Jasmine Rodgers: two shows in London

Folk singer Jasmine Rodgers has two actual live shows coming up, both of them in London. On June 23 she will perform @ Sound Lounge with Melinda Ortner and on June 24 at the Drawing Room with Sean Genocke on guitar.

She will release a new song, To Wake Up, on June 25. It's lockdown collaboration wiht sound/visual artist/producer Robs Pugliese and guitar virtuoso/producer Fabrizio Sotti recorded in Naples, London and New York. A teaser clip is up on her Facebook. and yes, people already pointed out that the knights and bishops are on the wrong fields of the chessboard.

Jasmine Rodgers: Flies

Folk singer Jasmine Rodgers is back with a new single, Flies, a soft-spoken track about being small in a big world. Personal problems may seem irrelevant in the greater scheme of things, but feeling helpless can be crippling. She uses the fly as both a source of inspiration and a metaphor for the need to get away from it all, with her voice sounding more hopeful as the song progresses.

She co-produced the track with Sean Genockey, the London-based record producer, mixer, songwriter and guitarist who helped her out with her debut album Blood Red Sun in 2016.

Jasmine Rodgers: "Underwater" live video

Watch folk singer Jasmine Rodgers perform Underwater live @ Kore Studios in London on May 16th, with Scott Matthews (12-string guitar, vocals) and Danny Keane (cello). It's a track from her 2016 debut album Blood Red Sun. Filmed by Pavel Radu at Ropo Films.

HCTF's best of 2016 (20-16)

Where's ...
David Bowie, Radiohead, Nick Cave? Or that album that you liked so much?

Simple. HCTF picked the 20 best albums that were actually reviewed on this blog.

HCTF lists the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come.

2016 was a memorable year for music lovers.

• Vinyl is back.
• The majors are still running around in circles, trying to keep their cashflow alive.
• streaming is now big business (for the artist not so much).
• "Self-released" has become a regular tag. Even big time acts go for crowdfunding to cover the costs of making an album, sometimes aided by a small network of indie labels to carry the load of distribution.
• Software is catching up with the studio as a means of home recording - untrained ears will have a hard time to hear the difference.

One thing will never change: independent music is where it's at when you are on the look out for something interesting to listen to.

Sadly some of the greats are no longer with us - David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen as well two of the finest sidemen - Scotty Moore and Bernie Worrell. As 2016 drew too a close underrated Status Quo rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitt and singer George Michael also checked out.

Today: countdown from number 20 to 16.

Go here for 5-1 | 10-6 | 15-11.

Jasmine Rodgers: Blood Red Sun

BEST OF 2016
19
HCTF

Folk singer Jasmine Rodgers has the kind of voice that is tailor-made for storytelling songs. Her debut album Blood Red Sun is a showcase of fingerpicking guitar, soft-spoken cello, and double tracking with just a hint of echo. Her forays into alt-country (Between Spaces, Sense) could gain some fans in the Deep South of the States, but as a whole Blood Red Sun has written "Made in the UK" all over it. Follow You and Underwater would have fitted on a Sandy Denny or early Tori Amos album.

Rodgers has a knack for choosing her notes carefully. Timing and phrasing are essential within her genre and she gets an A+ for both, with the gentle solo track While You Were Sleeping as the standout example. Her rock star father and poet mum can be proud. Can somebody wake up the A&R people of a niche label to get her to the next level?

HCTF premiere - Jasmine Rodgers: Follow You

photo: Maria Aragon

When your dad is a world famous rock star and your mum is a Japanese poet, changes are that you will get bitten by the artistic bug. Folk singer Jasmine Rodgers released a splendid double A-side single Icicles b/w Sense earlier this year. Her new track Follow You is even better. Driven forward by a pulsating acoustic guitar and washes of cello Rodgers sings about reaching closure after a breakup.

Follow You is the kind of song that Tori Amos has been chasing for the last decade or so. Her voice is powerful, but not as clean as the competition in in her niche. She allows emotion to supersede technique and got a song that is pleasing the ears and the guts.