W♥M

Leerone

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:15:31 -0600

Vu passed along singer-songwriter Leerone's debut full-length for me to post about and I'm so glad he did. Usually when a musician is labeled a "female singer-songwriter", the thought of acoustic songs comes to mind for some reason, but Leerone exceeded my expectations.

To Fill the Void

Leerone

Imaginary Biographies is Leerone's first full-length album featuring eleven original compositions with wonderful piano ballads. On choosing the title of the album, she said, "I think of this batch of songs as little stories and worlds that exist in my mind. I was thinking a lot about when something is imaginary, specifically that we choose to keep it imaginary, or to make it real. That's sort of where the title of the album came from." On the opening track "To Fill the Void", she provides some uplifiting words for anyone who's had uncertainty with their life; "Who are they to tell you what your life is supposed to mean? Why are you so willing to be at their mercy?". On "JUNK / Peace of Mind", she dismisses the media saying she can't find peace of mind among all the advertisements inviting consumption and greed, TV because it's too depressing, and People magazine because of its "rhetoric of stardom".

With songs like these, it urged me to listen to her two previous EPs, In This Life, On This Road and Hail to the Queen. They sound a little more raw and stripped down compared to Imaginary Biographies. Hail to the Queen is just her and her piano, whereas In This Life, On This Road features other instruments accompanying her piano and beautiful voice. A song that stood out while listening to these EPs was "All Is Well" from In This Life, On This Road. It's a simple song about her naivety as a child. She believed her life would be like Snow White, but as she grew older, that dream faded away and seemed intangible. Leerone is a great musician whose releases I look forward to, especially with her choice of subject matter in her songs and amazing musical compositions.

Leerone - Care For Some Whiskey?

Happy New Year to everyone! Here's to another year of sharing music with everyone who visits the site with open ears. I'm glad that WHM has a variety of contributors, all with their own personal musical interests. I'm looking forward to 2009 for some new releases.

"Hanging around is no fun if we can't share"

— Leerone, "Share"

Happy New Year!

Posted by Jason

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Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:56:42 -0500

Rachael Yamagata - Elephants

Today marks the release of Rachael Yamagata's Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart, the follow-up to her full-length debut, Happenstance. It was originally slated for a summer 2007 release, but due to changes at her original label, RCA, and switching managers, it was inevitably delayed. It is available now on Warner Bros. Records from various digital and retail stores.

The theme of Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart seems to be heartbreak and trying to overcome it. The album is split into two parts; the songs on Elephants are darker and more intimate while the tracks on Teeth Sinking Into Heart are grittier and more cynical.

Rachael Yamagata - Duet

Rachael Yamagata

The title track for Elephants ends with a gripping line that sets up the theme of the album; "So for those of you falling in love, keep it kind, keep it good, keep it right. Throw yourself in the midst of danger, but keep one eye open at night." The song was written while running down a mountain in Woodstock without a pen or paper; she kept repeating the lyrics so she wouldn't forget them. "Sunday Afternoon" is a beautifully orchestrated nine-minute piece about making a difficult decision and accepting that both people involved had a part in the collapse of the relationship; but not to dwell on it forever. It's followed by a sorrowful sounding "Elephants Instrumental" and "Duet", a stripped-down acoustic tune featuring singer-songwriter Ray Lamontagne about two people thinking of each other at the same time but are unfortunately in different places. She felt she was over the relationship, but her emotions got the best of her. On "Over and Over", she confesses, "I really thought I was okay. I really thought I was just fine, but when I woke this time, there was nothing to take me back to sleep, to take you off my mind".

Rachael Yamagata - Sidedish Friend

Whereas Elephants was more intimate, Teeth Sinking Into Heart seems to be her cynical side. "Sidedish Friend" opens this part of the album with the lyrics "I don't want you hanging out with me, but I want you when I call. We can stay together separately and we won't be lonely at at all" and "I don't want to get too close to you and I don't want you too close to me". It's about being someone's part-time lover. In "Faster", she sings, "You're like an old tattoo and I know you'll fade in time ... I'm not the one for you, there's just one thing left to do. Why don't you let me be." With this part of the album, she's clearly ready to move on.

