popwreckoning

In the wide world of female performers, you have two camps: one that values extravagant style over substance (e.g., Lady Gaga, Beyonce, recent upstart Kreayshawn) and the other valuing substance over their own understated style (the folk singers, generally). Of the latter category is 20-year old Alessi Laurent-Marke, who records under the name Alessi’s Ark. Laurent-Marke will be getting her first widespread North American debut as the Londoner supports Laura Marling on a 2-week tour of our continent.

She will also be promoting her first full-length release in America, Time Travel, scheduled for release on September 27 on Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label. (The album was already released in the UK in April, and there are some songs on Spotify [some old, some new] to tide you over until the actual release of the album here.) I am quite pleased that Alessi’s Ark is finally getting attention on this side of the Atlantic, as I’ve been keeping tabs on Laurent-Marke since her first album, Notes from the Treehouse, was released in Britain in 2009.

Alessi’s Ark songs generally follow one rule: they’re all very short. On Time Travel, only the title track and “Stalemate” go over 3 minutes, with some of the other songs not even going past the 2-minute mark. This can be good or bad; in the good sense, Laurent-Marke’s thoughts are put into small, compact compartments, like something you want to scuttle away in a dark corner of your pocket and save for a rainy day. But in the bad sense, you’re left wondering where the song would have gone, had she decided to soldier on with her thoughts. The best example on the album is “Wire” (download it from Bella Union here, video below). It appears to be a cryptic love letter to an important woman in her life (her mother? a lover?) that is now dearly departed. Yet there is also clear the acknowledgment that she feels lost, forsaken, and misunderstood (“I’m tired of walking this wire / it keeps me awake for heaven sake / I was made for this girl / I feel lonely / my friends don’t seem to know me / like I thought they did / I thought they did, but they don’t”). The angst of growing up is of course a common theme across many genres of music, but I’d like someone to come up with a song as elegant as this.

The beauty does not end there. “Run,” barely clocking in at a minute and a half, is the musical equivalent of seeing the moon’s reflection in a still lake. In “On the Plains,” Laurent-Marke uses simple chord changes against her effortless vocals for a simple love song. Flutes add a level of whimsy to this track, and throughout the album, you will find also find brass instruments supporting the standard folk backdrop of thoughtful guitars and Laurent-Marke’s calm voice. It’s almost unbelievable that someone so young could have such great control over the sounds that come out of her mouth. Then again, remind yourself who she’s touring with: Laura Marling, merely 1 year her senior. In the tune “Stalemate,” she admits, “the only thing I’ve learnt is I like singing / all the lessons that the guitar is bringing.” Something America should learn – and quickly: all aboard Alessi’s Ark, and prepare to enjoy the ride.

Time Travel, the first American release for Alessi’s Ark, will be released on September 27 on Bella Union. Catch Laurent-Marke on tour, supporting Laura Marling, on the dates below.

Track Listing
01. Kind of Man
02. Wire
03. On The Plains
04. Must’ve Grown
05. Time Travel
06. The Fever
07. Blanket
08. Maybe I Know
09. Stalemate
10. The Robot
11. Run
12. The Bird Song

Tour Dates (supporting Laura Marling)
Sept 22 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
Sept 23 – Great Hall / Toronto
Sept 24 – Corona / Montreal
Sept 25 – Brighton Music Hall / Boston
Sept 27 – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue / Washington, DC
Sept 28 – Webster Hall / New York City

Alessi’s Ark: website | myspace

The third album from English folk songbird Laura Marling is called A Creature I Don’t Know and the approach this time around seems to be a mature one (like Marling’s second, I Speak Because I Can) but more raw and back to basics, more similar to Marling’s 2008 debut and Mercury Prize-nominated album Alas I Cannot Swim. Take, for instance, the opening track “The Muse.” A fast folk guitar, honky tonk piano, and drum brushes were adopted for this song, and the overall vibe is very laid back. Too laid back I think: Marling’s voice is jazzy, and it’s not really the best to showcase Marling’s otherwise beautiful singing voice. Check out “Don’t Ask Me Why” and “All My Friends” for clear evidence of this and Marling’s mastery of songwriting. The only problem I see with this album is that it is uneven in song quality.

