NEW KAJAGOOGOO ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD:


















Head over to the new KajaGooGoo band website to get a free download of their new album 'Gone To The Moon'. (from their website: Gone To The Moon, the album written and recorded by Nick, Steve and Stu before Limahl and Jez rejoined the group is now released in its entirety as a free download. The guys wish to do this as a "thank you" for all your support over the past 25 years.)

ADELE - CONCERT REVIEW, THE RED ROOM, VANCOUVER, B.C. - MAY 25TH, 2008:





















Photo Copyright KulPop

Adele has just started her mini tour of North America to promote her album '19' that has already been a success in the U.K. (it has been available in Canada since early February, will be released in the U.S. on CD June 10th). The roughly 400 capacity Red Room appeared sold-out and Adele came on around 9:30 with no opening band. First two songs were just her and her guitar and right away you know she is the real deal, amazing vocalist with a great sense of humour. Adele recently turned 20 and commented that she was happy she could drink legally in Canada and that she planned to get drunk after the gig!

On the third song she was joined by her guitarist Ben Thomas and her keyboard player Steve Holness joined them for the fourth song 'Melt My Heart To Stone (entire setlist below, show was just under an hour in length). The set was also sprinkled with some cover tunes, including her favourite song of all time, 'Fool That I Am' by Etta James. Highlights for me were 'Cold Shoulder', 'Chasing Pavements' and 'Hometown Glory' that was dedicated to Vancouver as she was staying overnight in the city. She joked around quite a bit, showing the audience one of her $8 pair of shoes, and went on about the sexuality of a lead singer of famous British band she fancied, the audience corrected her telling her he was actually married to a woman. She mentioned she will be back in September with her full band, hopefully by then radio over here will have picked up on her great talent and she will have no problem selling out bigger venues (only merchandise for sale was the cd ($10) and vinyl copies of the album, and they sold out of their stock).

Setlist:

Daydreamer - solo guitar
Best For Last - solo guitar
Right As Rain - guitarist Ben joins her
Melt My Heart To Stone - keyboardist Steve also joins them
First Love
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
That's it, I Quit, I'm Movin' On (Sam Cooke cover)
Cold Shoulder
Hometown Glory

Encores:
Crazy For You - solo guitar
Fool That I Am (Etta James cover)- guitarist back on stage
Chasing Pavements - keyboardist back on stage also

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IMOGEN HEAP NEW VIDEO BLOG - #24:









The always busy Imogen Heap has a brand new video blog (#24) up on YouTube that is chock full of news and she plays snippets of two tracks she's working on. One song is called 'Tidal' and the other is called 'Wait It Out' that may appear in a new Zach Braff film called 'Open Hearts'. Other news - she hung out with Hawksley Workman, spoke with Mika at the The Ivor Novello Awards, and bought a new instrument in Switzerland called a 'Hang' that she really likes, and has a personal trainer coming by twice a week to keep herself in shape.

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SOME NEW MP3'S FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT:

Below are some cool songs that are up for download, a couple I've put up, others I have found on the net, enjoy them while you can.










Jack McManus - 'Either Side Of Midnight' (MP3) - Fizzy Pop listed his single 'Bang On The Piano' in his current favourites, checked out the whole album and really got into this title track, solid album worth checking out.

Kleerup - 'On My Own Again' (MP3) - great track from Swedish electro wizard from his new self titled cd (sounds like Minor Detail meets White Town with a little New Musik thrown in for good measure).

Cyndi Lauper - 'Echo' - #1 Hits From Another Planet has this strong track from Cyndi's new album 'Bring Ya To The Brink' up on his site, check it out.

Royworld - 'Dust' - grab this must have single at Wongie's Music World site.

Bethany Joy Galeotti (with ENation) - 'Feel This' (MP3) - Actress/singer who portrays Haley James Scott on 'One Tree Hill' - they used this song in the season finale of the series earlier this week. Performs it the her husband's band ENation which is fronted by actor Jonathan Jackson.

Jesse McCartney - 'Bleeding Love' (MP3) - high quality download of his version of the Leona Lewis hit he co-wrote with Ryan Tedder from One Republic, I believe it is a bonus track on some versions of his new cd 'Departure'.
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RANT - TIAGO IORC, COLDPLAY, ABC NEWS:

I realize my blog probably doesn't have that many people reading it but it still annoys me to see some other bloggers using the same information I post a few days after I do. Cool bloggers would say, hey go over and check KulPop's blog for his posting on the Thompson Twins etc., the loser ones just take the information and post it as if they discovered the information themselves, and that just pisses me off. I'll take the high road and not mention any names or post in their comments section, they probably know who they are anyway.















