musician Nadine Shah has just released her fourth album, Kitchen Sink, a series of highly timely observational vignettes taken from a life where she has often felt like an outsider. All her rage, all her anger, all her talent for observing and crafting songs that pierce modern mores like arrows, comes out in a series of unforgiving bluesy rock anthems. She is astonishingly good live, and you can find out more here.
Imogen Heap: Singer, songwriter, producer and sound engineer Imogen Heap is as known for her inventive use of technology (her musical gloves being one example) as for her music itself. To see her live is to experience music technology development in action, but - both as a member of Frou-Frou and in a solo capacity - she has also written some damn good left of centre pop tunes. You can find out more here, and watch her weekly livestreams here.
St Vincent: Singer, songwriter and producer Annie Clark has been making music as St Vincent since 2006. Hers has been a low key rise, not indicative of superstardom, but well respected and highly influential, garnering respect and headliner status. Each of her albums has a distinct musical identity and hinterland of its own, with 2017's Masseduction having a sexy, slinky quality to it that veered from the unbearably sad to the joyously hedonistic. Hers is a big, complex sound, a sort of baroque art pop, never the same, but always unmistakably her. You can find out more here.
Jess Williamson: Texas born, LA dwelling singer/songwriter Jess Williamson is rooted in country but she also inhabits a wild, sweeping soundscape that goes beyond Americana. You imagine prairie winds but you can also sense speakeasy's and dark and seedy LA streets. You can find out more here.
Ailibhe Reddy: Irish singer/songwriter Ailibe Reddy could perhaps be described as urban folk. Her songs have a tradition of folk songwriting behind them, but her concerns are of the urban life: Tube trains, shame, relationships. There is noise and grit in the mix, and she is certainly a songwriter for our times. You can find out more here.
Tancred: Jess Abbot's fourth album as Tancred, Nightstand, was released in 2018. In equal measure pared down and intimate confessional and brash guitar led indie rock swagger, it deserved a greater degree of success than it had. Those of a certain age might think of early Liz Phair or, more likely, Mary Lou Lord, but Abbot is her own woman and transcends all comparisons with the quality of her voice and her songwriting. You can find out more here.
The Coathangers: The garage rock band from Atlanta, Georgia make catchy, thrashy, occasionally sixties girl group esque songs that will remind you of both the Shondells and the Rondelles, as well as - inevitably - the Girls In The Garage series. You can find out more here.
Tei Shi: Colombian-Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Valerie Teicher Barbosa makes harmony based, R&B flavoured indie pop, with a slyly subversive edge. You can find out more here.
Harkin: Katie Harkin began her musical career in Leeds as one half of teenage indie punk band Sky Larkin. Since then she's collaborated with members of Wye Oak and Wild Beasts and become a member of the Sleater-Kinney touring band. Her debut self titled album was released in early 2020 and was a series of crisp, hook based songs in the indie rock tradition. She will be back to promote the album, it is to be expected, in 2021. In the meantime, you can find her on Insta.
Nadine Shah: South Tyneside singer, songwriter and musician Nadine Shah has just released her fourth album, Kitchen Sink, a series of highly timely observational vignettes taken from a life where she has often felt like an outsider. All her rage, all her anger, all her talent for observing and crafting songs that pierce modern mores like arrows, comes out in a series of unforgiving bluesy rock anthems. She is astonishingly good live, and you can find out more here.
Imogen Heap: Singer, songwriter, producer and sound engineer Imogen Heap is as known for her inventive use of technology (her musical gloves being one example) as for her music itself. To see her live is to experience music technology development in action, but - both as a member of Frou-Frou and in a solo capacity - she has also written some damn good left of centre pop tunes. You can find out more here, and watch her weekly livestreams here.
St Vincent: Singer, songwriter and producer Annie Clark has been making music as St Vincent since 2006. Hers has been a low key rise, not indicative of superstardom, but well respected and highly influential, garnering respect and headliner status. Each of her albums has a distinct musical identity and hinterland of its own, with 2017's Masseduction having a sexy, slinky quality to it that veered from the unbearably sad to the joyously hedonistic. Hers is a big, complex sound, a sort of baroque art pop, never the same, but always unmistakably her. You can find out more here.
