Cougar Microbes

The Faroe Islands are mostly familiar to me for their outstanding natural beauty, their abundant fishing resources and the fact their national team managed a shock 2-2 draw with Scotland during qualifiers a few years back. Music doesn’t feature very highly on the list of great imports from the unspoilt islands but one man is doing his best to single handedly change all that, Step up Hogni.

Citing Jack Kerouac, Ben Harper, and Lenny Kravitz as reference points suggest the guy knows what he is aspiring to musically and lyrically but, if anything, these references are a little restrictive as Hogni‘s music veers into different territories whilst never losing its focus. Opting for unconventional drum patterns, seemingly inspired by gospel anthems, and an indie blues guitar sound allows the singer-songwriter to showcase his strong vocal performance and combine it all in a natural and appealing fashion.

His first single ‘Soul Company‘ went to number one within two weeks in his homeland and was well received in Northern Europe. Now he is taking his album, Haré! Haré!‘ to be released The States and if we are lucky the UK and the rest of Europe should join soon.

Next time someone asks me what I know about The Faroe Islands I will point them towards Hogni and his music!

MP3′s:

Hogni – How High

Hogni – Soul Company

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x7L_RSyitk

From The Replacements and Hüsker Dü to Soul Asylum and Babes In Toyland, the Twin Cities area has never lacked for musical talent. Among its more recent products is a self-managed, self-promoted band named Catchpenny, whose effortless blend of punchy bass lines and radio-friendly pop hooks are just beginning to gain them recognition on the national stage.

From their more pop-oriented 2005 debut Chance For A Lifetime, the band has matured in both worldview and songcraft. The second and still current offering From Where You Are is a testament to that, and a great ride from beginning to end. In support of these two discs, the band has toured with or performed in support of differing acts including Lifehouse, 3 Doors Down, Blue October, Soul Asylum, The Rembrandts, The Gin Blossoms, Big Head Todd, and many others. The Gin Blossoms‘ frontman Rob Wilson, following a Catchpenny performance, said from the stage, “Great Job! Save some room on the charts for us.” Few bands could achieve so glowing an endorsement from someone with nine chart singles to his credit, but on a listen to their songs, it’s not hard to see that the praise is well-deserved.

However, there is one country where they are perhaps better known than in their native US of A, and that is Iraq. The uniformed men and women stationed in that war-torn nation need to be entertained too, the band reasoned, and it seems the Defense Department agreed. The DoD Program Directors, impressed by the band’s talent and dedication, signed them to perform 150 shows for armed forces personnel across Iraq. At the time of writing, Catchpenny are embarking on their third visit to the Middle East in 2009 alone, with two more Iraq tours scheduled later on this year.

As if that weren’t enough, the band are actively working to raise money for research on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy via CureDuchenne.org, including a trip by two of the band members to climb Washington’s Mt. Rainier. Curiously, I first discovered just how good Catchpenny are while gazing at Mt. Rainier from an airplane window on route to Portland last year.

In between those efforts, the band have also scheduled a number of shows in their backyard, so to speak – in addition to an appearance at SXSW back in March, stages in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa will soon be treated to Catchpenny‘s brand of energetic rock. They are also working on their third album, though their many commitments are understandably causing some delays in recording.

If you you can wait until their return from Iraq you can get your Catchpenny fix on MySpace, Last.fm and Facebook.

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This post was by Kolys from That Other Blog, Way Over There. Him and I go back quite some time and I strongly reccomend you check out his site.

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Things have been a little quiet at Cougar Microbes for a few days because I have had my hands full with booking a holiday (I don’t mind paying my share but £800 per direction takes the piss when its normally 1/5 of that amount), chasing shady (non) delivery companies but most of all I have been looking after my brand new kitten: Layla Dusty is tiny and dead cute, welcome to your new home.

regular programming shall now resume. For now enjoy some mildly cat themed tunes.

