Minutos Musicales: Felices Fiestas con Ballboy

Estimados,
Minutos Musicales os desea que paseis unos días fantásticos, plagados de la compañía de la gente que os quiere.

Y para celebrar estos días que vienen, os dejamos música en mayúsculas: Ballboy.
Gracias a una amiga hoy puedo disfrutar del último cd de este grupo de Edimburgo (gracias Claudia)... un lujo para los sentidos... y que me encantaría compartir con vosotros.

El año que viene verá la luz el doble CD de Minutos Musicales con lo mejor del 2008, el DVD con toda lo recopilado este año en Minutos Musicales (que es mucho) y haremos públicas las fiestas que hemos estado organizando durante los últimos meses y que me han hecho no poder enviar tanta música como me hubiera gustado.

El 2009 se presenta lleno lleno de sorpresas. Estad atentos. ;-D

"Ballboy are 3 boys and 1 girl from Edinburgh in Scotland. We have been making independent music since November 5 1999 which was the launch date of our first ep - Silver Suits for astronauts.

Since then they have released 5 albums:

Club anthems 2001
A Guide for the Daylight Hours
The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories
The Royal Theatre
I worked on the ships

They have toured the UK too many times to count and have been lucky enough to tour the USA and Sweden also (not forgetting one memorable snowy, drunken show in Berlin too)."

Grupo: Ballboy
Disco: I Worked On The Ships
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/ballboymusic y http://www.ballboymusic.com/
Canciones destacadas: Todo el disco

Minutos Musicales: The Kooks

Estimados,
hoy toca un poquito de Brit-Pop.
Este grupo tocará el próximo 18 de Julio en el Summercase 2008.

The Kooks son una banda de indie rock originaria de Brighton, Inglaterra. Su álbum de debut, Inside In/Inside Out, ha permanecido la mitad de 2006 en las listas británicas, vendiendo más de un millón de copias en el Reino Unido, 38 semanas en el Top 20 del Reino Unido y alcanzando tres veces el estatus de disco de platino.

La banda fue formada en el Hoover High School, de donde eran todos estudiantes. Al principio el nombre de la banda era solo Kooks, hasta que se dieron cuenta de que un grupo suizo también tenía ese nombre, por lo que lo cambiaron a The Kooks. Su debut fue en el Brighton's Free Butt festival. La canción que los llevó al éxito fue Naive, que está en su primer álbum Inside in/Inside out. The Kooks hicieron su primer tour por Estados Unidos en Octubre de 2006. Tocaron en Los Ángeles y Nueva York. Su segundo álbum se llama Konk y salió el 14 de abril de 2008.

"'The greatest records in the world can be put on in any situation: you can put them on at a party and they're going to sound great, you could put them on in a club and they're going to sound great, you could put them on on your headphones and listen in bed. That's when you get a great album,' says Luke Pritchard. 'And that's how I like to think of this album.'

The Kooks are back. 2006's Inside In/Inside Out was a huge hit, selling some 2 million copies worldwide, spawning massive singles 'She Moves In Her Own Way', 'You Don't Love Me', 'Sofa Song', 'Eddie's Gun', 'Ooh La' and especially 'Naïve' – after which the album took on a whole new life of its own. The Brighton quartet quickly rang up sell-out shows not just in the UK but in America and all over the world, earning a support slot with The Rolling Stones along the way and categorically establishing themselves as A Great British Band.

Singer/guitarist Luke, lead guitarist Hugh Harris, bassist Max Rafferty and drummer Paul Garred quickly came to be regarded as a classic British song-writing outfit, able to stand alongside The Kinks, Oasis, Coldplay or any number of others you care to mention, simply because they understand what makes pop music great.

'If it doesn't make you feel good, then what's the point?' says Luke. 'There's too much drab shoe-gazing shit around. I hate all that cack. You've to push through it. That's where you get great songs.'

'Music should make you happy,' concurs Hugh. 'It should change you in some way. That's why our fans are so crazy and committed. There's that connection.'

'We give people a great night out,' continues Luke, who's still only 22. 'That's the whole point. And I probably buzz off the crowd more than they buzz off us. Music's all about getting everyone together. How can you be cynical when you're at a festival and there's 20,000 people – all different kinds of people; young, old, black, white – and everyone's singing the same songs?'

Anyone who's ever enjoyed (a) pop music or (b) a good night out, has plenty of reason to cheer when it comes to Konk, The Kooks' second long-player, recorded over six weeks at the tail-end of 2007 in Ray Davies' Konk Studios in north London, plus a week at Los Angeles' Sound Factory. The sessions once again united the group with esteemed producer Tony Hoffer (Beck/Air/The Fratellis). Luke: 'It was brilliant. It was like a school reunion. Tony's a genius; he's a really talented guy and he's fun to be around. We had the best time.'

While James Brown's Live At The Apollo classic 'I'll Go Crazy' provided daily in-studio listening, end-of-session downtime was spent in the local Irish pub, The Kooks' soon making friends with the locals. 'The owner would give us a lock-in,' says Luke. 'We'd end up having a drink with all the Irishmen.'

'I just started thinking how cool the studio is,' says Hugh, by way of explaining how he came to suggest the album title. 'And how much of a part of our sound it is.'

Indeed, in Konk The Kooks' fanbase will find plenty to recall the freewheeling spirit that made Inside In/Inside Out a true word-of-mouth success – one of those rare cultural phenomena that grew and grew the more people heard it – while others will be aware just how much they've subtly upped their game. 'It sounds big,' says Luke, someone not given to over-analysing the process, preferring to let the songs speak for themselves. 'We thought a lot more about production. It's a second album and we'd done a lot more touring and recording [by that stage]. We tried to make a dynamic album where every song has its own little world. That was the philosophy.'

'We always have so much material,' says Hugh, of the set that includes songs dating back to Inside In/Inside Out to others written a fortnight before the sessions ended. 'As a songwriter you need to get things down. Making an album has become such a big thing now. The Kinks used to do two albums a year. The Rolling Stones would go and cut a single – plus a b-side – between tours. Some of that immediacy gets lost today. But we've made a really great record that I'm really proud of it. I'm not ashamed to say that.'

While 'Gap' is classic Kooks, a song like 'Shine On' finds Luke exploring hitherto unchartered lyrical territory over the loveliest of melodies. It's destined to become another lynchpin in The Kooks' live set. 'We've never done a song like that before,' he says. 'A lot of people might think its quite standard, but when you listen to it, it's not. It's a really weird little tune. I'm really pleased with it.' Then there's 'Always Where I Need To Be' a tumbling rocker with a 'do-do-do, do-do-do-do' refrain that might just be the catchiest thing they've ever done. 'Sway', meanwhile, provides an early album highlight. ''Sway' is one I always go back to,' says Luke. 'Hugh's guitar solo is genius – I don't even know how he did it, even though I was there. And obviously the words hold a certain thing for me.'

2008, then: it promises to be another stellar year for the fourpiece. 'We came through [in 2006] with some great acts – Arctic Monkeys, Amy Winehouse, Beirut – but, for me, last year was a really wishy-washy time for bands,' says Luke. 'It feels like the time's right for us to come back.'

With shows already lined up in places as far afield as Dubai, Brazil and – oh yes – Hawaii, not to say some very special UK venues ('We want to do things differently,' says Luke. 'Some of those arena venues… who wants to see a band in a tin shed?') plus a truly magical slot at The Isle Of Wight Festival, the outlook for the boys' 2008 is sunny.

'We've made a really good album,' concludes Luke. 'I love the idea of people putting it on in their bedrooms, then going mental.'

'I hope that everyone puts it on,' he says. 'And it makes them feel great.'
Let the good times roll. "

Grupo: The Kooks
Disco: Konk
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.thekooks.co.uk/ y http://www.myspace.com/thekooks
Canciones destacadas: See The Sun y Always where I Need To Be

Minutos Musicales: I Am Kloot

Estimados,
para acabar la semana y antes que Eurovisión nos atrape irremediablemente, aquí os dejo un par de temas de un grupo inglés: I Am Kloot

I Am Kloot es un grupo de música fundado en 1999 en Manchester, Inglaterra en el club Night&Day. John Bramwell trabajaba allí como organizador de conciertos y allí conoció a los otros dos miembros del grupo: Andy Hargreaves y Pete Jobson. Se dieron el nombre I Am Kloot y pertenecen al llamado New Acoustic Movement. Dieron su primer concierto en 1999. Su primer album Natural History apareció 2001, y el segundo I Am Kloot dos años después. Ahora vienen con fuerzas renovadas y el disco que hoy os presento.

