Music Monday: Imelda May

Today's Music Monday feature is actually an artist I just started listening to today! Haha. So admittedly I don't know much about her except that I'm hooked on her music! Ladies and gents, Imelda May!

I feel like I've heard her name before(I think she's performed at VIVA?) but I had never listened to Imelda until today. I was going through the concert calendar of a local venue and saw that she's coming in October and thought I would check her out. And I've been listening to her all day non stop lol. Imelda hails from Ireland and is a singer-songwriter and producer. Her music is a great mix of rockabilly and blues. She's quite famous in the UK, having albums that have reached number 1. And of course I can't not mention her fabulous style. Definitely another aspect that drew me to her.

Her 3rd studio Album

Well that's all I've got really haha. Like I said, I've literally listened to Imelda for a day now so I'm still discovering her music/discography. You can listen to her here on Spotify. I'm definitely going to see her when she comes to Atlanta in October. I bet she puts on a great show!

Here's a video for one of her singles, Mayhem.

And here's an awesome video for her song It's Good To Be Alive(makes me excited for Halloween!).

 

Happy Listening!

How do you like Imelda May? 

MKD

Music Monday(on Tuesday!): Jack White

So I'm a huge goober and wrote out this post to be published on Monday and completely forgot to actually hit "Publish" haha. I'm still getting back into the swing of things clearly lol. But anywhoo, here's today's Music Monday feature on Tuesday!

So I know everyone knows who Jack White is, so this isn't me trying to introduce y'all to him lol. He's been in a thousand bands(slight exaggeration) worked with tons of artists, been in movies, has his own record label/recording studio, he's even an upholster. The man does it all! And he just released another amazing solo record(I'm still obsessed with his first one, Blunderbuss) called Lazaretto and in addition to it being musically solid and wonderful, the actual vinyl record itself is on a whole other level and unlike any vinyl I've ever seen/heard of.

Lazaretto Album Cover 

Jack White has always been hugely innovative whether it comes to his music, the way he records his music and even his whole aesthetic. So of course he couldn't just release any old vinyl record. And man this one is one for the books! It's called the Ultra LP and here are its features:

• 180 gram vinyl
• 2 vinyl only hidden tracks hidden beneath the center label
• 1 hidden track plays at 78 RPM, one plays at 45 RPM, making it a 3 speed record
• Side A plays from the inside out
• Dual-groove technology: plays an electric or acoustic intro for the song, "Just One Drink" depending on where the needle is dropped. The grooves meet for the body of the song. 
• Matte finish on Side B. giving the appearance of an un-played 78 RPM record. 
• Both sides end with locked grooves
• Vinyl pressed in seldom used flat edge format
• No compression used during recording, mixing, or mastering
• Different running order from the CD/Digital version
• It utilizes some mixes different from those used on the CD & digital versio
• And probably one of the coolest aspects: The dead wax area on Side A contains a hand etched hologram and it is the first of its kind on a vinyl record. 

Talk about innovative! Now some of these things have been done before, but a huge number of them haven't been and I mean really, what artists these days are going to the lengths that Jack has to make a completely unique record that goes beyond just the music itself? One of the many reasons why Jack White is one of my favorite musicians ever. Here's a video of Jack explaining the features of the vinyl.

 

And here's a video of the title track, Lazaretto.

I'm seeing Jack in September and I CAN NOT WAIT! I've never seen him live before and I've been a fan of his since the White Stripes days and he's one of the only musicians that I haven't seen yet that's in my top 5 favorite bands/musicians(well that's still alive or preforming, Led Zeppelin would be number 1).

Happy Listening!

How do you like Jack White? 

MKD

Summer Road Trip pt.1

Hey y'all! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. A whole week today actually. I've missed my Music Mondays, WCW, and everything! And I haven't been able to read any other blogs either. I've got so much catching up to do! But I have been working soooo much lately. I just finished working 8 days in a row. 8 DAYS! That's insane but I've made it through...just barely haha. Every night I got home I went straight to bed lol. But I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programming soon. As a reward for my crazy work schedule I'm taking a nice little road trip with my friends this weekend to see one of my favorite bands ever, Fall Out Boy!

 

Last year when Fall Out Boy came off "hiatus" they announced a full summer tour all over the country. Being as it had been 4 years since I'd seen them last and I had(along with everyone else) assumed they'd broken up(I was truly devastated lol) so of course I was gonna see them. And multiple times haha. So around this same time last year my friends and I planned a road trip to go to a few of the concerts. First was the Atlanta show, then we drove to Orlando to see them again and spend a few days at Disney. That next week we drove to Indianapolis for a show(with a pit stop in Knoxville to pick up our other friends) then back down to Nashville for our last show and which also happened to be the last show of the tour.

