Heck, we’re not even down!

Sea of Music has endured a recent server based collapse that eliminated months of content overnight.  Was the content any good?  I don’t know, I can’t remember, but it was from the heart and based on the same stuff that drives this blog – a passion for music and the sharing of same.

I’ve decided to use this opportunity to contemplate the future of the blog and essentially come back strong and reinvigorated.  There are plenty of music blogs spanning the far corners of Al Gore’s creation, but this one needs sharper definition and a reason for you to bookmark it and say, by God I’m coming back here.

Of course you probably won’t, but so what.

Check back soon… Sea of Music will be redefined and possibly redesigned, but certainly worth your time!

Cheers,

Drew

A brazen headline indeed, especially since the announcement is coming from he that is himself, the very same Drew Dundon, author-in-chief of this Globe conquering blog!

I need the exalted title because it makes me feel good about myself.

Anyway, I thought I’d use this piece of web real estate to promote my new project in music.  I will be releasing a series of 12 new songs throughout 2010 AD.  The project is called 12 4 12 and the first track was slipped in under the wire on January 31st!  It’s called The Devil’s Hand.

The song is released with a creative commons license and can be downloaded and shared for free by anyone who wishes to do so. The cover art and music can be downloaded from www.drewdundon.com

Cheers,
Drew

Sadly, it has been reported that ex-Cardinals bassist Chris Feinstein has passed on at the age of 42yrs.

No confirmed cause of death is available as of yet, he was found in his Manhattan apartment on Monday morning, December 14th.

Spacewolf as he was known to fans and bandmates alike was a well regarded lad and accomplished player, his discography also includes songwriting credits for Santigold’s eponymous release, and bass performance on Albert Hammond, Jr.’s song “Scared” from his solo album, Yours to Keep. Other studio credits include work with Tim Finn, Daniel Tashian, Fat Joe and Moby.

He joined the Cardinals in 2006 as a touring member and appeared on the two most recent Adams and the Cardinals releases 2007’s Easy Tiger and 2008’s Cardinology.  Adams announced a hiatus from the band and music in early 2009 and Fienstein’s most recent work was with New Zealand artist Gin Wigmore.

From Lost Highway Records:
“It is with great sadness to report that Cardinals bassist/vocalist/collaborator Chris Feinstein (Spacewolf) has recently passed away. He was an integral member of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals and will be deeply missed by all of us here at Lost Highway and throughout the entire music community. Please send your thoughts and prayers to Chris’s family, friends and bandmates during this difficult time.”

Feinsein’s family have set up a memorial fund in his remembrance, donations will help his mother cover the funeral costs.  Paypal payments are being received at this address: feinstein.memorial@gmail.com.  More details here.

Here’s a video performance from The Henry Rollins Show recorded in 2008. Thanks for the music Chris.
.

Here’s a 20 minute video analysis of a 6 second drum beat from 1969 that has transcended it’s original use and thoroughly soaked itself into the fabric of culture.

Visit the documentary creator’s site for more of his innovative projects: nkhstudio.com

From youtube member Mobius32:

This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the “Amen Break,” a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music — a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison’s 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.

.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy likes to serve ‘em up fast and steady.  His last release Beware has been taking up shelf space in cd stores since March of this year, it’s high time he got off his lazy arse and served up something new.  At least, that’s what I was thinking and no sooner thought than delivered.

On Tuesday (15th, December) Bonny Billy & The Picket Line will be delivering some bluegrass flavored versions of songs from Billy’s back catalogue recorded live in studio.  The slight name change for Billy is nothing new, I doubt it’s even intentional at this stage as he’s been through so many that he likely has no clue what he’s currently going by.

A name is just a name afterall, but the music is something you can always bank on.  If you’d like to grab a preview of the new sounds there’s a free for download track available on the label site dragcity.com, it goes away on the 15th so grab it now. You can listen to it now above the track listing on this post.

The band on the new record Funtown Comedown are from Louisville Kentucky, I have a feeling their myspace friend count is going to increase exponentially from their 6,503 as of this writing.  Visit them here:  myspace.com/thomasaminorandthepickinline

1. Ohio River Boat Song
2. May It Always Be
3. Hemlocks and Primroses
4. The Glory Goes / Wolf Among Wolves
5. We All Us Three Will Ride
6. Easy Does It
7. Lay and Love
8. Rider
9. Rambling Fever
10. You Want That Picture
11. Idle Hands Are The Devil’s Playthings
12. Death to Everyone

Sea of Music used to be a pretty sophisticated Mp3 search engine, but it was very difficult to keep the script up to date (a lot of the sources changed their access routines frequently) and I had my attention on too many other projects to do a good job at maintaining it.

That said, I have received some emails from visitors asking about the old site, so instead of turning these good folks away empty handed I have managed to resurrect a much simpler Mp3 search script that’s been gathering dust in my virtual vault for some time.

It’s pretty handy and seems to be working well. I’ll do a little fine tuning on it every once in a while, but for now just enjoy it for all it’s simple pleasures!

