The Minstral Show – (Episode 047)

The World changed on September 11^th, 2001; a day that will live on in infamy as a nightmare, that violently shook awake a western world living in apathy. For many, the finger of blame, that came from government and mainstream TV & news mediums was embraced and believed without question, but for others, it was an awakening to something far more sinister as the coming wars on oil rich nations would prove and so a truth seeking alternative media already up and running before that fateful day, sprung to life exponentially using the new age of internet communication to connect the dots and feed a growing hunger for truth via user friendly websites, chat rooms and social media.

The music industry, which was controlled by fewer and fewer hands was also censored, in that the bulk of mainstream TV and radio carried a disconnected corporate program while in contrast, the internet opened up new doors for independent artists to let out the real feelings and expressions of the people through their music.

Music emerged via the Internet to express the conscious awakening and the discontent people were feeling with the direction our governments and news mediums were leading us in…throughout modern history the peoples voice can be heard through music for moral causes and yet the mainstream airwaves played none of it…

This weeks episode of the Minstral Show will showcase some of that music featuring, Peter Case, Brother Speed, Jack Savoretti, Griffin House, Darling and Co, Rachel Van Zanten, Andy White, Switchfoot, Damien Dempsey and Isaac Hayden.

SET: 01

Starting off this musical awakening is Peter Case with “Lost in the Sky” a Psychedelic folksy blues tune from his 2002 album “Beeline”

“Lost in the Sky” is a fitting title to the way many of us felt in 2001 as we were cut lose from the apathetic world after 911 to face an unknown future…however that future came with a new age of information, discovery and awareness through the internet…everything changed as the jolt awakened some of us to the core and into a different state of mind while also leaving many feeling a little lost with a lot of questions…here’s a song that not only covers the atmosphere of the time but a song that will absorb your essence and heal the rift in consciousness. A song that receives a 10 out of 10 from this old DJ.

Following Peter Case is Aussie / UK band “Brother Speed” with their late 2013 single “Which Side I’m On”…a song that seemingly expresses the frustration of the individual and public when not listened to by society’s governments or its controllers when questions are asked. A great song with a unique blend of psychedelic pop and shoe gaze rock.

Following Brother Speed is Jack Savoretti with “Lost America” taken from his 2008 album “Harder than Easy”…”Lost America” is a song that shines the light on the chaos and confusion of America in the aftermath of 911 by the insane political turmoil and division that followed. A truly underrated song and album by one of today’s very best artists.

Closing this 4 song set is Griffin House with “Go Through it” taken from his 2013 album “Balls”… the song expresses feelings of depression which is a common feeling when something major happens in ones life such as a break up, loss of life, or even an awakening to a truth that changes ones foundation…“Go Through it” empathically helps us to expresses our feelings in an emotional healing process as there’s no escaping emotional pain, sometimes, we just have to go through it to heal ourselves…

And so, The feelings of being a little lost in waking times is normal and well expressed in music, on the Minstral Show. 

SET: 02

Starting off the second set is Noumea Caladonia Band Darling & Co with “Wrong Lines” taken from their 2014 – 6 song EP “Close Connection” – “Wrong Lines” is a solid Rock tune that leans into Progressive Rock and carries a strong message of what ales the human race. Corporations drive human greed and there is no off switch…we must save ourselves by veering away from the wrong lines if we are to survive…

Following Darling & Co is Rachel Van Zantan with her 2010 single “My Country” Inspired by the Tahltan women blockading Shell in defense of the Sacred Headwaters in northern British Columbia. The song gets to the heart of what is very wrong in our world today…as there are no moral values in a corporate boardroom when it comes to life. A very powerful song that upholds life, moral value and consciousness.

Andy White closes the set with “This is Not a Television Show” taken from his November 2017 album “The Guilty and the Innocent”. The Irish are not afraid to say what they feel, I know because I’m Irish; When there are injustices in this world the Irish are usually the first to stand up for justice and so Northern Ireland native Andy White steps up to the plate and says it like it is…wake up my friends, because this is not a television show, pay attention and stand up for what is morally right.

