Fingerstyle Guitar

I first got turned on to the fingerstyle guitar style through Andy McKee's "Drifting" video on youtube, which went on to become one of the most viewed vids on there ever, with nearly 14 million plays. Andy is signed to American independent label Candyrat, who it would appear, seem to be championing similar artists within the scene.

On more investigation it would seem that this is a growing phenomenon, with emerging artists such as French Canadian Antoine DuFour, Peter Ciluzzi and Erick Turnbull all becoming increasingly popular on the net.

Wikipedia defines fingerstyle as "the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (picking individual notes with a single plectrum called a flatpick) or strumming all the strings of the instrument in chords". It's not only gorgeous music, making use of not only the traditional sound of the guitar but also artificial harmonics, but it's also breathtaking to watch.

Here's where it all started for me, and a few choice others to check out:

Andy McKee - Drifting

More Andy McKee Youtube Videos

Erick Turnbull - Low C

More Erick Turnbull Youtube Videos

Antoine DuFour - 30 Minutes In London

More Antoine DuFour Youtube Videos

To buy Candyrat CD's and find out more on their full roster of artists visit www.candyrat.com.

More info:

Andy McKee: www.andymckee.com
Antione DuFour: www.myspace.com/antoinedufour
Erick Turnbull: www.myspace.com/erickturnbull

Captain - Keep An Open Mind

Captain's new single "Keep An Open Mind" is out, and it's one of those must-buy tunes. Their debut album "This Is Hazelville" came out in 2006, and was an instant hit with me with it's Deacon Blue-esque band makeup, and sound. Killer songs, excellent album.

"Keep An Open Mind" is the first official single from the forthcoming second album, following a limited release one-sided 12" vinyl single "Animal" (which you can now download for free on their website).



More info:
Website: www.captaintheband.com/
Myspace: www.myspace.com/captaintheband

Buy Captain from Play.com
"Keep An Open Mind" Digital Single
"This Is Hazelville" Digital Album
"This Is Hazelville" CD Album

Royworld

I heard Royworld's "Dust" single this morning and had to blog about it straight away. Why is it such great music seems to come out as soon as the sun shines?

I'm really looking forward to hearing this band's album when it's released on 2nd June. If their singles "Dust" and "Man In The Machine" are anything to go by I'll be rushing straight out to buy it!



The band were apparently formed at Goldsmiths in London as soon ago as 2006. Talk about overnight success! A single release on Fierce Panda later, and they were rocketing towards stardom and eventually signed to Virgin.

The band cite their influences as Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Gabriel amongst others.

You can grab a free download of their first single "Elasticity" here in exchange for an email address and brief info.

More info:
Website: www.royworld.co.uk
Myspace: www.myspace.com/royworldtheband

Buy downloads, and order CD's from Play.com:
"Dust" Digital Track
"Man In The Machine" Digital Track
"Man In The Machine" CD Album
"Man In The Machine" Digital Album

Jamie Lidell - Jim

Wow, what a great follow up album from Jamie Lidell. 2005's "Multiply" was easily one of my favourite albums of that year, and I even wondered whether he'd be able to make anything as good for a follow up album. Well I was well and truly wrong!

"Jim" is the perfect album for the summer and is chock full of feelgood tunes. If you like the sound of that make sure you check out the first single "Little Bit Of Feel Good", and the newest track to be taken from it "Another Day" - also the album opener.



By all accounts his new live show is outstanding, so if he's playing in a town near you make sure you go along and see him play!

Highlights from "Jim", other than the singles, are "Out Of My System" and my personal favourite "Figured Me Out".

This is well worth the money so get out there and buy it pronto!

Buy "Jim" from Amazon UK

More info:
Website: www.jamielidell.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/jamielidell

Like Minded People iMix #3!

Long overdue iMix #3 is now up on iTunes, chock full of 80's influenced stuff and other tracks that go along with the summery weather we've (sort of) been having lately.

I'll be getting around to blogging individually about some of the artists included here, so do check back for updates soon!

Click here to check it out!