People Look Around - Catie Curtis' Song for New Orleans

It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina broke through the levees in New Orleans.

Catie Curtis' song People Look Around was meant to raise awareness for the situation - looks like we still need it.



You can download a karaoke version on Catie's site if you want to get out there and sing it too! (Last track listed on Long Night Moon)

Another appropriate song for the day: Out of Pawn by Anaïs Mitchell. She dedicated it to the people of New Orleans before she sang it at the concert I went to a while back.

Speaking of Anaïs reminds me of Rachel Ries. I just found out today that Rachel's new album is done and she's starting a CD release tour! More on that soon... cannot properly express how excited I am about it at this hour. Let's just say VERY VERY!


Sample the music of these lovely ladies on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/catiecurtis
http://www.myspace.com/anaismitchell
http://www.myspace.com/rachelries




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Umbrella Craze Continues... Marié Digby Has One Too!

A couple entries back I posted a vid of Mandy Moore covering Umbrella by Rihanna.

Since then I've gotten a bunch of hits from people searching on how to buy Mandy's version. As of this posting, it's not on iTunes, and I don't know if it ever will be (if they add it later I'll let you know).

I DID find a different acoustic version of Umbrella on iTunes, sung by Marié Digby. If you like Mandy Moore's version of Umbrella, you might like Marié's too. It's a little more upbeat, but it's still slower and less produced than Rihanna's version, so the lyrics/story of the song really stand out.

It's getting mixed reviews on iTunes. Some people like it better stripped down. The comments from the "haters" who don't like this version are mostly people who are mad at Marié for "messing up" or "stealing" Rihanna's song and say that Marié should write her own music. This is kind of funny because:

1) Umbrella doesn't belong to Rihanna, it was written by Terius Nash (who wrote it as a wartime lullaby for his buddies in Iraq and at one point thought he'd have Britney sing it!)

2) Profits from the downloads are going mostly to the writers and to the Save the Music Foundation.

3) Marié DOES write her own songs and has since she was 15! She just happened to catch people's attention with her Umbrella cover on YouTube.

Now that Marié has that attention, the spotlight is on her to deliver the goods, and I think she's more than ready and capable! Pretty voice, sparkly personality and a radio friendly sound. She has a Digital EP called Start Here set to release September 11, 2007 that should be fun to check out.

Find out more about Marié Digby:
Marié on MySpace

Official Fan Site (has Marié originals)

Marié's YouTube Channel (Originals, plus she covers other popular stuff - Maroon 5, Nelly Furtado, Linkin Park, etc. It's kind of like she's hosting her own American Idol or something.)


A quick Google and YouTube search shows that Umbrella is "THE Song of this Summer" apparently, everyone wants to sing it, critique it, or play it on the piano, or make mash-up tribute videos. Everyone except the people who hate it that is. Because there are definitely people planted firmly on both sides of the fence. It's kind of growing on me personally, but maybe that's because I only discovered it last week, and finding out about the history of the song makes me appreciate it more... What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between?


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Jasmine Ash Likes Me!

At least that's what her MySpace profile says! And Jasmine's personality shines so brightly that somehow I believe it. Shine is also the name of her new album (June 2007), and it does indeed have a lovely sparkle.

Her delicate folk-pop is sometimes deceptive - Jasmine's voice is so sweet and her melodies are so beguiling that you need to really listen to the lyrics to catch that some of the songs are wistful or even a bit angry. For example, the final track is a cover of Come Pick Me Up by Ryan Adams. It has a couple naughty words, but the spun-sugar vocals had me thinking "Did she really just say what I thought she did?" (It's the only song to give the album an explicit rating. Some glitch on iTunes labeled every track as explicit. There's a clean version too)

Other songs offer comfort - like Fall, where Jasmine lets you know you are not alone. I love it because you can hear the infectious smile on her face. Even better, you can see it in this video:


See? She likes you too!

Go be her friend:
Listen on MySpace

Show her you like her back:
Buy Shine on CD Baby (more money goes direct to Jasmine)
or
Buy Shine on Amazon
or
Download Shine on iTunes (Comes with a digital booklet and an extra audio track where she thanks the people who worked on the album and gives a run-down of the inspiration behind each song.)

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Mandy Moore Borrows Rihanna's Umbrella

Over at Yahoo Music they've got a little series called "Cover Art" where current musicians cover songs by other current musicians. It's kind of like those reality shows where they swap families and try to pick polar opposite moms to make it more interesting, because the "Cover Art" series pairs up artists with songs that aren't their usual genre. The latest one is Mandy Moore singing Umbrella - originally done by Rihanna (iTunes link).

As Mandy says in the beginning of the video, she doesn't much listen to Top 40's music these days, and neither do I, but of course once I saw Mandy's version, I had find Rihanna's version to compare.





It's funny, while I definitely resonate more with Mandy's style (as evidenced by my rave review of her new album), at the same time I think I like Rihanna's version better for the song. Mandy's slow, sweet and smooth take is gorgeous melodically, but some of the lyrics sound a wee bit silly when sung in a more straightforward manner. Rihanna sings the same lyrics and I don't bat an eye, they're more suited to the R&B/rock style. And I'm really glad Mandy didn't try to sing the title word in the same number of syllables as Rihanna, that would have been too over the top. Good choice Mandy! No um-ber-rel-la's for you! Rihanna needs them for her dancers.

Speaking of which, I'm not so sure about the dancers with their umbrellas in Rihanna's live version. Maybe I was thrown because I'm just used to seeing that kind of umbrella work more in a Broadway musical than an R&B video. I do like all the ballet shoes and umbrellas and such in the studio version though:



Rihanna on wikipedia
Rihanna's new album Good Girl Gone Bad on iTunes
Rihanna on MySpace

(I found the Mandy video via crazybananas. Thanks!)


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The Ditty Bops New Farm Tour Blog

As I mentioned earlier, The Ditty Bops are currently doing a tour of farms to help raise awareness and funds for farming. They started a fun new blog to track their travels.

Last year they rode their bikes across the country on tour to raise awareness for alternative forms of transportation. Here's a little recap of their 2006 tour:



Check out http://thedittybopsfarmtour.blogspot.com/ for updates of their 2007 adventure, complete with photos and YouTube clips of everything from farm tours to trying to remove a loose tooth from Abby's niece's mouth on stage. Oh yes, and singing, 'cuz those girls can sing!

Here's a few places you can have a listen, if they aren't stopping near your city.

http://www.myspace.com/dittybops
http://www.thedittybops.com
Moon Over the Freeway on iTunes.

Lori McKenna's Unglamorous Now Available!

It's been out since yesterday, but I just downloaded my copy from iTunes tonight. Came with a bonus track and digital booklet. :)

Unglamorous is definitely more polished/produced sounding than her previous stuff, but it's still Lori.

I'm pretty curious to know how many songs are autobiographical and how many are just her ability to sing the stories of others with raw honesty and believability. Cuz some of the stories are a bit, well, dark? Heavy? I mean, they're REAL, but I just hope they didn't ALL happen to her, that'd be a lot for one person to go through! While it's heartbreaking to think it, I suppose it could be the reality for someone though. And hearing Lori's album might give them hope, let them know they are not alone. While I don't personally relate to the songs about drinking and cheating, I've definitely had the experience of gaining hope from a sad song (rather than getting depressed by it). Whether the songs happened to Lori or not, she is someone highly observant and able to compress human experiences into little Polaroid snapshots of sound that tell it like it is, and that's what I love about her songwriting.

Favorite Tracks:
Unglamorous
Witness to Your Life
Leaving This Life

I just found this great Lori interview from a couple years ago where she says her husband only listens to the music, not the words - so she can say what she wants and he won't get mad. heh heh.

Links to her sites:
http://www.lorimckenna.com
http://www.myspace.com/lorimckenna


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Too Much Music? Keep Breathing! (or, Ingrid Michaelson Rocks!)

The more good music I find, the more good music I find. Every musician has friends and recommendations, not to mention my friends and family telling me about their new favorites. It's a bit overwhelming! How to choose what to buy, how to resist so I don't go broke, etc. I figure when I start hitting play on a MySpace page over and over and over again, it means it's not just a passing fancy and it's time to make it my own...

For example, recently my other lovely cousin (sister to my cousin who suggested Colbie Caillat) pointed me to Ingrid Michaelson on MySpace.

She's fabulous! I knew within a few bars (heard from under our conversation, no less!) that I'd be adding to my collection soon.

Everyone is going nuts over Ingrid because four of her songs have been featured on Grey's Anatomy in season three. (I haven't finished it yet, don't tell me anything!) And because the songs all rock. Or rather, more people are finding out about her fabulousness because of the exposure.

Here's a list from her website of the songs featured on Grey's:

Keep Breathing | Grey's Anatomy, s3 Episode 25: "Didn't We Almost Have it All"
Corner of Your Heart | Grey's Anatomy, s3 Episode 24: "Testing 1-2-3"
The Way I Am | Grey's Anatomy, s3 Episode 12: "Six Days - Part 2"
Breakable | Grey's Anatomy, s3 Episode 8: "Staring at the Sun"


Keep Breathing isn't available to buy yet (Grey's season 3 soundtrack will be released in Sept 07), but if you sign up to Ingrid's mailing list you can listen to it online. Or on her MySpace page. That's one more for my "Songs about breath and breathing" list.

AND, she has MORE than just those four songs! She has two full albums worth of musical goodness! I started off with her first one, slow the rain, as it's a bit more "acoustic-y" sounding, but the new one Girls and Boys started really growing on me, so I broke down and got that one as well after a couple days. I really love the drums in both albums, there's something about them that's unique enough to catch my attention and fascinate me without distracting from the lyrics and melody.

Oh, and Ingrid is another one to add to the list of "Me and Zach Braff having the same taste in music without me knowing it" - In Ingrid's MySpace pics, she has a screenshot of when Zach added her song to his MySpace profile and the caption is adorable and funny:

See Zach Braff's page?? See my song??? See me pee in my pants??

