Trying To Stay Afloat

It’s been ages since I’ve posted on here, and my posts have become more and more sporadic as work seems to take over my life (not out of choice I hasten to add) – 50 hours last week, and a fairly high likelyhood that this week will be the same – I think I may cry.

Work aside, I’ve been going through a strange period where, on the whole, new music seems like too much to contend with – the stress of work makes me yearn for music I know and love rather than introducing anything new that would serve as a distratction. Odd, I know.

That said, I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t picking up the odd new track on my journeys…

…First up, sounding a bit like The Jam, Adam & The Ants with a liberal sprinkling of rock ‘n’ roll are Vincent Vincent And The Villains – VVATV have been playing the band scene for a few years and have finally been signed with a major label. I first saw them whilst flicking through TOTP a few weeks back and loved their sound.

The Veils are a New Zealand band based in London, fronted by lead singer and songwriter, Finn Andrews. With a sound that has been likened to artists as diverse as Jeff Buckley, The Birthday Party, The Smiths, and Joy Division, I have to say I am loving their latest album Nux Vomica. Inspite of the fact that I’m a pophead most of the times, there are times (like today when it’s grey and cold) where what you want is some intense gothic melancholy rather than glitter and hotpants.

Before they teamed up with Niles Rodgers and Bernard Edwards to become the disco legends that they were destined to be, Sister Sledge were a cute though not terribly exciting Mowtown band. In between their debut album (Circle of Love) and the Rodgers & Edwards output, they put out a promo cover of Stevie Wonder’s As, which I have been trying to track down for ages – finally managed to a couple of weeks ago.

There has been a track that seems to have been played at every club that I went to all summer, that I kept hearing but forgot to download or actually do anything meaningful with – I finally got round to downloading it – the Moto Blanco remix of Mary J Blige’s ‘Be Without You’. And a super tune it is as well.

Is it odd that I find this guy adorable?

MP3: Vincent Vincent And The Villains – I’m Alive (expired)
MP3: Vincent Vincent And The Villains – On My Own (expired)
MP3: The Veils – Advice For Young Mothers To Be (expired)
MP3: The Veils – Under The Folding Branches (expired)
MP3: Sister Sledge – Circle Of Love (Caught In The Middle) (expired)
MP3: Sister Sledge – As (expired)
MP3: Mary J Blige – Be Without You (Moto Blanco Radio Mix) (expired)