Mixtape | 1Q18

30 March 2018Leave a comment

Well, as March comes to an end, so does the first quarter of 2018, also known as Q1, so I thought I’d do a bit of a recap of what’s come out so far in the music world.

Obviously I don’t know all the songs that were released in the past 3 months sooooo…if you feel very strongly about a tune that didn’t make the cut but really should’ve, drop me a line on the comments below. Love to listen to new stuff!!

I guess this is also a bit of an alternative to New Music Friday – does that playlist sound like it’s all the same to you as well?! Dance/pop, female vocals, maybe a rapper (that trend seems to be fading out…), y’a know! I’m more of a Release Radar kinda gal. For example, today they let me know Garbage has a new song out!

Ok, ok, to be fair, the latest Pearl Jam made it to New Music, but anyway.

Obviously Lissie tops the list because she’s Lissie and it really blows my mind why she doesn’t have a bigger following…on that note, can I just brag that I met her last week, saw her play a couple of gigs and yes, she’s still every bit as amazing as always. That voice!! Bloody hell!!

A post shared by Liv (@mixtapeliv) on Mar 23, 2018 at 5:36pm PDT

I have to say, I almost forgot to include Brian Fallon to this. Really not a big fan of his new album but a couple of tracks were pretty good. Live, however, everything sounds awesome! He’s a really great entertainer, comedian, musician and threw in a bit of Gaslight, a bit of Horrible Crowes, even a U2 cover!

Other bands I’d like to highlight are: the latest London buzz makers, Ferris & Sylvester – these two live are incredible!!!, Gang of Youths who’s an amazing band from Oz currently touring the US before heading back to our shores (The Forum, London 12 May), Nathaniel Rateliff’s new album is pretty solid, Dream Wife’s debut is mandatory listening, Leon Bridges latest…George Glew and Martin Luke Brown are also pretty new in the scene. I heard them both first through work and fuck, again, what a voice they each have! Myles Green’s first ever single, “Catching Fire”, out on TwoSides/Sony, is a very good start to his career – and I’m not saying it just because one of my writers worked on that track! =)

Finally, surf dude Ben Harper has a new bluesy rock album with Charlie Musselwhite and the pair plays London this coming Saturday 7 April. We Are Scientists’ have a new single out ahead of their April release and 4 May London gig!

Not a bad start to the year, eh?!

Mixtape | shiny happy people

31 January 2018Leave a comment

After what felt like 37 weeks, today is finally the last day of the month of January.

So many things happened this month that it feels like it’s already October or so! But we’ll get through it, guys, hang in there! We’ve passed Blue Monday, we’re almost through the end of today which saw the ridiculously rare Super Blue Blood Moon (if you were in a different corner of the world because here in the UK, it was business as usual) and, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been to 4 different countries in just this little period of time (although that’s always a great way to spend time!).

I’ve been waiting for January to be over for so long that I made this playlist days ago when I couldn’t take it anymore!

To be honest, a couple of days ago someone tweeted about how February is usually worse but, c’mon! It’s got 3 days less and LOADS of gigs coming up. It’s already winning…

And it’s in this spirit that I present you with this latest mixtape to help you perk up and look forward to longer and warmer days. Ladies, gents, binaries, I present to you: shiny happy people!

Of course, no upbeat, happy playlist is complete without the ray of sunshine that is Colbie Caillat. That girl’s like if Hawaii were a song!

Among the mix there are also indies, classics and newcomers such as the latest hype in London town, Ferris & Sylvester*. The one word of warning is that it’s very hard to keep still while listening to it so…choose your location/timing wisely or just let yourself go and find your inner carefree self!

Happy February!

*you can catch F&S live in London on 1 Feb at their usual hangout, the Spiritual Bar in Camden, on 15 Feb at the Green Note and on 25 Feb at Battersea’s The Magic Garden.

New Music: Seafret

14 June 201617 June 2016Leave a comment

You know how when going to a gig, especially the great ones, you want to listen to that band again straight after leaving? I wasn’t able to do that with a few I attended as I was on Seafret mode for so long.

I had read about them quite a few times on Postmodern Mixtape and I knew the writer really loved them so I thought I’d give them a listen and subsequently texted [PMM’s blogger] Zaira: “I don’t know if I slit my wrists or if I buy a concert ticket” (as they had a London gig coming up as part of their “Tell Me It’s Real” Tour).

I often complain people don’t write like Bob Dylan anymore and nowadays a lot of the audience doesn’t even seem to care that most chart hits have very stupid lyrics. They might not be Dylan (I mean, who comes even close?!), but their lyrics hit straight in the heart. I mean, they make me want to fall in love! (*changes record to Metallica*)

Obviously, I didn’t slit my wrists and I can’t even remember why I said that! I was probably in a shitty mood and in need of some more upbeat music. So much that I didn’t realise, the fact that their sound is more chilled and lofi, didn’t mean the songs were depressing nor sad.

