Low, The Velvet Underground, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Waterboys, Leonard Cohen, Dirty Three, Gillian Welch, The Doors, PJ Harvey, Johnny Cash, Richard Buckner, My Morning Jacket, Tom Waits, Nina Nastasia, Tindersticks, Neil Young, Lift To Experience, Emmylou Harris, Radiohead, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, D Braxton Harris, Bob Dylan, The Violent Femmes, Patti Smith, Mark Lanegan, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Lambchop, Bowie, Lloyd Cole, Yo La Tengo, Van Morrison, The Stones, Jeff Buckley, Mazzy Star, Springsteen, Calexico...
Sounds Like
This review clip gives the general idea...
"Imagine the bastard offspring of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen who had been taught to play by Johnny Cash and had spent his Summer afternoons receiving singing lessons from Jim Morrison fronting a 21st century hybrid of Lindisfarne and The Doors, and you'll start to get the picture"
Following the success and critical acclaim of their debut album, ‘Where The Killers Run’, VIAROSA’s follow-up LP ‘Send For The Sea’ was released by Pronoia Records (UK) and by Tarnished Records (US) in September 2008. Dandyland Records (GER) will release the album in Germany in spring ’09.
Led by singer-songwriter Richard Neuberg, VIAROSA have grown into a formidable act since their inception six years ago. In the last two years alone they have shared tours and shows in the UK and in Europe with the likes of REM, Leonard Cohen, Midlake, Robyn Hitchcock and The Venus 3, Joan As Police Woman, Alejandro Escovedo and Josh T. Pearson.
Reviews of VIAROSA’s first releases brought comparisons to many of the greats. Their EP Porous inspired Uncut Magazine to describe the band as: “Outstanding… like The Birthday Party doing Johnny Cash.” And when the LP came, Uncut continued in its four star praise: “’Where The Killers Run’ fulfils the promise... a country-wired Echo and The Bunnymen.”
Building on their distinctive sound, the second LP takes the band to even greater heights. Described as an eleven-song ‘noir opera’, ’Send For The Sea’ more deeply reveals the mystical vision of singer-songwriter Richard Neuberg. Whereas the first album is a meditation on grief, that in the words of one critic, ‘digs so deep you can almost feel yourself bleeding’, ‘Send For The Sea’ reaches out to the redemptive powers of love, nature and the artist’s path. In the words of Pennyblack Music:
“Equally spiritual and redemptive, ‘Send For The Sea’ is, in its diversity and tone, staggeringly life-affirming.”
Indeed, VIAROSA’s second album has so many standout tracks, it’s hard to single them out. The fresh art-rock of opener ‘Tourniquet’ and anti-war anthem ‘The Old Walls’ ignite with their rolling guitars, screaming lap steel and bittersweet viola, while the sweet grace and swelling rage of ‘Righteous Path’ stuns with its beautiful layers of strings and voices. Other epic tracks include the explosive ‘Beggars and Thieves’, while narcotic centrepiece ‘The Last Resolve’ is a different beast entirely. With the band at full, ragged tilt – a drunken bar-room piano, a gypsy fiddle, a wild-west baritone guitar – The Last Resolve sounds like a David Lynch opera, with a whiskey-fuelled Quasimodo doing the star turn.
But ‘Send For The Sea’ has plenty of tender moments too. The haunting Cruel Pull Of The Stars hints at The Bad Seeds at their most restrained; the delicate Ode To Sunlight glitters with shades of the best of John Martyn; and the The Sea sounds like Jeff Buckley on a morphine drip. As the sound of psychedelic seagulls moan overhead, The Sea is the perfect closing track to the intensity that has gone before.
All together, the new material creates an original and special album, a raw heart collection of great songs that are sure to bring VIAROSA the acclaim and attention they deserve.
View Viarosa's EPK
Just thought you might be interested in this website:
www.anydecentmusic.com
It's essentially a music review aggregation service, providing a constantly updated chart of critical reaction to releases, with various ways for users to personalise the chart.
We're hoping the site will be another useful way for music lovers to find new music. So if you like it, please use it and also pass on the link.
Another international line up for the next Fleur-de-Lys Club at The Lexington on Wednesday 18th November with Dan Mangan (Canada), Hafdis Huld (Iceland) & Sweet Baboo (Wales)
£4 advance tickets available here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/61627
Monday 16th November – FREE GIG AT THE GEORGE TAVERN!!!
Songs and Whispers is an Anglo/Deutsche project showcasing up and coming artists from across the UK and Germany. Run in association with Dandyland Records (DE), Songs and Whispers will be holding their debut London gig The George Tavern in east London on Monday 16th November. This will be a truly special evening featuring some great artists, magic/comedy, and it’s FREE to get in.
The RockHopper is coming to Oxford for 1 day only. Record your song and get an HD video of your live performance on October 17th. Visit http://www.rockhopper-mobile.co.uk/ to book a slot at a ridiculously low price courtesy of TopoftheOx. Limited places available so book up now for this one off opportunity.
Booking enquiries at http://www.rockhopper-mobile.co.uk/
Subsidised by TopoftheOx for 1 day only in Oxford
www.topoftheox.co.uk
The venue will be in Marsh Baldon just outside Oxford at the Seven Stars pub
Let me know if your on Twitter or Facebook. You can add me below, I have a gut that says MySpace irrelevance is churring this very moment. Peace Homeslice.
Upload your music now to www.topoftheox.co.uk for a chance to win one of the biggest deals in the business. Open to all genres. Sponsored by SAE, Marshall, StarNow, Zimbalam and many other key industry names. www.topoftheox.co.uk REGISTER NOW
Abigail Hopkins' new album, THE MEMOIRS OF AN OUTLAW, available from ITUNES: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=281170328&s=143444 and AMAZON: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dmusic%26field-artist%3DHopkins%2C%20Abigail/202-0502306-1754247
Apside will be performing live this upcoming Friday night July 10 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco- check us out if you're in town, hope to see you there :)
Online Now!
