Band to Watch: Michael Kiwanuka
Once in a while, an artist comes along with a voice that taps at the deepest, innermost part of the self-conscious. The part that decides just what type of person we are. Such a voice is timeless. It can be played anywhere to an audience of any language and the intensity of emotion will resonate and burn through with equal effect.
Michael Kiwanuka was raised in North-London, the son of Ugandan immigrants. Until last year, he was working as a session guitarist, while gigging tiny London clubs in the evening. Before long, he had caught the eye of The Bees’ Paul Butler, who brought Kiwanuka to Isle of White to record what would become his debut EP, Tell Me a Tale. Listen to the title track below.
Rather than make the inevitable comparisons to the forefathers of soul and R&B that Kiwanuka’s voice immediately brings to mind, let’s settle instead on a statement we can all agree upon: this shit is fucking good. Slap an innocent bystander; snap the hinges off of the bedposts good. Listen to “They Say I’m Doin’ Just Fine” below.
Kiwanuka shot forth from the basements of British pubs like a canon. By the start of this year, he had served as the opening act of Adele’s European tour, released another two more EP’s to account for a total of nine songs, signed with Polydor Records and had been Christened by the BBC as 2012’s next big thing. A meteoric rise for a man that only a year ago was laying down riffs for Tinie Tempah and has yet to turn 25 years old. Regardless of his age or experience, the results speak for themselves. Watch the video for “Home Again,” the title-track from Kiwanuka’s latest EP below.
Connect with Michael Kiwanuka via Facebook | Twitter
Written by Rob Peoni
Video: Deer Tick “Main Street” (Neil Young Cover)
The 40th anniversary of Neil Young’s Harvest will occur on February 14. This was a subtle recording that quickly became the best selling album of 1972. Although this album will be “over the hill” this year, it is safe to say that it will not soon be forgotten. This release is significant because it serves as a baby boomer recommendation that most of us have accepted. This is the album your dad not only introduced to you when you were younger, but also still plays routinely. If you own this album then you play it regularly. I am not particularly insane about Neil Young, but I always find room for Harvest. This has always been a valuable suggestion that has earned a seat in my rotation.
What better way to pay homage to this milestone than a cover? Watch John McCauley and Rob Crowell of Deer Tick cover Harvest opener “Main Street” on Live & Reel’s January session:
Written by Brett McGrath
Band to Watch: Jonquil
Jonquil make the type of music you wish was playing the soundtrack of your life. And honestly, that’s maybe the best compliment I can give these guys. Because if their songs did indeed play as you made your way through each day, chances are your days would be pretty fantastic. Full of catchy high-pitched guitar riffs, tropical beats, and soulful falsetto vocals, these cats roll up multiple genres and decades of music into a giant spliff of happiness.
A quartet from Oxford, England, the band’s previous record, One Hundred Suns, was released in 2010 and is still to this day underrated. Featuring solid singles “It Never Rains” and “I Know I Don’t Know”, it’s really surprising to me that you don’t see/hear more of these guys in the US. Perhaps that will change with the upcoming release of their second record, Point of Go, later this spring. Check out a live performance of the first single released from the album, “It’s my Part” and interview with the band.
So as you wake up today and get ready to step out into the world full of potential, take a second and sit down, drink a cup of coffee (or do whatever it is you do to wake up) and enjoy a few new songs from Jonquil. If you’re going to be alive, you might as well carpe diem.
Jonquil will release Point of Go on Blessing Force/Cooperative Music on 3-5-12. You can check out the second single from the album, “Mexico” below.
Connect with Jonquil via Facebook | Twitter
Written by Greg Dahman
Thought on Tracks 