Cuckoo for CoCo: Colbie Caillat's Debut Album

Ok, so I found something to mix in with my Mandy Moore rotation these days - Colbie Caillat's new album CoCo.

It has that Southern California vibe that reminds me of the time I got to stay in a beach house that belonged to my mom's friend. The doors and windows were always open because there weren't any bugs to speak of and the weather was perfect, perfect, perfect. So I had three or four days of gauzy sheer curtains blowing in the breeze and that fresh ocean air smell all through the house. Flip-flops and sarongs as standard dress. Lemon trees in the backyard. Spontaneously arranged seashell collections on the porch. That's where I go when I listen to CoCo. Not a bad place to be taken back to in my mind!

And apparently appropriate, since she IS from California. I can see what the people reviewing her on iTunes mean when they say things like she's writing "Beach Music" and they would love for her play with Jack Johnson sometime.

Colbie's voice is sweet and soothing, and overall the beats are light and bouncy, even on the slower songs. Favorite songs of the moment: Bubbly for the super cute lyrics and tune, Tied Down for the ukulele and reggae vibe, Feelings Show for the catchy chorus that gets my head bopping every time. Honestly though, I really just like the whole album! Every song is good, so no need to skip around or fast forward.

My lovely cousin pointed me to Colbie's MySpace page a few months ago and I signed up to get updates right away because I knew I'd be wanting to hear more! One of those MySpace success stories, Colbie ventured out into the public arena by posting a few songs on her page. When she put Bubbly up she suddenly skyrocketed to be the number one unsigned artist on MySpace, a position she held for four months in a row! Of course record companies took notice, and since she already had a huge fan base and real life feedback that she was a success, she was able to sign with a company that would give her full creative control. I think her fans will agree it's a good thing, Colbie knows what she's doing and has a good thing going. I could listen to her pure, simple, sweet sound for a long, long time.

UPDATE - where to buy CoCo:

Download on On iTunes
Download or buy CD On Amazon

Quick Links

Just some quick little links because Harry Potter is calling!

Two awesome interviews and two music related movie previews:

Interview with Lori McKenna

Interview with Mandy Moore

Looks like August Rush is going to be a gorgeous movie, I cried just at this little preview!

I really want to see Once. My friend in LA has seen it already and told me it was good, plus having recently been to Dublin and seen several street performers, I'm all the more intrigued!

I Can't Stop Listening To: Mandy Moore's "Wild Hope"

Anyone paying attention to my Last.FM profile would notice that Mandy Moore has skyrocketed to the top of my charts in the last week or so. That's because I can't stop listening to her new album Wild Hope. 137 song plays! And that's not even counting the times I listened to it at work! Or the times certain songs run through my head during the day just from memory. Yipes! That's how I am with new music though, I tend to sink my teeth in and listen it to death. (or until something else comes along to grab my attention. G can't figure out why I need an iPod because from what he can tell, I just listen to the same music over and over again. I tried to explain that it might be the same music at any one particular time, but it's always changing. :-) um... It makes sense in my head.)

Anyhoo, my favorite Wild Hope track at the moment is "Few Days Down", probably because I relate to the lyrics, especially in the chorus:

And all that you want
Is a few days down
All that you need
A little time to drown
It's to be expected
With all the weight you carry 'round
All that you want is
A Few Days Down

(rest of song lyrics here)

I guess it's a little bit of sad song, but it has that cathartic effect of letting me know I'm not the only one, and somehow that in itself, coupled with the beauty of the melody, lifts a weight of my shoulders for at least a few minutes.

The first time heard Mandy Moore was (embarrassing confession) when she opened at a Backstreet Boys concert. (Hey, they put on a darn good show, and a few of their songs really got me through high school and college.) She was super young, maybe fifteen or so? The thing I most remember about the show was thinking, "She has absolutely no butt whatsoever!" Strange, I know, but that's really what struck me at the time. We've both grown up a lot since then, and it's neat to see what she's doing now - which is working with super cool people! It's pretty fascinating to know the style of Mandy's collaborators so well that I can hear their flavor come through on the songs she wrote with them. I love the more folk-style sound she has now.

So yeah, Wild Hope gets two thumbs up from me!

I suppose if I got to write songs with Lori McKenna, Rachel Yamagata AND The Weepies I might call my album Wild Hope too! Alternate titles could be Seriously? Me?, or Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming.

PS Here's a cute
preview/making of album video from her official website.

10 Women Who Rock Right Now

One more quick link before bed!

Check out spinner.com's list of 10 Women Who Rock Right Now.

I don't even know who a bunch of these women are. hmmmmm.

What Imogen Heap Is Listening To These Days

Check out this mini-interview where Imogen Heap lists the music she's currently into, plus lists some of her musical firsts (first concert, first album, etc).

I almost think my favorite part is at the top where they list her instruments: Carpet Tubes, Vocals, Metal Gate, Keyboards, Kazoo, Programming ...

Brilliant.

