Jonquil - Artist Picks!
Jonquil is one of my favourite shades of yellow; more importantly it also happens to be the name of one my favourite bands. Jonquil are an Oxford-based tropical folk-pop band, who make beautiful music somewhere in the vein of an atmospheric Beirut. Surprisingly, despite releasing two fantastic, critically acclaimed albums, and making several festival appearances (including my favourite performance of Latitude 2007) the band are yet to experience the level of fame they deserve. However, with the looming release of their next album, expect that to change.
Name: Hugo Manuel
About us:
Singer and chief key-boarder of Jonquil, a calypso-pop band from Oxford.
Listening to:
There is a pretty new exciting band from LA called Foolâs Gold who play African-inspired pop music, like a deeper, jazzier and more genuine Vampire Weekend. Their song âSurprise Hotelâ is one which will make you smile, I can guarantee, and if it doesnât then you are probably made of stone, or something. Iâve also been getting really into Cerroneâs spacey disco stuff from the early 80s. It has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but itâs really good nonetheless.
Take-Away Video
Reading : The book Iâm reading at the moment is the Neil Young biography âShakeyâ by Jimmy McDonough. Its so incredibly comprehensive⦠there is not a day of Youngâs life that is missed out, and you get such a genuine feel for who he is. I love the way he lives in a ranch out in the country and all his closest crew, his guitar tech, his engineers and so on live in the ranch too. Heâs never let himself get played by the system, and heâs always kept his distance from the industry and done his own thing, with his own people. He is probably the closest thing I could get to having a hero. Watching: Peep Show is the best thing on TV by a long way and the last good film I saw was Elephant by Gus Van Sant. Playing: I donât play computer games. Eating: Chicken Katsu Curry from Red Star, Cowley Road, Oxford Anything Else: A couple of great websites to recommend: http://www.inbflat.net/ and http://www.sr.se/p1/src/sing/ are both great places to waste time. Promo Info: A couple of shows in November in Birmingham and London before we take a few months off gigging to record our album. See here: http://www.myspace.com/jonquiluk
Reading : The book Iâm reading at the moment is the Neil Young biography âShakeyâ by Jimmy McDonough. Its so incredibly comprehensive⦠there is not a day of Youngâs life that is missed out, and you get such a genuine feel for who he is. I love the way he lives in a ranch out in the country and all his closest crew, his guitar tech, his engineers and so on live in the ranch too. Heâs never let himself get played by the system, and heâs always kept his distance from the industry and done his own thing, with his own people. He is probably the closest thing I could get to having a hero. Watching: Peep Show is the best thing on TV by a long way and the last good film I saw was Elephant by Gus Van Sant. Playing: I donât play computer games. Eating: Chicken Katsu Curry from Red Star, Cowley Road, Oxford Anything Else: A couple of great websites to recommend: http://www.inbflat.net/ and http://www.sr.se/p1/src/sing/ are both great places to waste time. Promo Info: A couple of shows in November in Birmingham and London before we take a few months off gigging to record our album. See here: http://www.myspace.com/jonquiluk
