Google+ Little Bird: July 2013

Thursday 18 July 2013

Love Your Local - Sound Collider


Sound Collider - 'Characterised By Delusional Fantasies Of Wealth & Power' 
Released 2012
Look out for: 'Trip Up' and 'We'll Dance'




So, you're an angst ridden teen, got your converse and your ripped jeans, and you're living in the basement of your parent's house, in the 90's. You need some music to go along with this? Sound Collider's album 'Characterised By Delusional Fantasies Of Wealth & Power' might do the job.



"The name SOUND COLLIDER comes from some of the members interest in the Hadron Collider and what kind of comparisons could be made with a band going through this kind of process/cycle and imagining it in a sonic form. We imagine that as with everything there is a starting point and with every revolotion this band will change and evolve its sound hopefully acheiving longjevity."


Sound Collider bring quite a wee mix of genres together; you can hear traces of Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead and even the Violent Femmes in parts. Grungy, bassy music with soft vocals and good harmonies - you can tell a lot of work was put into this album and I feel that it's an interesting cocktail of music that's sure to appeal to a variety of people.


"Our sounds change and collide from one song to the next we sound like rage and revenge with a little love thrown in."


The album opens up with a very industrial feeling song, much akin to Nine Inch Nails for sure. 'Meglomania Pop' sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to The Crow. A song full of distortion and bassy goodness; a good way to start an album and maybe draw in a wee goth or too -  the inner goth in me had a little bounce anyway.

They then change direction with next song 'She Talks' and bring us a very indie sound that you would definitely hear down the pub -  pretty sure I can even hear hints of Blondie in this one. Reminds me of The Knack.... Anyone else?


"We are influenced by all kinds of music From Metal to Country as well as science , religion and the state of the world.

A song usually starts with an idea like a riff which we all glue our own parts to which eventually evolves into a song."

 I think the songs that stick out the most for me are 'Trip Up' and 'We'll Dance'. 'Trip Up' gets straight to the point, bringing you some fun bass and a catchy chorus with trippy noises thrown in every now and then and almost has a wee horror punk feel to it. Really good vocals in this song with great harmonies - you're sure to like it. Could see it in an indie film somewhere...

'We'll Dance', vocally, has a pretty cool theatrical feel to it which is why it stood out a bit more. It has a really good chorus, the sort that gets stuck in your head, which is a good sign, and is generally a pretty laid back feeling song. 

The album finishes with 'Road to Emptiness'. The reason I like this song as a finisher is purely for the random middle section which suddenly transports you into Sonic. Literally feel as though you're sitting inside your sega megadrive collecting rings... 
The song also has a nice Manic Street Preachers feel in parts.. Pretty cool.

"Hopefully people enjoy our music and it will evoke some sort of feeling or emotion but most importantly at gigs we just want people to enjoy themselves."

The album is full interesting sounds, good bass lines, nice harmonies and so much distortion you'll feel stuck inside an untuned TV. But, it works.


"Come and see us live when we start gigging our new material and in the meantime check out our website www.soundcollider.com

Our album "Characterised by delusional fantasies of wealth and power" is available for free download on soundcloud which there are links to via our website. We are currently writing our new album which has a different feel to the last which we are going to begin recording in the next few weeks."




What do the guys think of the Aberdeen music scene?

"There are alot of great and talented bands in Aberdeen but hopefully we can bring something a bit different. There are some pretty good venues as well but One up closing was a big blow to Aberdeen music."






H x












Monday 15 July 2013

Love Your Local - Jaimie Wren



Jaimie Wren 'Kites' EP
Release date: June 2013
Look our for: 'Purple Flowers'


Celtic inspired singer-song writer Jaimie Wren has launched her debut EP onto the world; a short, 4 track project which she describes as 'pop based acoustic music with celtic influence'. 'Kites' is a short, sweet and sombre sounding record. It is full of soulful vocals and simplistic music, highlighted with the lovely fiddle which features heavily in her Scottish sounding debut.

There's something haunting about this record, particularly with the closing track 'Waltz Alone' (confusingly named since it's in 4/4 timing..... Literally annoying myself... I'm a pedantic moron). This song is beautiful, with an almost 80s feel to it. I could definitely hear Kate Bush singing this song. I think this song would sound great live with a huge band behind her. It's quite an emotional sounding song and when asking Jaimie how she would describe her sound, she said:

"Honest and soulful with melodies that captivate the listener. I am hoping to achieve an honesty with my song writing which in effect will move the listener"

I think she achieves this quite nicely.

'Purple Flowers' is a track I quite like. It reminds me a little of something Emma's Imagination would write; a sweet little folky number. The song brings some nice harmonies and honest lyrics and I feel that it's the kind of track that would fit well with a summer's drive.

I have been inspired by many great musicians but my main influences have been Damien Rice, Adele and Emeli Sandé. I like singer - songwriters that give a bare account of a story told through great lyrics that reach you through a powerful voice that can deliver pure emotion. A sense of honesty. I think people who inspire you will always have a footprint on your work.

'Under Seas' is vocally beautiful. Jaimie's voice is akin to Birdy in parts and you can hear her vocal influences strongly resonating through this song. Her natural vibrato and subtle inflections make her voice sound really real. Does that make sense? Raw, natural.

The title track, 'Kites', musically, really reminds me of Blue October in parts (literally one of my favourite bands on this planet. Ever). It's definitely the fiddle that makes me think this, as Blue October have the fiddle featuring very heavily  particularly in their earlier stuff. I think this instrument brings something so interesting to a song -  it brings a whole new wave of emotion to Jaimie's record. I believe when she performs live, it's just her and her guitar - would be nice to see her on stage with a backing band one day so people can fully appreciate her songs.

"When I first started writing songs I penned the lyrics first as I couldn't play an instrument then and i'd sing a melody to the words. I started tinkering on the piano and the music side of it started coming together. I have found myself sitting at the piano or playing around with my guitar and some chords or a melody just start flowing and the lyrics come after. So it really just depends which comes first."



Jaimie Wren has been playing around Aberdeen a lot, and I wanted to know what she thinks of the music scene up here:

"Aberdeen has a pretty good music scene, there are a lot of talented musicians in and from Aberdeen. I think there needs to be a bit of an injection into the arts scene in general so that there are more opportunities for artists."

I also like to ask musicians who their musical dream team would be, i.e. if they could pick any other musician in the world to form a band with, who would they choose?

I would love to pick Damien Rice, Adele and Emeli Sande just because it'd be cool to hang out with them -  I think it would be a bit of an insult to have amazing singers as backing singers though. But it would be really cool! Ok to answer your question I'd have Damien Rice on Guitar, Jools Holland on piano, Dave Grohl on Drums, Timothy B Schmidt on Bass, Vivienne Long on Cello and Natalie Brown on Fiddle with a selection of talented musicians playing various percussion. (Natalie actually played on my EP and for the launch night. She is seriously talented and I would love to work with her again) So there's my mix.



'Kites' is a pretty nice record, really easy listening and I look forward to hearing what she will bring out next.
She is now taking her music to Manchester, and I hope this EP will be the start of something good for her. You can find out more about her music by clicking the links below:


3/5



H x