Welcome along to another edition of My Four with myself, Mark Sharpley. We constantly scour the music world for the four tracks you need to know about. This week we begin with…
FOXYGEN
Californian duo Foxygen are first up this week with the release of their new album, ….And Star Power. Formed in 2005 by Jonathan Rado and Sam France, this album is a whopping 82 minutes long but it does contain 24 songs over four parts so you can’t say you don’t have many songs to choose from. Even the live shows are pretty hectic too, with lead singer Sam France even breaking his leg in 2013. All in the aid of music takes on a whole new meaning with this lot, I think. Available on Jagjaguwar label, this is the single, “How Can You Really”. www.foxygentheband.com
OK GO
Chicago formed but now Los Angeles situated, OK Go return this week with their new album, Hungry Ghosts. Two years worth of writing went into this album with the band not really having any sort of direction for it in the beginning of the process. But this new album is more electronic than the past three efforts, given the amount of complicated music tools and software that has gone into making this record. But no surprise that Prince, New Order and INXS were major influences on the album. Available on the Paracadute label, this is the single, “The Writing’s On The Wall”. www.okgo.net
KINDNESS
British solo artist, Kindness, aka Adam Bainbridge, releases his new effort this week entitled, Otherness. His family history has a couple of famous figures with his grandmother being Amina Desai, the longest serving Indian political prisoner in South Africa and his uncle is British ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist John Blacking. But music lovers may know his 2007 live album, Live In Philly. This was his contribution to the Eric James Johnson Memorial Fellowship at the Philadelphia Institute for Advance Study. And basically, it was a way of expressing his time spent there. Students, there is a lesson there for you. Available on the Female Energy Records label, this is a cut from the album called, “World Restart”. www.kindness.es
SET IT OFF
And finally this week, it’s Tampa Bay rock outfit Set It Off with the release of their new album, Duality. Seen as a orchestral pop punk band, they recorded the album in Los Angeles (where else?) using one or two producers. And they are currently touring America with The Black Veil Brides on the “Blackmass” tour. But it’s the video for “Why Worry” that really gets the audience involved because they are indeed the extras. Keeps the costs down, I suppose. Available on the Equal Vision Records label, this is the video (but not the afore mentioned one, sadly) for, “Why Worry”. www.setitoffband.com
And that’s about your lot for this week! Stay tuned for the next edition of My Four bringing you the tracks you need to know about. Keep on keeping on…
— Mark Sharpley
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