John Wesley Harding – Making Love to Bob Dylan

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Music has never lacked for boot-knocking soundtracks, from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” to Lovage’s Music To Make Your Old Lady By.

But what happens when the parties involved have trouble agreeing on a soundtrack? Something like what goes down in the video for John Welsey Harding’s “Making Love To Bob Dylan,” an unreleased song from the veteran English singer-songwriter.

But there’s a twist here: It’s Harding, whose stage name is borrowed from the Bob Dylan song and album title, who can’t perform to Robert Zimmerman’s musical stylings, no matter how much his partner Janeane Garofalo wants to. (Too Malkovich Malkovich?)

Harding does his best to find a compromise — What about the Beach Boys? Maybe Massive Attack? Come on, not even T. Rex?? — but Garofalo isn’t having it.

Source and Germany working video link:
http://music-mix.ew.com/2012/08/23/john-wesley-harding-making-love-to-bob-dylan/

Bombino – Amidinine

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Two years ago, Tuareg guitarist and singer Omar “Bombino” Moctar burst into international consciousness with an amazing solo debut album, Agadez. Here was a young artist who was, in certain ways, molded by the towering demigods of Saharan guitar rock in Tinariwen. But, as he proved on Agadez and again in his early live shows, Bombino works from a more inventive sonic palette. His sound is far looser, more rolling and just plain riffier than Tinariwen’s style, but Bombino’s melodic ideas are coiled as tightly as a guitar string.

For his second international solo album, Nomad, Bombino benefits from an inspired pairing: He teamed up with a kindred spirit in The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced this new album. The fuzzy, loose and wide-open sounds will be familiar to Black Keys fans — and totally complement the singular honey-and-sand texture of Bombino’s voice.

Born in northern Niger in 1980, Bombino is an ethnic Tuareg, a member of the nomadic tribe spread out across the Sahara Desert and over several countries’ borders; its members are ethnic minorities in every one of those nations. Drought and two bloody wars forced his community into exile. As a youngster, Bombino fled with his family — first to Algeria and then to Libya — before coming back to Niger. As another Tuareg rebellion against the government of Niger heated up in 2007, Bombino escaped to Burkina Faso for several years before returning to Niger three years ago.

Those experiences have shaped him as an artist. While Bombino occasionally meanders into lyrically elliptical love songs, most of his lyrics, sung in the Tuareg language of Tamashek, directly address burning Tuareg geopolitical concerns. He sings about finding unity among the transnational Tuareg community (“Adinat [People]”) and the ever-present, pressing problems of desert life, such as in “Her Tenere [In the Desert]” and “Aman [Water].” While the political issues that occupy Bombino’s thoughts may well be a world away from his American fans, his sound and style are alluring on a global scale.
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The Godfathers – I Can’t Sleep Tonight

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Bursting back on to the scene with their first album release since 1995, The Godfathers have lost nothing of the passion and energy which characterised them as one of the most exciting and respected rock ‘n’ roll acts of the late eighties and early nineties

The psychedelic ‘Let Your Hair Down’ and ‘If I Only Could’ kick the LP off with a marked 60’s influence before ripping into the superb gangster rock of ‘Primitive Man’. Raw guitars and aggressive vocals continue with the menacing, rock ’n’ roll inspired ‘The Outsider’ both characterised by Pete Coyne’s harsh vocals and trademark vitriolic lyrics.

The Godfathers then pay homage to Link Ray with a rendition of his 1965 ground breaking classic ‘I’m Branded’. The beautiful ‘Can of Worms’ follows, another in a long line of inspirational tunes penned by Del Bartle whose mercurial guitar skills are fully displayed in the highlight of the album ‘Back To The Future’. A Godfathers masterpiece matched by its lyrical wizardry.

The melodic ‘Man In The Middle’ and contemplative ‘Thai Nights’ close what is a stunning statement of intent from the legendary South London outfit. A long time coming but things of quality have no fear of time
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Escondido – Black Roses

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Escondido is Nashville, TN based artists Jessica Maros and Tyler James. Recorded live in a single day, their 10-song debut album is due out Feb. 2013. Their sound is a washed out desert landscape steeped in American roots music. “We wanted it to be like Clint Eastwood playing pop songs at one of the honky-tonks downtown,” James mused. “But we’ve been told it sounds like desert sex.”
Band Website

Lindi Ortega – Cigarettes & Truckstops

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Let’s deal with the obvious first, yes, Nashville-by-way-of-Toronto Lindi Ortega’s soprano trill is reminiscent to a certain buxom, bewigged country music superstar. It’s not something she shies away from. Hell she even name-checks Dolly on the title cut. But where Dolly would chirp hopefully within every syllable leading to a home-spun happy ending Ortega takes a dreamy Julie Cruise into a beautifully melancholic coastal journey driving the protagonist toward a reunion with a love that may (or may not) end well
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Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra w/Count Basie & The Orchestra & Quincy Jones

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In a musical career that has spanned six decades, Quincy Jones has earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, a sideman, a songwriter, a producer, an arranger, a film composer, and a record label executive, and outside of music, he’s also written books, produced major motion pictures, and helped create television series. And a quick look at a few of the artists Jones has worked with suggests the remarkable diversity of his career — Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, and Aretha Franklin.
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Yes – I See You

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Guitarist Peter Banks, a founding member of the band Yes, has died at his home in London at the age of 65.

Banks, who was born in Barnet on July 15th 1947, became a mainstay of the progressive rock world after recording two albums with Yes — their self-titled debut release in 1969, followed by Time And A Word in 1970.

It was announced on Banks’s website that he had died on March 7th, and was found in his home after he failed to show up for a recording session.

A statement from fellow Yes band members said: “We are deeply saddened to learn about the passing of fellow bandmate and founding Yes member, Peter Banks. He was a huge piece of the fabric that made Yes what it is, and our thoughts, sincere condolences and prayers are with him and his family. Peter, we shall miss you greatly.”
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Jessica Lea Mayfield – (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six

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Jessica Lea Mayfield teams up with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach for a haunting rendition of Brian Jonestown Massacre’s ‘(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six.’

This might be the first cover of a Brian Jonestown Massacre tune I’ve heard — and of a personal favorite no less — but Jessica Lea Mayfield delivers. With help from producer Dan Auerbach (a collaborative hero of late), she drops the usual twang inflection from her voice and settles into the shadows of the reverent groove. It’d be tough to beat the original, but tying this take for the film Apart to the slow dance scene above really resonates in the moment.
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