WATCH: Jack Savoretti 'Written In Scars' for VEVO

I was lucky enough to see Jack Savoretti perform a short acoustic set at HMV Oxford St earlier this year. He's one of my favourite artists, even though I've only heard his latest two records - though checking out his first two is certainly on my to do list! I'm loving this stunning acoustic solo session of the title track of his latest (brilliant) record, Written In Scars. The guy is an absolute legend and I can't think of much to say other than that he's got a charmingly unique voice and style and I really recommend a listen to his music if you haven't already heard him, pretty sure you won't regret it. 

LISTEN: Damien Ike - 'Even In War'

I've recently been introduced to this track, Even In War, from British musician Damien Ike. Impressively at this early point in the Goldsmiths University graduate's musical career, he's already had support from the likes of BBC Introducing, XFM, Amazing Radio and SBTV (to name but a few!) and has worked with a range of talented and exciting producers. His recent online released track Kingdom Come placed at #3 on the Hype Machine chart, and the singer cites a broad range of artists including Everything Everything, Kanye West, Mumford & Sons, Adele and Coldplay as influencing his own work. He's been said to push the boundaries of song writing with 'instantly recognisable and incomparable music' - and while I don't feel qualified enough in Ike's music to reiterate this statement, I can say that I'm really loving this new track, his second online release. Building up slowly the track is catchy, and one that I could see comfortably fitting into multiple genres... satisfying my love of alternative music but also giving hints of pop and dance music, explaining his support from BBC Radio 1Xtra! Altogether a track I'm pretty glad to have been pointed towards and recommend you giving a listen to, and I look forward to hearing more from this up and coming artist. 

LISTEN: Public Service Broadcasting 'Marks To Prove It' (The Maccabees) remix

Last summer, during a train journey to London with a friend, I was introduced to a number of new artists, one of which was the unique and brilliant Public Service Broadcasting. I love their record Inform-Educate-Entertain, and have recently bought their new record, The Race For Space - but I'll post about that another time! Yesterday Noisey premiered a PSB remix of the latest track by The Maccabees, Marks To Prove It. The bands are in my opinion two of the most exciting at the moment, and two of my personal favourites, so it's a dream remix for me. As Public Service Broadcasting don't use vocals but instead play music alongside segments of archive broadcasts, public service  announcements etc, this remix makes the track sound like it could be a PSB track in its own right, without taking away the charm of the original track.

LISTEN: Frances - 'Grow'

Let me introduce you to this beautiful up and coming artist, Frances, whose now track Grow received its first radio play earlier this evening on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show. I recently saw her  play a mesmerising set at the Oxford leg of the Communion New Faces Tour, playing an opening set of keys and vocals to the almost-hometown crowd (naturally I instantly saw a similarity with Rae Morris, which is certainly no bad thing.) I got this shot of her at the gig last month.

The track is the first of an EP which will be available to buy shortly.

LISTEN: Sam Beeton releases 'In The Yard'

It's a bit belated, but as I've just got back home for summer from university I've finally been able to listen to Sam Beeton's new record, In The Yard, on vinyl. Having listened to the album a lot already on my iPod, I can certainly say that this format heightens it, giving the tracks more depth and making me fall in love with the record even more. Almost four years ago exactly I went to see my favourite band, The Hoosiers, live for the first time, and Sam was the support act. After meeting him and shortly organising a gig with Sam at my school's summer fete, we've since had a couple of photoshoots and I've seen him play gigs in a variety of places across the UK, both headline and support slots - in short, the guy is a genius and quickly became a favourite of mine when I first heard his music four years ago.

Up until a year or so ago, Sam was releasing his music in an interesting, unique manner through his Record Club, a subscription service through which fans got a track or two a month on a signed CD direct to their door, as and when Sam had recorded them. This process was full of benefits for both Sam and his fans, allowing us to constantly get new music from Sam, who was able to receive instant feedback on the tracks, building up a relationship between Sam and his fans, and allowing for, in a sense, worldwide recognition, with subscribers on every continent. Sam has however recently returned to more traditional methods of releasing music (though it appears that the plan is to release more tracks through the record club in the future) with a full album, entitled In The Yard, featuring a mixture of new tracks and restyled Record Club tracks, which was released earlier this year. 

