JENNIE VEE – Die Alone EP

Jennie VeeOn this five track EP Toronto born, New York based singer-songwriter Jennie Vee is set to melt the hearts and heads of those whose musical tastes hark back to the early-mid nineties.  Maybe not those who reminisce about plaid shirts and muddy fields and blonde unshaven men with a glassy stare, but those who hold fond memories of seeing the faces of Tanya Donelly and Miki Berenyi gazing blankly and unobtainably from the pages of NME.  Vee’s recordings hark back to a time when Frank Black and Kim Deal liked each other (okay, so maybe there was never such a time); a time when you got excited about that next 12” single from Chapterhouse; when Ride were kings of their own UK kingdom and The Jesus and Mary Chain wanted you to venture under ‘April Skies’.

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Awake & Dreaming: Real Gone meets Mick Terry

In 2010, London based singer-songwriter Mick Terry released ‘The Grown Ups’, a debut album with a personal quality.  Its creation came as a surprise, since Terry wasn’t especially planning on recording an album after returning to music after a family-raising break.  Since 2012, he’s been working on a follow-up.  Real Gone caught up with him in January 2015 to find out if it’s almost finished…

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THE PAUL & JOHN – The Inner Sunset

tP&JA band comprising two pop loving friends John Moreman and Paul Myers, the knowingly named The Paul and John bring some power pop gold on ‘Inner Sunset’, a collection of tunes written over a three year period.  Fans of the rockier end of the genre will hear traces of many old favourites on this disc – Roger McGuinn, Alex Chilton, touches of Nick Lowe and even Soul Asylum…and, yes, a nod to them Beatles – but as with most acts ploughing a similar musical path, the homages are loving.  Taking those influences and melding them with some great hooks, The Paul & John are almost guaranteed to please.

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ABSENT FRIENDS: Mark Bacino

As part of our “catching up” series, Real Gone caught up with Mark Bacino, last seen in our columns in 2011.

Bacino gained some positive notices in the power pop community with his third full-length release ‘Queen’s English’, a mature album that moved away from his previous bubblegum styles and bought more Billy Joel and Randy Newman influences to the fore.  It was a concept album of sorts about growth and family, the album shared Bacino’s love of New York.  We hoped for a similarly classy follow-up, but the years passed and nothing appeared.  

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ABSENT FRIENDS: Oranjuly

With Real Gone celebrating its fifth anniversary in November 2014, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with a few faces and bands not featured in our columns for some time.  Bands move on, bands split, bands plough on…  In a first instalment of an ongoing series, we caught up with Brian E. King, mastermind behind Oranjuly to find out about his current activities.

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