It’s the new year and the music industry is still moving from a Holiday mind frame into new music/South by Southwest point of view. What I’m trying to tell you that not all of my material from the 1-10-12 show is entirely fresh. Most of it is, however, I had to supplement the program with slightly older goods. Can you see it in your heart to forgive me? Well…let me jump in.

I got the show started with My Tiger My Timing, which I love the name…very clever. They are a indie rock, mix-gendered, quintet out of the South London area. They’ve had a pretty quick rise to success. They formed in 2008 and recorded their first single a year later. Then in 2010, Beck’s Brewery Company sponsors the European Newcomer award; to which the band won. Then in April of 2011 they were recognized at the Glastonbury Music Festival when they reached the finals of the Emerging Talent Competition and were awarded a slot on the John Peel Stage at the festival. They have their debut, full-length album due out in Spring of 2012 and I just happened to have the lead off single; it’s called “Written In Red.”

I closed off that opening set with a young performer from Down Under. Her name is Tara Simmons and she currently resides in Brisbane. This musical talent began playing piano at the age of three and took on the cello at the age of eight; then vocals came shortly thereafter. All the time she was dabbling in songwriting. Now at the age of twenty-seven she seems focused on never being bored with her music. She has tried several different styles with the latest being more electronic and edgier, which if you listened to the show was evident on her latest single “Be Gone.” The album, which is yet to be named, will come out later this year.

Changing musical direction with Rose Cousins. Funny thing about this track is that I never got to hear it in its entirety. It started to play and something would distract me but I could kind of hear it in the background; more subliminal. I’d get refocused and start the song over only to get distracted again but the subconscious melody stuck in my head and that convinced me to put it into today’s show. Anyway, this song from Rose is from the album THE SEND OFF and it was reissued as a precursor to her upcoming album, WE HAVE MADE A SPARK. The track was “I Were The Bird.” If you haven’t heard it before…it’s new to you.

Next was the most recent effort by Ernest Saint Laurent. It is another rehash of a track that was released last year but slipped by me. The tune was “The Moon Is Gone” and it’s from the disc ROLLERCOASTER.

Let’s keep things moving here with Cheyenne Marie Mize. She is an abundantly talented singer/songwriter from Louisville, Kentucky. She grew up in a very musical family and studied music at the University of Louisville. She released her critically acclaimed debut, BEFORE LATELY, in 2010 and she is back with the release of an EP entitled WE DON’T NEED, which is due out the 24th of this month. This cleverly crafted song is called “Wishing Well.”

Finishing that two-song set was Clairy Browne And The Bangin’ Rackettes and I have to tell you…I love these guys. I found them over the weekend and I immediately tweeted about them because they are that good, which is why you should be following me on Twitter. You get the early scoop on great new music. So…Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes are a nine-piece band out of Melbourne, Australia and tune I aired, “Love Letter,” featured some great R&B and Soul, along with some great girlie doo-wops too. Their new album, BABY CAUGHT THE BUS, is out in Australia right now but I don’t know when it, or who will distribute it in the U.S. If you want to check out more of Clairy Browne; their self-titled EP is available on I-Tunes. Check out “Long Lanky Daddy.” These guys would be great live.

My lineage subject was Sailor & I. Sailor & I are an indie pop octet from Stockholm, Sweden. I found them a little over a year ago when they released their debut EP, JOHN FRANKLIN; but more about that later. Shortly after I started playing their music I was contacted by the band with an email that included other music blog people like Pitchfork, which is great to be included on that list. Anyway, I responded to Alexander Sjödin, the band’s frontman, and he’s been touching base with me periodically. Well, in December he sent me a link to their new single off their yet-to-be released album, THE SCHOLARSHIP, and I thought it was terrific. And that’s what I had for the feature; the song is “Turn Around.”

The Sailor & I follow up song for the lineage feature was “Where’s The Love,” which is from the EP, JOHN FRANKLIN.

My re-issue song of the week was from Modern English. To me, this band epitomized the New Wave sound of early eighties. They had some great hair; an upbeat sound and they seemed perfect for the MTV age. The album that made it for these lads was AFTER THE SNOW that had their monster hit “Melt With You.” (It still gets airplay today) They did record a couple other albums but they were never able to capture that spark again. But, if you’re interested, two follow up songs that I glommed onto…way back when were “Ink And Paper,” from STOP START and “Care About You” from PILLOW LIPS. Of course, I ended up staying with the classic.

I followed that with the latest material from Guards. Guards are Richie James Follin, Loren Ted Humphrey, Kaylie Church, and John Fredericks and they are currently based in New York. Other than that I don’t have a great deal of information on them. I found them via White Iris Records on a 7” released by them. The A-side is “Do It Again” but I happen to like the B-side better, which is what I aired for the program and it’s called “Feels Like That.” (BTW, Richie James Follin is the brother of Cults member Madeline Follin)

“Be There” is the latest single from YesYou. YesYou is production duo Jono Kirkham and Gav Parry. According to their very brief bio they said, “We began writing [songs] in early 2010. Armed with a handful of tracks, we have been collaborating with a range of different artists to put together an eclectic Dance/Pop record.” I first featured this pair in May of last year with their first single, “Half Of It.” They are still in the studio as we speak and working on the full-length, debut album. (At this rate that should be by 2014)

Completing that lovely set was the latest from Christine Leakey. She is another amazingly talented singer/songwriter that expressed her musicology at a very early age. She is from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and has just released her debut album and this is how Christine describes it: "TAPPING TREES IN A TRINKET BOX is what would happen if Karen Carpenter went into outer space with Tom Waits and gave birth to Syd Barrett." (I love it) The track I sampled was “Lovely.”

Next up is Ivan and Alyosha a duo that neither one is named Ivan nor Alyosha and they aren’t even a duo. (They actually took their name from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov) They are a quartet from the Seattle area and put together some nice harmonies. They are currently touring with Aimee Mann and pushing their latest album, FATHERS BE KIND, and this is the title track. (Another older song)

Next it was the latest material from The Maccabees. The Maccabees are a five-piece, neo-folk outfit based in Brighton, England. Their new album, GIVEN TO THE WILD, came out in the U.K. on January 9th but there is no set date of release here in the United States. I played “Feel To Follow.”

Let me slip in one more from Frankie Rose. It’s an upbeat Electronic Pop number. She is also a member of the band Hearts Of Palm. She is getting ready to release her next new album, INTERSTELAR. No word yet on the release date but check out the lead off single; it’s “Know Me.”

Songs in BOLD are links to videos of that song. Songs that are ITALICIZED are links to Soundcloud Audio Files of said song.

Come listen LIVE on wmfo.org from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. (I could use the support) ;^)

If you are interested in having me produce a designed playlist for you; email me your contact details and we discuss how to make that happen.

If you missed the live version…check out the archived one. Here’s the LINK.

I suggest you follow me on Twitter and get an early taste on new music that comes out each week. (FYI, The Drums, Katie Costello and Smoove & Turrell are now all following me…how cool it that?) (On the Twitter feed this week is Stereo Soul Future…yeah!)