Having only just recently bigged up a new Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros track because it DIDN’T feature the vocals of Alex Ebert, something you can forgive when considering the lovely Jade Castrinos takes over vocal duties, I feel I should immediately compensate.
The idiosyncratic frontman has had a busy year; On top of recording an ‘Itunes Sessions‘ EP with ‘ES&MZ, being on a seemingly non-stop tour and releasing a new album with his original band Ima Robot he has also found time to unleash his first solo single under the Alexander identity.
The track ‘Truth‘ is not a million miles away from ‘Up From Below‘s more introspective moments once again radiating a feel that is ”like a Sergio Leone picture“.
It will be interesting to see how he balances all these projects in 2011 as we await new EdwardSharpe material.
Everyone’s favourite multi-membered multi-talented merry prankster revivalists Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros have recorded a special’Itunes Session’ EP just in time for the holiday season.
The EP features brand new track ‘Fire & Water‘ plus lively reworks of some of the tracks from the brilliant ‘Up From Below‘, though the mega popular ‘Home‘ inconspicuously missing.
When I caught the band live in VictoriaPark two summers ago they performed this new track simply as “Jade’s song” and it was electrifying. Despite not featuring frontman Alex Ebert on this the formidable talent of Jade Castrinos deservedly take centre stage.
Before Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros showed up on the map lead singer Alex Ebert was the frontman for Ima Robot. Now he has returned to his first love with a brand new Ima Robot album entitled ‘Another Man’s Treasure‘.
Gone is the spikiness of the earlier material from the band replaced with a more reflective and dare I say more complete sound. Check out the awesome live action and animation video the band made with director Noaz Deshe for the track ‘Ruthless‘.
In the previous post I featured the remix of ‘Home‘ because we drool over everything Edward Sharpe and because it contrasts nicely with the previous remixes of the song we featured by Party Supplieshere and RAChere.
However this is, arguably, far from Myndset‘s best work. His take on Bill Withers‘ classic track ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ is simply stunning.
Just as I’d finished writing the previousEdward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros post I received anther wicked remix in my inbox. This time the mysterious Brooklyn based upstart producer Party Supplies takes on my beloved ‘Home‘.
I love the party vibe and can’t wait to hear more remixes from Party Supplies.
Sometimes I think this blog should just be renamed “The Edward Sharpe Appreciation Society“, such is the volume of posts featuring the Californian mob since we first featured them back in the distant summer of… 2009.
To be honest I can’t be ashamed of the fact I’ve written about them quite so often simply because:
They almost single handedly reignited my passion for discovering new music in a time when I was sick of hearing the same bands playing the same songs.
Their live show was one of the most captivating I’ve had the pleasure to witness winning over both those that had never heard them before and those who had listened to the album.
The track ‘Home‘ is slowly creeping into the top spot in my last.fm top played tracks ever and is the track I use to end my DJ sets.
The album ‘Up From Below‘ is one of my all time favourites and very close to me personally.
All of the above wouldn’t make much of a differences if the band hadn’t kept themselves busy. Fortunately their endeavours have kept being newsworthy (in my eyes) and if the band are not touring 365 days a year they are releasing stunning cinematic videos or scoring multiple accomplished remixes.
We’d featured the brilliant RAC taking on Tokyo Police Clubas well as their treatment for the aforementioned ‘Home’. Well, they’ve had another go at Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros lending an idyllic value to an already chilled out ‘Janglin‘.
Californian rapper The Letter P is taking a slightly left of centre approach to hip-hop. After being behind the scenes for many years the writer/producer/artist emerged in 2010 with a series of mixtape appearances.
As he gears up towards the release of his debut album ‘S.I.T.K.O.P (Sessions in the key of P)‘ he has let loose some tracks that serve to wet our appetite. Whilst ‘Brother‘ samples Cougar favourites Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, ‘Almost Famous‘ hints at what we will see on the album with The Letter P “playing” all the instruments with his mouth.
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Having only just recently bigged up a new Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros track because it DIDN’T feature the vocals of Alex Ebert, something you can forgive when considering the lovely Jade Castrinos takes over vocal duties, I feel I should immediately compensate.
