Woodenbox Play…One Day as a Lion

Howdy music fans! If it’s your first time here Play a Song for Me is a place where great musicians suggest great music…

Today it comes from Glasgow/Edinburgh based Woodenbox, a folk/rock collective who are also one of the best live bands around. If you don’t believe me go to a show, the music is loud and infectious and people will be dancing.  Having seen them at a couple of festivals their album Home and The Wild Hunt reminds me of summer, great times kicking back in the sunshine.

So let’s serve up a musical treat, a track from the mighty One Day as a Lion, courtesy of drummer Nick…

Play me…One Day as a Lion 

I’m a huge fan of Rage Against the Machine, let’s face it they are fucking awesome. But that chapter of history is over now. Whilst Tim Tom and Brad went on to form Audioslave with Chris Cornell, front man Zack appeared to have gone into musical hiding. He collaborated with DJ shadow some years back, and also with Roni Size… both sounded awesome. But I was most excited when I stumbled upon this little cracker. Featuring John Theodore from The Mars Volta, whom I regard as one of the most exciting drummers around these days…its just a great combination. Dirty pounding drums, a fender rhodes plugged into a marshall amp, and Zack’s trademark vocal style… I love it.

“It’s better to live one day as a lion than a thousand years as a lamb”

Woodenbox release a new six track EP ‘The Vanishing Act’ on 4th June and here’s a taster…

Also check out the single ‘Everyone Has a Price’, a darkly tinged circus flavoured affair.

Check out http://www.wdnbx.com/ for details of where you can catch the band live.

Capitals Play…Headphones

I’m a big fan of Edinburgh based Capitals’ material, in particular their new single ‘All These Years;. it’s upbeat and catchy without being too far into pop – makes you realise how wrong some bands go.

This is their suggestion…Headphones self titled album. I don’t always say this – sometimes I can take or leave what people send in – it is INCREDIBLE.

WHAT: The record I’ve chosen to talk about, simply titled ‘Headphones’, is one that’s stuck with me solidly for the last four years or so, and still manages to reveal new things after all this time.

WHY:  In essence it’s the work of one man, David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion demi-fame). Unlike his other records, this is a beautifully bare bones electronic album comprised pretty much of one keyboard, one drum set and one incredible voice.  

My personal favourite is I  Never Wanted You, a song so brutally harsh and honest it makes you think Bazan must be a horrible bastard (it transpires the song was written about a friends marriage); but it’s this song that encapsulates Bazan’s total mastery of a simple lyric and a simple melody. Since becoming obsessed with Nick Drake as a teenager, the music that’s spoken to me most often comes from a kind of dark place of solitude, and this record represents a unique take on the old one-man-and-his-mic sort of approach. Buy it.

Listen to ‘All These Years’ by Capitals right here, l like the samples in particular.

Conquering Animal Sound Play…Stephan Bodzin

Glasgow duo Conquering Animal Sound, who are James Scott and Anneke Kampman,  made me think twice about techno. Never particularly my genre of choice their dazzling tracks are pretty enthralling, so I was pretty keen to see who they themselves would rate highly.

Stephan Bodzin’s “Liebe Ist…”

Anneke and I regularly wax lyrical about this album in interviews. It’s easily one of my very favourite records, and I’m sure that as
long as people are asking us “What are your influences?” I’ll be giving this album a mention. It’s entirely instrumental, it’s dark,
minimal techno, and it’s very, very repetitive, but the layers of rhythm, texture and melody that it contains are breathtaking at times, and I defy you to put on any of the tracks and fail to be moved by it.

Eye opening stuff!

After the success of last year’s Kammerspiel Conquering Animal Sound are busy working on their next album, hurrah! You can find them on tumblr