Found myself in a strange town...

  For the third act in this series of ten (in no particular order), we have our favorite troubadour, Mr. Steve Pilgrim. Most of you know Steve as the drummer in Paul Weller’s band and I must confess that’s how I knew him at first too. It was Ben Gordelier who recommended I check out Steve’s albums and boy am I thankful he did. While I am a big fan of acoustic singer-songwriters, at our house Steve is the king in that genre. Keep Falling Down is one of those songs that can’t be absent from any playlist we make and my kids will sing it despite not speaking English yet. It's such a contrast to see Steve bang the drums like the wildest of rock drummers and then to hear him singing these lovely lullabies with the sweetest of voices. But it’s not just that he’s a great singer and superbly talented multi-instrumentalist that does the trick for him, it’s the fact that he’s such a fantastic songwriter that makes him the complete package. He’s released 4 albums/1 li...

The Rifles have been one of my favorite bands ever since I stumbled upon the video for Local Boy online around the time their superb debut album No Love Lost was released. I remember hearing Local Boy for the first time and feeling an urgency to get their album, a feeling I could only compare to the same urgency I felt the first time I heard The Jam or The Clash. Most of my favorite artists and bands back then had been around for a while and I’ve gotten into them with (at least) a few albums already under their belt. That’s what made The Rifles so special for me, they (along with Arctic Monkeys) were the first new bands I discovered that I still listen to regularly today. I have waited anxiously for each of their releases and bought each of them on their release date. The Rifles’ biggest strength for me lies in the fact that their entire catalog is strong. They have no weak tracks, there’s no album of theirs where I want to skip a single track. It’s all gre...

I’ve decided to post about 10 of my favorite acts which we love and play constantly at home. In no particular order I will post one per week, some of them will be pretty obvious to my friends, but maybe (just maybe) some will be new to you and you can discover some great new music (it’s like a public service announcement 😉 ) I’ve always loved Soul music but it’s been in the last decade that I really got into it. While my favorite female singers are all from this genre (Aretha, Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones) and I have my trio of fav male soul singers as well (Otis, Marvin and Sam), something clicked with me when I discovered Stone Foundation. I remember reading about them (probably someone recommending them) after To Find The Spirit was released. Being on another continent (pre Spotify) didn’t make it easy for me to discover new music, so I ordered TFTS on cd and became an instant fan. But it was when I first heard Beverly that I knew this was one of “my...