MY THOUGHTS ON IMOGEN HEAP'S LATEST PROJECT:















First let me say that I was a huge fan of Imogen Heap during her "Speak For Yourself" era. By that I mean I loved the music on that album and seeing her live many times as she toured that album starting in small clubs eventually moving up to decent sized soft seat venues was a pleasure to experience along with her. The album was innovative, fresh and original and I still enjoying listening to it to this day.

During the recording process for the follow up album 'Ellipse' Imogen did regular VBlogs (video blogs) as the recording progressed letting fans listen to snippets and even asking their advice on different versions of the rough mixes. I did enjoy the video blogs, mostly because I like Imogen as a person and find her quirky personality endearing and I truly wish her great success. That being said I was underwhelmed when I bought "Ellipse", gone was the energy, freshness and originality that made 'Speak For Yourself' so much of a joy to listen to, a blandness seemed to have crept into her music. Had I heard too much of the album as it was created by watching these video blogs and left with no surprises to enjoy upon removing the shrink wrap? I did enjoy a few tracks on the album, those being 'First Train Home', Wait It Out', 'Swoon' and 'Bad Body Double'.

When I was in London last November I decided to go see Imogen at The Royal Albert Hall as I hadn't seen her 'Ellipse' tours of North America and she was debuting the score she composed for a short nature film that fans had contributed visuals for. The orchestrations were generally enjoyable and it was nice to see Imogen so thrilled to be playing in such a grand venue and having lots of family and friends there to experience the night with her. After the film and short intermission came the pop part of the evening as Imogen and band played what would be considered a normal Imogen Heap concert. The focus was on material from 'Ellipse' I felt a lot of her live concert magic had disappeared, possibly due to me just not liking some of those songs. It was an enjoyable evening but the energy and fun I was used to when seeing Imogen live wasn't there.

Now I feel Imogen has let social networking go to far in her plans to record her next album by asking for fan input into the songs as they are created as well as fans contributing audio samples and visuals. Her website says "#heapsong1 is the working title of the first song from Imogen's new album. The album will be completed in roughly 3 years, with a new song released every 3 months as soon as it is completed. Imogen's fourth solo album begins here, with you on March 14th, 2011. You are the spark of inspiration." Is Imogen saying that she no longer has any creative song ideas left and needs the fans help to spark her along? I can't imagine that this is the situation, I don't want to believe that this is the case for an artist who has been such an innovator in the past.

I've watched a couple of her daily live video chats where she goes over the lyrics and music she's done the day before as the song 'Heapsong1' comes together. Fans can write their ideas, lyrics and thoughts live on screen as she talks and she appears to be taking their ideas into her creative process. Personally I think Imogen is treading on dangerous ground with this concept both creatively and professionally. On her site she says "Why am I doing this? Well, there’s so much going on in my life with touring, talks and tech that this was both a necessity coupled with my passion for collaborative, spontaneous and creative projects. I also love the idea of turning the tables in that the seeds of the song begins with you, making a full circle when you experience it as a finished piece." Are some of these fans who's ideas she uses legally now a co-writer and due a portion of the song writing royalties? On her site she says "For those of you who end up in the final 'package' in some shape or form, you'll be credited and paid appropriately (mainly for the middle section 'solo', the images and video content, probably not for samples of rustling leaves or a word... sorry!)" Could a fan argue that a word or a lyric makes them a co-writer and take Imogen to court over their 'contribution'? The legal issues aside I feel it is diluting Imogen's own creative process and am fearful the results may disappoint. I'm all for collaboration but I think this is taking it to an extreme.

Also Imogen plans to release each new song every three months as they are created. Call me old fashioned but what happened to releasing a full album of yet unheard material so fans could be surprised and delighted as they listen to 10 or 12 new songs from an artist they admire? Do fans now need something new from an artist every 3 months to keep them happy? Has today's technology and fast pace made us lose our patience waiting for that next complete album? I realize Imogen has been seen as an internet and social media pioneer, even recently broadcasting a concert from a promoter's living room in South Africa. But is she taking it too far now with the latest chapter in her song writing process involving contributions from outsiders?

I personally don't plan to follow along on Imogen's new song writing adventure as I really feel she has lost perspective on the creative process that I admire. I wish her all the best and I may take a listen to the finished songs as they are released but I would prefer that Imogen work on her new album in private (collaborating with other songwriters if she wants) for a year or two and release a full album, not wait three years for this collaborative effort with fans.
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THOUGHTS ABOUT MY RECENT TRIP TO LONDON:
















I had an amazing eight days in London England, the highlight being a cool one off concert by Howard Jones at the Indig02 where he played his first two albums 'Human's Lib' and 'Dream Into Action' in their entirety (see my review below). I also managed to see Imogen Heap debut her score to a nature film and concert at The Royal Albert Hall (amazing venue) as well as seeing O.M.D. at the Hammersmith Apollo which was fun (met Paul Humphreys at the after show party which was cool).

I got to spend time with some of my U.K. family which was great and also looked around the fantastic city of London and also had a few super meals at Wagamama's. Had fun looking for cds, especially at the four locations of Music & Video Exchange that seem to still be thriving while many similar used cds stores have closed up shop. Below is a list of a few highlights and great cd buys I experienced on my trip:

Ultimate CD acquired: The new limited edition box set from Howard Jones of the digitally remastered 'Human's Lib' and 'Dream Into Action' albums with bonus disc of live material. I managed to get the set numbered 001 out of a 1000. I also got it signed in silver pen by Howard Jones, Rupert Hine, Stephen W. Tayler, Robbie Bronnimann, Steg and Jed Hoile (bonus points to you if you know the significance of each of these people in the production and release of this box set).

Best gift cd: The talented DJ and label executive Mark Jones from the cool Wall Of Sound label (who recently signed The Human League) gave me the 8 mix promo cd for the amazing new Penguin Prison single 'Golden Train'. Runner up goes to the Duncan Sheik 'Covers 80's' 5 track cd that he sold on his recent tour of the U.K., given to me by the always classy Glenn Kelly who runs Howard Jones' website.

Best cd deals: I picked up The Cure's 3 cd limited edition set of 'Disintegration' for 1 pound, along with the 2 cd version of Frankmusik's 'Complete Me' release for 50p. Both in excellent condition and found at a Salvation Army Charity store (also got the latest Courteneers cd Falcon (2 disc version) for a pound at the same shop).

Coolest rarity cd found: A two track early promo cd from Frankmusik that contains the songs 'In Step' and 'Done Done'. Also got neat rarities from Howard Jones (VIP cd from the concert), Starsmith, Bright Light Bright Light, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Veto Silver, and Leni Ward.

Only regret: Not going to see Fenech-Soler on the final stop of their U.K. tour at Heaven on Nov. 10th. This was going to be a late night and I had an early flight the next day so I decided against going.
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VARIOUS BITS AND PIECES:

Well, today seemed like a good day to mention some of my favourite new songs (albums), some that I'm really enjoying on the new iPod Touch and while driving in the car, so here goes.



















Donkeyboy - Caught In A Life

This is a great album by Norwegian band who have been opening up for a-ha recently. Favourite tracks are: 'Stereolife', 'Ambitions' and 'Sometimes'. The video for 'Ambitions' is below.



Erik Hassle - Hurtful (Penguin Prison remix) . I really like this remix of a great track, audio below.



Fenech-Soler - Lies, video below.



Monarchy - Gold In The Fire. Not much seems to be known about this U.K. duo, like this demo quite a bit, listen to it on their MySpace page or below.



Nic Chagall - This Moment. Mia Michaels used this track for a Top 10 group routine in the season finale of 'So You Think You Can Dance Canada', watch below. Features the vocals of New Yorker Jonathan Mendelsohn.



Darin's cover of 'Viva La Vida' may not be everyone's cup of tea but I like the take on it and it sounds great cruising along the highway.



Imogen Heap's acoustic cover of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is quite a nice take on the track.



Honorable mentions to Starsmith's remix of 'Bad Romance' by Lady GaGa, 'A Funny Thing' by Penguin Prison, Ola's 'Sky's The Limit' and Simon Curtis with his single 'Delusional'.

NEW IMOGEN HEAP MUSIC VIDEO FOR 'FIRST TRAIN HOME':

Imogen has filmed another video for the song, guess she doesn't like this version too much.

NEW IMOGEN HEAP / MIKA COLLABORATION:

Imogen Heap collaborated with Mika on his new album that has been retitled 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much'. The song is called 'By The Time' and a 30 second clip can be heard below. Sounds good to me, looking forward to both of their new albums.

Also the video for Imogen's new single 'First Train Home' which was directed by Kayne West collaborator Es Devlin will premiere on AOL Music on Monday August 17th.

IMOGEN HEAP 'ELLIPSE' ALBUM COVERS:

Imogen Heap premiered her new single 'First Train Home' on KCRW yesterday (listen here). The song is decent, hope it grows on me the more I listen to it, looking forward to hearing the entire album once it is released on August 25th in Canada. Not sure if following along with Immi's vBlogs during the recording was a good or bad thing as far as hearing the finished product, but I enjoyed her regular updates on the recording process.

Below is a picture of the first version of the album cover that Immi posted on Twitter, followed but what appears to be the finished cover. They made the right choice in switching it, better to see both of her eyes and she has a better facial expression. Don't expect any new vBlogs for a while, follow Imogen on her busy Twitter page.

LOVIN' "OWL CITY" FROM OWATONNA MINNESOTA:















I just recently discovered the sweet pop music of Adam Young and his band "Owl City". I had downloaded the new song "Strawberry Avalanche" and soon discovered the even better track "Hot Air Balloon". Adam's sound is somewhat reminiscent of The Postal Service, but the music and arrangements are much more "Pop music". I could see Owl City opening for Imogen Heap on tour, I think they would go well together and I'm guessing her fans would enjoy his music.

Owl City will be releasing their new album "Ocean Eyes" (order here) on iTunes on July 14th and in stores on July 28th. The band has a large North American tour (dates on their MySpace site) in September/October, very tempted to make a trip to see them live.
UPDATE: I just found out that Owl City is touring with Kate Havnevik and Unicorn Kid, should be worth seeing.

You can listen to "Hot Air Balloon" in the YouTube video below.

THE BAND "MAKING APRIL" COVERS IMOGEN HEAP:





















I had never heard of the band "Making April" until today. I checked out their new album "The Egg Hunt" and found it to be somewhat predictable piano based pop rock, not bad actually if you are in the mood for that sort of thing. It seems they formed two years ago and were featured on MTV Laguna Beach and became one of the Top 10 Unsigned Artists on MySpace (their song "Roses and Butterflies" is edging up to 2 million listens on their MySpace page). I went to their MySpace site and found they do an interesting acoustic cover version of Imogen Heap's hit "Hide & Seek" that you can download from iTunes and Amazon.
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IMOGEN HEAP'S NEW ALBUM TO BE TITLED "ELLIPSE":





Imogen Heap is currently on a mini promo tour of the U.S. having listening sessions with media and record company types to start the promotion wheels turning for her next album due out in August, it will be called "Ellipse". Check her day to day musings on her Twitter site. An article about the album is available here.

IMOGEN HEAP SINGS ON IAMX SONG "MY SECRET FRIEND":

Imogen Heap mentioned singing on a new track called "My Secret Friend" in one of her vblogs (and Twittered about). It was with Chris Corner (Sneaker Pimps) and his IAMX project. The song is on his new cd titled "Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction" (pre-order here, out May 19th, 2009). From a write up about the song: "It's pop-drenched tones wash through the ears creating a moody but infectious mood. It is part Depeche Mode and part Savage Garden." The first single from the new IAMX cd is titled "Think Of England" and is available for free download here.


"My Secret Friend" is up for one week here, enjoy (should help tide Immi's fans over until the release of her new cd).
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VARIOUS BITS AND PIECES:















Nice to see that "Black Room's" new album "Pop Noir" has been released on iTunes in North America with a physical release and some promotion happening in Japan (order physical cd from Japan here or here). As I mentioned before the band is playing in L.A. at The Viper Room on April 26th after a couple of shows in Japan, the gig appears to be part of the Musexpo 2009 event. (If anyone can point me in the direction of MP3's of any of the following Lorraine songs please email me: K-19, Ghosts, Confetti, and Tell Me Where You Wanna Go.)

I haven't commented yet on this season of American Idol (Season 8), for my money the final two should be Kris Allen and Matt Giraud. They have been consistent throughout the competition so far and I enjoy their performances the most. Danny Gokey is also pretty good but I'm not a fan of over the top screecher Adam Lambert.

Nice to see that Imogen Heap is finally getting to the stages of marketing and releasing her new solo cd, looking forward to this one a lot. She is looking for fans to help her write her new record company bio and other things, check out here latest 2 vblogs here and here for details. Really looking forward to her revamping her website also which is in dire need of an overhaul.

Really enjoying the new Pet Shop Boys album "Yes", the best material they've released in a long time. Also have to say "Love etc." was the best choice for first single, I love playing it in my new car cruising along the highway.

