Four years after the release of “What Went Down”, the Britons Foals return not with one but with two albums. What delight fans of their hypnotic pop and morning math rock. We find Yannis Philippakis and his clique on the stage of Gaîté Lyrique, on the occasion of the fourth edition of the ARTE Concert Festival.
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The Impersonators – Cloud Nine
The Impersonators came into being after the demise of Finnish pop/rock band Carmen Gray in 2013 when Tommi Tikka, the other half of Carmen Gray’s songwriting team, joined forces with lyricist Antti Autio to write some new songs.
While Carmen Gray had recorded for major labels, such as Sony and Warner, The Impersonators’ story was going to be different from the get-go. With this particular group, Tikka wanted to have complete artistic control over the songs he recorded to avoid generic and sterile production typical for modern pop/rock.
For quite a while, Tikka auditioned musicians for the new group. However, after three failed attempts to put together a lineup that did justice to the new songs, he decided to make The Impersonators a group of two songwriters rather than a group of four or five musicians. Hence began the search for a great producer rather than the right musicians.
Finally, in early 2017, Tikka teamed up with Janne Saksa, a seasoned professional in making records, who became Tikka’s collaborator in the studio and took over the head producer’s reins from him. Together, they’ve arranged and produced the group’s two singles “You Are The One” and “Burning Blue.”
The best way to describe the sound of The Impersonators is to call it sixties-flavored “alternative pop/rock”. Their goal is to nurture and cultivate the creativity, spirit, and warmth that graced the pop records of yesteryears.
LINKS:
https://impersonatorsmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/ImpersonatorsBand
https://twitter.com/1mpersonators -
Michael P Cullen – Do You Believe
A man in a suit, an old semi-acoustic guitar and a voice like sandpaper dipped in honey. Michael P Cullen tells stories of longing and regrets in a unique and textured baritone with echoes of American mid-century pulp writers, 60s Vegas cabaret, and Southern Gothic Americana. He has often been compared to Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Nick Cave but his unique blend of Noir, New Wave, Stax and Northern Soul ultimately defies comparison.
The Sydney-based lounge lizard artfully marries Southern Gothic dustiness to black-sequined seediness in a way that actually reveals a true sense of class.
Monster Magnet Records (Los Angeles)True Believer is a hedonistic, lush, red velvet-curtained fragile and beautiful album. Imbued with the sexual frustration and louche ambivalence of Robert Forster from The Go-Betweens and underpinned by a Nick Cave-like gothic baritone darkness, each listen reveals more complex layers, greater humor and a melodic strength. Every song is great – flashes of Tindersticks and Leonard Cohen weaving in and out of this lounge-room lothario performing in a haze of smoke and whiskey.
Back Seat Mafia (London)Songs about regret, bitterness and a love gone sour. The vocals are a rich baritone cocktail of spoken word, singing and crooning while [Tim]Powles provides seamless, charming accompaniment on the keys and drums. It’s intoxicating. It has to be experienced.
Rip it Up Magazine (Brisbane)Inspired by the likes of Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits, you nevertheless get a very Michael Cullen experience. He is strong and has a distinctive baritone vocal that weaves through the music, making this album unique, and uniquely valuable. 4.5 Stars
Sydney Morning HeraldMix a stiff drink or three, crack open a pack of cheap cigarettes (I don’t care if you smoke… you want to experience this correctly or not?), and sink in your own glorious malaise, pondering where you could have done better for yourself. Michael P Cullen & The Soul Searchers understand.
Modern Fix (Wisconsin)Musicians/Instruments:
Michael P Cullen – vocals. Guitar. bass
Tim Powles – drums, percussion, vocals (Tim is a long time member of legendary Australian band The Church)Produced by Michael P Cullen & Tim Powles
Engineered by Tim Powles and Ted Howard
Mixed by Danton Supple (Coldplay, Morrissey many others)LINKS:
http://michaelpcullen.com
https://soundcloud.com/michael-p-cullen
https://bit.ly/MichaelPCullenYouTube
https://bit.ly/michaelpcullenfacebook
https://twitter.com/m1chaelcullen -
Andreas S Jensen – Only Die Once
Andreas has written, produced and remixed songs for artists like; Sam & The Womp, Armand Van Helden, Kevin Lyttle, Nerina Pallot and Vybz Kartel, and has sold close to a million copies of his songs worldwide.
Andreas writes catchy, alternative pop songs mentioning inspirations from artists like David Bowie, Tom Petty, Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello and The Zombies….
Andreas also gigs with reggae/breakbeat/Drum and Bass pioneers Dub Pistols.
in 2011 Andreas started visiting the Austin, Texas-based House Of Songs; a collaboration project supported by songwriting collection societies from around the world.
Andreas’ solo debut ep Disconnected was released in January 2014, featuring three songs written and partly recorded at the Austin retreat in collaboration with local writers.
A DIY video of the song Unchanged was shot on an iPhone in Andreas’ girlfriends London flat and the song Take My Heart And Go received support from Tom Robinson on BBC6 Music.
The coming album Disturbed will feature performances by an impressive group of London session players, friends Andreas has met via his producer and session work including: Adam Falkner on drums (Babyshambles/Dido), guitarist Garo Nahoulakian (Nadine Shah), Antonia Pagulatos on violin and viola (Gorillaz, Blur), cellist Ben Trigg (Arctic Monkeys, Unkle, Jamie Collum), Jesper Lind (Jack Savoretti), Nikolai Bjerre (Lamb), Jack Cowens (Dub Pistols/Bondax), and many others.
As a writer/producer Andreas’ co-writes has sold close to a million copies with artists like Kevin Lyttle (USA), Armand Van Helden (USA), Nate James (UK), Stefanie Heinzmann (Tyskland) and as a remixer, producer, session player and engineer he has collaborated with people like Dido, Rizzle Kicks, Vybz Kartel, Sam And The Womp, Beenie Man, Nerina Pallot, Loick Essien and many others.
Andreas writes catchy, alternative pop songs with inspirations from artists like David Bowie, Tom Petty, Soundgarden, Elliot Smith and The Zombies.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://AndreasSJensen.com
https://twitter.com/andreassjensen
https://youtube.com/user/AndreasSjensen1
https://facebook.com/AndreasJensenMusic