“Sahara” by Bear’s Den – A Song Review and Concert Opportunity

     In January, we posted the song “Pompeii” by Bear’s Den. We still play the song on a regular basis. The band’s song “Agape” provided evidence that Bear’s Den would be more than a one-song contributor to our personal playlists. But we were not ready for their latest release – “Sahara,” which surfaced on Soudcloud only three days ago.

     “Sahara” is a song that can easily be divided into three segments. The start of each segment is distinctively marked by one or more instruments. The first segment is introspective, initially with dream-like instrumentation and then with reminiscing about the love felt during and after a relationship that was not properly maintained. Statements include, “All my life, I wasn’t honest enough and I thought I would never get over you.”

     The start of the second segment is marked by a guitar that is predominately featured after it enters at 2:26. In this segment, the lyrics are based on the opinion of another person, namely the person for whom the love was directed during the earlier relationship. Statements include, “You said I could never be happy with anyone.”

     The start of the third segment is marked by a drum (the snare?) at 3:14. The first sentence is, “But I found love.” Now, the discussion is a contrast between the past (“I wasn’t honest enough…”) and the present (“But I found love.”). The band vocals are high quality and Bear’s Den suddenly becomes a guitar band. As much as we enjoy the first two segments, it’s the third that makes “Sahara” a standout.

     On October 28, 2013, Bear’s Den will drop its EP, “Without/Within.” Digitally speaking, we are waiting in line. But we aren’t waiting to buy tickets to see them. Bear’s Den is making a stop in San Francisco on Monday October 7. They will be with Daughter. A blog entry directed to Daughter can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.  We jumped on the purchase of tickets.

    Bear’s Den is based in London. The three members are Andrew Davie, Kev Jones, and Joey Haynes.

     “Sahara” by Bear’s Den

     “Pompeii” by Bear’s Den

     “Agape” by Bear’s Den

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bearsdenmusic

Website: http://www.bearsdenmusic.co.uk/

UPCOMING TOUR DATES OF BEAR'S DEN 

Date

Venue

Mon 16 Sep Kessler Theatre, Dallas Tue 17 Sep The Mohawk, Austin Wed 18 Sep Fitzgerald's, Houston Fri 20 Sep Variety Playhouse, Atlanta Sat 21 Sep Exit/In, Nashville Sun 22 Sep Plush, St Louis Mon 23 Sep The Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI Wed 25 Sep Park West, Chicago Sat 28 Sep Midpoint Music Festival, Cincinnati Sun 29 Sep Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto Tue 1 Oct 9:30 Club, Washington Wed 2 Oct Mr Small's Theatre, Pittsburgh Fri 4 Oct Royale Night Club, Boston Sat 5 Oct Terminal 5, New York City Mon 7 Oct The Fillmore, with Daughter, San Francisco Tue 8 Oct The Wiltern, Los Angeles Thu 10 Oct ANU Bar, with Matt Corby, Canberra Fri 11 Oct Hordern Pavilion, with Matt Corby, Sydney Tue 15 Oct Brisbane Convention Centre, with Matt Corby, Brisbane Thu 17 Oct City Hall, with Matt Corby, Hobart Fri 18 Oct Festival Hall, with Matt Corby, Melbourne Wed 23 Oct GPAC Playhouse, with Matt Corby, Geelong Thu 24 Oct Thebarton Theatre, with Matt Corby, Adelaide Sun 27 Oct Fremantle Arts Centre, with Matt Corby, Fremantle Fri 1 Nov Holy Trinity Church, Leeds Sun 3 Nov King Tuts, Glasgow Mon 4 Nov The Deaf Institute, Manchester Tue 5 Nov Hare & Hounds, Birmingham Wed 6 Nov Village Underground, London Thu 7 Nov The Haunt, Brighton Sun 10 Nov Privatclub, Berlin Mon 11 Nov Molotow, Hamburg Tue 12 Nov Blue Shell, Cologne Wed 13 Nov Paradiso, Amsterdam

It’s the Ides of September – Music Alliance Pact (MAP)

     As noted in previous blog entries, on the fifteenth (the "Ides") of each month the Music Alliance Pact (MAP) makes a collection of songs available for free and legal download. MAP is a collective of 29 blogs (at least) in an equal number of countries.  Each blog chooses a song by an artist from its home country for the monthly post.  Approval from each artist is a requirement. This month, there are 29 songs in the MAP collection.