Broccoli and Beats: The Ditty Bops Farm Tour

I found The Ditty Bops through a spontaneous MySpace click. I don't usually check out the featured stuff on the sign-in pages, but something about them caught my eye and I'm glad! Their perky, wacky, vintage sound makes me happy, and they are really intelligent, aware, creative, confident and conscientious human beings (the kind I like!) who find fun ways to deliver the messages they think are important.

For example, last year they did a bike tour across the country to promote alternate forms of transportation. I think their support vehicle was bio-fueled. I personally can't image riding a full day and then having the energy to do a concert afterwards. (back when I did RAGBRAI all I wanted to do at the end of the day was shower, eat and sleep! And that was only one week of riding!) The amusing blog chronicle of Abby and Amanda's ride is full of photos, videos, cartoons by the girls, food diaries and more.

This year they are making tour stops on farms from California to New York to help bring awareness to where our food comes from. Check their schedule to see if they have a stop near you!



More Ditty Links:


exclusive interview on YouTube



http://www.myspace.com/dittybops
http://www.thedittybops.com

So Beautiful - Lori McKenna's Unglamorous

I just discovered Lori McKenna's YouTube channel. Along with a great interview video, it has several fun little travel vlogs from her recent Soul2Soul tour with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. The vlogs show Lori just as I would imagine based on her written blogs: humble, grateful, excited and a bit wide-eyed about the whole touring thing. They're edited by her son Brian, which makes them even cuter (in my opinion), and he does a really good job!

Here's one from their stop at Saskatoon:



Check out her channel for more.

Lori was a delightful discovery for me - I first heard Faith Hill's version of Fireflies on the radio during one of my drives home from Kansas City back to Iowa. It was a more than two hour, super early morning journey I made weekly for a few months when I was taking a class in Kansas City. It was before my iPod and the car didn't have a CD player. The three radio station choices were bible thumping sermons, crude shockjock talk shows or country music. During those months I quickly grew to appreciate that country channel. The stories in the songs were funny, poignant, touching or true in turns. Often the tunes were simple enough that I could be belting my lungs out right along with the singers by the second chorus, even if I'd never heard the song before.

I've admired plenty of songwriters and often wished I could be like them, but I think Fireflies was the first song where my first reaction really was, "Oh my gosh I wish I'd written that!!" I was impressed enough that I had to reach for a scrap of paper and make a quick note while I was driving so I could look it up later.

Little did I know that I'd be finding such inspiration! I somehow discovered that Fireflies was originally by Lori McKenna, a young mother of five, who was writing and recording songs at her kitchen table. Songs so good that when Faith Hill heard them, she stopped her current record to go back and add them in! I don't have kids but I'd like to someday, and I'm always on the lookout for role models like Lori. She has an honesty, sweetness and confidence about her that we could use more of in this world.

And to think I might have missed out if I hadn't been willing to give the country radio station a try! (She definitely has a folk rock/acoustic appeal as well, but I don't think any of the stations I was usually listening to at the time would have played her stuff.) Lori's latest single Unglamorous is available now on iTunes, I can't wait for the rest of the album (set to release 8-14-07)!

Adrina Thorpe - A Whole Latte Musical Inspiration!

(I'll tie that coffee reference in at the end, I promise!)

Back when I joined MySpace in Sept 2006, one of the first musicians to find me was Adrina Thorpe.



With 14 out of her 20 influences already in my music collection (Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Jewel, Coldplay, Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette and Norah Jones to name a few) I figured there was a pretty good chance of me liking Adrina's music, and I do! Her soothing piano pop has catchy hooks, soaring vocals and relatable lyrics. She even has a fun remix that reminds me of the stuff on Sarah McLachlin's Bloom .

The other thing I like about Adrina is she's doing everything on her own and making it work as an independent musician! By keeping up with her bulletins and blog entries I've gotten to see her process. I've loved watching her grow and try new things. I love how she is a genuinely good person who asks her fans for feedback and actually writes back to them. It's fun to be part of her climb/journey to wider exposure and making it as a musician.

Right now she is in the process of gathering funds to record her next album and has started a new MySpace page with that as the focus.

Have a listen to some songs for free on her original page and if you like what you hear, pop over to her album fund page and "buy her a latte", cuz if all her fans did that, she'd have enough to cover the recording costs in no time! It's amazing what a little bit can do. Make mine a venti!

Handful of Dates Tour

So I'm reading about Melissa Ferrick and how she is playing with Ani DiFranco for the "Handful of Dates Tour" this September and I'm thinking, "Oh bummer, with just a few dates it's probably just big cities." I click through to the info page and what do I see but

"Iowa City, IA - Hancher Auditorium"

staring back at me from the right hand column. WHOO-HOO!!

They are having a special pre-sale for fans - tickets go on sale 10 days before regular tickets for the rest of the public if you have the secret password.

Other cities included in September:
Buffalo, NY
Lorain, OH
Louisville, KY
Indianapolis, IN
Milwaukee, WN
Chicago, IL

If you're a lucky one who lives nearby - Congrats!