A set of music that speaks truth to power from a strong foundation of moral character…this is the music revolution, on the Minstral Show. 

SET: 03

Switchfoot starts off the final set with “Fading West” taken from the album “The Edge Of The Earth”…an album filled with Unreleased Songs From The Film "Fading West".

When you come full circle through an awakening where the establishments illusions fall away, and you realise that everything you were told about the world was all a bunch of lies, hopes of thriving can shatter, leaving you with only one place left to go, “Home”. This ones for you Michael Ruppert…may you rest in peace my friend, your voice will carry on

Damien Dempsey follows with “The City” taken from his 2007 album “To Hell or Barbados” one of Dempsey’s very best songs in my opinion as he gets right to the real heart of the solution to the worlds problems, we are all part of a family, and we need to remember that fact if we are to move the world forward and in the right direction.

Isaac Hayden closes the set with his 2014 brilliant cover of One Republic’s “I Lived”. A song about living and experiencing life the way it was intended. Imagine if we all did that…if we just stopped living in the greedy corporate illusion and live the way we were intended to live on this planet, as free men and women working together as a community…it’s not too late, hope remains…live life to its fullest with respect to others and yourself.

Be sure to support the artists by going to their official websites, buying their music and joining their email platforms. Details are in the episode description.

And now, Fading West, The City and I lived, on the Minstral Show.

Have a great week everyone!

More than just a podcast, World United Music has emerged to bring you the best music being made in the 21^st century by signed, unsigned and Independent artists.

To all the Artists, be sure to share the podcast episode with your network as it helps bring attention not only to your work but to the work of others as well. That's what the “World United Music” project is all about, bringing attention to all the artists who make great music.

The Minstral Show – (Episode 047)

SONGS:

SET 01

Peter Case – Lost in the Sky

Brother Speed – Which Side I’m On

Jack Savoretti – Lost America

Griffin House – Go Through It

SET 02

Darling and Co – Wrong Lines

Rachel Van Zanten – My Country

Andy White – This is Not a Television Show

SET 03

Switchfoot – Fading West

Damien Dempsey – The City

Isaac Hayden – I Lived

ALSO:

Be sure to support the artists by going to their official websites, buying their music and joining their email platforms. (See Details below.)

ARTIST LINKS:

Peter Case

Brother Speed

Jack Savoretti

Griffin House

Darling & Co

Rachelle van Zanten

Andy White

Switchfoot

Damien Dempsey

Isaac Hayden

The World United Music Podcast was carried on 11 different platforms including Anchor FM, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Castbox, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, PodBean and of course on our World United Music Blog. You can still find the show on Breaker & PodBean linked below. Hey, “Catch the Wave!”

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PodBean

Catch the Wave!

Jack Savoretti



About: Jack Savoretti

Four years ago, Jack Savoretti quit making music. He’d had enough – of scratching a living as an independent artist, of business bust-ups, of being touted as a soon-to-be star. He’d spent two years (and all of his savings) in legal dispute with a former manager and seen the release of his second album so botched it barely came out. He was 26 and recently married, with a baby on the way. “I thought that was my run, I’d had fun and now it was time to get a proper job,” says Savoretti. “I was done with music and, honestly, I didn’t mind.”

What happened next couldn’t have surprised the singer more. “As soon as I said, ‘screw this’, I couldn’t stop writing,” he recalls. “I wrote out of anger, although the songs were more of a cry for help. It was the best, most personal music I’d ever made. I realised I had really learnt how to write, how to express exactly what was in my head.”

That album, 2011’s critically-acclaimed ‘Before The Storm’, saw Savoretti turn a corner. That he was an exceptional singer was never in dispute – those gorgeous, gritty, soul-soaked vocals that caused such a fuss when he first emerged and saw his DIY debut, 2007’s ‘Between The Minds’, championed by Radio 2 – but by his own admission, his early work was him finding his feet.