The lead single for A Creature I Don’t Know is “Sophia,” which begins with spare guitar chords and a dry vocal from Marling. With beautiful backing singers harmonizing perfectly with her, it’s so gentle, as if you were in a boat going down a gentle river. But this doesn’t last long: confusingly two-thirds into the song, you are jolted back into reality when the song turns Mumford and Sons-ized. It’s a knee-slapper, folks. The first couple times I heard this song this summer on British radio, I was really unhappy with it because Marling is such a talented woman, I felt like she sold out trying to make it more radio-friendly. The song has grown on me since I’ve seen the video for the song (watch it below) because it feels less contrived when you see her and her band playing it in a church. The video is a nice preview of her upcoming tour at home in the UK, as she will be playing churches across the country.

“Salinas” appears to be a nod to John Steinbeck (the Nobel Prize-winning author’s hometown) and possibly his most famous work The Grapes of Wrath. The song speaks of strong women and questions of morality and mortality. Heavy stuff. Then again, no one ever said folk music was for the weak-hearted. Also see “The Beast,” which may be a reference to Satan and viewing sex as a sin. The instrumentation is probably the hardest we’re going to get from Marling – unless she does a complete 180 and completely gives up folk for hard rock, which I highly doubt – and while there have been aggressive tracks like “Devil’s Spoke” from her in the past, this one is a definite ratcheting up on the rockiness.

Unfortunately, if you’re more of a rock than a folk fan like me, the album plods along instead of continuing in a jaunty fashion. Things can get a little…well…boring. Marling is 21 now, has 3 albums under her belt, and has had two high profile relationships with fellow musicians Charlie Fink (Noah and the Whale) and Marcus Mumford. The question now is, how will Marling change as the years go on?

A Creature I Don’t Know will be released in the U.S. on September 12 on Ribbon Records. Catch Marling on tour in North America this month, starting on September 17 in San Francisco. The opener for the tour is Alessi’s Ark, another amazing female English singer/songwriter.

Track Listing
01. The Muse
02. I Was Just a Card
03. Don’t Ask Me Why
04. Salinas
05. The Beast
06. Night After Night
07. My Friends
08. Rest in the Bed
09. Sophia
10. All My Rage

Tour Dates
Sept 17 – Bimbo’s 365 Club / San Francisco
Sept 18 – Masonic Temple / Los Angeles
Sept 20 – Troubadour / Los Angeles
Sept 22 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
Sept 23 – Great Hall / Toronto
Sept 24 – Corona / Montreal
Sept 25 – Brighton Music Hall / Boston
Sept 27 – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue / Washington, DC
Sept 28 – Webster Hall / New York City

Laura Marling: website | myspace

I first came upon the music of Darwin Deez by an, admittedly, slightly annoying song called “Radar Detector” that got a lot of airplay on BBC Radio in 2010. Darwin Deez, aka Darwin Smith, is one unusual character. A pretty talented guy, Smith wrote, performed, produced, arranged, engineered and mixed almost everything on this debut album. I guess he must just be mildly OCD about controlling his musical output, which is not all that uncommon among musicians. His guitar is definitely strange though: his axe only has 4 strings (no E string) and he has a secret tuning key for it. Okay…

Now I mentioned BBC Radio because Britain, better than any other country, has the ear to pick on a good thing and can do this much faster than America can. And indeed, they’ve already embraced his misfit pop stylings. Widely read British music magazine NME featured Deez as part of the top ten of the NME Cool List 2010, alongside ex-Libertine Carl Barat, Janelle Monae, and Laura Marling, just to name three others. NME describes Deez, in at #10, as follows: “All the Richard Dawkins acolytes who drone on about how all religion is benighted, all bollocks and basically pure evil, need a few elementary lessons in Darwin-ism. Darwin Deez is indie’s exemplar of all that’s positive of living according to your holy principles. His lifelong devotion to the teachings of Indian mystic Meher Baba seems to have gifted him with the warm, graceful, joss-stick hazy spiritual air…” Pretty heady stuff for a kid born under such spiritual confines who eventually gave up schooling at Wesleyan to entertain anti-folk lovers in New York City and now regularly sells out UK venues. Definitely a case of living the dream.

So far, “Radar Detector,” “Constellations,” and “Up in the Clouds” (an addictive, peppy, and cute apology / love song) have been released as singles in the UK, but in my view, the better tracks are still to be discovered when you buy Darwin Deez the album. If you don’t like programmed beats or deadpanned, nonmelodic singing, this is probably not the record for you. “Deep Sea Diver” is not about water sports, it’s Deez singing to his girlfriend, stop being depressed because “now you’re bringing me down, now I’m unhappy too.” A fun groove punctuates “The City.” Later on, “The Suicide Song” sounds far too happy as a real call for help. “Bed Space,” with its trippy dream like quality, lacks direction. “The Bomb Song” is trying to be a commentary on the end of the world by weapons of mass destruction, and it doesn’t fit on this otherwise happy album, it’s just too heavy subject matter.

The surprising gem in the bunch is the last track, “Bad Day.” This is not to be confused with “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter, the cloyingly sweet and empathetic song that we heard play every time another reject was booted, blinking back tears, from American Idol a couple years back. No, this is reined-in vitriol from one dude to another, served up Darwin Deez style. You have to laugh at the lyrics: “I hope the last page of your 800 page novel is missing / I hope that it rains if you leave the window down on your red Mustang” and “I would like to be your girlfriend so I could dump you / and I would like to be your garbage man / so I would never have to pick up your trash again”. Brilliant. It’s the kind of anthem you want to sing in the face of anyone who’s ever wronged you. In a sunny, not argumentative Darwin Deez way, and afterwards, you can skip off, happily, into the sunset.

Darwin Deez will be released on February 22 on Lucky Number Records.

Track Listing:
01. Constellations
02. Deep Sea Divers
03. The City
04. DNA
05. The Suicide Song
06. Up in the Clouds
07. Bed Space
08. The Bomb Song
09. Radar Detector
10. Bad Day

Tour Dates
Feb 09 – Spring Street Firehouse / Birmingham
Feb 10 – Club Downunder / Tallahassee
Feb 11 – Drunken Unicorn / Atlanta
Feb 12 – Snug Harbor / Charlotte
Feb 14 – Local 506 / Chapel Hill
Feb 15 – Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar / Charlottesville, VA
Feb 17 – Black Cat Backstage / Washington, DC
Feb 18 – Kung Fu Necktie / Philadelphia
Feb 19 – Bowery Ballroom / New York City

Darwin Deez: website | myspace | Darwin Deez to Tour North America This Winter, Will Release Self-Titled Debut in February

The nominations for the 2010 Barclaycard Mercury Prize – awarded to the album deemed the best released during the prior year from the United Kingdom and Ireland – were announced earlier today, July 20, at a London ceremony by BBC 6music radio host Lauren Laverne. You may recognize several of this year’s nominees as acts previously featured on PopWreckoning.

Here are the 12 nominees for this year’s Mercury Prize:

Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek
Foals – Total Life Forever
I Am Kloot – Sky At Night
Kit Downes Trio – Golden
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation
Villagers - Becoming A Jackal
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
The xx – xx

Receiving a Mercury Prize nomination (and/or winning it) generally leads to increased album sales and increased celebrity profile for a band. London rapper Speech Debelle received the honor in 2009. The 2010 Barclaycard Mercury Prize will be awarded in London on September 7. The winning act will receive a cash award of £20,000 (over $30,000 US).

