Don´t believe the hype; Prince is back on the throne!

PART 1 – DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE! 

I did believe the hype! I bought the promo work that had been done for months before the release of the latest Prince album “HITnRUN” Everywhere you could read that the album was to be released exclusively on streaming service, the Jay Z owned Tidal. Some one at the PR-company of Tidal must have had the best laugh in their life. Exclusively on Tidal – sorry to say so – that’s bull…. and we bought and sadly still buys the hype!

Lets clear things up. The album HITnRUN was exclusively releases as Tidal-only release the 7th of september. Price latest album was released exclusively on Tidal for one week. I repeat for one week only! Exactly a week later, the 14th of september, the album HITnRUN was released on iTunes Store, where you could support the artist – and actually buy the version, instead of streaming only – and download it on you Apple product or PC. The album was released on CD the 15th of September. Probably vinyl also. The album is not possible to stream on Apple Music. As soon as I discovered the album was on iTunes I bought the album – and freaking love it!

The Tidal deal has made Prince releases all his albums on Tidal, including albums previous only available on his NPG Music Club. Albums that has only had a few listeners – can now be streamed exclusively on Tidal. It´s off course a fab way to release much sought after albums, and albums that has for long time been bootlegged (if you did not purchase the album through NPG Music Club back in the day). It’s fabulous to see all albums lined up. Every single album lined up on one place. That´s 36 albums buy the worlds biggest artist!

Spotify has no Prince albums. Itunes Store has “HITnRUN”, ART OFFICIAL AGE, PLECTRUMELECTRUM, and some of his ’00 albums, some of his ’90s albums, and all of his ’80 and ’70s albums in its catalogue. The winner his is without doubt Tidal!

To sum up this part; Prince “HITnRUN” is NOT only available on Tidal. You CAN purchase it on iTunes, you CAN purchase the physical copies. You can listen to the album (almost) wherever you like

PS! I do not have Tidal myself just to have every single album by Prince in one place, but have Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions + I own every album released physically up to “20TEN” on CD, and Vinyl. The three latest Prince releases have been bought on iTunes! 

PART 2 – PRINCE IS BACK ON THE THRONE!

So how does “HITnRUN” sound? The album sounds like a Prince album pimped up with todays sounds. It’s unmistakingly a Prince album, even though he has co-production on the album by Joshua Welton. Josh Welton did also co-produce the Art Official Age album. For a long time Prince fan it made my jaw drop to the floor. Prince – gets production help – what happened! Actually not much, Josh has without doubt the musical legacy of Prince in his blood. It sounds unmistakably like a Prince record – with hints of ’90s and ’00 house and club music. The help from Joshua Welton has spawned very much attention – and some roll the dice and gives the album a 1 – others give it a 6, on the other side the Prince albums of the ’90s and early ’00s has been getting mixed reviews. It’s something we have learned to live with when it comes to Prince and his releases.

Being a Prince fan one may think that every record Prince release is pure gold and class. But no, there has been both misses and hits in his catalogue. In my Prince-loving heart it has been 11 years since the release of a classic Prince album, Musicology. You may disagree with me, and that’s no problem for me! 

Prince steals from his own catalogue; Where and what is up to the listener to find out my findings is My Name Is Prince, Get On The Boat, Screams of Passion, Papa, 80s Prince, 90s Prince, ’70s prince. He borrows from modern soul stars like Miguel, Justin Timerlake, Pharrell, Dornik, D’angelo who again has Prince as their musical muse. 90s house, 70s disco, Dubstep  Prince tweaks his own voice, auto tune – but he is doing it with class and style, and not letting it take over the sounds every one knows as Prince. An all female league guests the album Lianne La Havas, Judith Hill, Rita Ora and Curly Fryz!

Thanks to Josh Welton Prince dares to flirt and spice up his unmistakably Princesque production. HITnRUN sounds like an album prince has been working to release the last 10 years. From 3121, Planet Earth, LotusFlow3r / MPLSound, 20Ten, Plectrumelectrum and to Art Official Age – if you rip those albums apart bit by bit, and put them carefully together again as one album – you’ll get HITnRUN! Princes latest album is the sound of Prince having fun!

Prince sum up his HITnRUN best on the intro to the first track, were he samples his own For You, 1999 and Let’s Go Crazy;

All of this and more is for you…
Don’t worry I won’t hurt you I only want you to have some fun…
Dearly beloved we´re gathered here today to this thing called…

The Read & Hear Q&A; Lonnie D Hillyer of Maggie’s Dream – solving the mystery!

One of my favourite bands from the early 90’s are Maggie’s Dream. They released one album, the self titled “Maggie’s Dream” back in 1990. The album was, and still is, a great hybrid of groovy retro rock, funk and soul. The band disbanded after a few years. They did just this one album – and it’s without doubt a great lost and largely overseen classic rock album!

The self titled Maggie´s Dream album can be downloaded on iTunes here!

The members of Maggie’s Dream were;
Robi Draco Rosa – Lead vocals
Tony James – Drums
Lonnie Hillyer – Vocals, bass
Raf – Vocals, guitar
Danny Palomo – Vocals

The bands retro-rock songs reminded me of Lenny Kravitz – and was released just a year after Kravitz released his classic debut “Let Love Rule” back in 1989. Being a dude who reads every word in an album cover – I became amazingly curious when I discovered the Maggie’s Dreams guys thanked my hero Lenny Kravitz in their liner notes. This has been a mystery for me ever since the albums release, back in 1990 until now. That’s 24 years ago! And now it seems like the answers finally here!

I’ve been searching to solve the link between the band and the retrorock/-soul star, and I found out a while back that Mr Kravitz had actually been working with the band according to a Wikipedia post about Maggie’s Dream.

