One to watch: Francis Lung

Francis Lung’s (aka Tom McClung, ex member of WU LYF) debut single, “A Selfish Man” is one of my favourite tracks right now. Partly because it’s kicks off with what sounds like some good old fashioned finger clicking, partly because it makes me think of summer strolling, but mainly because it’s just so jazzy and so laid back at the same time. It’s the sort of song you just close your eyes and sway to. I’m doing it right now as I write this post…

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Francis’s tumblr tells us “the album is currently being recorded. it’s currently doing ma head in. it should be done in about 3 days, it probably won’t be. STAY TUNED! DON’T TELL YOUR PARENTS!”

I’m excited.

Give it a listen and see what you think:

Blood Orange’s New Sounds: Cupid Deluxe

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I’ve probably mentioned Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) at some point before. He does a lot in the music world as a composer and producer, doing fun things for all sorts of fun people, most recently he worked with Solange Knowles on her 2013 album. He spent three colourful years making ‘orchestral pop’ as Lightspeed Champion before turning his attentions to ’80s disco inspired melodies as Blood Orange. Nowadays, his music and videos tend to be as vibrant and  bright as a pair of sparkling disco pants – psychedelic man. Though this may all be part of the ‘image’, the colourfulness of Hynes’s music as Blood Orange is also owing to synesthesia ( the neurological condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived by another). Hynes literally sees sounds, describing the experience of listening to music as viewing moving pictures. He takes his influence from French singer F.R David, Rick Derringer, New York 80s gay culture and naturally, drag queens. His latest album, ‘Cupid Deluxe’ is perhaps the most kaleidoscopic yet and boasts an impressive tracklist including collaborations with Friends singer, Samatha Urbani and Caroline Polachek from Chairlift. It’s like a tiny glimpse into a disorganised and crazily creative mind; jumping from soft rock to pop to who knows what, it’s a mind I wouldn’t mind borrowing for a day.

Have a listen and watch of Chamakay and You’re Not Good Enough (the latter is probably my favourite, though the link is to it’s lyric video) for a little taster of what I’m talking about:

 

The Jazz Genius: Thelonious Monk

A few weeks ago, my brother gave me a Thelonious Monk record for my birthday. Previous to this I had never really listened to jazz. The word ‘Monk’ to me meant a bald, religious man in a robe. Needless, to say I was a little disappointed to find my brother had given me an album of religious chanting. Way to go big bro! Anyway, I threw the record on in a moment of madness or desperation to find that I was pleasantly surprised. For those of you who don’t already know, Monk (or Thelonious Monk) is not a Monk in the religious sense nor does he chant. Rather he was (and still is) one of the greatest jazz pianists and composers in the world. He died in 1982, but he still remains a hugely influential figure in the music industry. Most famously,  Amy Winehouse was quoted saying that Monk changed the way she saw music. I wouldn’t go as far as that, but the smooth melodies of Theolonious Monk have recently become my soundtrack of choice. There’s something incredibly soothing, yet energising about his music.  It makes you want to do things, to get up and shake, to dance in the rain, to sing in the streets.

This is about a higher art form, man. A new level of musical maturity…

I found one of Monk’s full album’s on youtube, give it a full listen – it doesn’t do it justice to chop it apart:

Live Review: Alt-J

Of course the prospect of seeing Alt-J at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 19th January was unbelievably exciting, but I have to admit I was almost a bit nervous. Here’s a band with a flawless album – and by flawless I mean you don’t have to skip one track – and songs so beautiful that they could make a potato cry, but the big question was did they have the moves on stage? And oh baby, did they! The triangle-loving quartet wooed the audience into complete seduction with their big favourites including ‘Matilda’, ‘Breezeblocks’ and ‘Taro’, and just to prove how effortlessly cool they were, the boys played on a near bare stage. There wasn’t a mechanically induced ‘ethereal haze’ in sight, making the gold sparkly leggings of the warm-up act ‘Clean Bandit’ look, well, a little childish. But just as you were thinking that they were a little too sophisticated and mature, they whipped out the wild card, playing a Kylie Minogue/Dr Dre mashup. Leaving the audience thinking: ‘Man, these guys are cool’.