Tuesday, January 25, 2011

On my iPod

I don’t consider myself a music guru. I’m not the person who knows the newest bands and I usually find my favorites by accident a few years after their albums come out and everyone else has since tired of hearing them. So I write this post humbly, not with the intention of waxing eloquent about the voices I’ve heard, but to write about what I’m currently enjoying in my day. Todd explains my music taste as “soulful female vocalists” which doesn’t narrow down my genre too much. And while I enjoy Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne, Brandi Carlile and eastmountainsouth will always be on any created playlist of mine because I have a deep appreciation for beautiful folksy female vocalists.

We’ve been living in England for nearly 4 months, so let me share three recent singer/songwriter album releases that I’m currently in love with from this side of the pond. And yes, they are all female vocalists.

Eliza Doolittle, the daughter of a theatre director and an actress/singer, born in London. Her grandmother was the founder of a theatre school in London, so really it’s just in her blood. Her music is poppy and fun. Her album was released here in June and on all the UK charts, but still has a TBD album release date in the states. I tend to stay away from buying “Top 40” albums since I can hear them on the radio, but this one I found too late and has the added bonus of being an unknown in the States. Here’s a video of my favorite song “Rollerblades” from her album:



KT Tunstall, a scottish singer/guitarist, I’m proud to say I’ve been listening to for years. I had her first album before 2006 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee sang her song on national television and the general public began noticing, but I must confess that this album was a random grab from a Starbucks in Philly when they first started selling new music along with overpriced coffee. KT Tunstall was probably the only stamp of approval of my music I got from Todd when we were dating because she is a very gifted musician/writer. Her music is of the alt rock persuasion and her album “Tiger Suit” (released in October) is on par with her first brilliant album. Here’s a live version of one of my favorites from this album:



Adele, London born with an amazing soulful voice, released her new album on Monday Jan 24th. I’m sad to say that I didn’t find Adele until Spring of 2009 when a friend posted a video of Adele’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “To make you feel my love” on their blog. I was hooked from the first few notes! Her new sophomore album is just as lovely as the last (which I think it pretty brilliant since second albums tend to disappoint) and includes a beautiful cover of The Cure’s “Lovesong”. It’s a little bit Susan Tedeschi and has a hint of country, but what’s not to like about that. Here’s my current favorite from Adele’s new Album “21”:



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