From October 9 through November 18, Yamagata will be on tour for The Hotel Café Tour 2008. Joining her will be some amazing up-and-coming female singer-songwriters, some of which have been featured on W♥M: Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, Priscilla Ahn, Kate Havnevik, Thao Nguyen, Brooke Fraser, Samantha Crain, Alice Russell, Jaymay, Erin McCarley, Katie Herzig, Jenny Owen Youngs, Lenka, Emily Wells, Anya Marina, Holly Conlan, and Catherine Feeny.

Links: Official Website | MySpace | Youtube | The Hotel Cafe Tour

Posted by Jason

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Samantha Crain

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:54:38 -0500

Traipsing Through the Aisles

Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain is a Choctaw Indian singer-songwriter from Shawnee, OK. She has self-produced recordings, but today marks her debut on Ramseur Records. The Confiscation EP is a remarkable 5-song "music novella" with each song telling a different story; from the press release, Crain says, "Every second, everybody is being fulfilled or robbed, and when that happens, there is a story. Everybody has a story and they are stories of redemption or they are stories of betrayal."

She and her band The Midnight Shivers are currently on tour promoting The Confiscation EP.

Tour Dates

07/26/08 DFEST--Dirty’s Tavern Stage Tulsa, Oklahoma
07/28/08 Jackpot Music Hall Lawrence, KS
07/29/08 Dulcineas Denver, CO
07/30/08 The Palladium Salt Lake City, UT
08/01/08 Pickathon Roots Music Festival Portland, OR
08/02/08 Pickathon Roots Music Festival Portland, OR
08/04/08 Triple Door Mayfield! Seattle, WA
08/06/08 Sam Bond’s Garage Eugene, OR
08/07/08 Axe and Fiddle Pub and Music Club Cottage Grove, OR
08/08/08 Sophia’s Davis, CA
08/12/08 Hotel Cafe Los Angeles, CA
08/14/08 Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, CA
09/06/08 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL
09/07/08 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL
09/27/08 International Festival Lawton, OK
10/09/08 Taste Orlando, FL
10/10/08 The Globe Saint Petersburg, FL
10/11/08 New World Brewery Tampa, FL

Links: Official Website | MySpace | Virb

Posted by Jason

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Ben Sollee - Learning To Bend

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:36:17 -0500

It's Not Impossible

Ben Sollee

Amid the releases from more popular artists such as N.E.R.D, Alanis Morissette, Jakob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris this past Tuesday was a quiet release from an up-and-coming musician named Ben Sollee. I wasn't too sure I would enjoy this album considering the cello isn't an instrument widely used and I'm not familiar with it, but Ben completely won me over with his debut album Learning To Bend. His voice has a similar quality to Donavon Frankenreiter, Ben Harper, or Jack Johnson that I really like. Stand-out track for me was "It's Not Impossible". The song starts with a pleasant cello solo and then other instruments join in creating an uplifting sound. Despite the masculinity or machismo that's associated with men and how "boys don't cry," he says that it's not impossible, "it's just the hardest thing I've ever done". The album also features an adaptation of "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke in which he wrote updated and politically relevant verses and was covered on W♥M. Other tracks that piqued my interest were "How to See the Sun Rise," a soulful tune and "Bend" about "learning to bend" or being strong enough to bend or change when something abrupt happens. Learning To Bend is definitely on my list of best albums of 2008 so far and hopefully it'll be on yours also.

♥ "It's Not Impossible" / "How to See the Sun Rise" / "Bend" / "Prettiest Tree On the Mountain"

Links: Official Site | MySpace | Facebook | Internet Archive

Posted by Jason | my♥posts

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Priscilla Ahn

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:34:51 -0500

Wallflower

Priscilla Ahn

Priscilla Ahn has been playing guitar since she was 14 and grew up in Pennsylvania. She considered studying music in college, but a professor advised her to pursue a career in music instead. And so she did. Her friends brought her to a recording studio where she met Amos Lee while he was recording his first EP and she became an intern. After that, she moved to L.A. and through a gig at The Hotel Café, she met singer-songwriter Joshua Radin. They liked each other's music and voices and he invited her to sing songs with him. They went on tour and she found a couple of days in between touring to record her first EP. After touring with Radin, she played a showcase for Blue Note. They liked her and she liked them and she became part of the Blue Note Records family.