‘Before The Storm’ reignited Savoretti’s passion, taught him how to put himself in his songs and, crucially, led him to the musicians who helped him helm ‘Written In Scars’, his impressive new album and his first to be released by a major label, with whom he signed earlier this year. “A lot of the songs were written with Sam Dixon, who is Adele’s musical director and Sia’s main co-writer”, says Savoretti. “I also wrote with Matt Benbrook who has worked with Paolo Nutini, Jake Bugg and Faithless and finally, of course, with my guitarist Pedro Vito and Seb Sternberg (Pedro’s production partner). I drew inspiration from them all.

“The heartbeat of the album is rhythm. It’s all about groove, drums and bass. The sound was key – it came before the songs or the subject matter. I completely changed the way I’d previously written, abandoning structure for a looser, loopier, almost circular approach.“

What Savoretti didn’t spot until ‘Written In Scars’ was underway was the influence of music from his family past. “Most of my musical influences come from my parents,” says Savoretti, “My mum was into The Eagles, Crosby Stills & Nash and Motown. My dad played mostly Italian music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. In the past I suppressed that as an influence but, for the first time, on these songs, it appeared.’           

What Savoretti calls the Euroclash of his past emerges in the album’s rich, warm textures and brooding atmospherics, as well as in the Spanish-style guitar that opens both the title track, a rousing revolution anthem, and future single ‘Home’. It’s there in the melancholy piano and soulful phrasing of ‘Back To Me’ and in the darkness that envelops ‘The Hunger’, a song through which bass beats like a pulse.

Most striking, however, is the loose-limbed nature of songs driven largely by percussion. Gone are Savoretti’s troubadour days, although that impassioned voice remains – if anything, grittier and gutsier than before. That groove he mentioned is everywhere, from the dreamy ‘Don’t Mind Me’, a midtempo song with a hip-shaking sexiness, to even the gorgeous, folk-tinged, strings-backed ‘Broken Glass’. That circular approach to songwriting makes sense as soon as you hear ‘Home’s mesmerising chorus, the repeated piano riff of the spectacular The ‘Other Side Of Love’ or the frenzied finale of ‘Fight Til The End’.

Savoretti’s reliance on rhythm is at its most obvious, and most glorious, on Tie Me Down, the first single to be released from the album, leading an EP out in October. A recurring acoustic guitar riff, tribal bass drum beats and a galloping groove back an instantly infectious, near hypnotic vocal on a stompalong of a song that couldn’t spell out Savoretti’s new sound more clearly.

Lyrically, ‘Written In Scars’ largely deals with struggle, or rather overcoming struggle – hence the title. “Some of that struggle is personal,” says Savoretti, “but much is about the struggles going on everywhere at the moment. It’s about emerging from strife, with fists in the air.”

One song that doesn’t fit the theme is ‘The Other Side of Love’, which deals with the dark side of love, described via tales of an abusive relationship and of a boy frightened to come out, albeit set to deceptively uplifting percussion and strings.

“’The Other Side Of Love’ has a slightly different sound, as well as different subject matter,” says Savoretti. “It probably suggests the next phase for me, after this album.”

The sole track that looks back is ‘Nobody ‘Cept You’, a beautiful cover of an obscure Bob Dylan song that Savoretti discovered at his lowest ebb.

“That song genuinely saved my life,” he says. “I was in Santa Monica, at Jackson Browne’s studio, to make my second album and someone played me a Dylan bootleg that had ‘Nobody ‘Cept You ‘on it. At the time, I wanted to grab my shit and run, away from everything and everyone but that song inspired me to go on, to be grateful for what I have.

“It’s definitely nerve wracking recording a Dylan song, but thankfully, not many people know it and even fewer have covered it; it’s not ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. It is also amazing how many people shut up at a gig when you introduce a Dylan song. It’s a song that’s helped me in so many ways.”

CONTACT: Jack Savoretti

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