Little Spirit: Christmas in New York airs Wednesday:





The animated Christmas special "Little Spirit: Christmas In New York" with music by Duncan Sheik and possibly an Imogen Heap track (her song could be called "It's Alright") airs this Wednesday on N.B.C. in the U.S. at 8pm.
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IMOGEN HEAP WORKS ON DUNCAN SHEIK ANIMATED FILM PROJECT:

















Imogen Heap has a new vBlog (#30) which is chalk full of information. Big news is that she has written a song with Mika (who has also recently got into the video blogging act) that may appear on his next album. She also flew to LA to sing at 'The O.C.' creator Josh Schwartz's wedding to Jill Stonerock in Santa Barbara, CA. She has written a song for an upcoming animated movie that is scheduled to air on NBC this holiday season (she plays a clip, the song could be called "It's Alright"). The animated movie "Macy's Presents Little Spirit: Christmas in New York," starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu, and Freddy Rodriguez centers on a boy who loses his dog right before Christmas, and features original songs and music by Duncan Sheik. It sounds like Duncan approached her to work on the project, will be interesting to see if a soundtrack to the TV movie gets released.

Some reissue cds coming out in the U.K. in the coming weeks that I'm looking forward to picking up at some point are:

Red Box - The Circle And The Square (order here) (And Red Box (Simon Toulson-Clarke) have a new record ready to release)











Thompson Twins - A Product of.../Set (order here)

EMMY ROSSUM - SLOW ME DOWN





















Just heard a great song by singer Emmy Rossum called 'Slow Me Down' from her album 'Inside Out' that is available on iTunes. It should appeal to fans of Imogen Heap or Enya, sort of a cross between the two of them. MP3 available here for one week. Rossum recorded her album with Canadian producer Stuart Brawley who has worked with Darren Hayes among many others, check out his MySpace for more info on his work. This song has been around for a while I guess, but I heard it for the first time tonight and instantly liked it, I will have to check out the entire album and see what it sounds like.
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NEW DIDO TRACK & ALBUM NEWS & IMOGEN HEAP DELAYS ALBUM:




















Dido is releasing her new album "Safe Trip Home" on November 3rd (the 4th in North America), and you can download a new ballad titled 'Look No Further" from the album by clicking here (until September 7th). I really liked Dido's first cd "No Angel", I hope she can recapture that success with the new album. A single, "Don't Believe in Love" will also be released ahead of the album. Some info about the new album: Recorded in Los Angeles and London, Safe Trip Home is co-produced by: Jon Brion (Fiona Apple, Kayne West, Rufus Wainwright, The Eels) Ark, the new production company of Rollo Armstrong (Faithless) and Dido. The record also features a song co-written with Brian Eno.

Imogen Heap has decided to not rush finishing up the recording of her new cd and has revealed in her latest vblog from the English countryside and her home that she now hopes to deliver the final product to be mastered on December 8th the day before her birthday (the same thing she did for "Speak For Yourself"). She says she may not even stick to that date, so I'm guessing that means we won't see the album being released until early 2009 now.

You can see Pete Byrne from Naked Eyes perform an acoustic version of their hit "Promises Promises" on a Salt Lake City TV station morning show here (you would think the host could get his name right).

And get well wishes to Annie Lennox who is back at home in the U.K. recuperating from spinal surgery after she was injured last week in Mexico while there for the AIDS conference. The 'best of' album scheduled for Sept. 16th has been pushed back to early next year to allow her to recover and promote the release.
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NEW IMOGEN HEAP - "SONGS FOR TIBET" CD AVAILABLE ON iTUNES:














The new 2 cd set "Songs For Tibet - The Art Of Peace" is now available for download on iTunes. I've just bought the Imogen Heap reworking of her song "Hide And Seek" titled "Hide & Seek 2" and it is a nice new version of the song. She talks about it in her most recent vblog. The album also contains a new Jonatha Brooke track from her forthcoming album "The Works" titled "Madonna On The Curb", this version is called the 'Peace Mix', not sure how it differs from the album version. The cd contains a variety of songs from some big names in the music industry, see the track listing below (I hope to buy the actual physical cd set once it is released). Congratulations to legendary producer Rupert Hine for putting this all together for such a good cause, check the foundation's website for more details.

Disc: 1
1. Hide & Seek 2 (Imogen Heap)
2. Send Your Love - Art of Peace Remix (Sting)
3. Versions of Violence - Recorded in dressing room in Cologne, Germany (Alanis Morissette)
4. Belief (John Mayer)
5. Better (Regina Spektor)
6. We Are All Made of Stars - 2008 (Moby)
7. Making Noise (Damien Rice & The Cheshire Project)
8. More Than This - Campfire Take (Vanessa Carlton)
9. Nothing Fades- Kosen Rufu Version (Duncan Sheik)
10. Where Are You Going - Live in Barcelona (Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds)

Disc: 2
1. Song Of Sand - Great City Version (Suzanne Vega)
2. All The Good In This Life (Garbage)
3. Hope - Live for The Art of Peace (Rush)
4. Madonna On The Curb - Peace Mix (Jonatha Brooke)
5. In These Times - the Concord Mix (Joan Armatrading)
6. All My Mistakes - Featuring Tarira (Teitur )
7. Alive In The World (Jackson Browne)
8. Better Way - Live in Six Fours les Plage (Ben Harper)
9. The Heart Of The Matter Underlying Mix (Rupert Hine)
10. To Heal - and Restore Broken Bodies (Underworld)
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VARIOUS BITS AND PIECES:

Darren Hayes is about to release his new live concert DVD 'The Time Machine Tour" next week, and Amazon has it right now with a pre-order price of $10.99 so if you were thinking of purchasing the DVD order now while that price is still valid. It sounds like it was an amazing concert so I look forward to checking it out (since he didn't bring this show to North America). He is selling an expensive limited edition version of the DVD at his website if you feel like spending a lot more of your hard earned cash. I reviewed his Toronto gig back in June of 2007 here.



Fave Jonatha Brooke is set to release her new cd "The Works" on August 26th, 2008 and you can pre-order it at her website now. This is Jonatha's new album using Woody Guthrie's unpublished lyrics from his archives.
Jonatha also has some new concert dates coming up this October, November & December, some are a double bill with Glen Phillips formerly of Toad The Wet Sprocket fame who does a duet with her on the new album.

Jonatha has also been working on writing new songs with Nolwenn Leroy, the French winner of "Star Academie" with Rupert Hine producing (who's Tamboo website seems to be no longer), looking forward to hearing the results of those collaborations.












Track listing for "The Works":
1. My Sweet and Bitter Bowl
2. You'd Oughta Be Satisfied Now
3. All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me (with Keb Mo')
4. My Flowers Grow Green
5. Madonna On The Curb
6. There's More True Lovers Than One (with Eric Bazilian)
7. Sweetest Angel (with Glen Phillips)
8. My Battle
9. Little Bird (lyric by Jonatha Brooke)
10. Taste of Danger (lyric by Jonatha Brooke)
11. New Star (with Derek Trucks)
12. King of My Heart

Imogen Heap has a new video blog up on You Tube (#26), she mentions the song titles she's already planning to put on her follow up to "Speak For Yourself". She also plays a snippet of the song "First Train Home" and talks about changing it because as many people pointed out to her the chorus was very like the Donna Lewis song "I Love You Always Forever". If her webmaster could only get around to changing the audio player from saying "forthcoming album" when it plays tracks from SFY, the album has been out for over three years now.

One half of Tears For Fears, Curt Smith has recently released his latest solo offering titled "Halfway Pleased", ordering information at his website.

Rumour is that Green Gartside is currently working on a follow up to his Scritti Politti cd "White Bread Black Beer", no word if this involves former bandmates David Gamson and Fred Maher

Canadian 80's new wave rocker's Blue Peter are scheduled to play at The Blue Olive in Saint John New Brunswick at the "Pop Goes The City" festival on August 23 or 24, check their website for confirmation of the dates.

The new Antigone single "More Man Than Man" (produced by Justin Shave who produced Darren Hayes last cd) is a decent pop/dance song, not sure if it is worthy of all the blog hype it has been getting but enjoyable none the less.

Nick over at #1 Hits From Another Planet has a post with an interesting electro-pop song called "By The Way" by a Swedish band called "Kitty & The K" definitely worth downloading.
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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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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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NEW VIDEO BLOG FROM IMMI:

















El Mocambo, Toronto (Photo copyright KulPop)

Imogen Heap has her first video blog for 2008 (number 18 and her first in HD) out which you can view here. She mentions one of the song titles from the next album will be called "Bad Body Double", and talks about her Christmas and New Year and her upcoming two weeks of jury service and we hear about (and somewhat witness) her budding pyromania.