I then happened to stumble upon Maggie’s Dream on YouTube and to my surprise I found several tracks from an unreleased album, rare video clips, interviews and music videos. On closer inspection, it seemed like this was posted by the band member Lonnie D. Hillyer.

A few mails back and forth proved I was right, it WAS Lonnie from Maggie’s Dream, and we agreed to do this Q&A / Interview

From left to right; Lonnie D Hillyer, Lenny Kravitz and Andrea Alvarez. November 2011

The Read and Hear Q&A about Maggie’s Dream, Lenny Kravitz, the band members now and then and Lonnie D. Hillyers favourite records! 

I’ve been loving the Maggie’s Dream album ever since the release in 1990, and remember I was so surprised to read that you (the band) thanked Lenny Kravitz in the liner notes and has since 1990 been wondering what was the link between Maggie’s Dream and Lenny Kravitz? A few months back I read that he was once part of Maggie’s Dream.

Q: So here it goes; Would you like to share with me and the blog readers the true story about the Maggie’s/Kravitz link?

A: Danny Palomo and Raf Hernandez were friends Lenny years before Maggie’s Dream, then he sang on the demos of “Love and Tears”, “It’s A Sin” and one other track that did not make the album after we signed with Capitol Records. He sang on those demos before the band was signed and was already working on his debut album”.

Q: If Lenny was part of Maggie’s, was he somehow involved on Maggie’s self titled debut – probably uncredited? I could swear i hear his recognizable voice on at least a couple of the songs (backing vocals), especially on “Human”

A: Lenny Kravitz did not sing on the Maggie’s Dream album.”

Q: Do you still have contact with any of the Maggie’s Dream members? If you have contact with them, what are they doing these days?

A: The drummer (Tony James) and I speak occasionally and I saw Rob a few months ago in Buenos Aires Argentina (played a few t.v. promos with him). Haven’t spoken with Danny Palomo or Raf Hernandez in years”

Q: Have you and the guys ever considered to assemble the band back together again?

A: As far as putting the band back together, haven’t heard anything about that and I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

Q: What was the musical inspiration behind the classic Maggie’s Dream debut album? I sense a little retro-rock – and some Kravitz inspiration or is this only coincidental?

A: Lenny and we grew up on much of the same music and we’re all about the same age, so, many of the collective musical influences are similar with the exception of jazz; that is a heavy influence because of my father who played trumpet with Charles Mingus and he was a great jazz musician who played with some other heavy cats. There was a very talented singer Lenny worked named Tony Lemans with whose demo triggered that vibe but for many of us, it was a natural direction, musically.Tony was signed to Prince’s label Paisley Park Records. He subsequently was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Q: Robi Draco Rosa, former lead vocals in Maggie’s Dream has made several albums – and had major success as a writer and producer for i.e Ricky Martins “Living La Vida Loca” and solo. Tony James has worked with names like Cyndi Lauper, Charles&Eddie (what became of them?) Hugh Harris (great debut album) and Jeffrey Gaines. Then it comes to Raf I haven’t found any history besides his Maggies Dream years. What is your story after Maggies Dream disbanded?

A: Raf and Danny were in a band with Dan Reed named “Adrenaline Sky”; Raf also played briefly with Peter Lord Moreland (who was in the Family Stand) for a little while and after that he was writing and playing with this singer who was in the broadway show “Rent”, I think his name was Adam Pascal. Danny dropped out of the music scene all together and became a chef”

Q: Who have you worked with during the years? What has been the highlight of your career so far and who is the most inspiring to work with?

A: I’ve recorded with Billy Joel (River Of Dreams), Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes, toured Love Spit Love (feat. Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs) and a few other artists. Also, auditioned for the Stones in ’93-94; also, played on a few Jeff Gaines albums as well as Charles & Eddie; I toured parts of Latin America a few times with Rob Rosa as a solo artist; there are some videos of various performances with Rob on YouTube, most notably an MTV International live performance which was probably Rob’s coolest band and the drummer in that video (Frank Ferrer) has been playing with Guns & Roses for the past 6 years or so. You can hear some of the artists with who I have played on my YouTube channel. As far as the most inspiring artist I’ve ever played with, well, that’s a tough question, I just like to play music… it’s all inspiring.”

Q: I love to get a sneak peek into the record collection of the ones when I do my Q&As – so now it’s your turn: What recordings are you’re all time favourite albums? Mention as many albums as you like!

A: Here are few of my favorite albums, not in any particular order:

1. Sly & The Family Stone Greatest Hits
2. “Fresh” by Sly and The Family Stone
3. “Gratitude” by Earth Wind & Fire
4. “Grace” by Jeff Buckley
5. “Thrust” and “Chameleon” by Herbie Hancock
6. Any Parliament Funkadelic album before 1990
7. “Songs In The Key Of Life” and “Innervisions” by Stevie Wonder
8. Any Jimi Hendrix album before his died.
9. “Solo Monk” by Thelonious Monk
10. “Superunknown” by Soundgarden
11. “Sea Of Cowards” and “Horehound” by Dead Weather
12. “Discipline” by King Crimson
13. Any James Brown before 1975
14. “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye
15. Any Charlie Parker recording
16. Any John Coltrane recording
17. Graham Central Station
18.Betty Davis
19. “Heavy Weather” by Weather Report
20. Any African-American blues before 1960
21. Most bebop and hard bop
22. Bootsy Collins in the late 1970s

Q: What does the FUTURE for Lonnie D. Hillyer look like? Any cool protects going on?

A: I’ve been in Buenos Aires, Argentina working with the drummer / singer Andrea Alvarez for her new album. You can go to www.andreaalvarez.com for her info.”

