Aqualung, A.K.A. Matt Hales from merry ol’ England came to the public eye when his top track, “Strange and Beautiful” was used on an advert for the VW Beetle in 2002, and in the US for the song “Brighter than Sunshine” which was used in the film A Lot Like Love. But of course, you’ve probably heard them before - so let’s play a lesser-known but just-as-awesome track from his eponymous debut album, entitled “Good Times Gonna Come”:
Apart from keeping most of his personal life a secret, Hyde is in the public eye in Japan a whole lot of the time - part of the successful J-Rock band, L’Arc~en~Ciel (who will no doubt get a feature here some day) and a successful solo artist, marrying a model, starring in a couple of films and many albums - yet no one knows his actual name, or his birthday or any of the bitty details! Still, the music’s good and that’s all that counts - it’s quite a gentle piece: acoustic and mellow and using the softer sides of his voice. From his first solo album, “Roentgen”, here is “Shallow Sleep”:
Day One is a trip-hop band from Bristol… no no no! All Wrong! Day_One (take full note of the underscore!) are from Leeds, and more specifically, Day_One are now “Vib Gyor”, who were previously featured last month. Yet their is quite a big difference between the two styles of the bands, and since it’s a nice, gentle tune, I think it deserves a mention. Day_One’s “Everybody” is an every day tune - the lyrics are fun to listen to, the music’s good (albeit somewhat simple, especially in comparison) and together its mighty fine listening. Enjoy today’s track!
Porcupine Tree are a fabulous British progrock band started back in 1987 and in that time grown from strength to strength and released nine studio albums, their latest in April of this year. Today however, I’m going to play you one of their tracks which isn’t quite as proggy as the rest of their material, but its a brilliant song that was only released as a bonus track on the Europen release of their popular - and first major-label release - 2002 “In Absentia” album. It’s a dreamy, poppy, rocky, whatchamacallit song with dark undertones but amazingly upbeat melody. I have the urge to listen to it all the time, even though it is a bit of a departure from their more traditional tracks. Enjoy Porcupine Tree’s “Drown with Me”:
(Special edition including this track)
theEndorphins are a melancholic progressive-ish rock band from the Netherlands formed in 2003. The three band members Astrid van der Veen, Arjan Hoekstra and Dennis Edelenbosch create a smooth mix of music with many different instruments and dueling dual (see what I did there?) vocals. Astrid has also worked with previously featured Ayreon, creating the progressive metal Ambeon project. Whilst looking for labels to work with, they have already put out several songs, available for free from their theEndorphan (see what they did there?) website, but they say their real best performance is in live shows. This track is “See It Clearer Than It Ever Was”:
Sam Brookes, a singer/songwriter from Bath, presents a nice and easy going compound of folk and blues in creating his songs. Armed only with his guitar, occasionally a harmonica and his grand voice, he apparently gives quite a performance. My girlfriend who forced (:P) recommended me to post this track has seen him live in and around local pubs of her area, where he gives off an confident and crowd-pleasing performance. This short track is “Mr No Identity Man”, a staple to his music:
Reminder: I’m currently away on holiday and unable to reply to comments or emails until Monday 9th. Tracks have been posted in advance during my absence. Please keep on visiting every day for new music! 
Solo artist, Backseat Goodbye (who’s really known as Chad Sugg) is a complete one-man operation: he writes his own songs, performs all the instruments, and as an unsigned artist, pays for all the cost in producing his music. A nice gentle mix of acoustic indie and folk and there you have his music! “Sorry to Interrupt” taken from his 2005 release “White EP” is a testament to the music you can expect - nice and easygoing songs to listen and chill to. Over 30 of his songs are available on his Pure Volume page, with most of them freely available to download. His latest self-released album, “Good Morning, Sunshine” - released April this year - features over 20 tracks is available to buy now!
Hi readers! Just to let you know - I’m going on holiday for the next week, and as such, I will not be available until next Monday - most likely I will never have access to a computer, let alone the Internet. However, I have already pre-posted songs which will start appearing over the next few days. I hope you will enjoy them, and I will see you all when I get back! Have a good time and keep on visiting the website!
Described as alternative indie, it doesn’t get much more alternative or indie than today’s track. Beulah began in a mailroom in 1994, when the founders Miles and Bill began writing and recording - releasing their first EP, “A Small Cattle Drive In A Snow Storm” two years later. Later, they would be joined by Pat Noels and various others along the journey. Unfortunately they parted ways in 2004, but their music lives on! This track was recommended to me by my friend Matt (who’s previously provided me with some excellent music choices) who described their music as “upbeat and summery” - We may be dealing with torrential downpour as of late, but at least today it’s nice and “summery!” So here’s “A Good Man Is Easy To Kill”:
I thought it might be somewhat ironically iconic to start off the second month’s barrage of music with an alternate take on the very first track. But my logic tells me I’ve already gone and ruined that, because yesterday’s post was technically the 32nd track. Never fear, it has only delayed the inevitable! So, you heard 3 - Lay Down The Law back in the day (well, last month) and now let’s go to Joey Eppard (lead singer of 3)’s solo career - where he also performs a take on Lay Down The Law. The bonus here is, along with the rest of Eppard’s 15-track album “Been to the Future”, is performed in acoustic, with everything performed by the man himself. Even acoustic-ised, it comes off as funky and groovy. So, here’s our second look at “Lay Down The Law”:
