Asp's Musical Bites: The Wright Bones

TOTW #38

From the shortlists I've been sending to the Stig over the past few weeks, you'll notice to number of options has dropped slightly due to w**king. You'll also notice there's been several soulful tunes, so why break a habit?

Anthoney Wright's (yes, that's spelt right) Reset to Zero (29th Sept) is classic soul. OK, with the brass instruments you're left wondering what Mark Ronson's up to at the minute, and unless you're listening to this for the first time with the video you might wonder what gender the artist is.
But, ignore that. It's nothing short of a brilliant song. Immediately catchy.

Similar vein, but not been mentioned yet despite being released on the 25th August - Bryn Christopher's Smilin'. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - soul music is back. Keep the Faith :)

Whilst I'm at it with songs I've not mentioned (it's a lot easier to remember songs to shortlist when you've got tintaweb to check them) - I don't know why I didn't mention Run Run (7th July) ages ago, so this is to make amens. I might have only heard it once (as a Pick'n'Mix option IIRC), but I definitely liked it. Hopefully I'll hear it a few more times - it's called Home Sweet Home, and it's out on the 29th.

[Dodgy link alert] To get to Home Sweet Home, you might need to take the Next Plane Home (8th Sept). I actually heard Daniel Powter's single when I was in France (causing a large shouting match at the radio. It's not pronounced 'Potter', like "'Ary Potter". It's "Pow-ter". Stupid Frogs). Anyway, it's not a bad song. The chorus is very sing-along, but I'm worried with those high notes it's worth trying to avoid on drunken evenings around Hen Parties. Windows would probably shatter.

I don't like the video, but once again the song isn't that bad. I've not noticed a trend being set after outing myself and saying "I like McFly", even though I am sure it's a guilty pleasure for more people than would let you believe. Lies (15 Sept) does remind me of something again though. It's not Gummi Bears this time, but definitely something....

No surprise in mentioning Kids (13 Oct), as the album is in my car's CD player at the minute. I don't think MGMT have any bad tracks, so I don't think there's much more to say.

Charity records are often a poor show musically. Great cause, but more often than not they end up being number 1 because people want to give to charity, not because the song is any good. Carpetbaggers (29 Sept) is different. Some of the profits are going to the Jazz Foundation, set up in New Orleans for flooding support. And the artists? Well, the relatively unknown Jenny Lewis has guest vocals by Elvis Costello. Not full of millions of singers with one line each. It's just a good country-esque song. With a good cause. (NB - Video has the male part sung by Jonathan Rice)

Finally, despite how dissapointed I was at their gig in Delamere, I still think that Elbow's individual songs are of a high quality - and Seldom Seen Kid was a very worthy winner of the Mercury. The Bones of You (29 Sept) is the next single, and maintains that high standard. Perhaps I don't like it quite as much as One Day like this - but even getting close to that mark is good going. (Once again, the official video can't be embedded, so talking about Delamere...)