Q: If there´s something you could say to my blog readers what would it be? Here´s your chance to say whatever you like!

A: All I can say is stay true to yourself and the music and keep on playing.

If you wanna get to know Lonnie D. Hillyer even closer, watch this great 30 minute interview with Lonnie D. Hillyer from september 2013 by Fernando Martín Alvarez

…And while you’re at it; Feel free to check out this short documentary of Maggie’s Dream, by Mark Pellington

And last but not least, check out The Maggie´s Dream playlist on YouTube here!

It’s so great to feel the mystery has finally been solved, and the unanswered questions have been answered. Make sure you check out the music of Maggie’s Dream I swear you won’t be dissapointed! 

Prince’s latest single is out on iTunes!

Stop the press, who is that? His name is Prince!

The latest Prince single “Breakfast Can Wait” is being released on iTunes worldwide!

Download the brand new single here

Source: The 3rd Eye Girl Facebook page

Classic albums: Santana “Abraxas”

If you’re going to have one Santana album in your record collection – make sure it’s “Abraxas”. The album that could have been called “The Best Of Santanta” – but fact being it’s actually the bands second album, released in 1970!

You can listen to Santana “Abraxas” if you use Spotify here!
If you wish, listen to the album in a YouTube rip here!
Before you buy it in iTunes or at your favourite record store

Why am I loving this album so much? Because it´s got everything you ever need in a Santana record. You get to hear almost every musical genre you could come up with in a classic rock album; Psychedelic, latin, blues, rock, samba and salsa, even hard rock and jazz.

That’s not all! The “Abraxas” album includes all the Santana songs you know best; “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen” (Originaly by Peter Green´s Fleetwood Mac / Gàbor Szabó), “Oye Com Va” (Originally by Tito Puente), “Samba Pa Ti“, “Hope You’re Feeling Better” and “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts“.

Carlos Santana play guitar like he’s obsessed by Jimi Hendrix’ soul and has just found out he’s Miles Davis unknown little brother. Lead vocalist on this album, Gregg Rolie, is one of the most underrated rock-vocalists ever. The rhythm section with David Brown on bass and Michael Shrieve plays tight as any jazz duo out there, the duo on percussion Jose “Cherpito” Areas and Mike Carabello must have been sweating and working their asses off during the recording. The album was recorded in only 14 days+ and it sounds like they have had the greatest time ever recording the album!

You can play this album in whatever mood you’re in, if you want to cry and feel sad. If you’re feeling it’s time to shake up those salsa hips again, or if you wish you were on a cuban bar, if you want to shake out your frustration to the hard rocking tunes, or if you just want to sit down and chill to the jazz and blues tracks.

I bet after you’ve listened to “Abraxas” you burn your and stomp on Santanas pop-albums like “Supernatural” and it’s follow up albums – even if those were a major comeback for Mr Carlos Santana – that got him into the top of the charts again, made him win a great amount of prices and got him into Guinnies Book of Records for having the longest gap between two #1 albums; 28 years after his last #1 album “Santana”, the third Santana album from 1971. “Abraxas” is the album you come back to – time after time – and it´ll always surprise you!

The first time I heard the album, was a ripped vinyl copy onto a recordable CD, that was so crackly and full of vinyl pops, the sound was so warm. I was just sitting there with my mouth gaping, the whole album through. Actually the album made me go into my basement and find and connect the vinylplayer to my stereo again. Because the rip of the “Abraxas” album I fell in love with vinyl again.

Since then, I’ve bought the album on CD, digital download – and finally finding it on LP again. In my favourite bargain used-records shop in Oslo, Norway – for the small price of a general chocolate bar!

The cover was worn out, the inner-bag of the LP was missing, and the black vinyl LP looked like it had partied since 1970, when the album was originally released.

My vinyl edit of “Abraxas” is full of cracks, pops and has the warm sound, just like my ripped CD-copy, so when I put the needle on the record – I let the world stop – and let myself carry away into Santanas magical and mystical world.

Have you heard Santanas “Abraxas”?
Do you have a favorite Santana album?

PS! I Love Stacy Barthe

If I say Stacy Barthe – does the name say you something? I guess your answer – sadly – is “No”
Unless I ask you if you know; Britney Spears, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child, Kathy Perry, Cheryl Cole, Brandy and Miley Cyrus? I bet your answer is “Yes, I know those!”

If you know or/and love one or more of those artists, you´d probably have heard the songs of Stacy Barthe. She has written for all those and a bunch of others. To mention a few male artists she has even worked with Rick Ross, Akon and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

…This is why i love Stacy Barthe

The first time you hear the voice of Stacy Barthe, close your eyes. What you hear is a voice so smooth and soulful. Deep and lush and it sounds like she has sung all her life. A mixture of Sade, Rihanna (as when she sings on her slow jams), and Nneka maybe?
I´m tempted to call her a female Drake because she, just like Drake on his “Thank Me Later” album strips down the melodies down to drums, percussion, sometimes a piano and/or a acoustic guitar – naked and organic sounds and full of air and allowing quietness to be a part of the music. The quietness in the music is important to let her fantastic warm voice be the main ingredient in the songs. She flirts sometimes with reggae – and it´s not over-the-top – and it works! When she slows things down and do a spoken word at the end of a couple of her songs. I´m sold again!

She has under her own name released three fantastic EPs “Sincerely Yours, Stacy Barthe” in 2011. “In The Inbetween” and “PS! I Love You” in 2012. These three albums all together contains 25 tracks – and over 90 minutes of music. And before you ask; Just marvelous tracks, no fillers! That’s a huge smile and two huge thumbs up from me!

All of the Stacy Barthe EPs can be bought on iTunes
and
You can stream parts of “PS! I Love You” , the complete “Sincerely Yours, Stacy Barthe” and “In The InBetween” here through Spotify

On her first release under her own name, she even worked with one of 2012s best artists: Frank Ocean. He did vocals along with Stacy on the beautiful “Without You”, and Rick Ross joins her with a rap verse on “Hell Yeah!”. I could go into mention single songs, but with Stacy Barthe, it´s not any use to recommend some songs – because they´re all so damn good and by not mention anyone, no one is let out.

A few did-you-knows at the end:

• Did you know it was Beyonce who made Stacy Barthe decide to release her debut EP, “Sincerely Yours, Stacy Barthe”
• Did you know Stacy Barthe is working with Miley Cyrus forthcoming album, which will (mark my word) be Mileys major mature breakthrough
• Did you know she even knows and has worked with artists like Alicia Keys, Estelle, Andre 3000, Elle Warner, Brandy, Stephen Marley and T.I.

About the music of Stacy Barthe, she says it best on her own homepage: 
“You can find hurt and pain in my music while finding the light. It represents empowerment… I speak from a very truthful and sincere place…with love”

The Q&A; Little Brother Eli “A spectrum of influences!”

One of the new faces of modern blues and rock is called Little Brother Eli. A new duo with Alex Grew on lead vocals and guitarist Joshua Rigal. The band is inspired by modern rock, as well as blues, soul and hip hop – with rock as their main ingredient. The band has played together for a little over 6 months only and have their a self titled debut 3 track EP out now.

The three tracks is quite and eclectic sounding and the EP kicks off with the rock track “Animal Fair”; A raw live-in-the-studio sounding rock song with dirty guitars and a vocal intro – not to far from Elvis “Trouble” – before drums and disco´ish high-hats kick in. The guitars make me think about the dirty sound of Jimi Hendrix´ played with his six string when playing live. The sound is raw and if you draw a line from Jimi to Jack White – you´re not too far from the sound of Little Brother Elis first track.

When questioning the bands guitar player Josh Rigal about what artist they are inspired by
And by asking what are their favorite records are – you´ll get an exiting sneak peek into their eclectic rock sound.

-Both Alex and I draw a great deal of inspiration from the likes of Jack White, Led Zep and The Black Keys, but we each have our own personal musical influences which we bring to the project. For example, I know Alex learnt a great deal about melody by listening to his dad’s Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) records. Equally I’d say Stevie Wonder and Beastie Boys are two influences for me which I hold close to Little Brother Eli.

-Our favourite records? Alex: Consolers Of The Lonely – by The Raconteurs.
Josh: Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers

As you can see from Josh answers, Little Brother Elis eclectic style even draws inspiration from hip hop and soul, and on the second track “Awkward Position” you can clearly hear hip hop inspired drum playing. There´s no studio flickering here, just a great slice of their soulful-blues-inspired rock. Real music, real musicians!

Do you both write the songs together? Who comes up with the ideas? And does the songs or melodies come first?

-Our writing process started off fairly unconventionally, separated by 167 miles between London and Sheffield, we we´re emailing bits and pieces of melodies, riffs and beats back and forth. When we properly got together and wrote the material however, it tends to be a similar case. Alex might turn up with a melody, single line of lyrics or occasionally a whole song that just needs piecing together. Or I’ll sit down at the piano and feel something out and we’ll build the song section by section until the day is out or the song is finished. There’s no set formula, it just kind of comes together when we set ourselves to it.

I had to ask the band about if there will be a full album, and when is it planned to be released?
Can we expect to hear more of the same?

-As I alluded to earlier, we do have material. For us though, we’re just starting off. Our fan base is slowly growing, we’re playing more and more live shows and we’re working really hard to build a project which has some legs. So we don’t have the audience or financial capabilities to put together an album quite yet. It’ll get there though. We’d like to hope within a year? maybe? possibly?

-With regards to what can be expected…A carefully arranged selection of songs, put together to create some interesting dynamics. You’ll hear a more full spectrum of our musical preferences. Swing, funk, soul, rock, blues, hip hop – however it comes.

The last track on the EP is my favorite track and the song where the band let their musical influences really shine through. A real show off track, in a positive way; It´s called “When she sings” and is an eclectic song that mixes bluesy soul, with a bit of Jeff Buckley inspired vocals, that suddenly glides into a short raw guitar solo in front of the mix. After the short solo, the song slips into reggae then a bit of do-wop which segues into a sing-a-long la-la bridge before it ends like it starts; as a soul track, with a falsetto vocal. All this is done within 3 minutes. 6 musical genres into one short three-minute song, almost like mini-miniature rock opera. Fantastic and amazing!

I can’t believe you only have played together for a half-year, how did you meet? Have any of you played in bands or had solo earlier? When did you first start to play music ?

-Alex and I have been friends for a long time. We used to play in a band together as teenagers, as you do. We learnt a lot, built on our craft and had great fun for 5 years or so. That group disbanded, but a few years later Josh and I were hanging out and decided to jam out a song together and lay it down on the laptop. We’d always had great results writing together, but It was at this point we decided we should write a whole album’s worth of material, and the project kind of built up from there.

-My first instrument was the trumpet at age 10, but that took a back seat at about 16 yrs, when I discovered my love for bass guitar. Alex tells me that he’s been making noises and dancing about ever since he could stand. Although he’s had no musical training, he’s been performing and singing from a young age, but has really found his voice in the last few years.

Josh Rigal, thanks a lot and it was great chatting with you and I look forward to hearing more from you – and look forward to follow your career.

Do you wanna read or hear more about and from the band? 