After seeing Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons last month, I suspect I may well be turning into a folkie. Not that it’d be a bad thing. Furthering my genre-specific education was folk rock siren April Smith and her four-man band the Great Picture Show, who graced the Christmas light-lit Iota stage this past Tuesday night – a decidedly balmy, sticky night in the Nation’s Capital. This sort of weather is typical for June here, and native Washingtonians have learned to live with the heat and humidity of our summers. For Smith and her band however, I felt terrible about it because she kept mentioning the stifling heat. Surely the night before in Atlanta could not have been much better? I was worried how this was going to affect them playing songs from her fan-financed debut album Songs for a Sinking Ship, full of hand claps and finger snaps. I really needn’t have worried.

I decided that her talking about the heat and revealing to us that they had indulged in a large pasta dinner earlier (and saying it was probably a bad idea before a performance) was her way of reaching out to us, like we were friends. Iota has that kind of vibe about it– it’s a small but comfortable, homey place, a place where you can go to see an up and coming band perform and you don’t feel like you have to be someone else. Wearing a sleeveless white blouse with a red skirt and lacy petticoat, the brunette Smith looked more cowgirl than a rocker. This thought was quickly put out of mind as soon as she opened her mouth on their opening number, “Movie Loves a Screen,” Smith engaging the audience with her sweet voice.

Wow, what a voice. The best numbers were those that showcased Smith’s amazing vocal control, range, and delivery, like “Dixie Boy” (a woman’s stern warning to another woman eyeing her man), and those that got the crowd involved, like the hand clap, foot stomp-inducing “Colors.” The end of the show should have been album track “Wow and Flutter,” which if you were wondering did wow me quite a lot, especially thanks to a homage to Led Zeppelin the band injected into the bridge of the song in the form of a folky bit of “Whole Lotta Love,” including some of the rock anthem’s racier lyrics. Not what you expected from a bunch of folkies, huh?

After a short period of deliberation in a huddle, the band decided to return for an encore. Smith explained that it was going to have to be a cover. “Do you want upbeat…” she started to ask, interrupted by someone shouting out “upbeat!” Well then. Smith and the band proceeded to play a blazing version of Melanie’s “Brand New Key,” a 1970s pop hit that you may be familiar with via a recent cover by American Idol alum Katharine McPhee. Given the choice, I’d take April Smith and the Great Picture Show’s version any day. According to the band’s Facebook page, Smith provides “vocals, rhythm guitar, [and] sass” – she’s got plenty of talent in all three to teach generations of women how music is done right.

April Smith and the Great Picture Show Set List
Movie Loves a Screen
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Terrible Things
Stop Wondering
What’ll I Do
Colors
Can’t Say No
The One That Got Away
Dixie Boy
Wow and Flutter
//
Brand New Key (Melanie cover)

April Smith and the Great Picture Show: website | myspace | Songs for a Sinking Ship review

Laura Marling, London folk songbird and former member of Noah and the Whale, has announced an extended tour of America in May. This will be her second set of dates on this side of the pond this year after a short tour in February. Marling is scheduled to perform at two of the more alternative summer music festivals in the UK, Hop Farm Festival in Kent and Latitude Festival in Suffolk, both in July.

I Speak Because I Can, Marling’s second album that sees her going back to a more traditional folk sound, was released in the UK on March 22. The album will be released in America on April 6.

Tour Dates
May 04 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
May 06 – Ladies Literary Club / Grand Rapids, MI
May 07 – Magic Stick / Detroit
May 08 – Andy Warhol Museum / Pittsburgh
May 09 – Big Obit Sound Lab / Buffalo
May 11 – Space Gallery / Portland, ME
May 12 – First Church in Cambridge / Cambridge, MA
May 13 – Music Hall of Williamsburg / Brooklyn
May 14 – City Winery / New York City
May 15 – Johnny Brenda’s / Philadelphia
May 16 – Iota / Arlington, VA
May 18 – Earl/ Atlanta
May 19 – 3rd & Lindsley / Nashville
May 21 – Warehouse Live / Houston
May 22 – Central Presbyterian Church / Austin
May 23 – Loft / Dallas
May 24 – Larimer Lounge / Denver
May 25 – Kilby Court / Salt Lake City
May 26 – Neurolux / Boise
May 28 – Doug Fir / Portland, OR

