THE ECLECTIC EIGHT
New Year. New sounds. Start it off with lots of electronica, folk, jazz, soul. Let’s go!
1) The Robot Disaster
No surprise here…its another electro something or other band who has stolen my heart. They are group of young guys from UK with fun beats, simple lyrics and cute accents. Can’t go wrong, right? right. Check them out here
_________________________________________________________________________________
2) The Standards
Another gaggle of UK men in an indie pop band. Little more edge and harmonizing than the robot disaster boys up top but just as yummy. If you only want to hear just one song and then decide, well, make sure u listen to Out of the Fire Check out their music here.
Watch The Proposition video here to get a taste of what they are all about:
__________________________________________________________________________________
3) Theo Martins
This RI native is fresh, new and definitely has tons of potential to lead in new wave of hip-hopers…much similar to the kid cudi, drake and JCole of today. Two of my favorite songs of his are Cloud and Sweetest Language. Check out his work here
__________________________________________________________________________________
4)Lauren Schreiber
I remember seeing her at a few cakes & kisses parties, which in case you don’t know are essentially open-mic events held every 1st thursday of the month at Asylum in Adams Morgan. Over time, I saw her name pop up few times at different events and realized maybe I should really check out her singing. So I went to good ol’ youtube and myspace and I realized…I really like her voice and it was just refreshing to see that there are some really great vocalists in the dmv area. The dmv area is very hip/hop and rock heavy. There is not much of a strong vocalist presence or at least as strong as I would like there to be. Sure there are few great r&b, neo-soul artists, but there hasn’t been enough popping up in comparison to the number of MCs or producers. Plus she not only sings but plays the guitar, quite well too! Check her out here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
5)Gang Gang Dance
No surprise here. Another electronica-esque rock band. They are a group based out of NYC, with few of the members hailing from the UK. There’s some rhyming, singing, chanting and really interesting beats. When I say interesting, I mean you hear fusion of electronica, international and rock…slightly similar to MIA but not as few notches down from being that complicated and occasionally overproduced. See for yourself and check them out here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
6) Chromatone
A four-member funk and r&b fusion group from London. They are youthful, lead singer sorta sounds like Adam Levine and definitely have potential to get big not just in UK but here in states as well. They sound like the equivalent of the killers and maroon 5. Clearly those two groups are doing quite well for themselves so I imagine in due time Chromatone will too. Check out their music here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I love folky music. Especially when its really good and comes from an artist who shows depth and soul not only with their lyrics but their voice. The best thing about folk music is that the artist isn’t expected to to do these extravagant vocal jumps all over the track, they rarely over exaggerate the notes . It’s just the artist, their story, and some simple instrumentals. While perusing NPR one evening I came across an article on Lhasa and it was applauding her great work (according to TIME she had one of the best albums of 2009) and recognizing how unfortunate her passing was at young age of 37 just at the start of this year. I listened to one track and was sold…and then listened to her other works and thought….damn, yet another artist I wish I knew about way before. Guess that’s the greatest thing about being an artist though, you may pass, but you’re work will always live on. Check out her music here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
8)Somi
Jazzy, foreign songstresses. Although she sings in english majority of the time, I found her singing in Swahili wayyy better. She has been compared to Sarah Vaughan and Cassandra Wilson. So you know she can really sing and match that with great afro-jazzy instrumentals, you definitely can’t go wrong. Check out her music here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Hope you guys enjoyed this edition of The Eclectic Eight. Make sure to check out all the other posts here at SHADE.
Selamawit
