Friday, December 28, 2012

TOM WAITS: SINGER/SONGWRITER/ACTOR


Tom Waits, an American Singer/Songwriter/Actor, released his latest album BAD AS ME, out October 2011, which is nominated for a GRAMMY for “Best Alternative Music Album” 2013. His first Grammy was back in 1992.

Waits sometimes dubbed “America’s Craziest Uncle” was inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame  in 2011. Click the link below for the presentation by Neil Young.


Rolling Stone critic, Daniel Durchholz describes Waits voice “Like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for few months and then taken outside and run over with a car”, that pretty much describes it to a tee.

NPR ‘s  Jesse Dylan writes Everything about Tom Waits is a contradiction of one sort or another: He cuts an unknowable and even otherworldly figure, yet his songwriting can be tear-jerkingly humane. He's untethered to eras or trends, yet his sound and the characters he inhabits are distinctly American. And, for all the ways his image classifies him as a lone wolf, he's one of music's great collaborators, having spent the last three decades working closely with wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan.
Waits, of course, is an expert at feeding the mystery surrounding his deeply weird but strangely accessible music; to interview the man is to be led into a catacomb of misdirection and non sequiturs. But on his 20th album Bad As Me, out Oct. 24, Waits and Brennan continue to craft songs marked by uncommon empathy. Waits' first all-new studio record in seven years, it toggles constantly between heartsick vulnerability and hell-bound defiance: He may attempt to wake the devil in the stomping title track, commiserating with a lover who's "the same kind of bad as me," but a few songs later, he's grimly mourning his status as "the last leaf on the tree" — a survivor, but a lonely one.
For Waits, vulnerability and defiance are two sides of the same coin anyway; just listen to the blisteringly ramshackle "Satisfied," in which satisfaction and death are practically interchangeable. He may exude fatalism in "Pay Me" — a punch-in-the-gut ballad in which he memorably sings, "All roads lead to the end of the world" — but his delivery is a carefully controlled mix of ruefulness and realism. For Waits, ugliness and beauty both find ways to persist against all opposition. But in the end, amid these 13 songs' furious clatter and gutter-level grime, beauty improbably wins out”.
Tom Waits: Discography - Many well know artists have recorded his music, you may be surprised by his list of recordings.
  
Warm Beer & Cold Women

Bad As Me

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA: ELECTRONIC DANCE


Swedish House Mafia released their 2nd Compilation album UNTIL NOW, out 10/22/2012. Originating in Stockholm Sweden, Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrossa, local disc jockeys formed Swedish House Mafia in 2008.

Their latest single ‘Don’t Worry Child’ (feat. John Martin) is nominated for a Grammy as “Best Dance Recording” for 2013. Their previous album UNTIL ONE, single release ‘Save The World’, was nominated for a Grammy 2012 for the “Best Dance Recording”.  Join the RAVE video link for “Don’t Worry Child”, as Britney Spears would say “It's amazing”.

While they are on a roll, the trio has decided to call it quits and kicked off their last tour November 2012 ending March 2013.

From Wikipedia:Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved." 

Invite to “BLACK TIE RAVE”   2/28/2013 NYC for Sandy Relief


“Don’t Worry Child”

“Save The World”

“Miami 2 Ibiza feast Tinie Tempah”


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Thursday, December 20, 2012

LUKE JAMES: SINGER/SONGWRITER


Luke James, the New Orleans native whose music presents a sincerity of unrefined soulfulness is a newcomer on the scene with his first single out ‘I Want You’, nominated for a Grammy 2013 for "Best R&B Performance".  While new on the recording end of the business, you may have heard his name before as a songwriter. There is no denying he has a beautiful soulful voice which ooze’s sex and seduction as an adult contemporary soul singer. Keep an eye out for future music from this guy. Check out his web-site for current info:  http://whoislukejames.com/

James co-wrote Chris Brown’s “Crawl” and has penned songs for Justin Bieber (‘That Should Be Me’) and Britney Spears (‘Kill The Lights’), among others.  James will appear on BeyoncĂ©, new video “Run the World”.  James upcoming mix tape and album features  'Make Love to Me' a sizzling sensual video linked below.

. “This isn’t a fad for me,” declares James. “I’m willing to go wherever with this because music is everything to me. This is my world and how I see it. My music speaks for me in a way that’s relatable and truthful.”

When searching for information on Luke James you will find a lot of stuff on another guy by the name of Luke James, whose music is actually good but on the pop style of Jason Martz, and also Christian Gospel by a Luke James, but not sure if it is the same guy, but certainly the opposite end of the spectrum. 






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PALOMA FAITH: SINGER/SONGWRITER


Paloma Faith released her second studio album FALL TO GRACE out December 2012 on iTunes. The 27 year old Hackney London native, brings to us pop rock/soft rock, and sometimes a little soul/jazz  vibe, as she emulates the late great Etta James, and the late Billy Holiday who were her early inspirations.

About a year ago in a conversation with my friend from Scotland, I asked who was hot on the ‘Pop Scene’ with the locals, and Paloma Faith was mentioned. At the time not much was out there about her or her music in the USA, but recently she has exploded on Google, youtube, and  iTunes and just about everywhere else.

FALL TO GRACE, reached Platinum status in the UK before it hit the USA markets, this past fall. The talented Faith is an artist to watch in the coming years, be it acting or singing/songwriting; she has a future in the entertainment business. This fall she toured briefly in the USA;  San Francisco, and the east coast cities, but no fears, she will be back.

Side Note:  You may recognize her face if you watch TV shows on the BBC, she is an actress and has been acting since 2006, on TV and in motion pictures as well as a singer/songwriter and recording artist.






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Sunday, December 16, 2012

MIGUEL: SINGER/SONGWRITER



Miguel, born Miguel Jontel Pimentel, released his 2nd studio album KALEIDOSCOPE DREAM,, out October  2012 and currently nominated for 4 Grammy’s. His single release ‘Adorn’ from the album came out in September.
·         2013, Song of the Year: "Adorn" - Songwriter (Nominated)
·         2013, Best R&B Song: "Adorn" - Songwriter (Nominated)
·         2013, Best R&B Performance: "Adorn" (Nominated)
·         2013, Best Urban Contemporary Album: "Kaleidoscope Dream" (Nominated)


Miguel is also nominated as songwriter on the artist Wale’s album AMBITION
·         2013, Best Rap Song: "Lotus Flower Bomb" - Songwriter (Nominated)
Miguel is an American neo-soul, Rn’B, pop singer, songwriter and music producer, who incorporates funk, Rn’B, hip-hop, rock and electronic styles into his music. In an interview with Papermagazine, he regarded his music as "fly, funkadelic, intergalactic-hip-hop-meets-sexy-orgasmic crazy, dope shit".

KALEIDESCOPE DREAM  has a few good tracks, with ‘Adorn’, ‘Don’t Look Back’, and the ‘title track’, but nothing really memorable, or mind blowing. He has been rewarded for his musical ability with Grammy nominations, but only time will tell if he has staying power in the business.   

From a recent interview by NPR Staff: 12/13/2012
“Breaking out of "the bedroom"
While Miguel's songs can be steamy, he doesn't want to be confined to a stereotype of an soul music seducer. "I feel like R&B as a genre has become a caricature of itself," he says. "I get it all the time you know? Crooner, or sexy, or 'for the bedroom', or 'this album is sure to make the ladies swoon'. And it's like alright man my life isn't lived in the bedroom." His interest in issues beyond romance is on display in songs like "Candles in The Sun." In that song, he explores topics ranging from poverty to war to drug addiction. Miguel was worried that his fans wouldn't follow him when his songs took a more serious turn. But he has been pleasantly surprised. "It's been so refreshing and such a blessing to discover that there are a lot of people out there who love soul music and who really enjoy and appreciate the fact that I even said anything about what's going on this album," he says. "I miss that from R&B music and it's cool to find people who miss it just as much as I do."




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Sunday, December 9, 2012

ALABAMA SHAKES: ROCK BAND


Alabama Shakes, one of the biggest bands of the moment, an American rock band formed in Alabama in 2009, released their first album BOYS AND GIRLS. They came out of the shoot fronted by Brittney Howard to 3 Grammy nominees for 2013. 1. Best New Artist, 2. Best Rock Performance for “Hold On”, and 3. Best Recording Package, art direction; Brett Kilroe.  (Grammy's will be presented February 10, 2013).

Other members of the group are:  Heath Fogg, Zac Cockerell and Steve Johnson. Similar to style of the Black Keys, and other Americana, blues rock, soulful bands, but Brittney Howard outshines them with her gritty Janis Joplin style vocals. The soulful Howard will touch your soul, as you feel her powerful vocals down to your toes.

April  11, 2012 NPR music, interview by Autumn de Wilde:  Alabama Shakes' music exudes a 1960s soul vibe — which, when coupled with Howard's vocals, has gotten the band compared to some heavy-hitting musicians, including Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.
"You know, some comparisons are really flattering. At the same time, it's just the way I sound — and this is the only way I know how to sound, really," Howard says. "I think, mainly, my voice is just something that formed over the years, and I can't sing very quietly. If anything, if I could compare my voice with someone, not necessarily the way it sounds but the way it feels to sing, it'd be like Bon Scott from AC/DC."





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Friday, December 7, 2012

JASON GOULD: SINGER


Jason Gould released his self titled debut EP out October 2012. Gould, an actor, film director, and writer recently took up singing professionally; he is the son of Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould and at the age of 45 has recorded his first EP. Not sure what took him so long, but well worth giving him a chance to be heard. 


Streisand said in an interview, he came to her last year with a record he recorded. She implied she had only heard him hum before. As a proud Mom she took her son on tour with her this fall, promoting his new EP and beautiful voice at every opportunity.

Gould can definitely sing; his extraordinary voice is pleasing to the ear. He is not the familiar pop artist, but one of those guys that have longevity in the business, like Andy Williams or Frank Sinatra, he is that good.

Gould’s EP is available on iTunes and Amazon.




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