This year they're doing another summer tour and it's finally time for the shows I'm going to. And what makes it super fun is that it's with the same friends I went with last year. So today my friend Ashley and I are driving up to Knoxville to meet up with our other friends then Saturday morning we're driving to Cincinnati for the Bunbury Music Festival. I was really excited that FOB was playing this festival because now we get to see other artists as well. Plus I love music festivals in general.

We're staying in Cincinnati and then driving down to Nashville to see them at a venue called The Woods at Fontanel which I hear is a pretty cool outdoor venue. Atlanta-Knoxville-Cincinnati-Nashville are all about 3-4 hours apart so the drives won't be too bad. One time me and Ashley drove from Georgia to New York overnight on a whim...now that was a drive! Haha!  I'm super excited and can't wait to get on the road. Of course I've waited until today to start packing and cleaning up my house lol. But that will at least give me something to do until it's time to leave. I'll make sure to write about the trip & shows when I get back home. I'm sure it's gonna be an adventure!

I'll leave y'all with one of my favorite pictures from last year's road trip(and one of my favorite pictures ever!). Me and Patrick Stump(lead singer) after the Indianapolis show. :)

 

*Patrick Stump is the nicest person ever and gives the BEST hugs* 

Do you have any Summer trips planned? 

MKD 

Music Monday: Esperanza Spalding

Today's Music Monday feature is the extremely talented musician, Esperanza Spalding. Esperanza is an American jazz bassist, cellist, and singer. In addition to jazz, she also plays jazz fusion, bossa nova, and neo soul music. She's been playing music since she was very young. She was inspired to start playing when she was only 4 years old and has seen Yo-Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. By the time she was 5 she had taught herself the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. She was definitely a child prodigy! In addition to playing multiple instruments, she also sings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Esperanza has won 4 Grammys, one of which being Best New Artist at the 2011 Grammy Awards. This was the first time I had ever heard of her and probably lots of other people lol. For the award she was up against, Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence + The Machine, and Mumford & Sons. Talk about competition! I think everyone expected Bieber or Drake to win. I'm a fan of all these artists(except Bieber. No thank you.). So I was pulling for any of them to win. But after she won I went and looked her up and fell in love with her voice and music and realized that she totally deserved to win. With this win she also became the first ever jazz artist to win the award.

She has 4 albums out now. On her third album, Chamber Music Society, it opens with a beautiful rendition of Little Fly, a poem by William Blake. With her most recent album, Radio Music Society, she hoped it would help to showcase jazz musicians in an accessible way and suitable for mainstream radio. I think the album can definitely be enjoyed by anyone, jazz music fan or not. And I think that's a testament to just how truly talented Esperanza is. You can listen to her albums here on Spotify.

Here's a video of her performing the William Blake poem, Little Fly.

And here are 2 neat videos of her performing at the White House for President Obama and the First Lady.

 

If you've never given jazz music a shot or have been wanting to get into it, I think Esperanza would definitely be a good place to start.

Happy Listening!

How do you like Esperanza Spalding? 

MKD

   

Music Monday: Paloma Faith

Today's artist is not only a phenomenal singer, she's also one of my biggest style influences as well as an overall awesome person! Paloma Faith is a singer-songwriter from England. Influenced by the likes of Billie Holiday and Etta James, her music is a good mix of soul, jazz, RnB, and pop. She studied contemporary dance and theater directing in school and it definitely comes through in her music, videos and live performances.

I first discovered Paloma about 5 years ago through I think NME magazine. That was around the time when her single, Stone Cold Sober first debuted and from that moment on I was hooked! Her first album was, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? Look at that album artwork! I'm definitely drawn to creativity and boy has she got it! In 2012 she released her next album, Fall to Grace and this year she released A Perfect Contradiction. Each of her albums has a different sound/feel to it and shows what versatility Paloma has vocally and lyrically.  

 

 

And as far as her style, well I think I'm going to write a different post just about that because I could go on for ages(and it would be a hundred pictures haha)! I want to jump right into some videos because you've just got to watch her! You can listen to her first 2 albums here on Spotify.

This is the video for her first single, Stone Cold Sober. A great intro to what Paloma is all about I think lol.

 

This next one is for her single Smoke & Mirrors. What's funny about this video is that she actually worked as a magicians assistant while she was in school. 

 

(I want every single outfit in this video) 

Another fun video with great outfits(really, I want her entire wardrobe!). I love the contrast of the colors in the video. This one's called Upside Down. 

Paloma is another artist that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing live. To my knowledge she's never done a full US tour but I sure hope that changes soon! If you've liked what you've seen/heard, definitely go YouTube more of her videos. I didn't want to make this post too long, but she has tons of other great ones. These are just some from her first album! They get even better! 

Happy Listening!

How do you like Paloma Faith?  

MKD

Music Monday: Ben l'Oncle Soul

Today's artist is the wonderful Ben l'Oncle Soul. He's a French soul singer-songwriter. He is heavily influenced by the classic 50s/60s Motown and Stax Records sounds which definitely comes through in his music. And he's actually signed to Motown Records now. He reminds me of a mix between Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and John Legend all rolled into a nice little French package lol. He sings in French as well as English and sounds amazing in both languages. There's just something about hearing soul music sung in French that makes my little heart flutter lol. And it doesn't hurt that he's not too bad on the eyes either ;)

Now the story behind his name goes that his friends would call him "l'Oncle Ben", which in English translates to Uncle Ben, because the bow ties he wears reminded them of Uncle Ben from "Uncle Ben's Rice". And apparently it stuck lol. I happen to love Uncle Ben's Rice so I think that's awesome lol. And of course, as we all know, bow ties are cool! (sorry, I had to throw that in there haha) 

I first stumbled upon Ben l'Oncle Soul when I saw a cover he did of The White Stripes, Seven Nation Army, on YouTube. Now I'm usually not a fan of covers of bands I really like, and The White Stripes are one of my favorite bands ever(I'm still mourning the fact that they're broken up) so I was very skeptical about this. But my goodness, it is amazing! It's basically a soul version of Seven Nation Army. After that I immediately went to look him up, and saw that he had an entire EP of cover songs including: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry, Barbie Girl by Aqua and Say You'll Be There by the Spice Girls!  

Now as someone that had 10 years of French lessons, I remember an embarrassingly little amount but that doesn't hinder my enjoyment of his music. And it's pretty cool when I do hear him say something that I can actually understand lol. So even if you don't speak French I think you'll still enjoy the music. He's got the EP as well as a full length self titled album that has 8 English songs(including Seven Nation Army) and 6 French ones. You can check it out here on Spotify. 

  *swooooooon*

Here he is preforming Seven Nation Army on Later with Jools Holland and the first time I ever saw him.

.

(Listen to that bass!) 

I don't know if/when he'll ever do a US tour so I think that means I'll need to make a trip over to France to see him live. I definitely think he's worth a trip haha. 

Happy Listening!
Bonne Écoute!

How do you like Ben l'Oncle Soul? Do you like listening to music in different languages? 

MKD

Music Monday: Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes

New installment for the blog. Not a unique concept by any means but definitely something I want to start incorporating. Like I mentioned in my About Me, music plays a huge part in my life and I'm literally listening to music at some point all day unless I'm sleeping lol. I even listen to it at work since we've got a playlist that plays in the entrance/lobby. I've got a very diverse taste in music, something that tends to surprise people sometimes lol. So I'd love to share what I'm listening to and hopefully introduce y'all to some new artists.

So up first, the fabulous Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes!

Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes are a soul band from Melbourne, Australia. Their sound is reminiscent of 50s & 60s RnB and soul. I've got a thing for harmonies and they've definitely got the 60s girl group vibe with some doo wop wailing that I absolutely love! And you might have heard of them and not even known it. Their single, Love Letter, was featured in a Heineken beer commercial. I actually first heard of the group last year from a tv show called Please Like Me. It's an Australian comedy/drama show that airs here in the US on Pivot. Their song, I'll Be Fine, is the theme song of the show.

They currently have a self-titled EP as well as a full length album, Baby Caught The Bus. You can listen to them here on Spotify if you use that(I love Spotify!). I'm super excited because they're doing an US tour this summer and they'll be in Atlanta in August. I've never seen them live, but I have seen some performances on YouTube and they put on one hell of a show! Can't wait!

This is the video for their first single, Love Letter. It's one of the most fun videos I've seen in a while lol.

And here's a more subdued video lol, for their song, Vicious Cycle.

Bonus video: Here's the opening theme to one of the episodes of Please Like Me featuring the song, I'll Be Fine.

(I actually love listening to them while I cook too!) 

You can find out more about them at clairybrowne.com.

Happy Listening!

How do you like Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes? 

MKD