Offbeat Music

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La Truite Magique - The Sweetest Festival

La Truite Magique - The Sweetest Festival

Update: The schedule is up on the website of La Truite Magique! The following acts have been added to already very varied and interesting bill: God Damm, Het Zesde Metaal, Douglas Firs, Rob Heron & Tea Pad Orchestra, Man-O-Phone, Yellowstrap, Hidden Charms, Lili Grace and Tiny Legs Tim! Now, I am normally not a festival goer and this has nothing to do with old age…never liked them much, unless they offer music I simply cannot resist all bundled onto one festival terrain as is the case for

· Alice Peters-Burns · 2 min blog
Brilliant new video for "Howl" by Jay Woodward

Brilliant new video for "Howl" by Jay Woodward

One of my first blog posts in this wee blog was on Jay Woodward from California, master songwriter and producer. His album “Letters We Told” still accompanies me everywhere as there is so much to discover behind the slick yet not overdone production both musically and lyricwise. My fondness for Jay Woodward‘s music is shared by many many fans and people seem to have taken a particular liking to the song “Howl” (including me). Without blathering on too much and manipulating you (as if I would),

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min alternative California

All Sparks Burn Out & Lights That Change

Very tempted on this Saturday evening to cuddle up on the sofa but I dutifully sit here and work my way through the piles of wonderful music I received this week. Now, I could pester you with the amazing new album by Patrick Watson called “Love Songs For Robots” but a) you can listen to that in my programme on www.byte.fm on Monday, 5-6 pm CET or all week on ByteFM actually, as it will be album of the week. It takes some time to open up to you, that album, but the journey is undoubtedly a very e

· Alice Peters-Burns · 2 min alternative Lights That Change
The Dead Good and The Vicious Guns

The Dead Good and The Vicious Guns

I have been wanting to write about The Dead Good for a long time and now I finally get around to it. Just as I thought that pairing them in this blog with The Vicious Guns would be a good idea, the two bands being inspired by many the same influences but expressing it quite contrary. The Dead Good I know a bit longer and so they get featured in the title photo. You see The Dead Good and you are shaking in your boots – you hear them and you are on the floor! (Actually, you talk to them, and t

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min blog
Valise

Valise

Do Valise take their name from the French for “suitcase”? Search me, I dunno. I could pack one or two of those though on a dreary, cold, rainy Monday and travel to the US to see that band play. Guys, any chance, you will grace our shores in Europe? Enlighten us, you beg? Certainly. Vince Penick, Jared Travis, Casey Newton, Ricky Johnson hail from Dallas, Texas. They met in school and quickly ditched their studies to make music. They are on tour and their live shows – so I hear – are somethin

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min band Indie
The Echo And The Sound

The Echo And The Sound

Having a first name that is popular in music, can be a curse or a blessing. I regard it as a blessing even if the “Alices” seem to be either very confused or mildly threatening or straight out frightening or frightened. I am usually none of these but yet I welcome dearly another “Alice” song, i.e. I welcome another great band: The Echo And The Sound. The Echo And The Sound are just a two-piece, guitar and drums – Brian Rich and Douglas Jewell. They are located in Los Angeles, California, even

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min blog
Lisbon Kid

Lisbon Kid

Now, I am not an expert on electronic music at all but I know what I like. So basically I can only tell you what I really love about Lisbon Kid‘s music other than impressing you with the fine-tuned vocabulary of the genre. Then again, Lisbon Kid do not really fit into any genre, starting from calling themselves alternative acoustic electronica duo. Lisbon Kid consist of Danny de Matos and Rui da Silva who indeed hail from Portugal. They are both musicians and producers and now live in London.

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min electronica Event Horizon

Baltimore & Philadelphia - Dark Narrows & The Morelings

Does Baltimore, Maryland, USA, really take its name from the tiny Baltimore, Co. Cork in Ireland? Baltimore in Ireland is a bit of a meeting point for musicians, thus, projecting this onto a much much larger scale, the music scene in Baltimore, USA, must be gigantic. Indeed, you will find many artists in Baltimore and of a wide spectrum. Lately, the fantastic Future Islands have been making waves with there unique brand of 80s synth pop meets the new millennium, their album “Singles” and above

· Alice Peters-Burns · 2 min Baltimore Dark Narrows
Franka De Mille

Franka De Mille

Franka de Mille could make me utterly depressed. How can a woman be so gorgeous, possess such a voice, such talent, such a stage persona and yet be so utterly down-to-earth and friendly. It being that and of course her songs lift me up. The only thing that does depress me then, is why is the woman not at a star in the making at once? Franka De Mille is a London singer, songwriter and composer with THAT voice and very personal lyrics. She has a good knack on melodies which are bordering classic

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min Americana Bridge the roads
Review: J.P. Kallio "After The Storm"

Review: J.P. Kallio "After The Storm"

In our fast-paced, multimedia, multitasking, ready-to-consume world, we hardly ever take the time to engage with anything profoundly and solely. From my own experience I know for instance that there are only few listeners to my radio programmes who just do that: Sit and listen. It is the plight of the singer-songwriter therefore, especially when performing live that his music is taken as a kind of pleasant background noise. Who needs the stories anyhow, told in the folk tradition of rendering

· Alice Peters-Burns · 2 min after the storm country

Manchester: Puppet Rebellion and The Rubys

I have got you my precious…the keyboard is mine…so, quick…let me say something about TWO bands. Both come from Manchester, one of the UK’s big musical cities. And Manchester, let us be quite concise does not only mean Oasis (no, I am not in a huff because Noel Gallagher called Brussels boring the other day, not at all at all) – it means Joy Division, The Smiths and (so important to moi): Durutti Column. I have already introduced Orphan Boy from Manchester (well, residing in Manchester) to you.

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min blog
Captain Wilberforce

Captain Wilberforce

How to write a blog post about someone who does an excellent blog on new bands himself? Who does? Simon Bristoll does in the aptly named “Honey and Bile“! Kudos to the accomplished musician and blogger on many new bands himself by at least saying a few words and maybe bringing his music to a couple more ears. I know him first and foremost as Captain Wilberforce, releasing songs with an assured nod to the songwriting craftmanship of the sixties. For me also XTC and Elvis Costello spring to mind

· Alice Peters-Burns · 1 min captain wilberforce music