     There are three options:

     1. You can merely listen to the 29 songs at one of the MAP authorized sites. For example, the Scottish participant is The Pop Cop, and the MAP page is accessed by CLICKING HERE.

       2. You can selectively download the songs by going to one of the MAP authorized sites and using the "Save as" capability of your web browser.

       3. You can download all 29 songs in a ZIP file at CLICK HERE. 
  We look forward to each collection of tracks from MAP, because of the promise of discovery. With certain songs on our personal playlists of favored music, we can identify a single instance that brought awareness of the song. That is, if not for a specific blog, concert or television program, it’s possible that we would be unaware of the song. More than once, the awareness stems from the MAP monthly offerings.

      At least after a limited number of passes throught the 29 songs, we are not sure there is a long term keeper among this month's MAP collection. Nevertheless, this is a more promising month than was August. 
     The contribution from Malta is our favorite within the collection. Yes, it's "fluffy," but fluffy can be good, right? "Just Like You" has a degree of unpredictabillty in its flow. It isn't on Soudcloud yet, so we're going with Bandcamp. Time to check out other songs by Alex Alden.


     Finland's contribution is from Maglevs. The song is "Van Rijn," one of a number of dream pop tracks in the September MAP collection. We are aware of Maglevs, and actually prefer their song "Bicycle Dream." So, we are embedding both songs.
     “Bicycle Dream” by Maglevs – not a MAP download, but it's free. 

     “Van Rijn” by Maglevs

     From Scotland comes “Fowl Mouth” by Blood Relatives. It has a folk feel to it, with variations that help maintain the interest of the listener. Unfortunately, the song is only available at the MAP sites – no Soundcloud, Youtube or Bandcamp. But below is a different song by Blood Relatives ("Fowl Mouth” is better).

      "Dead Hip" by Blood Relatives

      Italy contributes a song by His Clancyness. The vocals are lacking a bit at times, but “Zenith Diamond” is otherwise solid. Our favorite feature is the guitar that is most clearly heard starting at the 1:53 mark.
     "Zenith Diamond" by His Clancyness

     The band 65daysofstatic from England is interesting for two reasons. First, it’s a strange name, very strange. Second, they will be in the San Francisco area soon. On November 14, 2013, 65daysofstatic will be at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.  Just from the Soundcloud waveform, it is apparent that "Prism" has a steady energy build.

   
       The song from Australia is Architecture, while the one from the United States is Architect. Sure, one leads to the other.

       "Architecture" by Manor (Australia)

       "Architect" by Wharfer (United States) - currently a free download


     Chile offers some psychedelic rock from a guitar band. Otoño is probably one of those acquired tastes, but it might be well worth the investment of time in making the acquisition.
     "Scheider" by  Otoño - currently a free download

     Finally, the contribution from Peru is “Me Voy Dejando” by Iván Fajardo.

Mie Dason Mie – A Band Review (Rand Beview?)

      When questioned about it, we insist that we’re not superstitious. And we recognize that the universe is not controlled by our actions (if it were, the best seller charts would look much different than they do). Still, there is no reason to avoid taking risks when avoidance is easy and does not have adverse effects.

      With that background, we want to let you know that one of our favorite toddlers has a first name of “Mason.” GREAT KID!!! Then, we want to say that because of "Toddler Mason," we have resisted blogging about a particular band. OK, it’s irrational. It’s particularly irrational when it’s revealed that the band has a member with the last name of “Mason.” Still, there is no reason to avoid taking risks when….

      With that longer background, we finally get to the topic of this blog – a band which we will rename Mie Dason Mie. The band is based in London and its four members are Samuel Mason, Stefan Ferguson, Dave Wade Brown, and George Cramer.

      We immediately liked their song “You’re Lonely,” which was our first introduction to the band. But it took a few listens before we started appreciating the swells, the quality of the vocals, and other features of the song. Then, we sampled other offerings of the band and discovered “Lost.” Still, we resisted writing a blog about Mie Dason Mie.

     This week, the band released another song – “Mother.” Resistance became more difficult, until we realized that the band can be easily renamed for purposes of Indie Obsessive. Sure, people using a search engine (Google) to find out more about the band will not find our post (unless they are equally irrational), but we can live with that.

      “You’re Lonely” by Mie Dason Mie - The 0:58 mark triggers the portion of the song we enjoy most.

      “Lost” by Mie Dason Mie

      “Mother” by Mie Dason Mie

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