Bradley's Buzz: bubbaTUNESday

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

bubbaTUNESday

Well 2007 was a big year for my crazy Bubbatunes compilations - we began with Dolly Parton's Here You Come Again re-issue in January (bub68) and ended with a Swivek single of "Apocalyptic" (bub122) so as you can see by the numbers there was quite a few Bubbatunes I was pumping out and creating including the first series of full on various artists compilations - that's right I made Brad's Trip Back To The 80's - a 10 CD collection of 80's songs for Alf's neice to enjoy as much as I do - Christmas is all about giving... and soon, very soon we will be talking about all those Bubbatunes as I also have a few new releases pending...

but today, I only have time to talk about the other music I've been listening to - the music you too should run out and buy...

Thanx to the Logo channel, I find all my newest and coolest bands - even if a bit later than the other music fans out there. I disovered one of my favs Gossip from there and Cazwell, a dirty dirty boy who I love... and lately I disovered two more extremely great bands which send me in a tizz...

First the best of the best - The Cliks - this band frickin' rocks with everything - led by the strong voiced and strong lyricist Lucas Silveria - a transgender if you will - who can belt out anything including a super cool rocking version of Justin No Balls Timberlake's "Cry Me A River". "Oh Yeah" and "Complicated" are two more gems which have videos out there to see, but you really need to buy the album. Think Concrete Blonde, Garbage and Joan Jett getting together to create an album and you get the gist - oh yeah it's that frickin' good and the voice - god that voice is superb. Get their debut Snakehouse just as soon as you can!

Check out the video for 'Oh Yeah' - and check out the Cliks official website

and there's a performance of "Cry Me A River" here:

Our second Logo recommendation comes in the form of Rilo Kiley - one of those bands that seems to have fallen below my radar though they've been together since '98 and the lead singer even released a solo album. What caught my attention however was the video for "Silver Lining" which at first made me think they were trying to be a harder version of Tori Amos, but the more I got into the song I realized how cool it was, and the rest of the album Under The Black Light is just as entertaining. Not as brutal as the Cliks, and not as eccentric as Tori - they're more of an alternative set of the 80's combining some country-ish hooks with piano laden pop and rock. A bit like Miss Derringer minus the constant old west nods. It's pretty entertaining overall with "The Angels Hung Around" being a fun little highlight but "Silver Lining" is by far the best track - and here's the video:

Our third selection for the day is a little girl from Ireland known as Amy McDonald. This time it wasn't Logo who introduced me and the Leivas to the music, but rather than scampy fun talk show host Graham Norton who had Amy on his show. She sang the utterly engaging "This Is The Life" - fast paced, acoustic laden - basically a full on drinking and/or driving song. It's completely brilliant and fun. The Leivas can't stop playing it. The rest of the album - also titled This Is The Life continues with the acoustic driven poppiness and Amy's interesting voice. The other great standout is the opener, "Mr. Rock & Roll" and though there's a few dry spots - "Youth Of Today" - the rest of the album is still pretty good too and it hit #1 in the UK (if you're into that kind of knowledge) .. but nothing tops the brilliant title cut.

You can listen to "This Is The Life" while staring at an image of Amy here: