Fleur De Lys

A curious artist popped up on the radar this week, going simply by the name ‘Anika’. It seems that Anika is somewhat of a creative butterfly working as political journalist, photographer, blogger and musician fluttering between London, her current home Berlin, and most significantly Bristol. If any one city has developed it’s ‘own sound’ over the past 25 years Bristol would surely be top of many people’s list. No doubt Anika will be touted as the next product of the ‘Bristol Sound’ with her raw scuzzy blend of dub and punk, sounding like ESG on West Country crack. Her debut album, set for release 25th October, is after all produced by ‘Beak’ and released on Bristol label ‘Invada’. Anyway, who cares about the pointless journalistic tack when the music is this intriguing. Whether it be in Bristol, Berlin or Bamako, I sense that this is one girl who will not go unnoticed.

Download: Yang Yang by Anika
MySpace Page: myspace.com/anikainvada

Anika

Here’s the playlist from last night’s Fleur-de-Lys Club at The Lexington. It was the 20th consecutive Fleur-de-Lys Club and to mark the special occasion we’re giving away mp3’s of ‘Goodtown’ by Wagons and Zeus’s cover of ‘That’s All’ by Genesis.

1. ‘Too Much’ by Sufjan Stevens
2. ‘Love is All’ by The Tallest Man on Earth
3. ‘Atheist Funeral’ by Dan Sartain
4. ‘Goodtown’ by Wagons
5. ‘Sea Talk’ by Zola Jesus
6. ‘Stranded’ by The Walkmen
7. ‘That Day’ by Villagers
8. ‘Your Four Limbs’ by Kurran And the Wolfnotes
9. ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac (Vampire Weekend remix)
10. ‘Animal’ by Real Fur
11. ‘That’s All’ by Genesis (Zeus remix)
12. ‘Open Eyes’ by Sleepy Sun
13. ‘Uprising’ by Muse
14. ‘Barricade’ by Interpol
15. ‘Lines Are in the Sand’ by MONA
16. ‘We Used to Wait’ by Arcade Fire
17. ‘When I Come Home’ by The Drums
18. ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ by The Hives
19. ‘Bandages’ by Hot Hot Heat
20. ‘Groove Me’ by Maximum Balloon

Downloads:
Goodtown by Henry Wagons
That’s All by Zeus (Genesis cover)

There is nothing more pleasing than when quality music gains the widespread exposure it deserves. There is too much mediocre music that gets churned through the well oiled PR machine and pushed into the public‘s unwilling consciousness. However, occasionally talented artists will gain gradual recognition in a very organic way as more and more listeners are drawn to their music through recommendation. It is very pleasing therefore to see momentum building for Glaswegian folksters ‘Admiral Fallow’ as more and more people discover their beautifully crafted debut release on Lo Five Records ‘Boots Met My Face’. There was no massive budget or major label backing, the album was recorded using funding by The Scottish Arts Council, just honest well written songs played from the soul. Following a spellbinding live performance on The BBC Introducing Stage at this years T in the Park Festival attention was drawn to Admiral Fallow, leading to support slots for The Felice Brothers and a live appearance on BBC’s TV show ‘The Cut’. Boots Met My Face comes highly recommended so do yourself a favour and go buy the album, this is bandwagon you won’t want to miss.

MySpace Page: myspace.com/admiralfallow
Download Mp3:Four Bulbs by Admiral Fallow

'Boots Met My Face' album cover