Best of last year, what's to come and The End of Scruffy?

That pic above is the end of Yak. And right now it looks like this might be the end of Scruffy the Yak, or at least for an indefinite period of time. My laptop died, making it almost impossible to put this thing together. So here's a round up of a bunch of artists I didn't get the time to post about, some of which are my favourites for 2014, and some newer stuff. See ya 'round.

Ryan Adams finally embraced his inner Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, even Rick Springfield. Top 5 album last year.

Gimme Something Good


The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen


Champagne Years - Skinny Jeans



Duotang came back from the dead like Walkers, except with more emotions. Get Duotang Unreleased EP from the Winnipeg Free Press's Anthony Augustine and the band, go here.Grab the audio from Duotang's Triumphant return to the Winnipeg stage from the always-insightful Teenage Dogs in Trouble.


Live at the Mint Records 2014 Xmas party


Failure - Come Crashing


Faith No More - MF


Bryan Ferry - Loop De Li


The Hours - Miss Emerald Green



jeff the brotherhood - What's A Creep


Jet Set Satellite - Ashes From the Fire


Junior Gone Wild got back together for a few shows, and Mike McDonald released a solo record. Here's hoping some new JGW songs are on the way.

The Cliche Song


Leaf Rapids - Healing Feeling


Manic Street Preachers - Walk Me To the Bridge


Metric - Fatal Gift


The New Wild


Robert Plant
Rainbow


Turn it Up


A messed-up version of Black Dog? Sure.


Posies - Failure


Red Vienna - Golden Dove


Sloan - Cleopatra


Sons of Freedom
USA Long Distance


Super Cool Wagon


Spoon - They Want My Soul


Trevor Tuminski - Covers


The Waterboys - Beautiful Now


Whitehorse - Sweet Disaster


The Yetis - Warm California

Bryan Ferry: In Conversation, On the Piano Stool, On Record, Getting Awards

This young whippersnapper Bryan Ferry shows no signs of slowing down. He's ubiquitous, playing more than one show in a day, getting a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) award, and making some of his hard-to-find material available online. And from the live videos surfacing, you'd think he had an amazing twelve-year-old kid on drums (one kit, anyhow) and a 15-year-old whelp on wailing guitar. Maybe these people are keeping him young. Anyway, here's pretty good interview, along with some other videos you might not have seen and some non-album tracks. I'm glad that with David Bowie pretty much out of the picture these days, Ferry seems to have become a go-to guy.









Lover by BryanFerry

Sultanesque by BryanFerry

Nocturne by BryanFerry

Shameless (feat. Bryan Ferry) - Groove Armada Version by BryanFerry

The Numberer by BryanFerry

Hula Kula by BryanFerry

Trash 2 by BryanFerry

South Downs by BryanFerry

Always Unknowing by BryanFerry

Is Your Love Strong Enough by BryanFerry

Olympia Mixes by BryanFerry

The following is, of course, not a Bryan Ferry song.

Lost on the Bryan Ferry by AKUDAMA

Bryan Ferry Wants to Give You Some mp3s

Didn't I just post about this guy? Oh well. If he wants to embrace technology and send me music, I'm going to pass it on. A live Dylan tune, a ska mix of an old Roxy tune, some other rare versions...sounds good to me. The Jools Holland video just makes me wish I could see him live again.

Rare + Unreleased by BryanFerry

Bryan Ferry Hitting Many Towns, But Not Mine (and probably not yours)

Bryan Ferry really seems to be embracing dance music these days, releasing remixes of not only his new stuff with Groove Armada (Shameless) and DJ Hell (You Can Dance)but remixes of older tracks like Roxy's Music's To Turn You On (from Avalon). Those of you who are not so enamoured of the dance vibe can rest assured that live, Ferry still does Ferry; check out the Letterman appearance below. Ferry is heading out a substantial tour, check out the places and dates here. Poland, Serbia, Israel, Romania - d'ya think the guy could make a trip to my town, for gosh sake?

To Turn You On Edits by BryanFerry

SHAMELESS REMIXES by BryanFerry

ALPHAVILLE by BryanFerry

BF BASS (Ode To Olympia) by BryanFerry

Bryan Ferry Returns With Olympia

I got into Roxy Music through Avalon, which makes me uncool in some quarters. I know, I know, the Brian Eno-with-Roxy early stuff is more challenging, or progressive, or what-have-you, and I now enjoy that era as well, but I still think the later Roxy Music albums, as well as Ferry's solo records, are masterful. Sweet, smooth, multi-layered songs that work as aural treats to my ears. I understand those who feel that it's too lightweight - the unusual rhythms, strange keyboard and synth sounds, unique lyrics and vocal choices in the early Roxy material aren't often found in Ferry's later work. But to me, there's still a dark undercurrent riding inside many of those songs, even on the stately Avalon, which makes that cover of that album make sense.



Like Avalon, Olympia was produced by Rhett Davies, and it also includes contributions from Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera. The cover art (shown at the top of the post) hearkens back to Roxy album covers too. Other notables collaborating with Ferry on the new record are Dave Stewart, David Gilmour, Jonny Greenwood, Nile Rodgers, Groove Armada, and Scissor Sisters, as well as David Williams, who worked with Michael Jackson. You can hear the new album at NPR.org.



Bryan Ferry - You Can Dance (Radio Edit) by MMMusic

Bryan Ferry - Heartache By Numbers by alienhits

There are already lots of remixes of tunes from Olympia, here's a few:

Dj Hell - You Can Dance (feat bryan ferry) by deadz

You Can Dance (electric pacific remix) by Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry 'Heartache By Numbers' - Circus Parade Remix by wearemachinemusic

Bryan Ferry - Alphaville (Leo Zero Remix) by Arunas

Groove Armada // Shameless (feat. Bryan Ferry) by Mood-for.fr

To the Moon!

The anniversary of humans landing on the moon passed us by this week, so I started thinking about how many songs refer to space or the moon. A random sample of cds close at hand told me...maybe too many. Do you think songwriters dream about what's about there more than others, or are we all fascinated by what we don't know?

Here's one from Crooked Fingers, Under Sad Stars, found on the the band's self-titled album.



Some technical difficulties sent my spacey playlist all wonky, but you can go here to grab the rest. You'll find:

The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon
Possum Dixon - Crashing Your Planet
Scruffy the Cat - Kissing Galaxy
Eat - Red Moon
Bryan Ferry - Gemini Moon
Scruffy the Cat - Moons of Jupiter
Rupert Hine - The Wildest Wish to Fly
Crooked Fingers - Under Sad Stars
Pixies - Space (I Believe In)
Fountains of Wayne - Lost in Space
The Church - Under the Milky Way
The Church - Texas Moon

Of course, many people don't believe there ever was a moon landing. See the proof below. I wonder what Courtney Love thinks about it?