MP3′s:

Brazilian Girls – Pussy

Ratatat – Wildcat

The biggest and greatest buzz is discovering a new band, someone fresh that can rock the fuck out without compromising the clarity of their killer tunes, someone who you can say to your mates “you have to check these guys out”…and sit back and watch your kudos sky rockets. My intention has always been sharing good music, still the kudos is always welcome!

If you’ve bumped into me recently and we’ve talked music you will know of the band that has my full attention at the moment, If you’ve listened to SW1 Radio, the radio show I guest on you’ll have heard their tracks constantly played and their gigs often recommended…so which band has got Surge so excited I hear you ask?

Step forward Watford quartet SPY CATCHER. Formed at the turn of the year by former members of Cry for Silence and current members of Gallows and Haunts, they come fully-equipped with an Arsenal of Killer Rock tunes.  They have already been treating our ears to some cracking live performances in London and the South-East throughout the month of April (Old Blue Last, Camden Crawl, and Barfly).  The simply awesome ‘Music That My Dad Likes‘ was recommended in Kerrang‘s ‘10 Songs You Should Hear Now’ and that same track was Radio 1’s ‘Unsigned Track Of The Week’…you couldn’t ask for a better first few months as a band…so it’s time for all of us to sit up and take note!!!

What makes Spy Catcher unique is that their vocals don’t rely on the predictable sound you hear in every band that’s surfacing at the moment, it’s raw and throaty yet surprisingly tuneful at the same time. I especially like the diversity in Steve Sear’s vocals, when he hits the higher ranges on ‘Music That My Dad Likes‘, that raw throaty vocal steps aside to make way for booming Matt Bellamy-esque tones.

Killer tracks like ‘Good Times‘ and ‘You Got Soul‘ have the most amazing vocal hooks; I challenge you to walk away from a show (or listen of their demo) without singing a line from either song. The former providing the heart-felt chorus ”…these are not good times…these are hard times”, a possible insight into the current financial state the world is in at the moment. The latter possesses a superb pre-chorus hook, “… there was something about your shoes…” which leads perfectly into the infectious foot-stomping chorus.

Spy Catcher have the right song writing formula, the one that some bands take years to find and that some others never find…they should bottle their secret formula and sell some to bands that are poisoning our airwaves at the moment. I can’t wait to hear more from them on record, for now I’ll have to make do with their Demo and live onslaught.

As you’ll have probably noticed I haven’t compared Spy Catcher to any other bands, I’ll leave you to make your own decisions of who they sound like, consider this your introduction or eye-opener…now crank up the 2 tracks below and enjoy the best rock band the UK has produced for ages, ‘Good Times‘.

MP3′s:

Spy Catcher – Music That My Dad Likes

Spy Catcher – You Got Soul

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This is the second post from guest contributor Surge. More to come from him soon.

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I received a mysterious package from the elusive Turtlenex containing a first class ticket to New York for that weekend. I had heard rumours that the rap super group were planning their emergence but frankly I was a little anxious and didn’t know what to expect.

I got on the plane 2 days later to land at New York City‘s JFK airport early in the morning where I was met by a large man resembling Uncle Fester, from The Adams Family. He drove me to a remote location instructing me to blindfold my eyes when we were close to destination. Once I removed the blindfold it was clear I was in a massive abandoned warehouse.

What could have been a routine interview ended up taking just under 17 hours due to the insistence by the rappers that all my questions and all their answers be delivered through a massive Etch and Sketch seemingly purpose built for the occasion. I was rewarded for the ordeal with a large piece of Tuna and a copy of their beef squashing single ‘Throw It On The Grill‘.

After the ordeal Kylemikaze took me on a tour of New York‘s hottest nightspots, insisting on paying for every drink with a huge wad of $2 notes. He was also weary that we don’t spend more than one hour and twenty-three minutes in each location. After getting me sufficiently drunk I was reunited with Uncle Fester at 9am the next morning and driven back to the airport.

Here is what I have managed to decipher from my notes:

In late 2007, two men from a remote fishing village shattered traditional views of “makanan dr ikan pencuri“, or what is known as “fish thievery” in the United States. They also changed hip hop forever.

On Oecussi-Ambeno, a small island off the coast of East Timor, Chet Stewart and Kylemikaze were living in destitution, subsisting on dried fruit while honing what little skills they possessed as amateur fishermen. In order to survive, they made pickles, they conserved what little they had, and they stole. They stole from men, women, children, and livestock. They were thieves –”pencuris“. Weary from a life fraught with dishonesty and constant ridicule, the two pencuris decided to cast their lines North Westward or so.

They cast the longest lines they had –their penises– and reeled themselves in to the shimmering golden shores of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, NY. From there they travelled further North and further West and carried with them their most recent booty from Oecussi-Ambeno: fresh tuna and mayonnaise. When they finally arrived in Manhattan, they went to a Subway shop and peddled their wares. One intrigued franchise owner bought a tuna and a jar of mayonnaise from Chet and began selling it to his customers. Low and behold, the customer returned for more and garnered interest from people in nearby neighbourhoods. And so the Tuna Sandwich(TM) on Honey Oat (TM), Italian Cheese and Herb(TM), Italian(TM), or Wheat(TM) was born.

After the success of the semi-popular Tuna Sandwich Sub at Subway(TM), Chet and Kyle acquired heaps of dollars So once again they cast their penises across the world and reeled themselves back to Oecussi-Ambeno to disperse their newly acquired riches among the villagers. “Mengambil uang ini! Makan! Maaf!” (“Take this money! Eat! We are sorry!“). The villagers, eager to hear the stories of the adventurers’ travels told in a tale that would please the ear, demanded that the two former pencuris tell their story in verse form. So they wrote raps. This is their story. In Oecussi-Ambeno, Chet and Kylemikaze are known as fish thieves-turned-heros. In New York City and everywhere else in the world they are known as Turtlenex. This is their music.

MP3:

Turtlenex – Throw It On The Grill

Occasionally I think this blog should be renamed ‘my daily odyssey and the songs that inspired it‘ as most of the posts I have written have been researched during my morning and evening commutes. For just over an hour in each direction I can concentrate fully on the sounds from my headphones ignoring train delays, crying babies and youth gone wild.  Shutting everything else off and losing myself in the music is as much a need as a necessity for me.

For several weeks now Coltrane Motion have been my trusted journey companions on a quasi daily basis. The band’s lo-fi recordings offer a mix of tracks combining minimal indie-electro arrangements and a garage rock spunk, particularly in the vocal stye. Dropping nods to contemporaries and idols alike the Chicago duo could be painted as a mix of Beck‘s early blues and electronica medlings, MGMT‘s anthemic tendencies and The Strokes cool as fuck attitude. Crucially they remain hard to completely figure out throwing new ideas at the listener at every chance.

I was completely taken by their 2007 full length ‘Songs About Music‘ with its bursts of glorious tension and deceiving pace changes.  Their free to download ‘Bruce‘ EP featuring covers of ‘I’m On Fire‘ and ‘I’m Going Down‘ proved, once more, that Springsteen is the way to a Cougar‘s heart. Last month they released the 7″ single ‘The Year Without A Summer” b/w “Maya Blue‘ continuing to deliver simple fuzz soaked melodies in their nonchalantly cool style.

Coltrane Motion are a band you should keep your eyes on because they could go a long way. Their releases have made my daily travels more enoyable; try them on your next journey, it will prove a wonderful distraction. I’m featuring a track from ‘The Year Without A Summer” b/w “Maya Blue‘ as well as one of those sublime Bruce tracks to convince you.

MP3′s:

Coltrane Motion – Maya Blue

Coltrane Motion – I’m On Fire

All these amazing releases are available through Datawaslost