The Ultimate Band

On last week, NME made several interviews to several artists asking them witch artists would they pick for the Ultimate Band. One of them was Brett Anderson from Suede and you can see in the picture is choices. I decided to make the same exercise and choose my super group (I'll only choose one person per band, otherwise we could have many Suede members):

Vocals: Patrick Duff (Strangelove)

With artists like Brett Anderson, Dave Gahan, Morrissey or Jeff Buckley it was really complicated to decide who should be on the band as main vocals. Well, Patrick Duff, during Strangelove, was like an animal in terms of singing. He was a completely passionate guy with a non stop energy. His lyrics are very deep. On his solo career he is more mature and soft but with magical melodies and lyrics. He would be the best option for this place.

Guitars: Richard Oakes (Suede, Artmagic)

Oakes is my guitar hero. For all that he represents. He entered Suede with 17 years old and was, in my opinion, the greatest responsible in Suede biggest come back in 1996 with my all time favourite album Coming Up. Butler left Suede and no one in the press believed that they could come back to the spotlight but, with songs like Beautiful Ones, Trash or Filmstar they did it, and came back even better than they were before. Richard is a natural talented guitarist that can make millions of catchy and beautiful riffs. During last years he was gone but he came back with Artmagic and made an excellent album full of nice guitars and beautiful keyboards. 

Bass: Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)

Paul McCartney is a living legend. The work he made on Beatles, Wings and on his solo albums are simply amazing and they are the best tunes ever. The Beatles were and still are the most influential band of all time and McCartney was the big brain behind it. The medley on Abbey Road or the first classic Beatles songs, passing thought his amazing solo album Ram or Band On The Run with the wings are little examples of a complete genius. His way of playing bass was incredible too. Very rhythmic, very enjoyable, very natural. Songs like Come Together or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da have great bass lines. And of course he could borrow his giant creativity in the other instruments to all of the other band members (as we can see on his first solo album where he plays all the instruments)

Keyboards: Martin L. Gore (Depeche Mode)

Martin Gore is the synthesizer master. He was the main brain over Depeche Mode's 80's career and the responsible in their fantastic change of sound during Violator, Songs Of Faith And Devotion and Ultra. Although nowadays he plays more guitar than Keyboards in live gigs he still does it on studio (during last album he had an "obsessions" of buying a lot of keyboards from Ebay and made a huge collection). He is a really creative musician always exploring samples and new songs and, in my opinion is that what I would like to see in a keyboard player. As an example of his abilities in synthesizers I could remember songs like Walking In My Shoes, It's No Good or In Your Room (album version, is a complete climax).

Drums: Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand)

There are so much typical drum players that could make this list, like Dave Grohl or several hard rock guys but what I look in drum players is not for them to be protagonists or for them to try to evidence from the band. I look for them to really fit well on the rest of the band and I think Paul Thomson has the perfect style for that. When I listen to Franz Ferdinand, the drum sounds is really characteristic, and it is always in the right position with the right changes between verses and chorus and solos. As for examples, the classic Take Me Out is marvellous or the super great live version of Outsiders is brilliant too. I saw them live 2 times in the last years and was completely amazed by their great liver performance.

