They perform folk/ pseudo-indie rock music under the name ‘Stalko‘… and they’ve only been around since 2009!

Have a listen to them here and let me know what you think

http://www.myspace.com/stalkoband

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZr66u2ICWg

Released in 2009, the album sees Einaudi take a new direction with his music as he incorporates synthesized sounds alongside his solo piano playing.. [I think the style we know can still be felt very strongly]

35,000 album copies sold already just in Italy!! 

These 2 tracks are considered as his best.

Nightbook

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tCn-k6eBeE

Lady Labyrinth

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCNXp6LRP7E

Enjoy…

The Show

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC76b0VZQog

Quoting an interesting note about how Koop makes its music…

When listening to Koops music it’s somehow easy to believe that it’s played by a small orchestra, but in fact the music is based on samples. Thousands of small clips from records puzzled together into new songs. All the drums, strings, horn sections and choirs are actually sampled!

This is a very time consuming way to make music (it’s one of the reasons it takes such long time to make a koop album), but it’s the only way to create the surreal Koop sound. One thing though, that for sure aren’t sampled, is the vocals…

Come to me

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-PXoEbcBXU

They are not a band, but they have worked on different projects together ranging from from electro-pop to trip-hop or folk.
This is one of them.

Our Dance

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ACVtpokgU4

Their gorgeous music has been described as  “melody-laden loveliness” as well as “innocent, hip and new.”

Well, the band itself is still very new to me, so I’m going to leave you with a song I’ve been introduced to today “Sad Song”  …

Sad Song

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k8SVTV-GWc

Tender -- Blur

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7snNE_RBMs

I don’t know much about the singer, so quoting wikipedia, she is Australian and formed part of the Australian acid jazz and indie formation, Crisp which released two albums, Word and the Deal and Delirium.  She is now part of the UK music scene, where she has embarked on a solo career.

Breathe Me is part of Sia Furler’s fourth album Colour the Small One.  Video is cool … so is the technique used called Stop Motion?

Breathe Me

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghPcYqn0p4Y

Nantes forms part of their second album The Flying Club Cup -each song on the album is intended to evoke a different French city.  Part of the lyrics are in actual fact in French.

I like the fact that the band is rather experimental when it comes to musical instruments --  consisting of french horns, euphoniums, the accordion, the organ etc.

There s a lot of intimacy in their music, which probably explains why  i find them rather appealing

Nantes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc3ZAs17uAg

Hello Hurricane is the seventh album released by American alternative rock band Switchfoot The name comes from the love the band has for surfing, and it is indeed a surfing term, which entails that to switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It’s about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music, and this is what their latest album is all about, which has also been hailed as marking a sort of revival for the band.

Similarly to Anberlin, Switchfoot is often referred to as a “Christian Band”, mostly due to their continued involvement with the Christian rock scene. The band has always philosophically disagreed with this label: “For us, it’s a faith, not a genre”, says Jon Foreman. “We’ve always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us ‘Christian rock’ tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that’s not what we’re trying to do. Music has always opened my mind—and that’s what we want”.

Quoting Wiki: Though they hold this position, they have not alienated their Christian fans. As in their indie days, they are still distributed to Christian retail outlets through Sparrow Records/EMI CMG,  featured on Christian radio and charts, and presented Dove Awards, even after having been signed to the mainstream Columbia Records from 2003-2007 and currently, Atlantic Records. “Signing to Columbia was a realization of something that we’d wanted to be from the beginning,” Foreman explains. “When we were signed to re:think Records -an indie label, the goal was to get the music out to everybody. But when Sparrow -a Christian label bought re:think Records, it was evident that our music wasn’t going to be in the hands of everybody. As a Christian, I have a lot to say within the walls of the church. But also, as a Christian, I’ve got a lot to say just about life in general … So to be able to be on Columbia and on Sparrow felt like the realization of the two sides of what we had to say. It’s a dream come true to be able to have songs that are outside of the box.”

Back to the album:  Hello Hurricane acknowledges the storms that tear through our lives. It is an attempt to respond to those storms with an element of hope, trying to understand what it means to be hopeful in a world that keeps on spinning.   My favourite 2 songs are Always and Enough, and these particularly reflect the true meaning of HOPE and FAITH, through the lines – ‘Every breath is a second chance’ (Always)… and ‘every seed dies before it grows’ (Enough).

Always

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LugoQ_1QEHE

Enought to Let me Go

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYGCDnOhMsg