Is This a New Avon Product?

Soap & Skin. Sounds like a beauty product to me. In reality, it’s a singer who’s following in the tradition of Iron & Wine, Sea & Cake, City & Colour with an offbeat handle. She grew up on a pig farm in Austria (I’m not making this up) and has an incredible future in store for her—she’s only 19! Her voice and style of music are somewhat reminiscent of Bjork—and that’s a good thing in my book. Some of her tunes challenge the listener, but her voice is always powerful and engaging. I can’t wait for her to do a tour of the States—I’d love to hear her live. And I think I can explain the unusual moniker. Her real name is Anja Plaschg.

An RIP Holiday

First, I heard that Vic Chestnutt died over the Holidays. Then I heard that Lhasa died on New Years Day. What a sad holiday for music buffs. Lhasa’s full name was Lhasa de Sela and she grew up with some amazing parents. Lhasa spent her early childhood traveling around the US and Mexico in a converter school bus, with her parents and her brothers and sisters. How cool would that be? They spent many evenings singing around the campfire singing. She totally embraced her Mexican heritage and her first couple cds have a definite Mexican influence. But they’re much more than Latin—they have a New-Age/World Music edge to them. While they’re hard to classify, they’re also very listenable. One thing you’ve got to remember, I’m a huge Bjork fan. So you might like Lhasa if you share my taste in music. Her last cd is in English, which in my opinion, somewhat detracts from her charm. However, Lhasa died soon after she released the cd after a long battle with cancer, so in my opinion this is in her way of saying, “Goodbye.” Goodbye, to a wonderful spirit.

P.S. I heard that it snowed in Montreal for 40 straight hours after Lhasa passed away. I think she would have liked that.

“Tap into the future!”

If you know where that quote’s from, you get 10 points. But I digress. The subject is Carlos Vamos, whom I discovered while surfing the net. I really don’t know a thing about him, I just know he’s an astonishing guitarist from the tapping school. I posted another tap style guitarist, Erik Mongrain a while back, who’s equally talented. I’d have to say Erik is the McCoy Tyner of guitar, while Carlos would have to be the Bill Evans of said instrument. His playing is precise yet delicate. My one question is, why is this guy not a household name?

K’Naan is O’Kay

I normally don’t listen to much hiphop, but in the case of K’Naan, I’ll make an exception. He was born in war-torn Somalia but moved with his family to Harlem when he was 13. He eventually settled in Ontario. K’Naan performed at the 50th anniversary celebration of the UN in Geneva, where he chastised the world community for not doing more to stop the violence in his homeland. It was at this performance where he was discovered by Youssou N’Dour. His music is very melodic and he has a distinctive voice. Most of his songs have a strong African tinge to them, and include an appeal for peace.

The Old Vic

I wasn’t familiar with Vic Chesnutt before I heard he was to perform here in the Detroit area. So I got on line to sample some of his music and was totally blown away. He’s a singer/songwriter from that hotbed of new music, Athens, Georgia. Vic was in a serious car accident 18 years ago, which rendered him partially paralyzed from the neck down. He’s a wonderful guitarist, but it takes a great deal of effort for him to play. His current group consists of Guy Picciotto, Fugazi’s guitarist along with members of A Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You Black Emperor. If you’re familiar with these groups you might not think they’d blend well with Vic’s style. But they compliment him perfectly. His music is dark at times and full of joy at others—and his lyrics are quirky and offbeat. He’s got quite an interesting voice and attending one of his shows is almost like a religious experience. I’ve included a clip with a group that’s close to his current band as well as a 26 minute solo performance that’s part of the “Tiny Desk Concert” series on NPR. Over the years, Vic has recorded with everyone from Lambchop to Bill Frisell to Elf Power.

It’s a Bear!

It’s a real bear finding any information on the group(?) Pandatone. After searching the net, about all I could find is that Pandatone is a project of Trevor Sias and that he lives in New York. His music mixes found sounds, electronica, acoustic guitar and occasionally, voice. The singer Julianna Barwick has a soft, understated voice and adds to the relaxing, quiet atmosphere of the CD “Happy Together, Pandatone’s latest release. The music is perfect for a late-night conversation over a glass of wine. Everything I’ve heard from Pandatone is gentle, smart, and lush. If you could describe it in one word, I guess I’d call it folktronica. While it's slow triphop, it’s also very organic.

P.S. If anyone has more information on Pandatone, please let me know.

A Magical Experience

The group Here We Go Magic is the concept of Luke Temple and is definitely hard to describe. Musically, the New York based quartet is all over the map—from Afro-Pop to Trance to Psychedelia to Indie-Rock. Despite the wide-ranging influences, all the songs on their self-titled debut album have one thing in common—they all have a hypnotic edge to them. The vocals are superb and uniformly beautiful. The guitars are repetitive which adds to the hypnotic effect. I must say, these songs are very addictive. On first hearing, you might find them boring. But give them a couple listens and I think they’ll make their way into your current play list.