VV Brown is a dynamo self-starter: a songwriter and producer; a fashion maven with a retail website devoted to her personal eye for retro style in the 21st century, and a model, first signed through a chance in-flight meeting, and now represented by Next Models. Signed in 2008 to write and produce her own album, VV now lives in London in a quaint cottage with her sisters.
Bat For Lashes / Glass When I first heard this song, I fell in love. I knew all her other music, but when I first heard this, the voice was just melting. She is one of my favourite artists. The radio station KCRW performance is just unbelievable.
Three-piece Bleech hail from London’s East End. Still reeling from the success of debut single, Is It True That Boys Don’t Cry?, these young upstarts bagged a place in the final in the Road To V competition, from more than 3,000 submissions. Things are set to get even busier as the band have confirmed the first ever residency at KOKO’s Club NME. They play a melodic, grungy, guitar-led sound reminiscent of Nineties Brit Pop. Their second single, The Worthing Song, is out on August 17th through Billie Records.
Blur / This Is A Low We recently had the privilege of seeing Blur twice on their ‘comeback’ this summer, at Goldsmiths University (capacity 400) and Hyde Park (capacity 50,000). This wasn’t a ‘comeback’, Blur never left. They were two completely different gigs, both equally as good but This Is A Low was for me a stand out track at both gigs.
Brooklyn’s The Jaguar Club have been playing around the city for a couple of years and have just finished up their debut album, which they recorded with Kevin McMahon (The Walkmen, Die Die Die, Frightened Rabbit) at Marcata Recordings. Their debut is full of perfectly crafted New Wave pop songs, with Will Popadic’s vocals soaring above it all.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Picking one Neil Young song to talk about is an impossible task for me. This song is a great one to pull out when people complain that Neil is all about one note solos that last ten minutes. I also love the solos, and there are plenty of those later on this album, but the title track is a great little three minute country rock song. Everyone can relate to a little homesickness.
Like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and The Verlaines, Nashville band Paper Route write catchy, bouncy pop songs which don’t so much slide gracefully into your subconsciousness but, rather, lock themselves into it and throw away the key. Nice!
Elbow / Mirrorball This song is a highlight off Elbows new album. It has a perfect groove the whole way through, and the melody is really pretty. I can’t help but nod my head along. I like that.
Greg Camp is best known as the creative force behind 1990s chartsters, Smash Mouth, who had hit after hit from their energetic, feel-good catalogue, including Walking On The Sun and All Star. Since leaving the band earlier this year, he’s re-surfaced as a singer-songwriter in his own right [write?] with the release of his debut solo album, Defektor, in September.
The Clash / Straight To Hell One of my favorite bands and my favorite song that they did. I like the whole vibe of a white band doing their rendition of an Asian story of heritage with a punk edge, somehow. The way it was recorded, with the side stick and tom-tom drums along with dub bass and guitar feedback, makes it beautiful and eerie all at once. Joe Strummer is one of the all-time greatest storytellers, and his thumbtack gargling vocals drive it off the cliff.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
