Zero Suck Music

Welcome to the Canadiana free-for-all. Both calystarose and I will be posting 3 times this week. We never could do things in moderation.

Let's get started.




This is J Englishman, a wonderful artist from Toronto. His album, Poor Li'l Rock Star has pretty much been my soundtrack for the last ten years. I'm going to take the lazy way out and plagiarize myself for a minute. I reviewed the album last year at my music blog (which I have, sadly, neglected the last six months or so. I need to get back to it). I don't see the need to do a completely different intro, especially when there isn't much information to be had.

So, the following is cribbed from my review of the album:

J Englishman is a Canadian artist who released a really stellar album in 2000. It was probably the first album I bought after hearing only one single, and it was way before I started downloading and doing the "try before you buy" type of thing, which goes to show how sure I was of the purchase. This was his only release, unfortunately. When last I heard, he was tending bar at The Tap in Toronto, though his Wiki article says that over the years, he's been working as a freelance music writer for Chart magazine, Production Manager for a John Legend tour, Festival Programmer and Production Manager for "Rock the Wake" festival, and is currently working as an audio engineer. He also has album producer credits (two of them) for the band G-13. He's also done sound engineering at a lounge in Toronto.

This is a lot of info for someone so obscure, so I'm guessing that someone connected to him or his sister (Canadian singer Esthero*) has edited the article. I don't know if that makes it more or less trustworthy, but I'm just happy to know that the man might still be somewhere in the music industry, just waiting for a chance to put out more music.

I'm pretty attached to this album, and I'm always up for trying to tempt someone else into listening to J's stuff. The problem is... it's really hard to find. It's not available at iTunes, and J's website is woefully out of date. The last listed tour dates were in 2004. There are some free MP3s available in the Sounds section, though. Download Breaking Down, Flowers For Ophelia (my favourite!), and Tripwires. To hear the album in its entirety, click the cut below. I cannot tell you how shocked I am that Grooveshark has the files streaming. I've included a playlist.

( Click to listen! )

Four songs hit the Top 40 and one went as far as the Top 10 (Abused, Staring at the Sun, The One Thing, and More). I've been able to find a couple of videos on YouTube that use his music, but only one actual music video. It's below. Kind of silly that it was banned by Much Music.

He has a MySpace, which indicates that he (or someone else) logged into the account in March 2010, but the last blog post is dated 2009. I've friended it anyway just in case.

If this ends up being his only album it'll be a damn shame, but at least he put out a good one.




*Fun Fact, J's sister helped to co-write Love Lockdown with Kanye West


Links:
- LastFM

So, last week I mentioned that on occasion, iTunes Canada actually does give us a fucking awesome song for free. This is one of those times.

Sam Sparro is an Australian singer-songwriter born in 1982. He's best known for this song - Black & Gold. His self-titled album came out in June 2008. Of the 13 songs, Black & Gold (Marcussen Album Version) is the strongest (and, unfortunately, the only song worth keeping, IMHO). His work ranges from R&B to funk to electronica, to classic Prince to Scissor Sisters, to everything in between. If that sounds like it's your cup of tea, then he's definitely an act worth checking out.

Back to Black & Gold, though. This song has proven to be extremely popular, which was a huge surprise to me because I haven't heard it anywhere. Apparently it's been used in soundtracks, commercials, tv promos, and video games. You'd think I'd at least have heard about that, but apparently not. It's entirely possible that I live under a rock.

There's been a few cover versions of this song (most notably Adele, Ellie Goulding, Alphabeat, and Katy Perry) but like usual, the original is always best. There's something to be said for Sam Sparro's voice and the way he sings the lyrics. Also, a bad cover version of any song is a sin that should banish you to the depths of hell.*

*Okay, okay, we'll reserve that solely for butchers ofHallelujah. DNW anyone other than Jeff Buckley, kthnx.

Here, have a streaming file from Grooveshark:

The song has a video, but Sam's record label, Island Records (UK), has had embedding disabled at YouTube. It's so camp and I laughed, but everyone needs a little camp in their day now and then. Click here to see it. It's boys in tuxedos and top hats. Carrying walking sticks and feeling up a limo. No, I'm not just saying that. There's also a fast food drink cup but that might be for a rousing game of One of these things is not like the other....

Links:
- Facebook
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