I did buy a ticket in the end and realised how uplifting their music actually is! Jack’s voice is out of this world stunning and Harry is the perfect bandmate to make up this ridiculously exciting up-and-coming duo.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a crowd so mesmerised by an emerging band like the one for Seafret. Actually, I do, it was Coasts and it was boring because they sound exactly like Two Door Cinema Club while Seafret sounds like no one but themselves. Their music is pure pop, don’t get me wrong. One of my favourites, “Skimming Stones”, is 100% pop formula but they manage to, well, running the risk of sounding like a moronic X Factor judge, “make it their own”.

We hung out after the gig for a chat and they are such nice guys! And actually quite diplomatic while dealing with drunk groupies. I followed PMM and completely fell in love with them too.

Oh! Most importantly, not only they DO NOT have the same set every gig (I know they’ve only got an album, but still…) but they played my favourite song which I like to think was because I tweeted them the night before asking for it when I saw it wasn’t in previous set lists (it wasn’t because of my tweet, but don’t take the illusion away from me! A band that takes fan requests is a band that’ll live in my heart forever!).

A band that doesn't have the same setlist every night and takes fan requests is a band that'll forever hold a place in my heart | @seafretofficial 😍 #seafret #livemusic #acousticguitar #britpop #tour #giglife #gig #show #islington #thegarage #londonlife #london

A post shared by Liv (@mixtapeliv) on May 25, 2016 at 2:28pm PDT

For those of you familiar with Entourage, Jack reminds me SO much of Vincent Chase! I say the character Vin instead of the actor, Adrian Grenier, because of his attitude. Vinnie is the famous heartthrob dude who doesn’t act like a dick. He’s really friendly and polite yet confident, charming and pretty sly.

I actually tweeted that Jack could be Vincent’s younger brother tagging Adrian Grenier and he tweeted me back! The 1999 version of me was ecstatic.

@liviacruz 👋 😂 @SeafretOfficial

— Adrian Grenier (@adriangrenier) May 25, 2016

Seafret’s debut album “Tell Me It’s Real” is out now and you can actually catch them at Glastonbury if you’re heading there on 22 June.

Sweden National Day requires a special playlist

6 June 20167 June 2016Leave a comment

As the title says, it’s Sweden National Day and this blog couldn’t let it go blank…I mean, “I ♥ Sweden” is actually a category here!

I’ve loved Swedish music pretty much for as long as I’ve loved music, even if unknowingly. And it probably started with Ace of Base and Roxette (happiest gig I’ve ever been to back in 2011 at Wembley Arena!). Although it was “Lovefool” and my brother’s First Band on the Moon CD that made me listen to The Cardigans at first, I’ve long transcended that underrated gem of a song and have loved pretty much everything they’ve released since, even going into Nina Persson‘s no-longer-in-existence parallel project, A Camp and, most recently, her solo album, Animal Heart.

Sweden is not only a stunning country with a cool hippie vibe, IKEA and Pippi Longstocking, but it’s always been one of the main exporters of music, whether it be bands, singers or songwriters. I mean, having written numerous hits for some of the biggest popstars in the world, Max Martin is probably one of the most important pop songwriters of all times.

To celebrate Sweden Nationaldag, I put together a selection of tracks of some of the country’s most popular artists ranging from obvious classics such as Abba and my dearest Cardigans to iconic Robyn and the latest up-and-coming gems such as Matilda Gratte (with whom I’ve been in love since I first heard her at Camden’s best hidden treasure, Spiritual Bar). Sadly, she’s only got two songs on Spotify, so I’ve added a video down here too.

Although all the artists are deserving of more than a mention, I’ll keep this brief but give you a heads up on this one great musician I was introduced to on a trip to Stockholm: Tingsek. It was love at first listen and I was lucky enough to get to see him play East London’s Cargo a few years ago when opening for Allen Stone. I can’t exactly describe his music…it’s just stunning! And he recorded probably the best version I’ve ever heard of Depeche Mode‘s “Shake the Disease”.

I’ll stop here so you can carry on to more important matters: the actual songs!

If you feel like I’ve missed someone important or want to suggest some new artists, please do feel free, comments are very welcome!

Seriously one of the most anticipated releases finally announced!

20 May 201620 May 2016Leave a comment

Disclaimer: I’m Latin. I do feel very passionately about things that I truly love and sometimes it comes across as slightly obsessive to my European peers. 😂 Oh well!

The reason I’m sharing this information is that I’m possibly about to go very nuts over the latest album release announced. In my defence, I’ve been waiting for this one in particular for over TWO YEARS.