I first stumbled upon Priscilla Ahn last year while writing about Allie Moss and Ingrid Michaelson. She was one of the artists under "Listeners Also Bought" and I immediately purchased her self-titled EP after listening to the samples. So, it's been almost a year since then and her full-length debut album, A Good Day, is being released today on Blue Note Records. Two of the tracks, "Dream" and "I Don't Think So," the former being her current single, were featured on her EP, but were re-recorded for the album. If you're a fan of Ingrid Michaelson, Jaymay, Rachael Yamagata, or similar artists, you'll definitely enjoy Priscilla Ahn. A Good Day has a nice blend of folk, country, pop, singer-songwriter type songs and Ahn has an amazing voice that can be listened to all day.

A Good Day is out now on Blue Note Records in stores and online. Just a heads up, the non-album track "We Were Free" is included with the album if bought from iTunes.

♥ "Wallflower" / "I Don't Think So" / "Leave the Light On" / "Find My Way Back Home"

Links: Official Site | MySpace | Facebook | YouTube

Posted by Jason | my♥posts

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Julia Marcell

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:31:28 -0500

Night of the Living Dead

I've been following Julia Marcell's progress on Sellaband since July of last year. That was when I stumbled upon her Sellaband page and ordered her Storm EP. The EP contained a riddle that I couldn't solve so I was never able to "open the gate" on her previous website.

Since joining Sellaband, she's been gaining "believers" (657 to be exact) and has raised enough money to record a full-length. Today marks the release of her debut album, It Might Like You, and is also Sellaband's first release by a Polish artist. As a promotion for the past month, she's been posting short teasers on Youtube that are quite... umm... uhh... well... just watch them. There are two versions of the album; the regular edition

Accordion Player

with all the tracks and a limited edition with extra goodies that includes a twenty-three minute video documentary on the making of the album, "Billy Elliot" music video, the five video teasers, the album as mp3s (so there's no need to wait for the tracks to encode), and photos from the recording session. The website for the album includes a feature where you can create your own cover by allowing you to draw on a square portrait of Julia. Quite an interesting idea.

There will be a listening session for the album on Sellaband starting at 8pm EST for Believers and 9pm EST for the rest of the world.

Julia Marcell's New Album Teaser 01

Links: Official Webite | Album Website | Sellaband | MySpace | Youtube

Posted by Jason | my♥posts

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Scion A/V Remixes: Three Exclusive Releases

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:45:57 -0500

Charlie Brown

Scion A/V is at it again with three exclusive releases! They recently released the splendid Daptone Records Remixed sampler (W♥M), so it's safe to say that these are just as awesome.

First up is Ghostface Killah vs. Rhythm Roots All-Stars with "Charlie Brown". The original track, produced by MF Doom, was intended to be on Ghostface Killah's 2006 release Fishscale, but it contained a sample from Caetano Veloso's "Alfomega" and didn't receive clearance. Jump to now and here's the track featuring Ghostface's fast-paced rapping skills and the Rhythms Roots All-Stars' funky beats.

Charlie Brown (DJ Mehdi Remix)

The second release contains "four unique dance remixes of 'Charlie Brown' by world renowned French electro producers Yuksek, Orgasmic and DJ Mehdi, as well as Los Angeles-based DJ and production duo Guns N Bombs."

And the third release features up-and-coming hip-hop artists Wale, Pase Rock and 4th Pyramid rapping over beats by the 45 King and remixes by New York-based producers DJ Ayres, Inflagranti, Eli Escobar, and Sammy Bananas. 45 King is most famous for "The 900 Number" which samples Marva Whitney's "Unwind Yourself" and probably most recognized in DJ Kool's

The 900 Number (2k8)

"Let Me Clear My Throat".

Starting May 6, Scion will be distributing "Charlie Brown" and the remixes at Scion-sponsored events and will also be available as a free download online. On May 13, the 45 King remixes will be available for purchase from all leading online retailers.

