VA - Now Hear This! The Word Magazine, February 2009

Tracks
01 Empire Of The Sun - Half Mast (3:57)
02 The Fireman - Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight (3:47)
03 Cara Dillon - Spencer The Rover (4:03)
04 The Quemists - Dem Na Like Me (4:38)
05 Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern - Pram Town (2:55)
06 A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus (3:08)
07 Henrik - Try Me (3:53)
08 Baskery - Harsh (3:36)
09 The Whispertown 2000 - Lock & Key (3:46)
10 The Lost Brothers - Angry At The Sun (3:04)
11 The Milk & Honey Band - Incredible Visions (3:04)
12 Findley Brown - Holding Back The Night (4:20)
13 Delta Spirit - Trashcan (3:38)
14 Julian Velard - Jimmy Dean & Steve McQueen (3:48)
15 Broken Records - If The News Makes You Sad Don't Watch It (4:08)

Total time: 55m 45s


What's on the CD with the February issue.

1. Empire Of The Sun - Half Mast
The two members of Empire Of The Sun, Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau, took their name from the JG Ballard novel of the same name and recorded their first album in their home city of Sydney. Half Mast is a plea to a loved one for a second chance set to the sound of an acoustic guitar being marched along on a warm, clubby beat.
From the CD Walking On A Dream

2. The Fireman - Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Site
The Fireman is the working name for Paul McCartney's collaborations with producer Youth in which they begin with a blank canvas and then just daub for all they're worth. This is their third album. "You do The Fireman, and when you come back to write what you might call a proper song it's informed by the Fireman experience. So it freshens it up a little bit," says McCartney.
From the CD Electric Arguments

3. Cara Dillon - Spencer The Rover
The heartwarming tale of a man who abandons home and loved ones, hits rock bottom and eventually returns to the bosom of his family, this folk song has previously been performed by the Copper Family of Sussex and John Martyn. Hill Of Thieves is Irish singer Cara Dillon's first new recording since the arrival of her twin sons.
From the CD Hill Of Thieves

4. The Qemists - Join The Q
The Qemists first started working together as the drummer, bassist and guitarist in a rock band. This took them around the UK and Europe gigging and gave them a lot of time in the studio recording. It was here that an interest in drum 'n' bass took hold, and some of the group's early d&b efforts started to get airplay. For years the three were playing in a rock band by day and producing and DJing d&b by night, which led to them inevitably deciding to do both at the same time.
From the CD Join The Q

5. Darren Haymen & The Secondary Modern - Pram Town
Darren Hayman is the sometime lead singer of Hefner, who were big favourites of the late John Peel. "Pram Town" was the name given to Harlow, Essex in the early '50s, when the planners hoped it would be the first truly modern metropolis of eastern England. "This record is about good ideas gone bad," says Darren.
From the CD Pram Town

6. A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus
A Camp is the side project of Cardigans singer Nina Persson. Along with Niclas Frisk, she made one album in 2001. This one was recorded in Harlem. "If the debut wore an air of wood, hickory and snow," they say, "this is electricity, wig powder and laudanum." She also sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks, which is never a bad thing.
From the CD Colonia

7. Henrik - Try Me
Henrik is a Dane living in London and playing sessions. He has played in bands with George Martin's son Giles and plays bass in Steve Lamacq's Punk Rock Karaoke Band. "Hopefully the album is a bit like a soundtrack to be used as wallpaper or as an ingredient in your environment," he promises.
From the CD Faction

8. Baskery - Harsh
A product of the hard school that is the Rob Fitzpatrick talent nursery, Baskery are the three sisters Bondesson from Stockholm, Sweden. This, their first album, was recorded live on stage at Decibel Studios. They have toured Europe, the US and Sweden with their former band Slaptones, a combo that features their dad Jan-Ake on drums.
From the CD Fall Amongst Thieves

9. The Whispertown 2000 - Lock And Key
The Whispertown 2000 are the first signing to Acony, the label started by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. They're friends of the members of Rilo Kiley, whose Jenny Lewis described Whispertown's leader Morgan Nagler as "my favourite songwriter. Period."
From the CD Swim

10. The Lost Brothers - Angry At The Sun
This is the opening song from their debut album, recorded when the Irish duo hid themselves away in a haunted attic in Portland, Oregon with producer Mike Coykendall for three weeks of intensive sessions. The results successfully captured their evocative music, which has been likened to Simon & Garfunkel.
From the CD Trails Of The Lonely (Parts 1 & 2)

11. The Milk And Honey Band - Incredible Visions
The music of The Milk And Honey Band is a mixture of pastoral English psychedelic rock, pop songwriting and space rock, with plentiful use of acoustic guitars and banked vocal harmonies plus extended melodic lead guitar and atmospheric production. XTC's Andy Partridge (the owner of their current record label) has described them as "a bit like The Moody Blues but with more energy and better songs. Or at times like a blissful Who."
From the CD Dog Eared Moonlight

12. Findlay Brown - Holding Back The Night
Yorkshire-born Findlay Brown claims obscure '60s folk artist Jackson C Frank as one of his influences, alongside The Band and Crosby, Stills & Nash. An accidental encounter with psychedelics nudged him along from Pet Shop Boys to Iron Butterfly. The use of one of his tunes on a Mastercard commercial has brought him to the attention of a wider audience.
From the CD Love Will Find You

13. Delta Spirit - Trashcan
Delta Spirit is a band from San Diego, California. Often dubbed as a "hybrid of rock and northern soul" or as an "Americana/soul" group, the band has never been signed to a major label. The group incorporates unconventional instruments (such as trashcan lids and orchestral bass drums), the multi-instrumentalism of the members and the vocal delivery and spiritually themed lyrics of singer Matt Vasquez.
From the CD Ode To Sunshine

14. Julian Velard - Jimmy Dean And Steve McQueen
Julian Velard comes from New York City, where he attended the Fiorello H La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts. When this track came out as a single in 2008, Radio 2 named it their single of the week. It didn't make it a hit. Now it's on a Now Hear This! compilation. Just watch it fly.
From the CD The Planeteer

15. Broken Records - If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It
Jamie, Rory Dave, Andy, Arne Ian and Gill formed Broken Records in December 2006 in Edinburgh. Using a range of instruments including guitars, bass, violin, cello, accordion, mandolin, piano, trumpet, glockenspiel and drums, they create a sound combining traditional European folk with modern Scottish alternative music.
From the forthcoming album.