• You can buy and download the Little Brother Eli EP here, through their Bandcamp site or  through iTunes here
• Have a preview listen here on Spotify or on SoundCloud.
• If you would like to follow the band Little Brother Eli  check their homepage here
• On social media services on facebook here and twitter
• Little Brother Eli also has a fantastic eclectic playlist of theif favourite tracks on Spotify, check it here!

If I should choose a tagline at the end, why you should love Little Brother Eli, I´d love to quote vocalist Josh Rigals own worlds:

You’ll hear a more full spectrum of Little Brother Elis musical preferences;Swing, funk, soul, rock, blues, hip hop – however it comes!

The Helena Jesele Q&A: It´s the real deal!

As promised on this blogs Facebook– and Twitter account I was doing an interview or Q&A, as I choose to call it here on my blog, as a follow-up to the Helena Jesele blog post!

Now it´s ready – and here it is.  To quote Helen Jesele “It´s the real deal!”

I read somewhere that you said your album “Sweet Sticky Fix” is a concept album – made to listen to in one piece. For new listeners; What´s the concept?

I suppose you could say that it’s a concept album in the sense that it tracks the story of a single relationship from beginning to end.

It’s funny actually as some reviewers have written that it’s an album where each song is about a different relationship! Obviously that’s not the case at all, the songs on this album tell of the developments of a particular relationship that I went through over 2 years which effected me deeply, both emotionally and spiritually. It resulted in heartbreak as you can hear on songs such as Lovesick Avenue and Girl in London. But I learnt a lot about myself as a result, so the final song the album – Sun Is Rising – is about finding the light at the end of the soul-searching tunnel. I like how the album ends on a high!

With this album, I wanted to create something where the listener could sit down and listen to it from start to finish and be taken on a journey of sorts. These days most albums jump all over the place and there is no cohesive pattern. I think that’s a shame, so hopefully I’ve succeeded in creating something that people will be able to listen to again and again.

This is your debut album, and you´ve worked with Paul o´Duffy, who also worked with the late-great Amy Winehouse. How was it to work with a man who worked with an artist that had so much respect – and has now become a legend after her much too soon death?

Well of course it was pretty intimidating to work with Paul!

In truth, I’m a little uncomfortable about the Amy comparisons I’ve been getting in the press, but I understand them too. My music is not a millions miles away from hers…however we are very different artists with very different voices! She was amazing though, and was a legend even before her death I think.

I would be extremely lucky if I could gain even half the respect she commanded with her incredible music. Working with Paul was such a wonderful experience, he taught me a great deal about how to structure my songwriting, but he also encouraged me to write from the heart and be unafraid to bear my soul in my songs. I owe him a lot for that.

Who is your biggest musical inspiration? And what are your all time favourite record(s) – mention several if you like

Ella Fitzgerald was my first musical love! I heard her voice for the first time when I was very young, maybe about 5, and in that instant my life was enriched and jazz became my ‘thing’… I still listen to Ella on a regular basis even now. There’s a special quality to her voice that transports to a happy place!

I have so many favorite records, but off the top of my head, Portishead’s Glory box is definitely a personal favorite.

Julie London’s version of Cry Me A River is certainly in my top 10.

And let’s not forget Ella’s recording of Ray Noble’s The Very Thought Of You, what a beautiful tune. That’s one I will never get bored of hearing.

This is your debut album – but have you released anything before? As a member of a band – or something like that ?

I did some amateur recordings a while back, but this album is my first fully professional effort. It’s the real deal!

I mentioned in my blog post, that I loved the simplicity of your album sleeve. Do you feel like your found inspiration on what people make on services like Instagram and such services?

Actually, no!

The album artwork was inspired by the classic photography and design of the 60’s and 70’s. When people used real cameras and captured moments in time in a unique way. These days we can all capture moments on our phones and make them look old school… but perhaps that waters the mystery down somewhat.

For the album, we wanted imagery that reflected the realness of the music.

Everything was recorded the old-fashioned way, in analogue, and all the musicianship is live and true, not computerized.

So far I have found your record only available on iTunes. Are you supposed to release it on streaming services like Spotify and – my prefered physical media – CD and vinyl?

Actually we cut the first single – Let The Game Begin – as a limited edition vinyl and will hopefully at some point be cutting the whole album to vinyl and CD too. For the time being it is a digital release on iTunes and Amazon.

It’s sad that is the way the music business is going… But we all have to play the game in one way or another I suppose!

The Helena Jesele “Sweet Sticky Fix” album can be bought here on iTunes and Amazon

Helena Jesele is – thank god – no cocky diva, as you can see in this Q&A.

She seems to be well reflected about the (lacking?) future of the music industry – and how hard it is to sell physical albums, but still she choose to record albums the old way – analogue – with real music by real people. For music listeners who enjoys a good album, with a classic love story, that can be played from start to end without getting boring!

To be frank;
Helena Jesele is making real music for real people!

Helena Jesele – Is she this years Lana Del Rey?

Let´s cut to the chase at once; Helena Jesele and her debut album “Sweet Sticky Fix” is a great new discovery – and I´ll think you´ll be hearing a lot from her this year.

Think the Lana Del Rey sound stripped down a few layers and added sharper trip hop beats – in a 60s/early 70s spy movie with a bossa nova soundtrack produced by David Axelrod.

Helena Jesele explains who she is perfect on her twitter profile;  Manchester born, Dublin raised singer and song-writer. Six foot-tall, full of Irish spirit, Loves New York soul (end quote). Probably the best and most on-point self description I´ve seen in a while

As you can understand, Helena Jesele has it all;

The Look:
The 60s chick – or dare I say chic – look! Huge deer-like blue eyes, black make-up, the pouting mouth, smoking a cigarette, the 60s haircut and black, classic-cut dress.

