JosieJo's Great Big Pair
of Tips
The JosieJo Show 6
I write this blog because I
love great music and I want to share some of it. You're reading this
blog and you're looking for great music. I'm JosieJo and this is The
JosieJo Show. Each show includes two tracks by two different
artists.
The first of the two in this
show is The Undercover Hippy. The Undercover Hippy is Billy Rowan
from Bristol in the U.K. and he does the whole nine yards. He writes
a politically aware blog, creates great, feel-good live videos and
delivers deep, yet upbeat, heartfelt music. Teaming up with Alex
Crane, Andreas Millns and Joe Gaywood Billy's band The Undercover
Hippy creates a sound rooted in reggae, hip-hop and a musical
enjoyment that is even more infectious live. I discovered them at
Farmer Phil's Festival in 2012 and Billy was the first act I saw.
I'd met up with my dear friend, Lisa Greer and her family and both me
and her son Adam were immediately interested in the bouncing beats
and playful, catchy, semi-acoustic sound. Adam bought the four track
E.P. “Why We Fight”and I was hooked. It's Billy's rhymes woven
into the music that are the real genius of the stand out sound. The
track “Why We Fight” has a brilliant couplet :
“The U.S. Think Tank
Well they tend to think
tanks”
I could just recite Billy's
lyrics for the whole show, but it's better if I let him do it.
I'm going to play Adam's
favourite track “Boyfriend” and it is full of these great rhymes.
The Greer family know all the lyrics to this track and sing it
loudly altogether in the car. Listen out for “ecstasy” rhymed
with “sex for me” and the saturated image that he creates as he
rhymes “lips” with “chips”. Also he uses the word
“procrastinating” which will always get my vote. With backing
vocals by Chloe Laing and Jessica Langton this is The Undercover
Hippy and “Boyfriend”
Billy is in the process of
trying to record a new album “Monkey Suit” and you can help make
that happen by pledging towards it www.undercoverhippy.com
and in return you get exclusive news and pre-release perks and,
depending on how much you pledge, they range from just the download
through signed copies and t-shirts right up to your very own song
written for you if you pledge £500.
You don't have to wait very
long at all for the next band's new release because Scowlin Owl have
a CD coming out called “These Strange Companions” on the 23rd
November 2013. Scowlin Owl are a band of harmonies and stories, but
no twee, sugary hearts and flowers for these ladies. They are Nina
Lovelace, Yvonne Borden, Sally Gainsbury and Karina Zakri and they
have a astonishing ability to expand the versatility of the human
voice as well as giving me in a lesson on the gymnastics of the
violin. Their songs are about their favourite places, films and
inspirational stories. While you're waiting for the physical copy to
be formally released, you can actually listen to the tracks from the
new E.P. By going to www.scowlinowl.com
You'll find there a track about the inspirational frontierswoman,
Alice Tubbs who ran a poker house in the 1800s, a track about the
fight between the grey and the red squirrels, a song about a Japanese
John Wayne and this track, “Sugawara and the Sunflower” which
tells the story of a Japanese man Mr. Sugawara who managed to sail
his boat Sunflower over the 2011 tsuami and survive. There is an
absolutely delightful photo of Mr. S. and his wife holding the CD of
the song of his story that Scowlin Owl sent him. His grin is
infectious, his story inspirational and the song is genuinely
beautiful and moving. Like many of Scowlin Owls songs it starts with
a remarkable soft sound. The track rises gently and invites you to
come through until the end washes over you with the lap of a wave.
Scowlin Owl and “Sugawara and The Sunflower”
For news, events gigs and
releases follow me on twitter @josiejoshow and go and like my
Facebook page for extra content including videos and photos. For
links to all the bands I've played on the JosieJo Show visit
www.josiejoshow.com
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