Real Topeka People

One of the best albums I’ve had the pleasure of listening to is from Sydney band The Devoted Few. It’s called ‘Baby, You’re A Vampire’ and it’s an amazingly varied collection of heartfelt ballads, slinky grooves, balls-out rock songs and poppy singalongs. They worked on the album for almost two years, and it’s paid off; there’s an intimacy and personality to the album that is genuinely affecting. ‘Trigger Fingers’ is the energetic opener, guaranteed to get your feet tapping, but it segues into a crooning chorus that you don’t expect. The album is full of these sudden left turns and diversions during songs, and to the band’s credit they work almost everytime.

‘The Death Of Us’ is an angular, jolting, stream-of-consciousness farewell to a relationship. ‘Don’t Listen To Us’ is sure to be a blistering live song, with its slippery base and insistent chorus. Ballads ‘Tom Said’ and ‘You & Me & Everyone Else We Know’ are beautifully sung, simple yet affecting. ‘We Burn’, apart from being a damn good rock song, is a reminder of how cool a horn line can sound when it’s done well.

The Devoted Few have a dash of Faker, a dollop of Death Cab For Cutie, but ultimately their own diverse and musically literate voice.

You can check out a 4 episode ‘Making Of’ Diary at their official page, or preview the majority of this brilliant album at their Myspace page. I highly recommend you check out ‘The Death Of Us’, ‘We Burn’, and ‘You & Me & Everyone Else We Know’. I’ve also chosen ‘Don’t Listen To Us’ as today’s Song of the Day.

From Sydney Band The Devoted Few, a nice mix of tour diary and live show cut to ‘Don’t Listen To Us’ from their excellent new album ‘Baby, You’re A Vampire’ (mini-review to be posted shortly).

These guys are touring March / April and put on a hell of a live show. Dates can be found here.

A sweet little short film that Alex Lloyd decided to marry to ‘What We Started’, the second single from his new ‘Good In The Face Of A Stranger’ album.

Again I’m way late to the party on these guys, but I’m falling in love with The Hold Steady from Brooklyn, U.S.A.

This is ‘Chips Ahoy!’ (horrible song name) from their ‘Boys And Girls In America’ album. It gives you a taste of what The Hold Steady is about; catchy riffs, singalong choruses, bombastic sonics. Lead singer Craig Finn’s voice is a little abrasive, but not without charm. To me they’re like a dirtier, rockier Counting Crows with vocal grit and a dash of Springsteen’s Americana.

Next mission is to check out their latest album ‘Stay Positive’.

Ahhhhh Wilco. When do you ever not bring a smile to my face?

This track, from their amazing ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ album, is just a perfect love song in my opinion. I can totally dig Jeff Tweedy’s wish that communicating love was as simple as taking someone’s hand, not the dizzying brain swirl of trying to put it in to words.

My favourite track from John Mayer’s underrated ‘Heavier Things’ album, played live and acoustic for ‘Stripped’:

Really great songwriting, lyrically and melodically. I love that line “by the time I recognize this moment, this moment will be gone”. The perfect summary for how we sometimes forget to appreciate experience whilst we are living it (a feeling also perfectly captured in his earlier song ‘3×5′). And the arrangement of this version is gorgeous.

Canada’s Jill Barber, a lovely and talented songstress who we had the pleasure of watching perform at the Basement late last year - ‘Hard Line’ is off her country-vibed album, ‘For All Time’.

She is just amazing live, with a soulful voice older than her years and an instant magnetism - here’s a link to a live clip from their recent Australian tour.

Holly Brook is a a young singer-songwriter from the U.S. who released her first album ‘Like Blood Like Honey’ in 2006. This is a live version of a song from that album, ‘Curious’, that I happily stumbled upon cruising the YT.

Such a lovely voice and eloquent lyrics. A reminder of the inherent beauty in a simple song sung well.

I’m still writing up a post on last weeks amazing week of live music, but today’s SotD is ‘Fitzcarraldo’ by The Frames, led by the magnificent Glen Hansard whose performance at the Sydney Opera House this week with his ‘The Swell Season’ partner Marketa Irglova was revelatory.

This song in particular was amazing live, filled with the same raw passion captured in this clip from Lollapalooza 2006. Hansard is the perfect frontman; always present, always engaged and engaging, always riding the wave of his emotions as he reaches out to his audience.

Dead Letter Chorus: Magnolia Farm from shoottheplayer.com on Vimeo.

Courtesy of the brilliant ‘Shoot The Player’, our friends Dead Letter Chorus playing a lovely version of ‘Magnolia Farm’ on the Sydney Festival free pianos.

Check out some of the other great Sydney Festival acts captured by the excellent ‘Shoot The Player’ team on their page. They definitely capture the emotional power of live music in their unpretentious, natural, ‘this-moment-in-time’ videos.