Damon Albarn - Apple Carts (Live)

Here's Damon Albarn's brand new song which he wrote for Rufus Norris's upcoming opera/musical project about the 16th century alchemist and medical advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, Dr. John Dee. Initially the song was intended as a Gorillaz track but probably Albarn had a change of mind. The song you're about to hear was performed live for BBC One's Andrew Marr Show. If you like it you can download it for free from the link below.

Ето новата песен на вокалиста на Blur и Gorillaz Damon Albarn, която той е написал за предстоящият мюзикъл/опера на Руфъс Норис, посветен на Д-р Джон Дий, алхимик и медицински съветник на кралица Елизабет Първа от XVIв. Първоначално песента е била предвидена за Gorillaz, но очевидно Albarn е размислил. Клипът по-долу е заснет на живо в предаването Andrew Marr Show по BBC One. Ако ти харесва, можеш да свалиш песента от линка дплу.

Damon Albarn - Apple Carts.mp3

This Time The Keys Are Broken, Expectations, Bestmen, xMissuesx

Well I have to admit that this was a no ordinary hardcore concert. Or at least the first part of it. Acoustic hardcore was at least for me something new and was kinda weird at first. Still an interesting experience which I hope won't be an exception but more of a regular thing.
So first on stage came xMissuesx (of Rezerven Plan). For me it was the first time seeing him without his band. I'm not sure if last night was his debut as a solo artist or not but it was strange seeing him with just one acoustic guitar. His brand of acoustic hardcore was a peculiar sight. To be honest even without the backing of the other members of Rezerven Plan, his music seemed nice although much more mellow and subtle without all this screaming and heavy guitar riffs. It was more of a intimate experience for all those who came to the show as there was a clear connection between xMissuesx and the rest of the people. He didn't play as much as probably most people wanted but nevertheless I think he did good. I heard some new and original material of his own which I was not familiar with as well as acoustic versions of "Всички Мостове Горят" and "The Shape Of Our Souls" which to my surprise were no less good than the original versions. Actually I think that they sounded great. And I'm sure the rest of the people that came that night appreciated xMissuesx's efforts too. I wondered while listening to his music what would it be if the whole band Rezerven Plan were there performing acoustic renditions of their songs. That'll be interesting too. Maybe they should try it sometime.
After xMissuesx next came Bestmen, a duo which I heard for the very first time. Well they did a short, tight acoustic set which was ok but by that time I was kinda impassioned to see the last two bands that were the real reason I went to that show.
The third band for the night was Expectations from Sofia. this is a band that exists from over a year now but it turned out to be the new bulgarian hardcore revelation. Fast, melodic hardcore and powerful lyrics are the distinctive features of their music. Think of them kinda as our local take on bands like Verse, Bane, Champion or Have Heart. Rarely is something like this seen around here as we're more the type of country that glorifies the promoting violence, drugs and booze kind of hardcore. So it's really interesting to observe the emerging of one such band like Expectations. They are young yet determined to show us one different side of the hardcore music, one that we can relate to with it's heartfelt lyrics about pain, struggle and the hardships that life throws at us. This band will surely make a strong impression to anyone who sees them performing live. Just check "Happiness Is Only Real When Shared" and you'll see what I'm talking about. Definitely a band to watch.
Last but not least came the greek band This Time The Keys Are Broken from Thessaloniki. With their fast and melodic hardcore more or less influenced by the like of Comeback Kid they were the perfect band to pair with our own Expectations. Their music was more than appreciated by the crowd who cheered for them after every song and even called them on bis which the band happily responded to with their rendition of "Dust In The Wind" by Kansas. They played the songs from their debut EP What About Tomorrow as well as some new songs. I have to admit that the crowd went crazy when the greeks started playing. Stagedivings, circlepits and even sing alongs were the things accompanying every song sang by the band. For the first time I saw that this type of hardcore has it's fans here which is good. We need more stuff like that. This Time The Keys Are Broken really gave out everything from themselves which was felt by the crowd. Really emotional playing that left the crowd ecstatic. Add to that some really strong lyrics from the heart and you get some really memorable experience. This band is sure to leave a lasting impression on everyone who at least watched them once. Really damn good band not to be missed.

Mike Doughty - Skittish Roughs

I know a lot of us here love Mike Doughty, be it with Soul Coughing, as a solo artist or collaborating with someone else. Since I haven't posted anything related to Mike or the Cough in a while, I thought it was about time for something wonderful from the house of Doughty.

If you missed it in the age of Napster, a rough tape of Mike's Skittish record leaked way back when. The album was recorded with studio-wiz, Kramer, while Soul Coughing were still together and Mike wanted to make a stripped-down, acoustic album all on his own. Being signed to Warner Bros. at the time, it was offered to them for release but they shot it down, leaving it shelved indefinitely. Wait a few years, the Cough have broken up and Mike isn't doing much, although he notices that the album somehow leaked onto the net and was being shared by fans with a lot of love for the material. As only can be expected of Mike, he decides to burn a bunch of CDRs of the finished album, get his guitar, rent a car and go traveling across the country, booking shows where he would show up, play Soul Coughing classics and his own new songs, all completely solo and sell a bunch of copies of the album. Mike proceeded to clean up his life, win back his audience, get a lot of new fans in the process and eventually land a deal with ATO Records which is owned by his buddy, Dave Matthews.

After years of selling the finished Skittish album at shows along with a live CD and the original pressings of the Rockity Roll EP, ATO released Skittish and Rockity Roll as a double CD with some unreleased cuts. It's a great release and you should grab it if you haven't heard it, and it is available digitally at iTunes or Amazon for your digital needs, although several of the tracks from Skittish still have not seen the light of day, at least officially.

So, in case you didn't catch them when Napster was still around, here are the rough versions of the Skittish recordings that are circulating. Despite the simplicity of Mike's mostly acoustic set-up you can hear interesting differences between these versions and the finished ones.

If you like this, please buy the official Skittish/Rockity Roll release. Despite being signed to a label, ATO Records isn't a massive, multi-national corporation, it's kind of like an indie with major label distribution. So please support an artist who can benefit from your purchase, especially one who lives and breathes the music they're making. I know I placed the links for digital purchase above, but again, you can grab them at iTunes or Amazon. Also, if you like this and haven't heard Mike's other solo releases, he has three other great albums, Haughty Melodic, Golden Delicious and Sad Man, Happy Man, all also available digitally. The most recent, Sad Man, Happy Man, is REALLY EXCELLENT and you get a TON of bonus tracks with the iTunes release, all of which are quality!


Mike Doughty - Skittish Roughs

01 The Pink Life
02 Real Love/It's Only Life
03 No Peace, Los Angeles
04 Mean Curl
05 Where Have You Gone?
06 All The Dirt
07 Unluckier
08 World Of Suck
09 Shunned + Falsified
10 Skittish
11 Thank You, Lord, For Sending Me The F Train
12 Mr. Bitterness
13 Laundrytown
14 Looks
15 Rising Sign
16 I Failed To Use It
17 Cobain's Sarcoma
18 Language Barrier