Norma Jean

Mephis Will be Laid To Waste

A bracelet made of gold and scarlet
thread around her wrist.

And everything was wrong so we
sang sentimental songs.

Oh how seldom we belong but
how elegant our kiss.

And we painted crooked lies but we
danced in perfect time to a love so much refined, we
know not what it is until like a dullen wine we pour
into a grief we know before but it's never quite like this.

Never quite like this.

The End of All Things Will Be Televised

Your day will come
Turn the page, embrace your
Comforting company
The sun beats down on your
Comforting company
Everything is burning because
Tonight the south is on fire!
The south is on fire.
Creation waits in eager expectation.

Anxious.

Patient.
Heaven will pause.

I am excited to write this entry because its time to write about the band that itroduced me to a whole new world of music and culture that I still imbrace and support today. Being a 13 year old in mid Wales, before my family owned a computor of our own and having to get most of my alternative musical knowledge from the weekly Kerrang, it was hard to listen to anything other than Korn or Slipknot. My sister returned from a school exchange to North Carolina with ‘Bless The Martyr and Kiss The Child’ in her Cd Wallet which was Norma Jean’s first major release. She played me a song named ‘The Shotgun Message’ and from that moment forward I was hooked. I finally new there was noise being created in a time signature I couldn’t comprehend and a young adolescent man screaming poetry and questions in a way I had never heard before. Even with line up changes Norma Jean still take the ‘Noisecore’ genre they helped shape to new hights today. Now with five LP’s released on Solid State, Tooth and Nail they definitly hold carry the torch for the group of bands that carry the ‘Chirstian Rock’ label.

www.normajeannoise.com

William Elliot Whitmore

Midnight

And the bluebird can sing but the crow’s got the soul
and I’m a dog among kings with no self-control
and the only thing left’s to try to live
these things on my back no one could forgive

Hell Or High Water 

Smoke um if you got um.

Drink your glasses to the bottom.

And toast me on another year.

Another year of hope.

Another year of holding on.

For you drinkers by day who are bastards by dawn.

And I hope I will see you soon.

And I'll be home come hell or high water.

And I know I will see you soon.

And I’m a dog among kings with no self-control

And the only thing left’s to try to live

These things on my back no one could forgive.

Sometimes I like to think that if Tom Waits and Sea-sick Steve procreated a child and made Screaming Jay-Hawkins the godfather then the result would be none other than William Elliot Whitemore.

The 32 year old from Lee County, Iowa disguised behind the voice of someone much older and unhealthier is one of my favorite singer songwriters around at the moment. My sister introduced me to him when she used to cover one of his accapella songs he opens his ‘Hymns For The Hopeless’ album with. After that I was hooked.


www.williamelliottwhitmore.com

The Felice Brothers

Whiskey In My Whiskey

I put some whiskey into my whiskey

I put some heartbreak into my heart

I put my boots on that ole dance floor

I put three rounds Lord, in my 44

Murder By Mistletoe 

A murder by mistletoe
Drunks in the falling snow
She left him by the night arcade
And turned his heart into a spade
He turned that lovely blue eyed Jane
To a homicide on Campbell Lane
Hearing the sirens croon
In a familiar room
Laying with last year's love
High as the moon above

Three brothers and their friends from New York making raggedy gypsy folk. Great Songs, combining the charming harmonica and sometimes questionable singing style that Dylan created mixed with modern American Folk and country guitar and drums with a honky-tonk piano thrown in for good measure.

The Felice Brothers just take the ‘family band’ thing to a whole new level.

http://www.thefelicebrothers.com

Gallows

Misery

Misery fucking loves me 

and I love her so

She is the cold embrace of no escape 

when I'm left alone

Misery fucking loves me 

and I love her too

She is the dying breath of nothing left 

that I've become accustomed to

London is The Reason

We are the rats and we run this town
We are the black plague bearing down
We have no fear, and we have no pity
We hate you, we hate this city

Every mistake you ever made
the bodies you thought would never need graves
They pave the gutters of London town
until the streets become a feeding ground

Last time I was in North Carolina visiting some old friends, all of who are avid Hardcore and Metal fans, I was asked my opinion on who was spear heading the UK Hardcore scene at present. Without hesitation I answered Gallows, simply because both albums Gallows have released since their formation in 2005 have spewed all the energy, aggression and attitude that a decent Hardcore record requires. 

Frank Carter, the short feisty red-head from Watford, has found a way to be elegantly brutal with his lyrics about love, pain and going out. 

Villagers

Twenty-seven Strangers

The bus was late

And forced us all to congregate

Twenty-seven strangers

Made to stand and wait

The Pact (I'll Be Your Fever)

But you knew this is all I need

 no more or no less

Your highness I bow to thee 

and to thee this I confess

I was lost in a forest 

but now I'm a believer

So you'd be my master 

and I'll be your fever

I personally really do not like The Barclycard Mercury Music Prize. It gets under my skin. I think the fact a small group of 'Industry professionals' get to decide what gets titled as 'ALBUM OF THE YEAR' is a bit unfair. 

Think about how many fantastic albums were released this year.

The Xx's debut album in my opinion is not one. 

'Bad awkward Disco music' is the best description of this years winner I have come across in conversation so far. 

However, I'll eat part of my hat as the Barclycard Mercury Music Prize did introduce me to Villagers who I have not stopped listening to since. A fantastic debut album filled with lyrical poetry and simply beautiful structure and melody combinations. 

So yeah, don't let the nomination for The Barclycard Mercury Music Prize put you off, this album is brilliant and these two songs are just a taster for this young talented song writers brilliance. 

Plus its sponsored by a bank. What kind of music prize is sponsored by a bank?

Banks suck.

http://www.myspace.com/villagers