Every week, mystery shopper, former A&R savant and grizzly bear wrestler Tragic Josh is let out of his basement cell for a day to scour the Internets for the best music out there. We then distill this extract into a fine paste which we spread over the MusicZeitgeist.com canvas so that you can reap the benefits.

Here is the list for the week of January 22nd, 2010, which in no way makes this dated, now or ever. Enjoy the music, support musicians every way you can. Compensation, purchases, attending live shows, all help.

1. Alcoholic Faith Mission – Nut In Your Eye

Not sure about the vocals, but the rest is gorgeous




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2. Fyfe Dangerfield – She Needs Me (monarchy remix)

Listen to Fyfe Dangerfield at elbo.ws




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3. Hungry Villagers – Tree Full of Ghosts

Listen to Hungry Villagers at Hype Machine




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4. The Rocket Boys – Like Ice in Water

A little flimsy, but there's something about it that I keep coming back to. And I just like the video coz it's cool!




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5. The Soft Pack – Answer to Yourself

Nothing ground-breaking, but just crisp and clean and pure.

Listen to The Soft Pack at The Fader




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6. White Hinterland – Icarus

Listen to White Hinterland at Gorilla vs. Bear




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7. Tanlines – Real Life

Listen to Tanlines at Hype Machine




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8. The Shivers – Beauty




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9. Glasser – Apply (Tanlines Remix)

Listen to Glasser (Tanlines Remix) at muzic.com




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10. Silver Pines – Time Father

Listen to Silver Pines at Hype Machine




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11. The Sweet Serenades – Mona Lee

Listen to The Sweet Serenades at You Ain’t No Picasso




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12. Grasscut – Muppet (Nathan Fake remix)

Gritty as shit. Ethereal too.

Listen to Grasscut (Nathan Fake remix) at Lizzyville


Huzzah!

Tags: Alcoholic Faith Mission, best new music, best songs, Fyfe Dangerfield, Glasser, Grasscut, Hungry Villagers, indie music, LA music blog, music blogs, Silver Pines, Tanlines, The Rocket Boys, The Shivers, The Soft Pack, The Sweet Serenades, Top Ten, top twelve, White Hinterland

London singer-songwriter Conil has garnered a rosary of glowing reviews for his raw voice and standout songs he claims were inspired by wandering through the cobble-stoned city streets at night.  Using an array of unusual ethnic instruments on his latest release Strange Part Of The Country, the album evokes an atmospheric road trip through the city’s underbelly.  After a half bottle of Absinthe.  And tossing a bloody hatchet into the Thames.  But in a nice way.

The album was mixed by multi Grammy winner Tchad Blake – the man behind a number of Tom Waits and Pearl Jam records – and double bass came from legendary Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Tim Buckley).

Realizing that heavyweights of this caliber are difficult to get hold of unless you’re from a established record label, Conil emailed them some music under the pseudonym Phil Coltrane – which later became a lyric in ‘Dog Meat Stew’: “changed my name to John Coltrane ‘cos no one took my phone calls”. The plan worked. The quality of the songs impressed them and recording began.

Recorded mainly at night in his isolated home-studio in South London, Conil recalls “Sometimes I would not leave the house for days, experimenting with instruments like the dilruba and sarangi.”

Without a producer overseeing what he was doing, Conil found his sound as he went along. After 12 months of production, Conil took the tunes to Tchad Blake’s country studio where he spent his days working on Tchad’s farm – the Los Angeles native even taught him how to lasso horses. At night they would work in the studio drinking whiskey and raiding the wine cellar.

The record turned out raw and original but at its heart were quality songs and a unique voice.

With 4 star reviews by Q Magazine and support from BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM and NME Radio in the UK, single ‘Years Between’ was released in the US and reached Number 3 in the Mediaguide Alternative Radio Chart. Blues Matters magazine featured Conil as the main front cover story, he supported US singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur on tour and was invited to perform at SXSW and NXNE.

Ever the maverick, at SXSW, Conil put up his trademark ‘One Way’ signs all over Austin – altering the familiar street signs to read ‘Strange Part Of The Country’ and points them to the gig venue.

He will be embarking on a street session tour playing gigs at planned spots coordinated via his website www.conilmusic.com

Each location will be marked by a Banksy-style plaque that reads ‘Strange Part Of The Country’. Previous street sessions have included gigs inside a meat market, next to a nuclear power station and in the middle of a dog track.

Beyond the release of the Strange Part Of The Country full-length album, Conil will be releasing three singles in the US and UK in 2010.

Find out more at:

Main: www.conilmusic.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/conilmusic
YouTube: www.youtube.com/conilmusic
iTunes: www.itunes.com/conil

Listen to “Strange Part Of The Country” by Conil at MusicZeitgeist.com’s Free Streaming Indie Music Jukebox right now!




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Think you got what it takes to be MZ’s Artist of the Month?

Submit your act to MusicZeitgeist.com through our SonicBids Gig Listing

Tags: Conil, indie artist, London, London music, NXNE, Pearl Jam, Strange Part of the Country, SXSW, Tchad Blake, Tim Buckley, Tom Waits, UK

1. Evan Voytas – Give it Back

Simple but fun. Good times. Laid back.




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2. Glass Ghost – Like a Diamond

Interesting. Beautiful arrangement. I don't really want to be drawn to it, but it's irresistible.




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3. Ex Lovers – Just a Silhouette

Lovely guitar intro, but a little bit cheesy really.




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4. Their Planes Will Block Out the Light – Teflon Kids

Sounds like a young Morton Harkett. No bad thing at all. And they take themselves a bit seriously - but not too much thankfully.




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5. Pacovolume – Cookiemachine

Great energy, the song goes where it wants to, and I love the simple keyboards. Interesting chap.




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6. Uninhabitable Mansions – Do You Have a Strategy?

Not quite sure if I love or HATE the vocals, but it's a fun little song that keeps things chugging along very nicely.




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7. Phantogram – When I’m Small

Great groove, and then it goes and does something really interesting. fantastic build. Lovely.




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8. Nicole Reynolds – When We Meet Again

Great voice. Lovely little song. Really grows, and very simply put together. classy.




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9. Jon and Roy – Another Noon

Yet again a classy number. Great voice and a great song. simple as that. Not trying to do anything clever, just doing it well.

Listen to Jon and Roy at MySpace




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10. Jamie T – The Man’s Machine


This song just keeps surprising me. I had no idea what to expect, and I'm still not sure what I got.




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11. Drummer – Lottery Dust

A band just trying to be the best it can.




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12. Tellaro – Vacuum

Beautiful intro and then it gets weird. Good weird. But definitely weird.

Listen to Tellaro’s Vacuum via Soundcloud.




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Tags: drummer, Evan Voytas, Ex Lovers, Glass Ghost, Jamie T, Jon and Roy, Nicole Reynolds, Pacovolume, Phantogram, Tellaro, Their Planes Will Block Out the Light, Uninhabitable Mansions