imagineIAM EP

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Charlie O'Shea, Other | Posted on 10-08-2012

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A revisit from imagineIAM who we featured briefly back in 2009, Chad Faulk is back with a 5 track EP accompanied by his band as they reinterpret his unique, manic percussive solo style. There’s a fascinating blend of styles in this EP as Chad’s self taught approach to percussion and composing met with Carolyn Scalfano’s classical pianist background who helped carry his unclassifiable personal style to its full potential in a 5 piece band. The song Exacto Kiss is back from his earlier release Merry Go Round in a reformatted full band version with even more drive and intensity than before.

The 5 track imagineIAM EP can be purchased through bandcamp for a minimum of $5 in FLAC or MP3 320kbps (get the FLAC). You can also listen to some of the earlier imagineIAM solo tracks here.

imagineIAM EP

SchnAAk – Cool Drink Town EP

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Charlie O'Shea, Electro, Independent Music Finds, Other, Rock | Posted on 26-05-2012

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SchnAAk are one of the most interesting acts I’ve come across for a while. The duo from Berlin, Josen Döpping and Mathias Jähnig, create an extraordinary infusion of math rock, jazz and analogue electro that is laid out in a kind of ordered chaos. Their music is largely instrumental and has evolved dramatically since their previous releases: ‘women on ships are bad luck’ a 5 track EP recorded live back in 2009 and their 2011 full length album ‘Wake up Colossus’.

There’s a stronger emphasis on electronic music in the Cool Drink Town EP through the way SchnAAk replicate electronic through analogue instruments in a similar style to Radiohead. Word on the street is that SchnAAk’s next EP, scheduled for release later in 2012, will explore this area further

You can buy the Cool Drink Town EP through bandcamp for just €4/$5 along with their earlier releases women on ships are bad luck and Wake up Colossus for €4 and €7 respectively. There’s also a video for the first track on this EP ‘stampfus’ on its way that was filmed while the duo were in Namibia.

Other People’s Toys – Special Benny

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Album, Charlie O'Shea, Electro, Independent Music Finds, Other | Posted on 16-05-2011

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‘Other People’s Toys’ is a 5 track EP released two months after Special Benny’s debut album Toys. It features some unique remixes of tracks taken from this album by the likes of ‘Specialist’ and Johnny Beverton.

The reason I think this EP is worthy of a feature is because these artists have done what any good remixers should, they’ve made the song their own. You can really hear their own unique musical stylings in each of these tracks from Hong Kong In The 60’s stripped out (almost MIDIish), yet detailed, wistful sound emanating through in ‘Air Filter’ to ‘Shooting Horses’ big beat, somewhat tropical feel being applied to ‘Croydon’, a song with an entirely different time signature to the original. It’s easy to see that a lot more work has gone into these remixes than someone sampling away with their computer in a bedroom one evening as we’re so often seeing at the moment.

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It’s taken me a while to get around to this one (released 22nd November 2010) but it’s still an awesome remix EP and it’s still free to download at 320kbps from bandcamp.

Spring Offensive – Between Me & You

Posted by Indie Music Finds | Posted in Acoustic, Independent Music Finds, Rock | Posted on 14-02-2011

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In recognition of this loathed/loved occasion, Oxford’s unique and eclectic Spring Offensive have released an intimate EP entitled ‘Between Me & You’, which will be extremely limited in its length of availability – for a period of just one week starting from today!

Throughout the next seven days the special release, which demonstrates a rare acoustic side to this often diverse indie quintet, is being offered for free (no email required) and on a pay-what-you-like basis before it will be removed from their website – so if you don’t want to miss out on this limited-time opportunity be sure to go and download your copy now!

Known and critically acclaimed for their extraordinary creativity and attention to detail after showcasing their 14-minute “mega-single” which is currently still available for free download, Spring Offensive have not only created another brilliant piece of art for their loyal fanbase, but have also taken the pay-what-you-like model one step further. Their proposal states that listeners who contribute an amount above just £4.00 will, in return, see their full names credited on all physical copies of their upcoming full band single ‘A Stutter & A Start’. That single is due out for release in April- of which each and every contribution for ‘Between Me & You’ will help record, release and promote.

Between Me & You’ showcases five tracks in all: stories of companionship, guilt, confrontation and decisions. A record that deals with the realisation of two people growing slowly apart and the increasingly emptier void between them.

Whether you choose to pay-what-you-like and have your name included on their upcoming single or even if you just download it for free, make your decision quick because it’ll only be available for this one week!

Milk – Oubliette

Posted by Charlie O'Shea | Posted in Acoustic, Charlie O'Shea, Independent Music Finds, Rock | Posted on 17-09-2010

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I was lucky enough to chance on Milk two Mondays ago at The Water Rats and was seriously impressed and slightly shocked that they were only on second on a bill of four. Luckily they’ve been rebooked for the 28th and seem to be a bit of a regular occurrence at this venue so I’d thoroughly recommend going along.

They’ve got a beautifully well balanced live set up; a male and a female singer/guitarist, an incredible bassist and one of the tightest drummers I’ve seen in a long time. The result is a tight-knit entity producing some outlandish tracks with clear musical influenced from Sigur Rós and Radiohead being held together with some really quite intricate bass lines.

Milk have recently released their second EP Oubliette and have made it available for free download on their bandcamp along with the first self-titled EP. They’ve also been giving out free copies of the Oubliette EP at gigs.