Wednesday, 26 December 2018
Songs of the year: Number 5
Tancred's album, Nightstand, is a slick, interrogative record underpinned by fine observational songwriting on the part of Jess Abbott.
'Underwear', with it's swaggering sense of lust coupled with self loathing, harks right back to the glory days of artist such as Juliana Hatfield, Mary Lou Lord and Liz Phair. It swings in all the right places, and stuns with it's impeccable riffs and frankness.
Monday, 10 December 2018
End of year roundup: Music
Welcome to part two of this years end of year roundup!
Today we're covering music.
Miya Folick
Premonitions was surely the most casually announced debut album ever? But when you've been quietly releasing songs as strong as 'God is a woman', 'Talking with strangers' and 'Deadbody' for the past year and a bit, you can afford to be confident. Folick is going to be a stealth artist I think, creeping up on people...
Laura Gibson, 'Domestication'
There's some subtle Handmaid's Tale stuff going on in this video... Making it very timely as well as very powerful.
Florence + The Machine, Manchester Arena, 23 November
As discussed previously, I didn't write a gig review, I wrote a fan essay instead. If you'd like to read a proper review, you can do so here.
Suzi Wu
One of this years BBC Introducing alumni, and a sharply acerbic artist with great attitude and beats. Worth keeping an eye on if 'Taken Care Of' and 'Teenage Witch' are anything to go by.
10) Guttfull, Tits and Nails
9) Virginmarys, Northern Sun Sessions
8) She Makes War, Brace For Impact
7) Emma Back, Little World
6) Tami Neilson, Sassafrass
5) Santigold, I don’t want: The Goldfire Sessions
4) Tancred, Nightstand
3) Let’s Eat Grandma, I’m All Ears
2) Miya Folick, Premonitions
1) Florence + The Machine, High As Hope
Songs of the year will follow in separate posts, starting tomorrow...
Today we're covering music.
Favourite breaking artist of the year:
Premonitions was surely the most casually announced debut album ever? But when you've been quietly releasing songs as strong as 'God is a woman', 'Talking with strangers' and 'Deadbody' for the past year and a bit, you can afford to be confident. Folick is going to be a stealth artist I think, creeping up on people...
Favourite video of the year
There's some subtle Handmaid's Tale stuff going on in this video... Making it very timely as well as very powerful.
Favourite gig of the year
As discussed previously, I didn't write a gig review, I wrote a fan essay instead. If you'd like to read a proper review, you can do so here.
Artist to watch in 2019
One of this years BBC Introducing alumni, and a sharply acerbic artist with great attitude and beats. Worth keeping an eye on if 'Taken Care Of' and 'Teenage Witch' are anything to go by.
Albums of the year
9) Virginmarys, Northern Sun Sessions
8) She Makes War, Brace For Impact
7) Emma Back, Little World
6) Tami Neilson, Sassafrass
5) Santigold, I don’t want: The Goldfire Sessions
4) Tancred, Nightstand
3) Let’s Eat Grandma, I’m All Ears
2) Miya Folick, Premonitions
1) Florence + The Machine, High As Hope
Songs of the year will follow in separate posts, starting tomorrow...
Thursday, 22 November 2018
Tancred live review now up!
I am feeling very proud today as my first piece for Louder Than War has just gone up.
It's a live review of the excellent Tancred, who I saw play at Gullivers on Monday night. Because I have been felled by an annoyingly persistent throat infection since the wee small hours of Saturday morning, I opted to just see Tancred and skip the support band, The Winter Passing. Which I feel a little bit guilty about as I'm usually a big cheerleader for support acts on a (sometimes misplaced) underdog principle. I also felt a bit guilty about dragging photographer Shari Denson out on such a horrible night, weather wise, but she enjoyed the band so it was worth it.
Anyway, Tancred were fantastic and really lifted me out of myself, which was just what I needed. They played a tight set of impeccable indie rock, which reinforced for me just how good Nightstand is as an album. I'll be compiling my end of year lists soon and it should make an appearance somewhere I'd say.
Monday, 6 August 2018
Tancred - Underwear [OFFICIAL AUDIO]
I am working on the next F-Word playlist at the moment. It's going to be a bit of a hedonistic dance fest to coincide with Manchester Pride.
I think this one will make the cut.
Monday, 4 June 2018
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