Hi I’m Kieran Leonard, I am a musical expeditionary, a singer-songwriter, and I have just released my debut album ‘Out of Work Astronaut’.
Here are my new music recommendations.
1. Skaters I Wanna Dance (But I Don’t Know How)
This is my friend Joshua Hubbard’s (formerly The Paddingtons) new project in New York. They have put out a Free EP ‘Schemers’ so far and this eclectic Punk Pop Gem ‘I wanna Dance (but I don’t know how). It’s got a sonic quality that belies a particular recording approach that I love, ragged and not overly considered, it feels like an audio polaroid of a group of people at a certain point in time. Recorded by the three members of Skaters; Michael Ian Cummings, Josh Hubbard and Noah Rubin in a loft in Manhattan earlier this year. I am very much looking forward to catching one of their storming NY shows soon.
2. CA SMITH – You’ve Got A Lot To Learn
CA Smith is a singer-songwriter, originally hailing from Canada, he now resides in London. The photographer Dean Chalkley who took the photo for my album cover, hooked CA and I up for a drink declaring us kindred spirits. One conversation about Levon Helm led to another and now I am lucky enough to have CA drumming for me at live shows. He is touring his new album all this autumn, including some shows in North America, prior to his record coming out in October. I really like the gentle vocal and effortless delivery of his beautifully thoughtful songs. When he plays live he counterpoints his songs with wonderfully droll interludes which compliment the vaguely world-weary tone of his writing. I suggest you spend a little time with CA Smith’s songs.
3. The Ruby Kid – The Unreal City Revisited
I first saw Ruby when he was on a bill with me at an East London club night last year, I was going on last and arrived late and in a strange mood. I stood at the bar and was literally psychically arrested by the power of this young poet’s delivery. As a rule I do not like spoken word poetry, however, Ruby is a horse of an entirely different colour. I have been lucky enough to have Ruby perform at several of my shows and I love watching him grab hold of an audience in one breath, and have people (who would normally rather drink paint than listen to poetry) literally hanging from his every word. He writes about big ideas and emotions, the kind of stuff I like to sink my teeth into, and his wordplay is always at the service of his message and emotion, not affectation or rhetoric. I strongly recommend you check him out in any of his guises, either with his hip-hop band, or at his solo spoken word performances. He’s got a fine fine mind.
