A most wonderful thing is presently in the making. That thing, is singer-songstress Emmy the Great's (previously written about here and here) new album. A more interesting thing (well, maybe not more interesting, but quite interesting) is how the album is being funded. Anyone wanting to help create the album can pledge an amount of money ranging from £8 to £500. Of course, it isn't that simple, she isn't simply asking for cash. In exchange for your pledge, you receive something in return for £10, you could get a postcard from every town on the tour (I really wanted this, but they were all gone before I pledged), £20 gets you a limited edition artwork poster or a signed CD and your name in the credits (all gone). If you have a bit more cash to splash, £100 gets you a songwriting workshop and £500 gets you a gig in your living room. At such times I wish I had more cash to splash. I decided on a signed album, pledgers only gig and poster totalling £60.
More information is available here. If you want to pledge, hurry, things are going quickly.
Emmy the Great Performing "Fight for this Love" by Cheryl Cole at Union Chapel
There are few things I enjoy more then that. I was kicking myself for not going to Union Chapel to see that splendiferous performance, and I'm sure, many more.
My revisiting of that video made me think of the wonderful world of covers, good and bad. The above, I believe, fitting into the former category. So, once again, I have created a playlist of what I believe to be jolly good covers, ingeniously titles, jolly good covers (Much effort was put into not filling this with Cat Power songs). Spotify here, YouTube here, audio below.
I love Josie Long. She's just so...lovely. This post, however, is not dedicated to Miss Long, uncharacteristically, it's about music. I'm sure you didn't see that coming. I've had quite the spell of writer's block recently, I seem to have lost the ability to write anything informative or interesting so I thought I'd stick to what I know best - the things I like. The Josie Long video is there for a reason...sort of. My original intention was to do one such post on books, but there are so many books on my reading list that I may want to include at some point. I'm in the process or reading Revolutionary Road which is rather wonderful thus far. Then, thought I'd one such list of albums, but so many of the artists I like have only released a few (or none in the case of Peggy Sue), so I put that idea aside. Eventually, I decided up scrapping the whole system and writing a bit about artists I'm fond of. So...the Josie Long video...completely redundant.
Peggy Sue
I remember when I first stumbled upon Peggy Sue, it was at the iTunes festival in 2008. I hadn't heard of anyone playing, but I thought I'd go along for the sake of it. Whilst watching their set, it was like they were performing for the first time, not due to lack of experience, but the sheer excitement they expressed and the joy they took in performing. They played what became some of my favourite Peggy Sue songs, among them was a song called The Ballad of Superman, about just how hard it is to be him. They also played a wonderful song named Pupils Blink which has remained one of my favourite Peggy Sue songs. I particularly love the melodion (it comes in around 6 seconds in), you very rarely hear those nowadays. It's not uncommon for them to use random things you'd find around the house as instruments, in a set they did for Marc Riley, instruments included a ukulele case and a broken washboard.
Peggy Sue are yet to release an album, their debut, Fossils and Other Phantoms will come out later this year. This is my favourite Peggy Sue track at the moment; from their Lover Gone EP, Lover Gone.
Emmy the Great
Emmy the Great is among the artists whom I became aware of primarily through iTunes' free song of the week. I'm certain that I would have come across her music eventually, but I have to thank iTunes for being the catalyst of this particular spot of fandom. The song was First Love, from her debut album, First Love. I could describe the song, but I think it would be better to post it instead. It pleases me that I got to see her live, she did a performance at Pure Grooves last Summer, it was one of the highlight of the season. She sounds just as good live as she does recorded, maybe even better. Songs I'd have to recommend are MIA, Dylan, We Almost Had a Baby and Canopies and Grapes.
Frank Turner
Reasons Not to be an Idiot, my introduction to Frank Turner. I downloaded this on iTunes, and the next day I bought the album (strangely, in Brighton). I love every track; among my favourites are I Knew Prufrock Before he Got Famous, Long Live the Queen, and Love Ire and Song. I particularly like Love Ire and Song, whenever I listen to it I imagine a group of friends intoxicated but sober enough speak clearly jauntily dancing and singing along to it.
I came very close to dismissing Laura Marling as someone whose music I didn't enjoy. Never would I have imagined I would get as distressed at I presently am about securing tickets to see her. The first Laura Marling song I heard was Night Terror (via iTunes), to this day, I'm still not that big a fan of it. A year or so later, a friend of mine insisted that I listen to her her album Alas, I Cannot Swim. From Ghosts, the opening track, to Dora, the final one, I was in awe. It's a near perfect album. I await her new one, coming out next month. My favourite tracks on the album are Failure, You're no God and Your Only Doll (Dora). My favourite track in general doesn't actually appear on the album, and that track is New Romantic.
It's not my favourite track but somehow it's become my most played song in iTunes. It's quite entertaining, a collaboration between Laura Marling and Jeffrey Lewis doing a cover of Brain Damage by Eminem. Enjoy.