"John Bramwell es el alma de esta agrupación, y junto con Andy Hatgreaves y Peter Jobson forman I am Kloot, una banda cuyos orígenes se remontan a finales de los 80. Desde Hyde, un suburbio de Manchester, han sabido camelarse a la prensa inglesa tanto por sus dulces y limpios directos como por la alta calidad de su álbum debut "Natural history" (We love you/Virgin, 01), un disco intimista, acústico y sencillo, grabado en una rústica granja en la Isla de Mull. Autodidacta con la guitarra, Bramwell pudo combinar sus viajes por todo el mundo con su afición por la música, y una vez establecido de nuevo en Manchester se encargó de crear el The Night and Day café, una plataforma para músicos noveles en la que tuvo la ocasión de conocer a los que ahora son componentes de la banda, Pete y Andy. Sus primeras composiciones tuvieron una masiva aceptación, tanto su primer single 'Twist' como las diferentes aportaciones a compilaciones varias, que hicieron de I am Kloot una banda de renombre. La madurez vocal de John y la intensidad con la que dota sus composiciones hacen que esta banda consiga transmitir mucho más que simples letras y estremezcan al público cada vez que suben a un escenario. 'Twist', 'Sunlight hits the snow', 'To you' o 'Morning rain' apuntan a convertirse en auténticos clásicos del pop. Representantes del new acoustic movement, I am Kloot, vienen a presentar su nuevo álbum,"I am Kloot" (Echo/Pias, 03) que saldrá a la venta a mediados de septiembre. Un segundo trabajo que promete la misma intensidad que el anterior, combinando historias de amores encontrados -y siempre perdidos- con un toque oscuro perfecto.
Melodías pop donde siempre imperan la riqueza melódica y lírica.
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Formados en Manchester y englobados bajo el New Acoustic Movement, I Am Kloot son todo un ejemplo de banda sincera y madura. Sus suaves estribillos, entroncan con los de otros representantes del NAM como Kings Of Convenience, Turin Brakes o los también mancunianos Lowgold. Pero I Am Kloot conquistan especialmente por sus limpios directos: la voz nocturna de Bramwell, el tempo jazzy de la batería, y la habilidad melódica del guitarrista Pete Jobson, les han servido para camelarse a todos los afligidos de corazón. Su casero y alabado álbum debut "Natural History" (We Love You/ Virgin, 01) se complementó en 2003 con el más épico "I Am Kloot" (Echo/ PIAS, 03), en el que se reafirmaban como grupo gracias a viñetas acústicas de amores perdidos y a esa lírica oscura que los convierte en los mejores valedores del folk urbano contemporáneo. Acaban de editar "Gods And Monsters" (Echo/ PIAS, 05), un disco intimista en el que tejen orgánicos retales pop gracias a teclados vintage, algo impensable en sus austeros comienzos."

Grupo: I Am Kloot
Disco: Play Moolah Rouge
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.iamkloot.com/
Canciones destacadas: Ferris Wheels, Chaperoned y Hey Little Bird

Minutos Musicales: Loney, Dear

Estimados,
que ganas tenía yo de presentaros a este grupo sueco (Loney, Dear)..... capitaneado por Emil Svanängen, aunque bien se podría decir que él es el grupo.

Ya tiene publicados 5 albums de auténtico infarto musical y esperemos que antes o después el colectivo fikasound (http://www.fikasound.com/) consiga traerselo de gira porque será uno de los conciertos imprescindibles del año sin lugar a dudas.

De sus canciones mucho se puede decir pero lo mejor es escucharlas y sentirse atrapado por su magnetismo, por su esencia, que mucho y nada tiene que ver con otros grupos ya que tan personal es su forma de manifestarse y cantar como lo son las claras y oportunas comparaciones que se le pueden hacer en el lento discurrir de los temas de su último disco.

Aquí os dejo una perla de disco del 2007.

"Emil Svanängen self-released his first album, The Year of River Fontana, in 2003. Recorded in the basement of his parents' home in Jönköping with a minidisk microphone and a home computer, released on home-made CD-Rs, and sold only through his website and at live performances, it became popular on word-of-mouth alone. The next two years saw Svanängen record and release three more albums.

When Loney, Dear play live, Svanängen is joined by Samuel Starck (keyboards), Malin Ståhlberg (tambourine, vocals), Ola Hultgren (drums), and David Lindvall (bass).

In 2006 Loney, Dear was signed by U.S. record label Sub Pop. Sub Pop released Loney, Dear's fourth album, Loney, Noir, on February 6, 2007.

Loney, Dear recently toured America, opening with Pigeon John for Of Montreal, and as of April 2007, are on a North American tour with fellow Sub Pop labelmates Low.

Loney, Dear is currently touring Europe, having just finished a tour supporting Chicago post-rockers The Sea and Cake. In Britain, he supported the London band Athlete on their UK tour and Maps at their Kings College London Student Union show."

Grupo: Loney, Dear
Disco: Loney Noir
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.loneydear.com/
Canciones destacadas: Saturday Waits, I Am Jhon, And i won't cause anything at all, Hard Days, Sinister In The State Of Hope y The Meter Marks Ok