The Heavy, a story about the unknown

Soul music has now a new name, The Heavy.

They only have 2 edited albums, Great Vengeance And Furious Fire (2007) and The House That Dirt Built (2009) and for some reason they remained unknown to my kind musical world. From the looks of it, to most of the music universe.

It’s not that the songs are fantastically arranged, nor the lyrics are brilliant, no that's not it. From top to bottom, it’s ALL about Kelvin Swaby’s fucking voice.

There are no words to describe it. The closest would be: Curtis Mayfield, James Brown and Stevie Wonder in one voice. Probably I’m exaggerating, but that’s it.

When I first listened to The Heavy, I felt butterflies in the stomach, like the ones you feel when you’re 16 and you’re standing half an hour on a bench waiting for THAT girl from school. Pure chemistry.

Enough words. Here is the song responsible for all this:  

The Drums - The Drums

The Drums’s debut self-titled album is still one of the best things we can listen to in days of solitude.

It’s simple, it’s catchy, it’s modern but still old school. It’s The Cure’ish with touches of Joy Division and Smiths. They’ve hit the spot and nobody can’t take them wrong.

The Drums - The Drums is refreshing yet familiar. It’s as good as ‘pop’ music can be these days.

Difficult to pick a favorite song but I’ll have to go with Book Of Stories. After playing the album 100 times, when it gets to track 5, still makes me think ‘this shit is awesome’. Surprises me they haven’t turned it into a single, but then again it probably makes the song even more special.

Man Man, an incomplete recent story

I know very little of Man Man, the sole reason why I actually saw their video is because they were Youtube recommended next to Tom Wait's Satisfied. And that's all I can say honestly .


After that it has been an intense 2 day relationship between WSG and Man Man's Piranhas Club. The track name is brilliant, the song is catchy, the video is just perfect, and I can't help but listen to it and laugh. In a good weird way. I guess because the video reminds me of 2 love stories, Black Keys and Future Islands.


Still don't know anything about them. Just what Wikipedia tells me, and I don't really trust Wikipedia. Like a good friend once told me, Wikipedia is the fastest way of getting wrong information. Bless him. 


The song is part of their 2011 album Life Fantastic. Will explore and return if relevant.


For now, here is the video for Piranhas Club. Enjoy like you mean it:

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

Some people say is a genius. WSG considers Tom Waits to be more than that. He's the master, devil's best friend, earth's best writer, he is beyond what music can reach.

Tom is unique, in every little thing he does.

This post is about his new album, Bad As Me. I'm hooked to it. It's amazing how Waits always manages to hypnotize every single part of my person.

From track 1 to 13 I feel like having a bottle of black label ('no ice please - fucking amateurs') and smoke the packs of cigarretes I never bought. I love you Tom, hope you know what a true inspiration you are to everyone who likes pure rock music and shares the frustrations and lack of honesty of this cruel life. To you I say, great shit-ass album man, another one to go on the top.

The single Bad As Me:

And just a recent memory from Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards - Lie To Me live at Letterman's:

The Strange Boys - Be Brave

The Strange Boys are a strange band. Or maybe they aren't too much of weirdos but the name always brings me back there.

They want to sound like old punk-garage-rock (something like the Ramones, or maybe I'm just crazy), and at a certain stage they really do. All about them sounds to me very cliché, but for some reason I can't stop listening to their Be Brave album. It's fucking addictive stuff. I don't smoke, but I guess this must be the feeling: 'I know it's not good for me but I can't stop doing it'.

I recommend you to buy the album and see if you share my smoking feeling. Hope they don't increase their price as well, cause they're pretty unknown by now.

Start your experience by the easiest path, the single Be Brave from Be Brave, pretty original stuff:

and finish with my favorite - musically and lyrically speaking - Laugh At Sex, Not Her:

Black Keys, the revolution is on the streets

The first song of the new Black Keys album - El Camino - is out there. The name of that song is Lonely Boy.

I haven't been this excited since someone told me we could drink beer of a funnel. Yes, I'm that excited.

At this stage I don't even want to focus on the song or album's quality, I just want to mention the awareness that these boys - not lonely for sure - gained in the past couple of years. The video of Lonely Boy was uploaded on Youtube this Tuesday and has generated almost 500,000 views with almost 10,000 likes against 79 dislikes. You can see I work in advertising, but tell me if this is not a (good) sign Black Keys are making the headlines.

What this means, straight and simple, is that the music world is re-conquering the passion for Rock music. Pure, strong and catchy rock tunes. I was waiting for this for a long time, a band like these guys to win respect of the pop community and finally erase from my mind the amount of crap people listen to these days. Yes, I'm talking about the Rhianna's, Bieber's and Gaga's of this life.

I'm all about changing the world, and I sincerely believe these guys can place their stone in music history. It's still early to say, but I think Black Keys will turn the equation around. More good music, less crap please. Starting with the radios, we want Black Keys stuff and no Rhianna's ass (or maybe the ass is ok).

Here is the video - fucking funny one btw - of Lonely Boy, newest song from the yet-to-be-released El Camino: 

Future Islands - On The Water

As the good boy I am, I’ve took the time to listen to whole new Future Islands album, On The Water, and I can’t describe what went through my mind when listening to The Great Fire. It was like small drops of water hitting a big quiet lake. It mystically turns the hardest of men into a crying baby.

As expected, the whole album is amazing - but the mix of Herring’s unique wordings with Jenn Wasner’s gift-of-god voice is just too good to be true (for the ones who can’t recognize her – she’s Wye Oak’s lead singer).

It’s now the 43^rd time I’ve heard this in 2 days. That’s got a mean something.

But if you let me be there again
If you let me be there again
If you let me be there again
I'll be still, won't say a word 

Beirut - a story about lovely music and memories from Europe

Beirut is the work of one man’s inspiration and true talent. Zachary Francis Condon – Zach for the closest fans – is another underrated genius. Because of his innovation, his lyrics, his cultural relevancy (even being from the US), it is all so good that it surprises me the lack of credit the man has.

We’re talking about someone who managed to constantly deliver excellent albums, changing musical directions and bringing different approaches to our beloved pop culture.

He is in my opinion one of most-influent musical personalities of the 2000’s.

And you can put it in whatever perspective you prefer. He is a genius, and I stand by my words.

From his short but precious collection, The Flying Club Cup and March Of The Zapotec / Holland, are the ones WSG is more familiar with. And to be entirely honest, probably 2 of the best albums in the shelf.

In those album there are songs that simply changed my musical life, and brought to a very different universe, Zach’s mind and soul. Nantes, La Banlieu, No Dice, My Night With A Prostitute From Marseille (yeah, you must be thinking what I’m thinking, ‘a guy that can pull up a song title like this has to be a fucking genius’) and – actually from their first album, Gulag Orkestar – Postcards From Italy (probably one of the most beautiful songs of the past decade).

Don’t worry, I will not post them all, but at least 3 need to be here (I don’t have the guts to put more than that).

Starting with a great moment, Live in Paris, Beirut’s Nantes:

Followed by My Night With A Prostitute From Marseille, here live in Coachella:

And finally, my precious Postcards From Italy:

Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

One of the most consistent 2000’s bands has a new album. Los Campesinos! have done it again. After Hold On Now, Youngster…, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed and Romance Is Boring - already subject to a post - here is Hello Sadness. The depressive theme is once again the path chosen, and what a wonderful journey it has been for them.

The usual USPs are there – young rock guitars, Gareth’s nasal awesome voice, the magical back-ups and inspiring lyrics. It’s all there, explicit, raw and WSG loves every second of it.

Hello Sadness will be released in November and the new single – By Your Hands - has been playing repeatedly in my ears.

Please sing along:

By your hand is the only end I foresee,
I have been dreaming,
you've been dreaming about me.

Violent Femmes - a story about an underrated band

If there is one underrated rock band it has to be Violent Femmes. For me, someone capable of making that album in 83 should be up there in the rock legacy legendary podium.

The truth is they could’ve ended their career after their self-titled first album Violent Femmes. It was that good.

10 moments of brilliancy, that’s what that album is about. From the well famous Blister In The Sun, to the power of Add It Up down to lovely Kiss Off. And don’t forget the rest…Prove My Love, Gone Daddy Gone, Good Feeling, To The Kill...

Everything about that album is perfect. Even the bloody cover.

I have to start by Blister In The Sun, a song that with all manners brings back soooo many memories. Enjoy:

Secondly, during the same concert, Add It Up:

And to finish – because it doesn’t make sense to post the whole album – Prove My Love: