Velvet Owl Turn Ons - September 2011

Following our summer break the Velvet Owl Gig Collective return with ten songs that are currently on heavy rotation on the VO record player.


Sophia - Laura Marling A welcome return from Laura Marling whose special guest slot at this year's Green Man Festival was one of the weekend's highlights.


Islands in the Stream - My Morning Jacket/Neko Case We love a good cover version here at VO towers, and this one ticks every box. It is a live recording, so the camera and sound are a little wobbly, but the version does justice to Kenny and Dolly's original.


Steady as She Goes - James Yorkston We're new recruits to the James Yorkston fan club, and therefore have a lot of catching up to do. An early member of the Fence Collective, Yorkston has released five studio albums to date, with this particular track coming off 2006's The Year of the Leopard.


Come to the City - War on Drugs Next up for the VO Gig Collective are War on Drugs who will be visiting the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in September to promote their new album The Slave Ambient.


Sutphin Boulevard - Blood Orange Dev Hynes (he of Test Icicles and Lightspeed Champion) reinvents himself once again with this futuristic slab of funk.


We Ask You to Ride - Wooden Shjips The experimental drone rockers return with a new album this autumn.  No better reason, therefore, to dig out this corker from their eponymously titled debut album.


Vomit - Girls The band's debut album releasd in 2009 still gets a regular airing at VO towers, and this lead track from their soon to be released follow-up leads us to believe Girls will be dominating the record player through until Christmas. 


Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) - Black Roc We forgot how freakin' good this is. Velvet Owl faves The Black Keys going all urban on our asses. Expect a follow up before the end of the year.


We Own the Sky - M83 Another band with new material waiting in the wings and another example of how the French do electronica better than anyone else. 


Tell Me A Tale - Michael Kiwanuka The bastard son of Roy Ayers and Tracy Chapman. Contender for song of the year.