Monday Musical Mooch: Who On Earth Is Neon Hitch?

I’m too much of a romantic when it comes to music to believe it’s all formulae and picking the right marketing boxes for something to become a success, I just don’t think people are such robots or lack such intelligence as consumers, it sort of misses the point of music in the first place. Having said that, Neon Hitch has all the formulae in place - talent by the bucketload + incubation/development period in New York + extensive touring experience with the likes of Mike Skinner, 50 Cent, Neneh Cherry & 3OH!3 + collaborating with wunderkind producer Benny Blanco on her debut album… Oh and her debut single is co-written with Sia. If that doesn’t send a music blogger’s spidey skills off, nowt will. So, after teasing us by scattering her tracks as she dances all over the internet mischieviously, scattering her cover versions and her collaborations alongside her own writings, it would appear she’s ready to step into the limelight, let’s make her welcome…

Midweek Music Meander: Mona – should Kings Of Leon Be Scared?

There’s that dreaded set of words again, ‘buzz-band’ – the term that either leads to disappointment or more often than not, just plain ambivalence and very, very occasionally the music matches the claims of hotness/coolness/the next big thing/blah blah blah. Mona from Nashville have been described as all of the above plus are pitched by some as The New Kings Of Leon, in the wake of Come Around Sundown provoking wails of betrayal/despair from the KoL purists that insist they lost their edge after the 3^rd album and are doomed for U2 levels of blandness.

Whatever, Mona are too early on in their career to be a contender for the crown (be it KoL’s or anyone else’s, Lord forbid they should be original and earn their own) but this pair of indie/rock-worn ears deems them one to keep an eye on. If anything to observe if the singer’s reputed proper diva strops are fact or fiction…

This is the video for the last single ‘Listen To Your Love’…

(there is a new single ‘Trouble On The Way’ out in December but I preferred Listen To Your Love.)

Wanna hear more? Mona are playing Hoxton Bar & Kitchen 7^th Dec, Captain’s Rest, Glasgow 9^th Dec, Night & Day, Manchester  10^th Dec, The Flapper, Birmingham 11^th Dec, The Cooler, Bristol 13^th Dec, Borderline, LDN 14^th Dec, Brixton Academy (supporting MSP) 15^th Dec, Bodega Social, Nottingham 17^th Dec and Audio Brighton, Dec 18^th.

Soopsworld Week In Links: Albums/CMJ & In The City: New Bands To Watch/Warpaint/Cat Vs Printer/Willow Smith/Disco Al Desko

  ‘This is probably quite old but I like it’ has become a bit of a catch-phrase round these parts,  unless you’re a proper music journalist person, how are you supposed to know when every brand new album comes out … Continue reading →

Lissie – Little Lovin’

via youtube.com

I just saw Lissie at ICA and so giddy am I afterwards that I feel compelled to hunt out her videos on YouTube to somehow spread the word to you lot that she’s freakin awesome. Seriously. By the end of 2009 I, quite possibly like you, was sick of the sight of female solo artists. They were all too similar, too cultivated-quirky, too over-produced, too over-styled.

Then, like a breath of fresh air (or possibly more like wandering into a smoke-filled blues club you’d never been allowed into before) came Lissie Maurus. The girl sings like you wish you could, all blues and dripping in soul, haunting your thoughts then making you stomp your feet with tracks like this one. Catching A Tiger is the album you want to play loud, driving along country roads with the wind blowing through your hair, the slower tracks letting you meander upon memories long lost in your past.

Thank f**k for that.

Lissie ‘ Here Before’

via youtube.com

Bloody One Tree Hill, this was an amazing track before it featured on that filth…