Ralph's Top Ten Blogged Band Chart - 11.8.13

OK bands you know the score.....

the more hits your blog gets by the fans, the higher you go.....

So Tweet it, Facebook it.....

and generally expose yourself.....

Now Mr Snuggles and me have been sitting with our heads down counting the hits on each bands blog to see who's got which place.  

So here it is.....

The Top Ten Blogged Band Chart .....

No 1 ..... Stanley Odd

One of the highlights of Ralph On Tour at the Edinburgh Fringe was the first night at Queen's Hall where Stanley Odd and the Electric String Orchestra were performing.  When it comes to Stanley Odd I'm a wee bit (OK a lot) biased, so by way of neutrality I met up with my man in Scotland, the inimitable Mr Malcolm Parry and he accompanied me to check out the gig.  What I will say is that it's as real, raw and exciting live as I'd expected - some say 5 star I'd say 6





No 2 ..... The Holy Orders

Now if a band releases a debut album with the word dog in it then it's only to be expected that Ralph will sit up and pay attention.  That's exactly the case with the recent release by Hull Alt/Punk rockers The Holy Orders who've recently released 'For The Ears Of Dogs To Come' on Coal Shed Records.  

No 3..... Cullan

Ralph's man in Scotland, Malcolm Parry first saw SAMA award winner's Culann live in Edinburgh back in April while they were on a double header tour with Mechanical Smile. Unfortunately not a great turn out which was a shame as he really enjoyed their set's, so much so when the band announced a headline show in Glasgow he had to go and see the mighty Culann again.

No 4..... Pumajaw

Ralph's man in Scotland has ventured over to the West Coast and on arriving at the venue, The Berkeley Suite in Glasgow, leaves the Scottish sunshine for a night of darkness.  A slick hideaway situated in between a few

No 5 ..... Snippet aka Johnno Casson 

Snippet aka Johnno Casson is the quintessential English musician.  Prolific, diverse, entertaining, clever, wistful and whimsical (no more so on his recently released mini-album 'DIY' and the track 'Let's Talk About Us' on which he comments on his winkle - and he isn't introducing us to his pet mollusc Brian).  

No 6..... The Bedroom Hour

Ralph's sent his intrepid reporter Malcolm Parry out into the wilds - yes Bathgate no less - to bring you a live review of The Bedroom Hour, and this time he's come back with a corker.  The night was originally advertised as three bands, unfortunately the opening act from Fife - Calm As The Colour had to cancel, but never mind they still had Somerset's indie rockers The Darlingtons 

No 7..... The Fireflys

Ralph's search for North West bands continues and who better to look at next than Runcorn based The Fireflys.  The current line up is the result of a number of line-up changes, much soul searching and angst but the band have come through the stronger for it.  The current line up is founding member, guitar/vocalist Lee Wylding, Stephen Roberts on bass and Andrea Packer on drums.  They feel they've found the right mix to drive forward and build on the success of last years critically acclaimed 'Cathedral For Your Ashes' album.

No 8..... Burning Condors 

Looking for some down and dirty, bluesy and gritty, edgy rock 'n' roll?  The look no further than Burning Condors as they're producing just that in spades!

No 9..... The Dark Jokes

So Ralph's wandering along Edinburgh's Princes Street whilst on tour at the The Fringe when, instead of the sound of the usual piper at the foot of The Mound, some gritty, bluesy notes were ringing out and being of an inquisitive nature it called for investigation.  Doing a busking session were young Edinburgh band The Dark Jokes, and judging by the size of the crowd that had formed and the amount of CD's they were selling, they were the ones that were laughing!  They describe themselves as a band with brooding sounds, bold words and big ideas.

No 10..... Wullae Wright

Everybody likes to make a comparison about artistes and Ralph's old man is no exception. He heard Wullae Wright's 'Halo Effect' playing on my laptop and next thing he was wiping the dust of his collection of vinyl, dug out Led Zeppelin I and stuck it under my nose...

OK bands you know the score.....

the more hits your blog gets by the fans, the higher you go.....

So tweet it, Facebook it.....

and generally expose yourself.....

Now Mr Snuggles and me have been sitting with our heads down counting the hits on each bands blog to see who's got which place.  

So here it is.....

The Top Ten Blogged Band Chart .....

No 1 ..... Snippet aka Johnno Casson 

Snippet aka Johnno Casson is the quintessential English musician.  Prolific, diverse, entertaining, clever, wistful and whimsical (no more so on his recently released mini-album 'DIY' and the track 'Let's Talk About Us' on which he comments on his winkle - and he isn't introducing us to his pet mollusc Brian).  

No 2..... Lost Podenco 





When Ralph heard his man in Scotland Malcolm Parry was heading to Ibiza for a holiday he couldn't resist getting him to interview Liverpool born singer/songwriter Phil Dobie aka Lost Podenco who's been kenneled on 'The White Island' these last six years. 