The music:
La-la background vocals, female and sometimes male. funky/jazzy drumming, a great horn section, heavy on strings. Guitar with a lot of soundtrack influence.

Her voice:
She sounds like Lana Del Rey, Dusty Springfield and Amy Winehouse is having a meeting with Sarah Cracknell (of Saint Etienne fame) and Roisin Murphy (of Moloko fame) – in a french inspired swinging London boardwalk cafe.

The album sleeve:
A simple – black and white photo of Helena Jesele walking barefooted with her shoes in her hand while glimpsing at the camera with a pouting mouth.  Her name is written in a Dymo-label maker style font on a black label – and the albums title in the same, but on a red label. You have probably seen a lot of those look-a-like pictures on Instagram where there is used the black-and-white filter – and the label app Labelbox to create a similar look. Great and highly recognizable! You and I could make a album cover like this any day on our smart phones! Simple and effective. I like it a lot.

This whole package is:
Funky, soulful and sexy smooth. Perfect music and songs when we say goodbye to the winter and welcomes the fall and upcoming summer. I can gladly see myself on the frontporch with a funky 70s cup full of black coffee while the birds sing and I watch the trees bloom.

This was about it, while writing this my cup of tea has gotten cold – and need to be heated up again.

I push play once more and let myself dream away to the sound of Helena Jesele, who could become one of the biggest female soulful singer-songwriter names this year.

I just say; Lana Del Rey watch your back!

The year the music didn´t die!

It´s less than one week left of the year 2012. That means it´s time for me to do a summit of my year in music.
Here´s how 2012 has been for me, read about how this this blog came to life and my status and future plans for the blog. What music rocked my world and how I choose to listen to music – and a little bit about music I love! Read also about the blog posts you loved and the least read/worst blog posts I´ve done in 2012!
…And I would love you if you´l to share your thoughts about the Read And Hear music blog!

The Read And Hear blog comes to life…I started my first music blog back in 2011, but in the middle of this year – June 2012 – I said goodbye to my old Norwegian music blog Musique De La Vie and started this blog you´re reading now; Read And Hear. I decided to start blogging in English – and the Read And Hear music blog was born. I´ve wanted to spread my words to the whole world, and not just Norway (which was my main readers). The readers of the Read And Hear blogs top 5 readers come from the following countries; United States, Norway, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Great stats, and fun to see that my mission showed results.

The day the music died…not!

Earlier this year (and for years now) the CD and music business had been doomed and was supposed to die. But the CD still lives on, the market buys less of the silver plates, but they´re still out there. And ironically enough, people streams more music, we buy albums digitally on services like iTunes – and this was the year vinyl did come back – and “everyone” also releases their productions on LPs! Yes! It sounds weird, we buy untouchable digital files and the touchable physical music that´s 12″ of analog music – large black circles that gets scratches if you drop them or are not careful with them. It´s like we´re loving the “new” music and the new “retro” feeling of vinyl. I have to be honest, I love it all, I love CDs – Streaming, iTunes, and LPs. But the sound of vinyl – is what stay closest to my heart.

The year I started to love buying music again

Music for me had to be a thing I can touch. I´be had to have a cover to open, a sleeve to read the liner notes and text, a coverphoto to look at and to put the music into the slot of my stereo. Then I downloaded music and streamed. Felt I´ve had discovered a lot of music through blogs and webpages, but it was dead it was nothing just files. I still had to own the thing, I had to have the music in my hand and on the stereo. I´ve heard thousands of records through Spotify. First free, then I bought the premium edition to get more music and fewer commercials and adds. It was great, but something was missing. The words, the pictures, lyrics, liner notes and a cover.
I dropped Spotify – and bought my new discoveries in iTunes.
Almost at the same time I´ve started this blog I´ve started buying music again, digitally. At the start of the year (and end of 2011) I´ve picked up my record player again, and the made frequently visits to my favourite Råkk´n´Rålls (sic) second-hand record shop in Oslo, where I picked up classic albums I´ve always wished I owned on vinyl. Almost always second-hand for really cheap money like Nkr 25,- (4,5 USD or 3.38 Euros) or less, and a few full price.  Always classics, like most of Elvis 70s recordings, Gram Parsons, Simon & Garfunkel, Supertramp, James Taylor, KLF, Inner City, The Blue Nile, Talk Talk, Nirvana. My vinyl collection grew from about 250 pieces of delicious vinyl – and counts now 500+ pieces and still growing!

It´s quite fun to think back – and discover that the last record I was considering buying on LP was Nirvanas “Nevermind” back in 1991 but I picked the CD because of the secret (and to be honest crappy) bonus track “Endless Nameless” was not on the LP edit. Then there was no way back, Everything from 1991 to 2011 was CDs and Digital. And now 20 years later – in 2011 – I´m starting to buy LPs again. The circle is completed.

The best things in life is free…

Mixtapes. Mix tapes. Actually they´re not tapes anymore, but still it´s called mixtapes – even if they´re now released for free on in webpages, and blogs. 2012 was the year I´ve found amazing music for free on the internet for real, mix tapes and DJ sets. On pages like DatPiff and SoulGuru and on homepages and blogs. DatPiff is an amazing mix tape page – full of almost all the mix tapes you´d like to check out. Great quality – and lots of free stuff by the biggest names. SoulGuru is my favourite music blog – they release DJ sets and tunes every-single-day that I have to check out – daily. The page is in German, and I can´t speak a word in German, but still a website full of great stuff worth checking out! Bandcamp is another web page I love. Lots free albums – take time to check out – all genres covered!
Mixtapes I´ve discovered; First a classic Frank Oceans, classic “Nostalgia-Ultra“. Daniel DeBourgs 3 fab albums, K Michelle has released four amazing mixtapes. To be honest the great K Michelle is this years latest music crush (a blog post is coming up early 2013 i hope)  – she´s one the big voices to look out for in 2013. Leon Timbo has probably released the best soul album you still haven´t heard. Angel Haze – one of the most talked about new names in female hip-hip and not to forget the fantastic Azaelia Banks – when is the album coming? Fuze the MCs  great full album release “One Black Man” for free through his homepage and many more I would like to mention, much more that I would like to blog about. It´s a whole world out there – so check out and keep on rocking in the free world!

