Advances in Mathematics – Sad Xmas Present EP

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Charlie O'Shea, Independent Music Finds, Rock | Posted on 12-12-2011

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Advances In Mathematics, a damn fine instrumental band from Manchester, have just released Sad Xmas Present. Their sound is characterised by lucid guitar licks underpinned by shuffled jazz drumming that results in a unique listening experience. Sad Xmas Present has been described as an EP despite containing just two tracks: Borders which is so called as the chord progression ‘borders’ on being a country song and Sad Xmas Present which was in fact a tremolo guitar pedal band member Ben received 4 years ago.

Being an instrumental band, the naming of songs can be a bit indirect and somewhat haphazard. ‘It’s Ryan Giggs’ is regarded by the band as their worst song title which despite being funny at the time has since been renamed as ‘Slow News Day’. The name of the band itself even has a somewhat unusual tale as it was randomly selected from a list of scientific journals.

Sad Xmas Present has been made available as a free download from today onwards from the Advances in Mathematics bandcamp where you can also get Sad Xmas Present as a limited edition CD for a mere £3.50 that comes hand wrapped and is one of just thirty copies.

Sad Xmas Present - Advances In Mathematics

Jónsi – Ævin Endar + Gathering Stories (Stream) – We Bought A Zoo Soundtrack

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Acoustic, Album, Charlie O'Shea, Independent Music Finds, Other, Rock | Posted on 06-12-2011

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Jónsi - Soundtrack - Ævin Endar Gathering Stories Stream

Jónsi, the singer of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós has recently written the score for the film ‘We Bought A Zoo’. The soundtrack to the film contains two original songs by Jónsi, Ævin Endar and Gathering Stories which you can listen to now on Jónsi’s site.

We Bought A Zoo stars Matt Damon alongside Scarlett Johansson and is about a family that use their life savings to buy a rundown zoo in the English countryside. The film was directed by Cameron Crowe, the same man behind Almost Famous as well as Vanilla Sky (which also featured the music of Sigur Rós) and is set for release on the 23rd of December 2011.

If you want to hear the rest of the ‘We Bought A Zoo’ soundtrack, be sure to visit rollingstone.com tomorrow where it will be available to stream for free.

Jónsi - We Bought A Zoo

The Black Atlantic – Darkling, I Listen (Stream + Track Listing)

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Acoustic, Album, Charlie O'Shea, Independent Music Finds, Rock | Posted on 05-12-2011

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As mentioned previously, The Black Atlantic are preparing to release their new EP Darkling, I Listen. The EP won’t officially be released until the 13th of January 2012 but The Black Atlantic have made the entire EP available to stream online for free from now onwards. The track listing for the EP is 1. The Aftermath (Of This Unfortunate Event) 2. The Flooded Road (Built on Sand) 3. Darkling, I Listen 4. An Archer, A Dancer 5. Quiet, Humble Man and you can listen to it through the SoundCloud widget below.

Darkling, I Listen can be pre-ordered from The Black Atlantic shop here on either CD or vinyl that are being pressed right now. Upon purchase, you’ll also be sent links to download the MP3’s, WAV files and artwork immediately.

Roger Waters – The Dark Ride of the Loon

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Guest Post, Independent Music Finds, Rock | Posted on 01-12-2011

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Roger Waters The Wall 2012 Tour

When Roger Waters embarked on his Dark Side of the Moon tour back in 2006, a new era in album tributes was born. Those who attended the Dark Side concerts remember a startling visual accompaniment to Waters’ awesome band and their massive sound. Now, in 2012, tickets to Roger Waters The Wall tour are selling out fast as Floyd fans and others clamor to be amazed all over again. The Wall tour revives the iconic 1979 Pink Floyd album of the same name. It is the fragmented history of a rock star named Pink.

Pink suffers from a mixture of psychosis and post-traumtic shock. He struggles to deal with life in the shadow of loneliness by adopting wild and detached behavior. The death of his father during World War II drives the story forward into a crazed materialistic trip littered with dark poetry and violence. The Wall’s most powerful image remains the marching hammers that steamroll their way across a broken landscape like Nazi stormtroopers. Expect to encounter these visions when you see Roger Waters live in concert. The drama of the tale, coupled to some of the best songs of the last thirty years, will once again take audiences deep on an intense voyage that transcends music and creativity; Roger Waters’ own personal history bears many parallels to that of Pink, and this provides a rich fuel for an epic modern journey.

Pink Floyd began life as a spark between Waters and Nick Mason when they met at college in London. Several small mutations later – including the acquisition of one Syd Barrett – Floyd were the resident band at a Kensington all-night club. Their meteoric rise to the leading edge of the British psychedelic movement happened naturally; audiences loved Barrett for his onstage exuberance and over-indulgent flights of fancy. The association with LSD and an artsy, progressive scene was no accident. Led by Barrett, Floyd were ahead of the curve, and their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was packed with images of gnomes, bicycles, fairy stories, witches’ cats and military code.

Floyd went from strength to strength, losing Barrett along the way to mental illness and replacing him with David Gilmour. In time Roger Waters emerged as the true voice of Pink Floyd. It’s fitting that it is Waters who has managed the most impactful concert tours in the years since Floyd disbanded, with Dark Side of the Moon and now The Wall being the crowning glories. Roger Waters tickets are high price tickets, chiefly because they give the audience a full-blown experience rather than just a concert. The recent news that David Gilmour tickets are also on sale for his upcoming tour is an indicator that Pink Floyd may yet reassemble and blow our minds again. But it’s probably just a silly dream. Then again, isn’t all of life just a silly dream?

Discovr Music – iPhone/iPad and Mac OS X Application

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Charlie O'Shea, Independent Music Finds, Other, Other Finds | Posted on 27-11-2011

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Discovr Music is an iPhone and Mac OS X application to help you find new music. It works in a similar way to last.fm but instead of listing similar music acts, it displays suggestions graphically in interconnected webs. There is also a version to show similar iPhone apps called Discovr Apps.

discovr music app - iphone ipad mac osx

There are some negatives to this application though. It’s only available on the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS X 10.6 or later which means Windows or non-iPhone users can’t use this resource at all. It’s not a free application (£1.49 from the iTunes and the Mac App Store) which will put a lot of people off trying it and isolate it further.

A few negative reviews were also submitted. One person commented that it had returned Red Hot Chili Peppers for both Incubus and Ed Sheeran searches and a few others report it returning no results whatsoever. Possibly more people need to start using the app for it to gather more details and be able to offer less vague and generic results but for this, I think a larger reach is necessary.

Regardless of the down points though, it’s definitely an interesting concept that’s worth sharing and will hopefully be expanded, possibly to other areas such as films.