No 3..... The Bedroom Hour

Ralph's sent his intrepid reporter Malcolm Parry out into the wilds - yes Bathgate no less - to bring you a live review of The Bedroom Hour, and this time he's come back with a corker.  The night was originally advertised as three bands, unfortunately the opening act from Fife - Calm As The Colour had to cancel, but never mind they still had Somerset's indie rockers The Darlingtons 

No 4..... Clockwork Noise

Ralph's nipped over the Irish Sea to check out Clockwork Noise as they've recently released an album 'Whethermachines' and it ticks all the boxes. Clockwork Noise are Blathnaid Healy on violins, cellos and vocals - Dylan Nolan on Bass and Vocals - Michael Fenton- Drums and Vocals - Robert Maguire on Lead Vocals and Guitars - Chris O' Connor- Vocals and Guitars.

No 5 ..... The Holy Orders

Now if a band releases a debut album with the word dog in it then it's only to be expected that Ralph will sit up and pay attention.  That's exactly the case with the recent release by Hull Alt/Punk rockers The Holy Orders who've recently released 'For The Ears Of Dogs To Come' on Coal Shed Records.  

No 6..... Burning Condors 

Looking for some down and dirty, bluesy and gritty, edgy rock 'n' roll?  The look no further than Burning Condors as they're producing just that in spades!

No 7..... Black Swans

What do you get when you put in five years hard graft to learn your craft and believe in what you're doing - the debut album 'The Life We Chose' by Liverpool band Black Swans of course.  It's recently been released along with the latest single 'Be There' to critical acclaim and looks like becoming one of the best 'breakthrough' albums of 2013.

No 8..... Jess Harwood

With a new EP out in May and some great gigs in the offing Jess Harwood is starting to make a real impact on the music scene.  Jess is a 20 year old singer-songwriter from Blackpool and has been writing and singing her own songs since her early teens. 

No 9..... Wullae Wright

Everybody likes to make a comparison about artistes and Ralph's old man is no exception. He heard Wullae Wright's 'Halo Effect' playing on my laptop and next thing he was wiping the dust of his collection of vinyl, dug out Led Zeppelin I and stuck it under my nose 

No 10..... Pumajaw

Ralph's man in Scotland has ventured over to the West Coast and on arriving at the venue, The Berkeley Suite in Glasgow, leaves the Scottish sunshine for a night of darkness.  A slick hideaway situated in between a few bars and restaurant's, the former 1940's ballroom was re-discovered and restored.  

Bird

Three piece Liverpool band Bird is the creation of Adele Emmas (singer, songwriter) Sian Williams (guitar, harmonies) and Alexis Samata (drums) Together they create dark, haunting, atmospheric music which will entice you in to their magical, other worldly universe. With beautiful, siren-esque vocals, tribal, hypnotic drum beats and spellbinding guitar work, Bird are refreshingly unlike anything that's currently on the music scene.

After meeting each other through a friend of a friend, Adele and Sian bonded over their mutual love for artists such as Leonard Cohen, Kate Bush, The Cocteau Twins, Warpaint, and Fleetwood Mac. The girls decided to swap numbers and soon after songwriter Adele and drummer Alexis invited Sian along for a 'jam' where they realized together they had something very special to give. After signing to Jack To Phono Records, playing a UK tour and sold out EP launch back in 2011, the band have since built up a large, loyal fan base in their home town of Liverpool and other areas of the UK alongside releasing their much anticipated EP 'Shadows' back in August 2012.

They are nothing short of extraordinarily, ethereal,  atmospheric, haunting, and delightfully far from the norm so hopefully I'll see them share a bill with Pumajaw and Plum sometime soon for what would be gig of the year!  Such is the quality of material it's hard to favour any particular track however first up I've included the spectacular 'Shadows'.

Radio 1's Rob Da Bank, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music's Maconie and Radcliffe, BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson and Ralph's favourite, Dave Monks at BBC Radio Merseyside have all recently featured Bird on air. They've also had music featured on Channel 4 and had various magazine articles published in NYLON magazine, Bido Lito and many more. Specially selected by the BBC, last year Bird attended a workshop at Abbey Road and Maida Vale London. Former Cocteau Twin and label owner Simon Raymonde chose Bird as one of his favourite bands of the year!


They're as assured live as they are in the studio and hold an audience in their spell.....

In recent weeks they've been featuring in many best of lists for 2013 and were featured as The Guardian’s ‘New Band Up North’ in December 2012. 

“Liverpool trio Bird are creating music that’s hauntingly beautiful and forcefully captivating. Their poetic lyrics take your mind on a journey making you feel like you’re walking around in a gothic novel … Knowing they were onto a winning sound after one session must have been an amazing feeling. But after you’ve listened to them for the first time it’s easy to understand how they must have felt as you get a similar reaction. Their music moves you.” 








Blogger Andy Von Pip chose them as one of his Tips For 2013 -  “The music converges around Adele’s exquisite empyrean vocals, and it is they that beckon the listener on through the twilight gate and into a world of off-kilter fairytales where a star fretted sky twinkles to illuminate twisted branches that inhabit the dark enchanted forest of Adele’s imagination.”

