Conor Oberst writes and sings for the folk-rock band Bright Eyes, a college radio favorite since the late 1990s. Oberst began writing and recording his own songs just after he hit his teens. By the time he was releasing Bright Eyes records in the late '90s he'd already released two records with the band Commander Venus and started his own label, Saddle Creek Records. Recording as the band Bright Eyes he has released a string of singles, EPs and full-length albums that caused American rock music critics to break out in choruses of "the next Bob Dylan!" The pained adolescent poetry of his early records earned Oberst a crowd of loyal fans, and his doe-eyed, fashionably shaggy look made him a heartthrob of the indie rock set.
His best-known songs include "Lover I Don't Have to Love," from 2002's Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground; "At the Bottom of Everything" and "First Day of My Life," from 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning; and "Four Winds," from 2007's Cassadaga. He released a self-titled solo album in 2008, his first in ten years, and in 2009 he released Outer South with the Mystic Valley Band.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Camp
A Camp is the solo side project of Nina Persson, vocalist for the Swedish indie/pop band The Cardigans.
A Camp was formed during The Cardigans' break after several years of touring and recording albums, the last of which was (at the time) Gran Turismo.
A Camp's debut album, the self-titled A Camp, was originally recorded with Niclas Frisk of Atomic Swing, before Persson teamed up with Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse to re-record it. In doing so he also contributed some new songs to the album.
Nina had been a long-time fan of Sparklehorse and has referred to them as "the best I've ever heard". After a gig in Lund, Sweden, Persson gave Linkous a cassette of all the demo A Camp songs. When they met again during the recording of his most recent album, Persson mustered the courage to invite him to produce her project. Linkous listened, liked the songs, and agreed.
The debut album released the singles "I Can Buy You" and "Song for the Leftovers". These country-inspired selections later seemed to have inspired The Cardigans' following album, Long Gone Before Daylight, which was released in the UK summer 2003, and the USA in May 2004.
A Camp was formed during The Cardigans' break after several years of touring and recording albums, the last of which was (at the time) Gran Turismo.
A Camp's debut album, the self-titled A Camp, was originally recorded with Niclas Frisk of Atomic Swing, before Persson teamed up with Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse to re-record it. In doing so he also contributed some new songs to the album.
Nina had been a long-time fan of Sparklehorse and has referred to them as "the best I've ever heard". After a gig in Lund, Sweden, Persson gave Linkous a cassette of all the demo A Camp songs. When they met again during the recording of his most recent album, Persson mustered the courage to invite him to produce her project. Linkous listened, liked the songs, and agreed.
The debut album released the singles "I Can Buy You" and "Song for the Leftovers". These country-inspired selections later seemed to have inspired The Cardigans' following album, Long Gone Before Daylight, which was released in the UK summer 2003, and the USA in May 2004.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague is a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words, meaning "new wave" in French. This refers simultaneously to their "Frenchness" and "artiness" (the '60s new wave of cult French cinema), the source of their songs (all covers of punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave songs), and their use of '60s bossa nova-style arrangements ("bossa nova" being Portuguese for "new wave").
On their first album, Nouvelle Vague, the group resurrected classics from the New Wave music era, and reinterpreted them in a bossa nova style. The songs were stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to cover bands including XTC, Modern English, The Clash, Joy Division and The Undertones. The various female singers on Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they had never heard before, to ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.
Their second album, Bande à Part, includes versions of "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" by Buzzcocks, "Blue Monday" by New Order, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.
Members, former members and contributors include many French artists who are now very well known on their own and considered as part of what is now called the "Renouveau de la chanson française" (the "Renewal of French chanson"): Anaïs Croze, Camille Dalmais, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain and Marina Céleste
On their first album, Nouvelle Vague, the group resurrected classics from the New Wave music era, and reinterpreted them in a bossa nova style. The songs were stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to cover bands including XTC, Modern English, The Clash, Joy Division and The Undertones. The various female singers on Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they had never heard before, to ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.
Their second album, Bande à Part, includes versions of "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" by Buzzcocks, "Blue Monday" by New Order, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.
Members, former members and contributors include many French artists who are now very well known on their own and considered as part of what is now called the "Renouveau de la chanson française" (the "Renewal of French chanson"): Anaïs Croze, Camille Dalmais, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain and Marina Céleste
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
