Welcome to the pond

Another of the artists that I've recently discovered is the British indie-pop duo Turin Brakes. I heard their single "Pain Killer" on Live365 earlier this week, and I was immediately attracted to the bright acoustic guitars and tight harmonies of the two singers. It also has a short but cool electric guitar solo in the latter half of the song. Who do they sound like? Well, I think there's a Beatles influence in there for sure. The harmonies bring to mind Simon and Garfunkel as well as the Finn brothers. One of the singer's voices, in fact, has the same almost-feminine quality of Neil Finn's voice. I've listened to part of their latest album on Winamp, and while I do like the catchiness of the songs I think the quirkiness of the voices will take some getting used to. But all in all, I think I've found a gem here.

Today I've gone back to listening to the Afro Celts. They sure are amazing, aren't they? They're supposedly going to have a new album out sometime later in this year. I'm quite excited about that, although I hope the delay of the remix album "Pod" last year isn't a hint of problems to come with their record label. Real World Records has seemed to lose focus on the group in recent years with little promotion and website information about the group. In fact, ever since the 2003 release of "Seed," the Afro Celts have not had an official website other than their microsite at Real World. A new, updated website has long been promised but constantly delayed by no fault of the band itself. You'd think an official website, even a basic site that will be improved, would be a basic promotional and communicational need for a semi-major act like the Afro Celts.

Well, in any event, I hope the Afro Celts are busy working on their album and getting it completed and that it will be released before Christmas. I'll talk to you all tomorrow, I'm off to do some reading.