Laura Marling: website | myspace | Laura Marling Plans February 2010 North American Tour

You probably know Laura Marling best as a former member of London folk pop band Noah and the Whale: she provided angelic harmonizing vocals to the band’s hit “Five Years Time.” According to her official website, the English songbird now has plans to play several dates across North America in support of her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album released in 2008, Alas I Cannot Swim, which incidentally was produced by NATW’s singer/songwriter Charlie Fink. Catch her folky stylings at the following venues in February 2010.

Tour Dates:
Feb 03 – Casbah / San Diego
Feb 04 – Largo / Los Angeles
Feb 05 – Cellar / Visalia, CA
Feb 06 – Swedish American Hall / San Francisco
Feb 09 – Drake Hotel / Toronto
Feb 10 – Divan Orange / Montreal
Feb 12 – (le) poisson rouge / New York City
Feb 13 – Attucks Theater / Norfolk, VA

Brit beauty Laura Marling is going to be back in the US in a couple of weeks for a few performances to promote forthcoming Alas I Cannot Swim out August 19th on Astralwerks. The 19 year old’s album was released in Britain back in February and has received much acclaim.

Tour Dates:
Jun 09 - Oran Mar Glasgow/Scotland
Jun 10 – St Phillip’s/Manchester *
Jun 11 – St James’/London ^
Jun 12 – St Paul’s/Birmingham *
Jun 13 – St James’/London *
Jun 16 – Glasslands Gallery/Brooklyn, New York
Jun 18 – Mercury Lounge/New York
Jun 29 – The Park Stage @ Glastonbury Festival/Somerset
Jun 30 – Cypress Avenue/Cork
Jul 01 – Whelans/Dublin
Jul 02 – Auntie Annies/Belfast
Jul 04 – Quart Festiva/Kristiansand
Jul 06 – Hop Farm Festival/Kent
Jul 20 – Truck Festival/Steventon
Jul 31 – Cambridge Folk Festival/Cambridge
Aug 03 – Splendour In The Grass Festival/Byron Bay
Aug 05 – The Factory/Sydney
Aug 06 – Northcote Social Club/Melbourne
Aug 09 - Field Day Festival/London and South East
Aug 17 - Greenman Festival @ Brecon Beacons/Wales
Sep 5-7 – Bestival Isle of Wight
Sep 12-14 – End Of The Road Festival/North Dorset

* w/Melodica, Melody & Me
^ w/The Wave Pictures

Laura Marling: myspace | watch “Cross Your Fingers”

Astralwerks Records had announced the release of 18 year-old Laura Marling‘s debut LP, Alas I Cannot Swim, set for August 18th.

Marling is being hailed one of the most gifted performers to rise out of the growing British folk scene. Alas, I Cannot Swim, released in Britain in February, more than proves it. Her sense of melody and gift for lyricism would be impressive in someone decades older. Not being touted for just her age, Marling’s songs are stunningly crafted and, since her first US shows in January, she has found a rapidly expanding state-side audience.

Watch the music video for newest UK single “Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out Of The Sea” here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE9pmbjLMSs&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6]

Tour Dates:
6/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands
6/18 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

Laura Marling: website | myspace | watch “Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out Of The Sea”

18 year old Laura Marling released her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, in the UK in February where it was given a rapturous reception by critics. Her sense of melody and gift for lyrics would be impressive in someone decades older, but it’s not just Marling’s youth which makes her shine; her songs are stunningly crafted and this solo performance in support of New York anti-folker Adam Green on May 10th at Town Hall is an early chance to see her perform them as simply as they were written.

Alas, I Cannot Swim will be released in the US on Astralwerks in August.

Laura Marling: website | myspace
Adam Green: website | myspace
Astralwerks: website