That's the other thing I love about Ingrid, her quirky fun sense of humor and the playfulness in her lyrics. Some people are comparing her to Regina Spektor (who I also love). I can see where they would get that (pianos, funky cuteness, catchy beats), but I would say Regina's stuff is a little more dark and bizarre flavored, while Ingrid's is more quirky/goofy and at the same time very poignant. Like her song about Charlie Brown and his crush on the little red-headed girl, or this bit from The Way I Am:

I'd buy you Rogaine if you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.

Cuz I love you more than I could ever promise.
And you take me the way I am.

You don't get the full effect without hearing her breathy, sparkly voice, the slow beats, the syncopated hand claps, but yeah, definitely quirky-sweet and infectious. Go have a listen! And once you've decided you can't hold back either, you can buy her stuff on CD Baby (or iTunes or on Amazon)


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I NEED To See This Movie

Unfortunately the closest showing I can find is 2 hours away. Hmmmmmmmm...

Music video of the song Falling Slowly with scenes from the movie Once, plus studio footage:



I guess in the meantime I could get the whole Soundtrack on Amazon...
Or just Falling Slowly on iTunes.



UPDATE: My lovely husband drove me up to see the movie, and I did indeed love it! Very sweet and real. And the music, oh wow. Incredible!!

Listen to Lori McKenna's Album Unglamorous NOW!

Just found out you can listen to Lori McKenna's entire new album "Unglamorous" a week before you can buy it in stores! Just go to rhapsody.com.

It's free, you just have to download their player.

Going off for a listen. :)

P.S. Her new website is looking great, and has current touring info, news etc.

The Next Best Thing to Live

Ok, this has been around for a while, but if you haven't seen Zach Braff's broadcast from Indie 103.1 of five artists from the Last Kiss Soundtrack, you are in for a real treat!

Here's a guy who loves music, and he manages to get a bunch of his favorite artists to not only offer their skills for a soundtrack, but have them all perform live in a very personal setting, one after the other! Ok, obviously Zach Braff is not just any guy, and he has some serious pull, but come on, who wouldn't feel lucky to see so many of their favorite musicians all in one day? His awe and admiration for each artist in the interviews is sweet and genuine.

Lucky for me I like a lot of the same musicians as Zach, and I'm obviously not the only one, since the soundtrack he picked for Garden State won a Grammy!

I haven't had time to watch all the sections yet, but the ones I have so far are good (I did see Sissy Spacek backing up her daughter Schuyler - very cute!). If you don't have time to watch them all either, at least have a look at this clip on YouTube that led me to finding the whole concert. I was totally blown away watching Imogen Heap build up Just For Now loop by loop - LIVE!




It was from reading the comments on this clip that I found out:

1) Just for Now is a Christmas song (when I listened to the lyrics after reading that I thought "Duh!", but it really hadn't occurred to me before that.)

2) there was more to be seen besides this clip, and some quick Googling later I discovered the entire event on rehearsals.com. Yum!

Want more? Check the official websites of the performers: Schuyler Fisk, Cary Brothers, Rachael Yamagata, Imogen Heap and Remy Zero.

Win an Autographed Ani DiFranco Poster!

Just a quick heads up - Ani's team on MySpace is giving away an autographed poster. All you have to do to enter the drawing is send a MySpace message on August 4th.

Details from the MySpace bulletin:

"This is just a reminder to everyone that this Saturday, August 4, (TOMORROW) you have from 11AM to 4PM (EST) to enter to win an AUTOGRAPHED ANI POSTER.

It appears that some of you got confused and have been sending me entries before the contest has started. Entries received before 11AM EST August 4 will not be considered in the drawing. So if you entered before, enter again between 11AM and 4PM tomorrow to make sure your name is in the drawing.

All you have to do is send me a MySpace Message with REPEAT OFFENDER in the subject line sometime between 11 and 4. Include your name and address and I’ll do a random drawing from all of the entries. The winner will be announced, Monday, August 6 on the MySpace blog at 12PM EST.

The drawing will be completely random and this time, it’s not based on how fast you are, it’s based on how lucky you are.

-Amanda"

So if you aren't friends with Ani yet, go add her now and send in your MySpace Messages tomorrow!

Natalia Zuckerman Is In the Studio!

Natalia Zuckerman, folk-blues-country-jazzy-soul, singer-songwriter, slide guitarist extraordinaire is in the studio recording a new album!

Looks like she's going to be posting updates on her MySpace blog. It's always fun to get a little behind-the-scenes peek at things.

I love Natalia's range of styles, and she's an AWESOME guitarist! She played a solo concert at Cafe Paradiso last year. It was really amazing to watch her get sound out of her instruments with such ease and grace. I have her album "Only One", with just her voice and a guitar or dobro (which is how I saw her live), so it'll be interesting to hear what she sounds like with more people, although I suppose you could do that already, since she has 2 other previous albums!

Listen to songs on her website
and MySpace

Or watch her performing one of my favorites, Haunted House, at Bluesfest in Ottawa 2006:



Wishing Natalia smooth and speedy days in the studio, I can't wait for the new album! Especially because at the concert she played some new songs that hadn't been recorded yet, and I've been wanting to hear them again.