John K Samson - When I Write My Master's Thesis

John K  Samson lead singer of Canadian band The Weakerthans, released his solo album, Provincial, last week and this the track from it which came to my attention a week or so ago.  Apologies for the delay in posting. When I Write My Master's Thesis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTtl2JOPFU&feature=related  is the songwriter's take on Dylan's When I Paint My Masterpiece and contains various references to video games and all those nerdy things students do to fill the time when they should be working.  Sound familiar? 

Also just released is a book entitled Lyrics and Poems 1997-2012 and both this and the cd can be ordered through Samson's website.



http://johnksamson.com/

Kathleen Edwards - Sidecar

A very quick posting from the Truffler this week as we are in the middle of setting up a new business and I haven't had much time to scout around.  Any new music I have been listening to has been copyright free stuff for our website video.  But to be honest, I don't think any of these tunes would go down well here.

This recent release from Kathleen Edwards called Sidecar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n867LtlXktE  first came to my attention a couple of months ago but it has just been included in Word Magazine's February cd of new music, Now Hear This, and I suddenly remembered that I rather liked it.   The video here is a live version but the recorded track is available from the usual outlets.  It comes from Kathleen's latest album, Voyageur, which was released last week.  If you are still feeling the pinch following Christmas, you can stream it for free on her website.

http://www.kathleenedwards.com/n.htm

Various Cruelties - Great Unknown

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope 2012 is a good one for you.  So far, good new music releases have been few and far between but I want to start somewhere so here we have the latest offering by Leeds/London band Various Cruelties called Great Unknown  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LzWMiAHpvc  from their forthcoming self-titled debut album.

Despite high praise being lavished on this band, I find it leaves me somewhat unmoved.  It serves it's purpose as a pleasant indie pop song, but I don't expect I will be dashing out to buy a whole album of the stuff.  Surfing through the net for details of their background it appears they haven't been playing together as a band for too long anyway (just over a year) and frontman Liam O'Donnell admits to it having been a bit of a whirlwind.  Still, they have crammed quite a lot into this first year (the above appearance on Later, festivals, supporting Noah and the Whale and Villagers) so maybe they are doing their growing in public.  It will be interesting to see whether they are still around in a year's time.