Tag Archives: westcoast

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #21

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Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. We’re happy to share a typically mixed batch this time around. You’ll find the return of an underground rock band, a brilliant track loaded with harmonies that draws influence from the Laurel Canyon scene, a tune that goes deeply into an Americana sound, a piece of modern metal and more besides… As always, these are just eight picks from the mountain of material that’s come our way, but we think you’ll find something new to enjoy.

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STATE COWS – Challenges

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State Cows have been making excellent westcoast/yacht rock music since 2010. Always unashamed in their retro-ness, the band have delighted fans across the world with various self-penned homages to Toto, Steely Dan and late 70s Doobie Brothers. There’s nothing obviously original about the Cows’ choice of style, but there’s no denying they do it better than most…and even after so many years, the fact that this most American of sounds was perfected somewhere in Sweden is a fact that still amazes.

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STATE COWS – Stealing The Show EP

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In 2011, something unexpected happened. The most perfect homage to American westcoast pop sounds appeared in the shape of a debut album by a band named State Cows. Bits of Toto, Airplay, Maxus and pretty much everything with that vibe from 1978-81 was reborn in an almost flawless contemporary recording. It was almost impossible to tell whether the recordings had been sitting in a vault since 1980. Even more unbelieveable, these wondrous American sounds were recreated in a much less sunny Sweden. For westcost lovers, tracks like ‘New York Town’ and the wryly humorous ‘Stella By The Barlight’ became fast and firm favourites. Two years on, the aptly named ‘The Second One’ brought more of the same, but was perhaps a little weaker in places. Not that State Cows had lost their knack for retro sounds – the songs were very strong; it was more that element of surprise was gone.

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Hear new music from State Cows

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State Cows are back! The cult Swedish westcoast band will return with a new album ‘Challenges’ in the near future. A Valentines Day update on their official Facebook page claimed it was “still too early to schedule a release date”, but they’re already streaming a couple of new tracks from their Bandcamp page.

You can stream the new tracks ‘I Got The Message’ and ‘Borrowed Time’ below.

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Remembering Walter Becker: 1950-2017

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On September 3rd 2017, it was announced that the legendary Walter Becker had passed away.

The multi-instrumentalist and record producer will always be best known as an integral part of westcoast rock/jazz-rock trailblazers Steely Dan. Taking in various elements of rock pop and jazz, brought to life in the studio and in the live setting by a crack team of session players – including Michael McDonald, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Toto’s Steve Lukather and countless others – few had equalled the perfectionist sound of Steely Dan.

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