One nice feature is that you can grab a piece of code and drop it on your myspace site or whatever kind of site you like, spreading good music around the web like a mix tape (allbeit a uni-track mix tape!) of yesteryear.

.

The site is called infostash.net – enjoy!

Having worked in radio for many years I’ve managed to accumulate waaayyy too much music.  I always want to make time to dig through the many boxes of discs that I took away from my last job, but can never seem to find the time.  I know that there’s a good number of cd’s that I can easily eliminate to lighten my load and a lot that need to be filed away more carefully as definite keepers!

As it stands I always have big piles of cd’s on my desk, many of which I like to keep close by as favorite listening material, others that need to be listened to and either tossed on the out pile or stacked on the shelf as cerified quality listening.

One of the discs that seems to have survived many rounds of my sorting efforts and still even remained on the desk ( a highly transient location for most discs!), is a cd called Songs from a Small Room – A Celebration of Ireland’s Best-Loved Songwriter Night.  It came out in 2001 on Self Possesed Records (the label belonging to former Fat Lady Sings front man, Nick Kelly) and features some great performances from artists like Gemma Hayes, Nina Hynes, Mundy, Damien Dempsey, Luka Bloom, Glen Hansard (The Frames, The Swell Season) and Kelly himself, label owner!

I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere of the cd for sometime, but it was only today that I bothered to research the artist that performs the opening track.  His name is Kevin May and the song,  Portmarnock Beach Boy Blue.  I couldn’t find much on the web after a quick search, but I was intrigued enough to find out what he might be up to these days that I kept digging.   The most prominent Kevin May on Google is an Illinois based photographer, but I soon learned that the musical Kevin was part of a band called Guggenheim Grotto and that they have some cd’s available.

I was happy enough at this discovery that I thought the information worth sharing.  His solo performance on the Songs from a Small Room disc was sparse as often solo work is; so it was a pleasure to come across the more produced songs available on the band’s website. If you have time, swing by and give it a listen – here’s a link to the debut release from 2005 called …Waltzing Alone.  You can also grab the more recent release A Lifetime in Heat, it’s a free downloadable  EP!

Billy Withers’ story is unique in so many ways, but it’s his incredible musical genius that keeps bringing me back to Google every six months or so, hoping for word of a new release. The man is clearly a brilliant songwriter, but he’s also got the voice to bring those songs to life like nobody else could ever do.

His last album release was Watching You Watching Me and it came out the same year that Michael J Fox went back to the future for the first time. It’s as shiny as any eighties production and to be perfectly honest, a poor representation of what Bill was and is capable of.  Not to say that it doesn’t have it’s place because it sure does and it’s got the time stamp to prove it, a time stamp that isn’t present on much of his previous work.  As a record it’s certainly fit to close a chapter of  Bill’s musical career, but it’s not fit to close the book.  Maybe that’s how I know we’ll be hearing from him again.

All that said, the question “where’s Bill Withers?” is a common one, in fact I’ll bet it’s asked several times everyday somewhere in the world. The good news is that the question has been answered in 2009. Not in the form of a new release, but as a documentary called Still Bill that takes a look not just at Bill Withers the musician, but Bill the man.

Bring Bill Withers into your neighborhood or community by hosting a screening.

Go HERE for more reading and an interview with the filmmakers.

Quote of the movie (from Bill):

“It’s alright to head out for wonderful, but on your way to wonderful you’re going to have to pass through alright and when you get to alright take a good look around and get used to it ‘cos that may be as far as you’re going to go”

The Frames are an amazing band, powerful enough to blow the roof off an arena (unless it’s a retractable roof – those things are engineered to be extra durable) and in the same song able to lull a baby into a gentle slumber.  Formed in the early nineties they continued to deliver incredible variety in their music as they evolved from one release to the next.

It was only a matter of time before they started nipping at the heels of U2 for the title of Best Band in Ireland, and that’s where they were just a matter of a few short years ago.  Then things changed.  A film opportunity crossed the lap of Glen Hansard (lead singer of the band) via former Frames bass player John Carney.  John had actually left the band early in their career to pursue a path in film making and was in the process of assembling the pieces to make the film we now know as ‘Once’.

Glen was asked to write some songs for the lead character, a Dublin street busker who falls into a relationship with a Czech immigrant girl.  As it turned out he ended up starring in the film too along with the talented Marketa Irglova.  It seemed like fate since the two were already working together on a project as The Swell Season, actor Cillian Murphy(28 Days Later) had pulled out of the lead part and Glen was already a proven screen great (he played the guitarist in the Commitments back in the ’80′s!). Of course an Oscar, a Grammy and world touring success ensued and rest is history.

Needles to say The Frames are shelved for the time being (although the bulk of the band can still be heard backing up The Swell Season).  It’s no cause for too much grief, because there’s new music coming in the form of a second release from The Swell Season along with an extensive tour.

Visit The Swell Season site for a preview of the new album ‘Strict Joy’ due out in the US on Anti on October 27th.

Hansard and Irglova live at NPR’s Tiny Desk, August 10th, 2009.

Let’s get the blog off on the right foot here!