“Sleep at your own speed” is a new album from a new artist on the German Morr Music. The label is German, but the artist, Butcher the Bar a.k.a. Joel Nicholson, is from Manchester, England.

The 22 year old Nicholson first appeared on Morr’s compilation “a number of small things” last year, at least that’s where I heard him first, where he participated with two brilliant tracks, one of them also present on this album.

Butcher the Bar’s debut on Morr features 13 tracks, mostly acoustic songs where Joel Nicholson sings with his soft, melancholic voice. There are some more upbeat songs with distorted guitars, but the feeling stays the same because of Nicholson’s calm, relaxed vocals. Overall, this album seems very though through. Everything fits, everything works well together.

The songs are good, the atmosphere on the album is wonderful, and the only negative thing I can say is that the combination of his vocals and the occational banjo makes me think of Sufjan Stevens just a bit too often. I’m not sure if that is a bad or a good sign?… If you like Sufjan Stevens, or if you like other obvious comparisons like Elliot Smith, Paul Simon and of course Nick Drake, you will probably also like this one. Morr music’s Seabear is also close, so give them a listen too.

In my eyes and ears, Morr Music is more interesting than ever in 2008. Check out their recent releases. All wonderful stuff.

Listen to this track from”Sleep at your own speed”:

Butcher the bar – Leave this town

New Zealand’s Motocade have been Eardrums-favourites since we first wrote about them a year ago, and now they’ve sent us a new song and some good news! The Auckland 4-piece is currently busy working in the studio with their first full length album, which they hope will be ready for release mid year. The first single from the new album is called “Soap Opera”, an upbeat rocker with edgy guitars and a really catchy chorus.

Here’s the new video for the song, and an mp3 follows after the video. Enjoy!

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motocade – soap opera

To me, the Norwegian band Hiawata! has always been one of those you’ve heard so much about, but never really listened to bands. They have been playing all over Norway, but somehow I always missed their shows for no particular reason. I guess I just wasn’t that interested.
But on May the 19th Hiawata! will release a new EP, and I thought it was about time I gave it a go. The new EP is called Blacks on Blondes EP, and the EP has five tracks. Altough Hiawata! describes themselves as indie/pop, I actually would like to describe their music as pure rock (I guess the Indie name is more cred these days?). The second track Good looks actually reminds me of The Hellacopters, but the soft version. The next track, Fightz (ridiculous name by the way) is even softer. I think the idea is make a typical summer tune, and it actually works out really well. Fightz is the best track of the EP, and it is cuter than the other songs.

Over all Hiawata!’s EP Blacks on Blonde is alright. It does not strike me as particularly original or refreshing, but as a classical rock EP it is alright, I guess. I think I will listen to it again, but if it is good enough to stand in front of their next show? I don’t think so. However, if they are playing at a festival this summer, I will stand in the back of the crowd with a beer and hum along, that’s for sure.

If you want to check out Hiawata! Before the release of Blacks on Blondes EP they are celebrating the release on Mono in Oslo May the 13th, with I Was A King as support. You could off course also visit their myspace site.

I will make this very short:

Death Cab For Cutie has recorded a session for Daytrotter, published today. Five downloadable songs, including two new ones from the upcoming “Narrow Stairs”. All live from Daytrotter’s studio.

Check out the whole Daytrotter session here.

The Oaks has the most fantastic biography I’ve ever read…I hardly ever bother to read bands biographies, except from a quick glance when I’m writing about them. This band has a really good story which kind of intrigued me. Two years after 9/11, The Oaks’ Ryan Costello sold everything he owned, joined a humanitarian organization and moved to Afghanistan. He lived there for two years, spending his time working with returned refugees, teaching them agricultural techniques and becoming fluent in their native language. He documented his experiences with a series of portraits which can be seen here.

When he returned to the United States, he joined back with his songwriting partner, Matthew Antolick. The result was “Our Father and The Things They Left Behind”, an album influences by roots-folk and jazzy melodic layers.

I won’t give you the whole story about the band and the process making of this about-to-be-released album “Songs for waiting”, but I’d like to encourage you to read it, because it really says a lot about their music. The jazzy character is still a huge part of the Oaks’ music, and I think Costello’s experiences from his years in Afghanistan really left marks on the bands lyrics and music. In this new album they’ve been quite inventive with selection of instruments, and they’ve used, among others, trumpet, trombone, synths, classic and acoustic guitars, shakers, tambourines, handdrums, and electric piano. In addition to this, the vocals are just fantastic.

“Songs for Waiting” is a soothing album, with lots of feeling and history. The changing beats fit perfectly with the composition of the instruments, and the vocals really move me.

I also want to mention another fact that makes this band worth taking a closer look at. Throughout the mixing process the band was mentored and guided by Alan Douches, whose hand has been on great recordings from Paul Simon’s “Graceland” to Sufjan Steven’s “Illinois”.

This is music made for LISTENING, and the songs really ARE songs for waiting. ENJOY… The album will be out in stores the 3rd of May

The Oaks ecard

The OaKs – Masood