Emmy The Great = Great

TMC will be back with more frequent posts beginning Summer 2009. Get ready. In the mean time, Emmy The Great with an old favorite, "Canopies and Grapes."

Album Coming Soon... from Emmy the Great!

Hello from the depths of studying.

A quick and exciting note that London favorite Emmy the Great will be (finally) releasing her debut album, tentatively titled First Love, in September. Thanks to Chromewaves for the tip, since I'm not too vigilant about following artist MySpaces. Head over to Chromewaves to download a really good live version of "Two Steps Forward". (Or just click that link). Get a lil' taste of the song from her Black Cab Session below.

As I've mentioned, the incestuousness of the London music scene is charming. "Fiddle Me This" man is from Noah & the Whale, another London favorite that probably has hoards of fans awaiting the release of their debut album, me included. Alright. Godspeed, folks.

Lightspeed Champion... is Champ

I've already called it that Lightspeed Champion will be a huge success in the indie world, but as a lot of the other music blogs out there are doing, I need to declare it in a post.

I saw Lightspeed Champion perform at Rough Trades East in London on Monday and I was impressed by his live performance, solid and true to the recorded tracks, something I value as opposed to Andrew Bird-like shows. Anyways, what I didn't realize is that Emmy the Great was providing backing vocals. Was she at the in-store? Probably. Can I be sure? No, because I couldn't see anyone but Dev Hynes, Mr. Lightspeed Champion himself.

The London anti-folk scene is a bit incestuous. Emmy the Great, once a member of Noah & the Whale, playing with Lightspeed Champion as well as solo. Laura Marling, amazing solo as well, replaced Emmy in Noah & the Whale. Noah & the Whale... I'll devote a new post to them later.

Here's the full 10-minute version of "Midnight Surprise" by Lightspeed Champion. I like it better than the radio edit. It's got the variety that say... Rilo Kiley's "Pictures of Success" accomplishes in its 7 minutes. It's also got a bit of the twang that RK has incorporated in their later work. Enjoy! (My favorite part starts at about 7:54 and lasts 'til the end)

Emmy the Great

Continuing my ode to London anti-folk, here's a great performance by Emmy the Great in a Black Cab Session. Especially likeable are the fiddle plucks. TMC-ers are suckers for them, as well as hand claps, shoop shoop's, bop bop's, and la la's; occasionally, we are also suckers for banjos, accordions, and xylophones.

I don't know what the song below is called, but it's enjoyable. Also check out "Canopies and Grapes," one of my favo(u)rites, through the ol' Hype Machine. At first, it seems like it's an unbelievably emo break-up song, but when she sings that she "feels worse than when S Club 7 broke up" I can't help but smile a little.