Source: www.sambeeton.com 

As a big fan of Sam's work, it might seem bias if I label it as one of the best records of the year so far, but don't just take my word for it, I've seen others likening album track Belong to the work of Paul Simon, a comparison which Sam would be pretty chuffed with, I'm sure. A highlight of the record for me is the quiet, stripped back song Moving Out, with its beautiful lyrics supported by stunning vocals and guitar play. Of the songs on the record this is one which I can most easily identify as Sam, as when playing live he usually performs solo with simply his acoustic guitar, though even this track is embellished with keys and strings, but the record is well produced and these don't drown out the main elements of the track. A few of the album's tracks have been previously released on issues of the Record Club, but have been revamped, and I'm particularly fond of the new version of Waiting Game with its beautiful cello solo. Can You See The Lights, one of my favourite Record Club releases, remains a particular favourite. Some of the other more punchy, upbeat tracks struck me less strongly at first, but are certainly growers, and I'm keen to hear the new material performed live (particularly as I haven't seen Sam live in over a year and a half!)

Overall, its a really brilliant record that was worth the wait, and that would appeal to fans of artists such as Paolo Nutini, Jack Savoretti, Ben Howard (you get the picture...) Below is the official video for the track Belong, and you can find links to buy Sam's record In The Yard here. 

LIVE: Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project at Notting Hill Arts Club (20/5/15)

I'd apologise for the large outburst of Matt Owens related posts lately... but he's one of my best recent musical discoveries and I'm pretty excited about sharing his music with you. A few days ago I had my final exam of the semester and finished my first year of uni, so I decided to spend my last evening before moving home in London seeing Matt and his band The Delusional Vanity Project again. I love Matt's record Songs For An Empty Room (which I recently reviewed here) for its diversity in style, brilliant lyrics and true to live sound, as it was recorded over a couple of days - and this all comes across in their live shows, where the fact that the band is comprised of incredibly experienced musicians is also prevalent. Being a relatively new project and having played a limited number of gigs as TDVP, the band are tight and sounding brilliant. Having seen them four times in a month in various different venues around London, with a slightly different line-up each time, I can reliably say that this post-Noah & The Whale project is superb and I can't urge you enough to go along to one of the upcoming shows, with various London and Ireland dates (many of which are free - what excuse do you need?!) on Matt's site here.

The set on Wednesday evening felt slightly stripped back as a four piece band, but it remained energetic and comprised of tracks from the album, including particular favourites of mine, The Harbour In Kinsale (live video from another gig) and Get Me Back To Austin, and was ended with an encore cover of the The Band track, The Weight, which I recorded below.

I took my camera along to the show to get more experience of shooting in a small venue, and got the shot below which I'm pretty chuffed with. My other shots from the evening are in an album on Flickr here.

Source: Megan Seekings

WATCH: Stornoway - 'Josephine'

Having just moved back home after finishing my first year at university, I'm currently sifting through my piles of belongings and struggling to find time to post (or just generally to find my laptop within all that stuff!) Having been to something like 35-40 gigs during my first year at uni, I'm looking back at the brilliant range of artists I've seen, including Nick Mulvey, Sivu, Dry The River, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Sea & I, Everything Everything and loads more. Here's a little throwback to a beautiful "unplugged" performance of Josephine from Stornoway at their recent Reading gig - just one of the many bands/musicians who I've started to listen to since being in Oxford. 

ALBUM NEWS: The Maccabees - 'Marks To Prove It'

Following the release of their latest single, Marks To Prove It, The Maccabees have today announced details of their upcoming record of the same name, which is to be released on 31st July. You can order the record from the band's store on CD, Deluxe CD and orange vinyl here.

Source: http://www.themaccabees.co.uk

WATCH: Rae Morris 'Love Again' for Hunger TV

Absolutely loving this beautiful (visually and sonically) performance of Love Again by Rae Morris for Hunger TV. As well as collaborating with some fantastic musicians (Bombay Bicycle Club, Fryars & Sivu to name some), Rae released her debut record, Unguarded, earlier this year. I was lucky enough to catch her at the Oxford leg of her UK tour in support of the record, a brilliant evening, stunning performance and she struck me as incredibly humble when I met her afterwards - find dates for summer festival performances and her October tour here.

Check out my post about Rae's recent collaboration with Sivu, The Nile, here. 

LIVE: Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project at Effra Social (14/5/15)

I went along to see Matt Owens and his band The Delusional Vanity Project again last night at Effra Social in Brixton. Took my camera along but as both the above video and one of my shots from the evening below show, the lighting was pretty dreadful so I quit whilst I was ahead. But who needs to see anything when it sounds as good as this? After travel delays I was glad to arrive in time for Tom Figgins' impressive solo support set, after which he joined the rest of the band shortly after for a set comprising of tracks from Matt's solo record, before turning to impromptu covers including a pretty fun performance of Johnny B. Goode. The guys are some of the nicest people I've had the pleasure of meeting and was lovely to see them again and get to chat - certainly recommend getting along to a gig as they continue to play London shows, and an Irish tour at the end of May (dates: http://www.mattowensmusic.com/tour-dates/).

See my review of Matt's solo record, Songs For An Empty Room, here.

Source: Megan Seekings