It was on Wednesday 05 Mar 2014 that I was really excitedly waiting to see dear Nina Persson at the Scala. I was just chilling, minding my own business celebrating my 10th anniversary of the first time I left home to leave abroad when the support act came on stage…that was it. Norma Jean Martine began and it was all, well, uphill! from there.

At the time I really liked her but normal, the way I like a billion artists. But then I checked her out online, again, like I usually do with the artists I like, and I got hooked. I’ve long lost count of how many times I watched her videos on YouTube and EVERY. SINGLE. TIME I ask myself “why on earth isn’t she releasing these songs so I can actually have them on my daily playlists?!”

Well, guess I (and you. You’ll all love it! She’s amazing!) won’t have to wait that much longer…this is part of the email I got today:

I was so excited that I forgot to watch the video and check the release date: 09 Sept 16 (aaahhh another 5 months!! But ok, at least now we know it’s happening).

And the video. Seriously, the video. I haven’t been excited about one in forever but reading about it gave me all the feels…I’ll share NJM’s words as she can obviously explain it better than anyone else:

And, obvs, the video:

This song was actually released a while ago with a different video but this one really is just beautiful! So personal, so sweet. And I’m not entirely sure as I hadn’t heard the studio version of “No Gold” in a while but sounds like it’s been slightly reworked…sounds cooler, more interesting (even though the original was already a great song!).

Apart from the fact that we still need to wait a few months for the album to be released, one of my favourite NJM songs is not in the track list…but all good, everything is fine, we’ll just have to hope she’ll release a bootleg/acoustic version of it to keep us going (because one album will not be enough!)

[this track, btw]

Hopefully she’ll announce the London gig soon and, better yet, I’ll be able to go!! It’s been too long…about 3 months =)

There's a high chance I'll go back to bombarding your feeds with more @lissiemusic photos/videos from last night, but now it's time for another stunning voice, @njeanmartine. After missing several of her gigs due to adult responsibilities, I finally got to see her again tonight after nearly TWO YEARS since she opened for yet another badass talented woman/incredible singer, @theninapersson. NJM, seriously, can you please release ALL of these songs asap?! ❤️ #njm #normajeanmartine #london #livemusic #thelexington #angel #kingscross #singersongwriter

A post shared by Liv (@mixtapeliv) on Feb 16, 2016 at 3:06pm PST

[NJM at The Lexington, London 16 Feb 2016]

You can find Norma Jean Martine on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Mining Co.’s new beautiful video, “Country Heart”, is officially out!

21 February 201622 February 2016Leave a comment

Happy to announce that The Mining Co.’s video for their first ever single is finally out after the exclusive premiere last Friday on Gigslutz:

The Mining Co.’s debut album, “Burning Sun & the Atomic Powers Within” will be out on 11.03.2016 on all digital stores and streaming services. Limited signed physical copies will also be available.

Panic Island – “Temples” [official video]

23 April 2015Leave a comment

So this came out on Monday:

And this is what’s next:

London people, come along!

For tickets, just click the poster or get them here.

NOT TO BE MISSED!

Milestone: Panic Island on Q Mag’s Top 5

7 April 2015Leave a comment

Although I started this blog to talk about all things music industry-related and I have a gazillion posts all over my notebooks, post-its, Mac Notes, Word docs and some still in my head, I haven’t had ~~the discipline~~ time to share them with the one or two readers of this thing.

Worse of all, I don’t even write about my own artists! But today things will change. Ok, they won’t. But I WILL say one thing:

Panic Island, the first band I ever took on to manage, who is about to release their debut EP, had their first ever single feature on Q’s website as one of the FIVE songs to hear this week. And even though it’s been hours since we found that out, we’re all still pretty much:

realitybites_mysharona

Photo evidence:

Qmag_slider

And the sweet, sweet words of James Skey…

Qmag_blurb

More on : http://www.qthemusic.com/9270/five-songs-to-hear-this-week-zohara-axel-flovent-panic-island-rob-bravery-my-baby/

And, more importantly, here’s “Temples”:

And then there was Nina

22 October 2013Leave a comment

Video overload. For a reason beyond great.

I’ve declared my love for Sweden and its culture, landscape and people many times on this blog. Mostly for the music.

Yesterday I mentioned Garbage being one of my all time favourite bands and today I’ll reveal another which is often fairly underrated and misunderstood: The Cardigans!

Apparently they’re playing a couple of gigs in the coming weeks which hopefully means they’re getting back to work as a band but, while that doesn’t happen and nor does A Camp (their website doesn’t exist anymore and it looks like neither does their FB page. That’s sad.), the loveliest Nina Persson has recently announced her upcoming solo release (out 29.01.2014 on Universal) and you can pre-order a signed copy:

here (CD)

here (vinyl)

AND here (vinyl)

Check it out!