Listening Blog

I've set up this blog to record those records among the Storm the Charts candidates I've listened to and what I thought of them. Anyone reading, feel free to follow the links and join the storm the charts group on facebook. The idea is to try to get forty of these records into the UK top forty in one week in June 2010.

http://stormthecharts.livejournal.com/

So... I've listened to some of them already, some I've liked and some I really haven't.

These are some I remember from previous listening...

Joy Shannon and the Offering were one of the first bands to apply. Their main website has links to other tracks such as the awesome "Fisherman's Daughter" but the track they've nominated for storm the charts is "Safe". It's not easy to find but it's worth the effort. Joy's voice has a high clear folky tone with some interesting lows. The song is played over a decent techno beat with some ethereal sounds over the top which harmonise beautifully with her voice.

Keston Cobblers Club have an excellent video on You Tube to accompany their acoustic number "You Go". It sounds like piano and ukulele with perhaps some accordion or melodeon to me which is an interesting combination for something that sounds authentically up to date. I could imagine this one being released by a major record label but so far it hasn't been so it's eligible.

Swci Boscawen is just AWESOME. Her "Min Nos Monterey" sounds like a cross between surf punk and psychobilly, but her voice is more melodic than either and she mixes it with electronic sounds that remind me of Peaches or Miss Kittin. I hope this one is chosen to get to number one, not least because I would LOVE to see a number one record in Welsh.

Moral Soul are good, but not as great as the tracks mentioned above. They have a major following apparently but to me the song "Violence" is like so much else that's in the charts already. I can imagine them on Jools Holland's show because they are musical and they do know what they are doing but just not my cup of tea.

Finally (for now), just to show that it's not all sweetness and light in my head, there is a track called "Fucksticks" by Kunt and the Gang. I listened to it, and that's a couple of minutes of my life I'll never have back. It's krap.

There are three to four hundred tracks up for Storm the Charts. Check 'em out for yourself, join the group if you haven't already, and get ready to vote when Wes announces the way of it.