Band Name: Strange Sound

Become The One You Love

As I told before, I bought recently Artmagic's debut album. Now, I have listened to it several times and I feel capable of speaking of it.
In a global appreciation, it is a wonderful album! One of the best I've heard during these last times. Catchy, soft, energetic, it is an well done and complete piece of work.
The first song is The Choice. I was always apologist that the first song of the album must be a song that represents better the album and a hit single, a song to be reminded for ages, like Trash of Coming Up by Suede or I Feel You from Songs Of Faith And Devotion by Depeche Mode. But, The Choice is not a hit single, it is a very calm and soft song, with a marvellous ending and a "growing up" feeling that truly represents "Become The One You Love". You, Heaven Is Here or Forever In Negative are much more "singlier" songs but, this song fits very good as an introduction and changed my way of thinking about first album songs.
Down In The River, has a good guitar riff, a great chorus, and it is very speeded up. It's not one of my favourites, maybe it is my less favourite song of the album, but is a good song. It will be the band's second single. I would prefer You or Heaven Is Here but is a logic solution. You must hear the simplicity of the guitar riff and the way it gets stuck in your head.
Then we have the first single, Forever In Negative, one of the best moments of the album. Very melancholic, but at the same time, very powerful. The E-bow solo is wonderful.
Next is the first song that Sean and Richard made public, Submerged. It is very much the same it was before and that's good, because it's a great song. You really feel like flowing on the song while you hear it. The connection between guitars, keyboard and voice is perfect. The song really carries you on.
You is, for me the "hit" song of the album. Really, really catchy. The repeated "You" during the songs just turn it easier to listen, the intro riff is great, the interlude too, and the chorus can be on your ear during the entire day, be careful! Brilliant, one of the best songs. Pure Indie-Rock. Backing Vocals are 5 stars.
After 4 songs full of adrenaline you must have a ballad, and it happens with  A Homecoming. Very good, Sean's voice is perfect and the way you go to a climax of a song and then to a calmer part is very enjoyable and gives a epic feeling that almost all Artmagic's songs have.
Heaven Is Here, is a well known song by McGhee's and Oakes' fans and we already had access to a acoustic version of it (I Keep On Walking EP) and a great live and electric performance on it on their Youtube channel. This version is very different from both of the previous ones and that can only be good to the fan! I can't decide the one I prefer, but to have 3 versions of a song that I adore is great! Synthesisers are very welcome here, the backing vocals are great and the speed of the song very takes your breath away! Great!
To recover your breath nothing better than Half-Life. A sad and calm song, very nostalgic, that fits very well on this part of the album. The arrangements are great and the mix of the several guitars, voices, and sounds is great. Perfect to rest after a hard day of working when you need to enter a chill out mode.
Blue On Blue is a song that, I don't know why, is perfect for a walk in the city. It sounds like a conciliation of souls. Very good and perfect to enter on the end of the album.
At first listen, I didn't gave more attention to The Spark and it was a mistake because is a darker and mysterious song. It starts slowly, withou a great beat but at the middle of the song it turns more intense and the "I Wish You Could Run Away" it is very energetic but, at the climax it goes to one of the best moments of the album that is a part full of voices, very beautiful and introspective. You must hear it, words can't describe it very well.
To end the album you always need an epic or a different song. A special song. And it is The Gift Of Flight. A beautiful ballad, full of positive words and thoughts and at the end, the perfect way of ending this magnificent piece of work, with a outro just with "Love Is Weightless, Fly Free" with great drums, piano and a great work of guitars by Richard! Very epic!


In a resume, it is one of my favourite ever albums, and a great work of Richard after he left Suede. He is a great musician, and the songs that he wrote during these 7 years of silence are great. I would love to see Suede in a more or less same direction because these are, as I said, very beautiful. 
Last week I made a list of 10 albums that I would take to a desert island, and at the end I named some that could have been of the list as well, and Artmagic's first album has a great potential to make it!
I really counsel the album to everyone. A great piece of Art fill of Magic!  

Today I Bought...

Artmagic - Become The One You Love

 Artmagic - Forever In Negative

But, lucky me, mine version are signed by Richard Oakes and Sean McGhee!

Forever In Negative

Today I bought both of Artmagic's new releases, Forever In Negative single and Become The One You Love album.With the purchasing, you have access to the full album and the b-side of the single, The Glass Arcades.

I'm listening to it now, and it is a very good song, better than I supposed to be, very simple and calm but with a very sedative beautiful sound covering the whole song. The peace of music is incredible, and Sean's voice fits it very well. It's a song that you would hear while you're dreaming.

The A-Side is, as I said before great, and probably, with Heaven Is Here and You my favourite one. It's a soft but powerful ballad, very touching with a great e-bow solo by Richard. Really intense. And the lyrics are great too, to mix the negative (feeling) and the negative (photograph) was a great idea.´

Hear yourselves the songs from McGhee and Oakes official site http://www.artmagicmusic.com/

Rickard Oakes' Interview On Q Magazine

Last week, Richard Oakes, guitarist of Suede and Artmagic, gave an interview for the Q magazine where he talked mostly about his songwriting partnerships. It was a very interesting reading, and, in the end of his words, Richard talked about the music industry in general and how he sees it.
Read it now:

"Having forming a new group Artmagic with Robyn and Britney Spears collaborator Sean McGhee, Suede guitarist Richard Oakes (left) examines what makes the best songwriting partnerships - including his collaborations with Brett Anderson - work. 


There are so many different ways to write a song. When I first started writing at 14, I would give cassettes of chord progressions to my friend Peter and he'd pair them up with one of the many sets of lyrics he'd been writing that week. Staple them together and you have a song. No rehearsing, just record it immediately. 
With Suede it was a lot more traditional. I'd give home demos to Brett; he'd take them away and come up with melodies and bits of lyrics. When he felt they were fully formed enough, we'd rehearse them as a band. There were rare occasions when things would get written spontaneously in a room together, or a rehearsal jam would suddenly take shape, but mostly co-writes were written separately. 


With Artmagic, it's different again. I was throwing a lot of home-written music at Sean, but he'd want to write to it while I was in the room with him - something unusual for me; I'd never been invited to take part in the melody writing before. Sean has a very immediate reaction to the music, and seems to pinpoint the emotion perfectly in the lyrics he comes up with. We've attempted some spontaneous writing, and I think our next album will have a bit more of that on it, but Become The One You Love is largely based on music I'd written when between bands. 


Writing for Suede meant writing with the band in mind, so the music had to fall within a certain area in order for it to become a Suede song. With Artmagic there are fewer people but more options - the palette was and is wide open. That's why we see Artmagic as a project, rather than a band.


If you can successfully avoid pigeonholing, you've done the hardest job, other than getting in the Top 10! Saying that, I can't understand how so many chart hits have so many writers involved, especially when the songs are so simple. It serves to prove that making chart music now seems more about following a mathematical formula, and I only understand music that is about self-expression rather than calculation. I think we need great songwriters delivering great performances. Shows like The X-Factor have fooled people into thinking that songs are separate from, and secondary to, the performers. They aren't."

Artmagic's First Video

Artmagic, the band formed by Richard Oakes and Sean McGhee, released yesterday their first videoclip, from the group's first single "Forever In Negative".
The song is truly amazing, one of the best I have listened so far, but, in my opinion, the video is not as high as the song. It is very simple and it only features McGhee. But it is good for a first single. It was created by Eva Voutsaki & Matt Bonham.
Forever In Negative is the first single from the forthcoming album "Become The One You Love" that will be released on 25th of June.
Enjoy the video.

Site Oficial Dos Artmagic Aberto!

Finalmente, o site oficial dos Artmagic (Richard Oakes e Sean McGhee) abriu!
Para já está bastante simples mas, o melhor de tudo é que se pode encomendar o primeiro EP da banda "I Keep On Walking" e obter uma música de borla, "Heaven Is Here", que está brutal!
O EP sai dia 23 de Maio mas, quem os for ver na apresentação do mesmo, dia 18 poderá comprar logo!
O primeiro álbum estará pronto em Setembro!
Ouçam Heaven Is Here no site oficial!
http://www.artmagicmusic.com

You

Nova música dos Artmagic disponível no myspace e facebook oficial da banda!
Mais mexida e mais pop que Submerged, mas fica sem dúvida no ouvido. O refrão está bastante agradável, parece saída dos anos 90!
Myspace dos Artmagic

Artmagic

Artmagic é o nome do novo projecto de Richard Oakes com Sean McGhee.
O duo disponibilizou finalmente a primeira música: Submerged!
A música apresenta-se num Indie muito típico de Oakes num som que percorre imenso bem o nosso corpo como se estivéssemos a boiar numa piscina.
A voz de McGhee infiltra-se bastante bem no instrumental, não estava à espera que ficasse tão bem.
Para além de estar em forma no palco, Richard não perdeu nenhum talento na escrita de música ao longo destes 7 anos.
Aguardamos mais músicas!
Myspace dos Artmagic