Links: Scion A/V

Posted by Jason | my♥posts

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WAZ - The Sweet Bye and Bye

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:14:58 -0500

Why Can't We

WAZ

WAZ is from Los Angeles, CA, but grew up in Cleveland, OH. While in college, he met Pete Yorn and after graduating, they formed a band. They went on the road for tours and WAZ realized the emotional impact music had on people. So, in between tours, he recorded his own music with R. Walt Vincent. After receiving some positive reactions to his own music, he decided to go solo. He started playing at The Hotel Cafe and was approached by Will Golden & Al Sgro who were opening a small studio. "While they were working with other clients, I would pick up odd jobs in order to pay for the sessions. We would work for 2-3 days at a time every couple of weeks... it was always borrowed time." The result was a four song EP released on iTunes in Europe and his debut full-length The Sweet Bye and Bye which is available now.

The songs on the album seem very personal and emotional. There were three tracks that stood out upon first listen. "Mine to Remember" is about wanting one last chance to say "I love you" to the woman he truly loves and hoping will stay. "Why Can't We" is from his father's perspective and is summed up in the chorus — "why can't we stay in love" — which is referring to his parents. And in "She's Gone" he's trying to cope with the woman's absence. The Sweet Bye and Bye is a solid, gripping debut from an up and coming singer-songwriter. For more information on WAZ, visit his website.

04/21/2008 03:14:58 jason my♥posts myspace.com/waz

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Harold Nono

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:41:50 -0500

Tacky Tigers

Harold Nono

Bearsuit Records is a small label based in Leith, a part of North Edinburgh, Scotland. Vu covered their compilation A Weevil in a Biscuit back in January. One of the artists featured on that compilation was Harold Nono.

Harold Nono graduated from Edinburgh Art College with a painting degree. Listening to his third release on Bearsuit Records, To the River Lounge, his degree is quite fitting. The album sounds like layers of paint, juxtaposed, and organized in his own unique way. It opens with "Lullaby", a downtempo track that features a woman's voice singing over a head-jerkin drumbeat. The following track "A Shining Space" reminds me of some creepy Japanese horror film like Ju-on. Next is "Rain" and it makes me feel like I'm floating above a body of water on a beautiful sunny day. "Waterspeakers" brings the listener back to the water and features bells of some sort and a looping hum that sound like waves. Later in the album, "Tacky Tigers" comes and sweeps you out of the water and into a fairy-tale with its glistening flutes and innocent and playful tone. To the River Lounge is truly a great album and different from what I normally listen to and post on W♥M.

For more information on Harold Nono and/or purchase the album, visit his site or Bearsuit Records.

04/18/2008 23:41:50 jason my♥posts myspace.com/haroldnono myspace.com/bearsuitrecords

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Boo and Boo Too

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:32:19 -0500

Couch on Fire

Boo and Boo Too

Artist: Boo and Boo Too
Album: Boo and Boo Too EP
Release Date: May 22, 2007
Label: Ironpaw Records
Location: Lawrence, KS
Genre: Indie, Rock, Experimental
Similar: Desaparecidos, The Strokes, At the Drive-In
Listen: David Turns a Mystic, Couch on Fire
Purchase: Ironpaw Records, Amazon

Upon first listen, the vocals reminded me of Conor Oberst's days with Desaparecidos (more apparent on "David Turns a Mystic") and The Strokes (though what band with noisy guitars and pop riffs hasn't been compared to them?). Though the suggested tracks were the first three, it was the fourth and final track on the EP, "Couch on Fire", that really grabbed my attention. Right from the opening, Barrett Emke howls "There's a couch on fire!" and the song gradually becomes wonderfully instrumental. Their music doesn't sound like something I would associate with a children's book, but I was surprised by how their band name came about. This is what they had to say about it in an interview with Lawrence.com:

April Fleming: Where did your band name come from?
Barrett Emke: It comes from a book. It’s a children’s book and there are two ghosts. One of the ghosts is named Boo and the other ghost is named Boo Too. They live in this house together and they have this costume party, and they eat a bunch of cake and play hide and seek and Boo Too gets stuck in the chimney.

April: Oh no — what were they doing?
Barrett: She hides and then because she ate too much cake so she gets stuck in the chimney — then they find her and pull her out.

April: I didn’t know ghosts could get fat.
Derek Solsberg: Ghosts love cake.

Their debut EP is available through their label Ironpaw Records or you can get it from Amazon (Sellers).

Links: Official Site | Virb | MySpace

Posted by Jason

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