I recently heard the new album 'Let Yourself In' from Brazilian singer Tiago Iorc who I had never heard of before. The song 'Nothing But A Song' is a nice mellow pop tune that might appeal to fans of Teddy Geiger, (MP3 up for one week). Speaking of Geiger, he continues to work on his new album according to his website.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the new Coldplay single 'Violet Hill' but hearing the tracks 'Viva la Vida' and 'Lost' renew my faith in the band and will ensure that I pick up the cd when it is released in June.

Over at Martin Fry's ABC website they have new concert dates for the Steel City Tour. This is a tour with the bands Heaven 17, ABC and The Human League. All dates are in the U.K. in December, should be a fun time.

1 Dec 2008, Newcastle Academy
3 Dec 2008, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
4 Dec 2008, Liverpool Echo Arena
5 Dec 2008, Brighton Centre
6 Dec 2008, Bournemouth Arena
8 Dec 2008, London Hammersmith Apollo
10 Dec 2008, Manchester Apollo
11 Dec 2008, Wolverhampton Civic
13 Dec 2008, Sheffield Hallam FM Arena
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ELBOW AND AIR TRAFFIC - ST. ANDREWS WESLEY CHURCH VANCOUVER REVIEW:











I had the great pleasure of seeing ''Elbow' and 'Air Traffic' live in concert at a beautiful old church in downtown Vancouver last night. Things got started a bit late but Air Traffic didn't disappoint and played a good set of tracks mostly from their debut cd 'Fractured Life'. These young guys can play (especially bass player Jim Maddock) and the crowd seemed to get into them considering most of them had probably never heard of them before. The band certainly have the talent and energy to rival some of their contemporaries like 'The Arctic Monkeys' and 'Hard-Fi'. Highlights included 'Come On', 'Never Even Told Me Her Name', 'No More Running Away' and 'Shooting Star' that closed their set (and was written for/about someone who lives in Vancouver who was in attendance according to lead singer Chris Wall). I had downloaded their album but when I saw it for sale for $10 I decided to pick it up and got it signed by everyone but the drummer from the band who were out in the lobby after their set.

I have a couple of Elbow cds but have never been a massive fan for some reason (I picked up their latest cd 'The Seldom Seen Kid' also for $10, all bands should sell their cds for this reasonable price). The band were pretty amazing and I definitely see why they have a lot of fans and wonder why they haven't become huge (could be because they don't have the typical rock star look). Lead singer Guy Garvey had some great stories from his days as an alter boy and he seemed truly honoured to have the band playing in this church. Highlights would have to be the new track 'Mirrorball', and their performance of "Newborn' ranks up there as one of the best concert performances I have ever seen. If you aren't familiar with the band do check out the two above mentioned songs. It was a great concert and the only unfortunate thing was that they didn't come out for an encore (which was probably due to local noise bylaw restrictions as the church is in a residential area).

Imogen Heap has a new video blog (#23) where she plays some of a new song titled 'A-ha' which sounds promising. She doesn't mention anything about her walk with Jeff Goldblum, good for her to keep her personal life personal.

SETLIST:

Air Traffic 8:05 - 8:35 pm

Never Even Told Me Her Name
Time Goes By
Come On
I Can't Understand
Charlotte
Take Your Hands Off Me
No More Running Away
Shooting Star

Elbow 9:15 - 10:40 pm

Starlings
The Bones Of You
Leaders Of The Free World
Great Expectations
Mirrorball
Grounds For Divorce
The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver
The Stops
Switching Off
Newborn
One Day Like This
Station Approach
Scattered Black & Whites

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VARIOUS BITS AND PIECES:





















Ordered my VIP ticket for Howard Jones' 25th Anniversary Concert in London England so I'm traveling there for a holiday in September. Will be interesting to see what special guests he lines up for the show, would be great to see percussionist extraordinaire Carol Steele back on stage with him, and Duncan Sheik there to sing their song 'Someone You Need'.

While I'm at it, maybe some of these artists could arrange to have gigs in London around the same time: Nik Kershaw, ABC, Nick Heyward, The Feeling, Keane, Imogen Heap, Captain, Scritti Politti, Lazenby, Lorraine, Lilac Time, The Human League, The Blue Nile, and Martin Ansell.

Boy George is touring and coming to Vancouver in July, playing the old Culture Club hits etc. Tickets are a bit expensive for me, but he is playing the great Commodore Ballroom, I'm sure it will be a cool show. Bought my ticket for Adele, it will probably be a sold out show. Also going to see Elbow and Air Traffic play at an old church this week.

Enjoying the new ABC cd Traffic, a bit disappointed with the lack of liner notes and less than stellar artwork, but as they say I guess it's about the music. I think my favourite track is 'Way Back When' (MP3) that reminds me a bit of Adam Ant (the 'Wonderful' era).

The new Juvelen cd '1' is musically quite interesting, I just can't say I'm a fan of the whiny/breathy vocal he tends to use. One exception is the song 'Everytime' (MP3) that reminds me a bit of the one man band 'White Town'.

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