Club and disco music came into my life…again!

10 years ago i loved club music, disco, french house, Stardust, Daft Punk, Danny Tenaglia, and, and, and…I should make a blogpost about the disco-club-songs-I-love one day. But this year I started do discover disco again, Azari & Ill, Kraak & Smaak, Maya Wik, Jessie Ware, Charlotte Thorstvedt, Solange. Club with soul, great voices, retro 80´s-feeling, great productions. It´s all less club-trance – more feelings. Looking forward to checking out more in the coming year!

My 12 favourite albums of 2012

Here´s my favourite albums of the year that was. The album I listened to most is without doubt the Drake album – an album I just didn´t get the first time I heard it, then after a couple listens – it hit me – and it hit hard. “Take Care” is the best soul, hip hop, soul, chill out album of the year, it should be up there with Frank Ocean on everyone’s Best Of 2012 lists.

Drake – Take Care (Spotify)
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange (Spotify)
Leon Timbo – …And Everything Else (Free mixtape)
K. Michelle – Zero F..ks Given (Free mixtape)
Jem Warren – Heart Knows How (Spotify)
Fuze The MC – One Black Man (Free mixtape)
Azelia Banks – Fantasea (Free mix tape)
Jessie Ware – Devotion (Spotify)
John Mayer –  Born and Raised (Spotify)
Daniel De Bourgh – The Bridge The DDB Mixtape pt 2 (Free mixtape)
Mirel Wagner – Mirel Wagner (Spotify)
Rebekka Karijord – We Become Ourselves (Spotify)

Whats goin´on… The future of the Read And Hear musicblog

Okay, so this blog has now lived for half-a-year – and it´s still like a little kid to me – it´s still growing – and definitely not moved  from home. And it feels great. This is my blog – and this is my thoughts about the future of my music blog.
Status 2012: In 2012 I´ve written 18 blog posts from June ´til December, that´s about one blog posts every two weeks. I happen to write long blog posts, maybe they´re too long? I´ve done some Q&As, which I like to do, a great way to get to know musicians and artists better – and great to share with you, my readers. The blogs Read And Hear facebookpage has not gotten too much traffic and attention from me this year, and the twitter page has not been updated too often.
I did an update on the blog design a few months back – and really feel I have found a page layout that is both stylish and represent the blog as i´d like it! More easy on the eye then it was when i started it.
Status 2013; I think I should update my blog more often, maybe at least once a week or maybe two. The blog posts should get shorter, and making the updates easier to read on-the-go. More focused – keeping it tighter and sharper. I´d love to do more Q&As and recommend new stuff. Love to to blogposts about my all time favourite albums. Check out even more music – both old and new. For some weird reason I often blog about soul music. I would like to show and write more about my love and passion for music – it´ll be hard rock, jazz, rock, pop or that guilty pleasure I´ve never told any one else about. My big project I think is to make a series of blogposts about the songs I love – to make my ultimate-favourite-best-of-greatest-song-ever-collection (which is also off course getting av Spotify compagnion (and maybe YouTube?) The Facebookpage should be updated more often – as well as the twitter page. Keeping it fresh and new and up-to-date. I want my blog to be – this is a cliché – the magazine or blog you would love to read

Stop me if you´d read this one before

I like to frequently check the stats of the blog, just to see if you´d like the blog posts. What are you reading and what blog posts are you loving – and not loving:

The 2012 best of Read And Hear music blog;  There’s is one winner and the blog post you love the most was called The Ballad(s) of Jimi Hendrix” – my writings about guitar rock legend Jimi Hendrix´best ballads and the lack of a Hendrix best ballads album so I had to make one myself in Spotify (have a listen here!). I´ve heard that Prince would work with another funk legend, Larry Graham – and made a short blog post about how much I looked forward to that release. New name Franky Manzo released her solo-single “M.J´s Coursing” and I fell instantly in love with what I heard. She´s also doing a movie-project and has some cool plans for that project, there’s more to come on the blog as soon as I know more about she and her projects. Soulsinger-songwriter Kendra Morris released her debut “Banshee“, and that became a real great album – and she had this cover-project, read more on my blog post. How To Dress Well is a singer-songwriter for the ones who likes Bon Iver – his latest album “Total Loss”  should be checked out! Soul songer Daniel De Bourgh released three free mixtapes full of his remakes and covers of some of the latest years biggest names and some of his own stuff. A great voice with a future! Rebekka Karijord – the singer-songwriter to follow. Norwegian – living in Sweden – now slowly but surely conquering the world with her latest release! Keep an large eye up for her!

The 2012 worst of Read And Hear music blog: Some of my blog posts had almost none readers and here’s my worst 5 2012. Yes, you can dance to this – my disco/not disco playlist. You can hear it if you use Spotify. Actually a repost from another one of my earlier blog-projects. R. Kelly is back: With write me back check his “Share My Love” – I love the way his music turning into this Barry White´ish inspired disco-soul. Give it a try if you´d like! You should also check out  my love letter to  the wonderful yet dark music of Mirel Wagner. Sometimes a voice and acoustic guitar can make magic. Kanye West – New album sleeve – was my presentation of the rumored new Kanye West album, I understand why that wasn´t much read. Another Quickie was my  Borgore feat Miley Cyrus video another quick blog update. Finally! Frank Ocean “Channel Orange”  I wrote about Frank Oceans debut album, one of the albums I was really looking forward to in 2012. The album lived up to the rumors. It was one of the must have albums of 2012. Get your hands on it – and if you dare, read my review!

…And at last, my little list of this-is-I-proud-of´s; My blog has been mentioned on Franky Manzos– and Jem Warrens Homepage. click the links to chect it out! And remember you can follow the blog on Facebook and twitter, see more here; Facebook/readandhear and Twitter/readnhear

It´s the end of 2012 as we know it, and it feels good!

That was it: My best of 2012 – I promised that my blog posts was supposed to be shorter in 2012. I end this year by doing…another long blog post.

Now it´s time for you to give me feedback – if you feel like! I´d love to hear your feedback. What do you think about my thoughts about the year thats behind us. What about my blog, should I change the way I write? Post more often, and shorter. What about my best of 2012?
Tell me what you´d like what you’d didn´t like. Anything.

Thank you for 2012 – welcome to 2013

How To Dress Well?!

To make it clear, this is NOT a blog post about neither clothes nor fashion or the hottest trends even if the title indicate something like it!

So, what is How To Dress Well?

Behind the sentence “how to dress well” is just another weird band name. I call it weird because the name could be the heading of a fashion magazine article, or maybe a blog post. The first thing that popped into my mind when I read the band name in a review of their latest album was something like; Was the name chosen to be found in search engines like Google? So I had to do a test and entered “how to dress well” in Google search field and pushed the search button…and too my big surprise the first thing I got up is the homepage of the band/artist – and other pages with articles about the group.

In other words; What a good choice of band name!

I found that How To Dress Well is not a band name, but the stage name of just one man, Tom Krell. He is also a graduate philosophy student and releases his music through small independent labels like Wierd World Records / Domino Records and Asephale Records.

Where can you listen to How To Dress Well?

Tom Krell has so far released two albums under his alter ego How To Dress Well.

The debut album “Love Remains” (left) was released back in 2010, his second and best album so far is out these days (released September 2012) and is named “Total Loss” (right).  Note: I focus on the latest album in this blogpost.

Buy or hear the album here:
On Itunes US here or Itunes (Nor) here, or listen to it on Spotify or LastFM

You´ll also find a great amount of mixtapes online that gives you a fine introduction to the music that inspires the sound of How To Dress Well. I’ll link to them at the bottom of this page.

How does How To Dress Well sound?

First of all – make sure you hear the album “Total Loss” on a stereo with a good pair of loudspeakers. Or sit down – even better lay down with a pair of headphones. Pump up the volume and let yourself be drawn into the soft and warm sound of “Total Loss”

Lurking in the shadows of soft dubstep and R&B names like James Blake and the soulful landscape of Jamie Woon – a line can also be drawn to The Weeknd. This is the easiest way to describe how How To Dress Well sounds.
The voice mostly falsetto – very soulful, multi-tracked voice, a bit like Bon Iver but with way better falsetto and airy piano not to far from the ambient, classical sounds of Craig Armstrong (the conductor of Massive Attacks “Protection” record and the original score to movies like Romeo & Juliet. Craig Armstrong has also released numerous records under his own name. All slow, orchestral, choral, ambient – soulful and soothing like trip hop at its best) But you also find danceable and funkier sounds on the “Total Loss” album. Even soul singers like the soft voice of Maxwell to more contemporary soul like Maria Carey can seem like a musical influence. Sometimes it sounds like a whole choir has entered the studio – other times it´s just one single voice singing in an empty church. The whole production is smoother, more open, maybe airy is the right description?! I can even hear inspiration from the orchestral part of Prince AOR ballad “Purple Rain” and some inspiration from “Nothing Compares To You” – but not the Sinead O´Connor version or Prince´ own version but the strings and almost a cappella original version by Prince protegé band The Family. If you happen love James Blakes cover of Feist “Limit To Your Love” and Jamie Woons stripped soulful productions; You´ll love to hear How To Dress Wells floating sounds, and their use of echoes, claps, soundscapes and beat boxing and throat voices layer upon layer to create this dream-like soul music.

Tom Krell and How To Dress Well should and could be this years Jamie Woon or Bon Iver. The record everyone should have!

His music might as well can be described as the best soundtrack to a film that has never been made! You wish never ends…until its over in just 46 minutes

Where can you hear more How To Dress Well?

As promised; The mixtapes! Instead of me writing page up and page down of references to the sound of Tom Krell and How To Dress Well listen to and/or download his mixes. Read more about the tracks and mixtapes here:

• Transmissions From A Wistful Place (stream/download) from Something For All Of Us website
• The World Is Ugly And The People Are Wierd (stream/download) from DisMagazine
• Tri-Angle Records Mix (stream) from Wire
•  Change Yourself Mix (download) from The Fader
• HRSDVRS030 (stream/download) from Hors D´oeuvres website
• FactMix 347 (stream/download) from found on the Pidgeons And Planes website

There is so many mixtapes out there online, and gives you, the reader and listener, a great insight into the world of How To Dress Well – search and you shall find!

You can follow and read more about How To Dress Well on his own pages!
Homepage http://howtodresswell.com
Twitter http://twitter.com/howtodresswell
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/howtodresswellmusic

I am so glad that How To Dress Well and Tom Krell don’t deal with style,
and instead he choose do steal and borrow with style!

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