Ralph's chum Tom Robinson included them on his BBC Introducing Mixtape not once but twice in 2012. He also said meeting Adele at a BBC Introducing Masterclass held at Abbey Road was one of his highlights of the day. 

They have also announced their first UK tour....

February
15th Liverpool -The Leaf
16th Sowerby Bridge - Puzzle Hall
18th Edinburgh Electric Circus
19th Inverness Hootananny
20th Glasgow King Tuts
22nd York The Duchess
26th Manchester Castle
27th Leicester The Scholar Bar @Leicester University -

March

2nd Milton Keynes Zone
3rd London Upstairs @ The Garage
4th Brighton The Hope
5th Bournemouth The Winchester
7th Bristol Start the bus
10th Birmingham The Yardbird Jazz Club
11th London Brixton Windmill


You can buy tickets for any of these gigs here

If you need a reason to go and see Bird on the second half of the tour here's a review of their Edinburgh gig in The Electric Circus by guest reviewer Malcolm Parry to convince you they just shouldn't be missed.....

Two supports for Bird tonight, first up: Elbi. http://soundcloud.com/elbimusic  An Edinburgh based, french, electro hip/hop soul singer. Not dissimilar in vocal style to Amy Winehouse, with inspirational echoes of Lauren Hill & Ella Fitzgerald. All backed up with looping vocals and electronica. Soulful yes!  But not a full soul singer, as we moved along song to song, Elbi started to introduce hip/hop style rap-in french!!  A real edge!,  which will hopefully bring her to a wider audience. Tres bon.

Next up; In the lovely wee shape of  18 yr old folk singer,  from the fishing town's of Fife.....we get : Lidh  https://www.facebook.com/lidhmusic. Just fresh from recording her debut album & supporting fellow folky's: Withered Hand & King Creosote. And my goodness, it shows.  A real giggley cuteness to this young lady,  politely bantering & story telling in her sweet Fife accent. You could almost imagine you were sat in a quaint fishing pub, ale in hand, open fire a blazing, while she kept it alight with acoustic fingerstyle songs, moving between the guitar & mandolin. Then introducing a cover; The Smiths- Bigmouth Strikes Again.  By the end you could smell the salty air & hear the seagulls. With talent at such a young age, we can only look forward to her debut album. A real delight.

Main act; Bird. https://www.facebook.com/birdmusicofficial  I awoke the morning of the gig to the sound of bird's singing in the start of a new day,  from the trees nearby.

 I have seen alot of hype & excitement surrounding these ladies; Lead Singer/basist: Adele, and lead guitarist/vocalist: Sian. The stage setup, looking,  how I would imagine a Grimms fairy tale living room,  with old lamps, empty bird cages , fairy lights with backdrop visuals of the two witches themselves, ( the cover of the excellent new EP Ophelia ).

Tonight they chose to be black witches, with a ghoulish looking drummer, who throughout the entire set, remained hunched & head-bowed  almost prisoner like, Maybe caught in a curse?  All adding to the eerie presence. As we move through 45 mins of live music, all under the enchanting spell of bird, we experience mysterious choir like vocals ( sometimes I hear Bat 4 Lashes, Smoke Fairies ), tribal drums,  ethereal guitar  ( like early Cure - pornography  & the xx ), cinematic build up's into crashing guitar crescendo's. Moving effortlessly through material new & old, finishing with a cover of : Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead with Adele's bass,  thrashing away like the long lost daughter of Geezer Butler.  A cover version they made their own.

If only the birds in the morning sounded this sweet?

Never let it be said Ralph isn't an equal opportunities blogger so here's what a couple of my contemporaries have to say.....

Louder Than War placed Bird at number 2 on their Top 50 New Bands for 2013. “When they start playing….. oh my, what a truly exquisite sound they come out with! A disarming, often foreboding, yet undeniably beautiful compound of folk, new age, Gregorian church music and the best bits of the late ’70s / early ’80s goth movement. Theirs is the sound of childhood stories of wandering through dark forests, of discovering hidden caves laced with cobwebs, of hearing wolves howling in the dead of night, all those stories you were told as a small child before you went to sleep at night … This really is music to get completely lost in, proven by the virtual silence from the audience by the time of the second song. Bird stir up an astonishing gamut of emotions, feelings and gut instincts, a quietly revolutionary act whose subtle insurrection is surely only a few months away from coming into action. Believe.”

Gods in The TV wrote “Bird utterly get the medal for grafting right now. It’s therefore just as well that the music, the haunting close harmonies, feeling as pre-Raphaelite as anything in the art gallery down the road, gets more and more compulsive with every listen.” Whilst the blog Just Music I like had this to say; “Bird were guaranteed their place amongst my bands to watch after two recent live performances blew me away … Those live sets saw the trio bring to life their recent Shadows EP with a live power and grace, equally dark and mystical with rich swirling guitar tapestries and superlative defying harmonies, it was like being transported to an otherworldly place of pure, spiritual beauty.” 



The new EP Ophelia is planned for February 11th and has been produced by Bill Ryder Jones from The Coral.