Sweet Sixteen

It seems almost impossible that Nikki Yanofsky is merely 16 years old. The young Montreal based singer already has an impressive resume. She sang several sold-out shows at the Montreal Jazz Festival when she was just 12 years old. She’s gone on to release a couple recordings in both the jazz and pop genres. Because of her scatting ability, she’s been compared to Ella Fitzgerald. Tough shoes to fill. But her scatting is absolutely remarkable for such a young singer. Sure, her voice lacks the depth of a more mature vocalist, but her range and poise are uncanny. Give her a few years and I think she’s going to be famous. Her career also wasn’t hurt when she sang to a worldwide audience at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. All I can say is, “Canada, you’ve got talent”!

A Heavenly Voice

To say Angel Taylor has a gorgeous voice is an understatement. She has a nice range and has a powerful, soulful tone. Angel started out singing in coffee houses in Southern California. A few weeks before her freshman year in college, she made contact with producer Mikal Blue. He eventually got her signed with Aware/Columbia Records, and helped produce her first cd, Love Travels, which was released in 2009. Her songs are sort of folky pop tunes with catchy lyrics. It’s pretty refreshing to hear a new young singer who isn’t totally overproduced.

If The Shoe Fits…

Clogs is a classically-trained foursome who met at Yale in the late 90s. Their music is a compelling mix of chamber, jazz, and post-rock. In iTunes, under the Genre heading, they’re tagged as unclassifiable and when you hear their music, that makes a lot of sense. Some of their tunes are pure chamber music, while other selections have a film soundtrack quality them. The group has five recordings to date and they’re all consistently excellent.

It’s Back to School Time

School of Seven Bells is the brainchild of Ben Curtis and features the dreamy vocals of twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza. The group debuted in 2007 and has two recordings to their credit. Their music is full of catchy hooks, and hum-along melodies. It’s somewhat spacey and full of electronic psychedelica. It’s hard to compare them with anyone else; you’ll just have to judge them for yourself. (Forgive the sound quality on the live performance—it’s the best I could find on youtube.)

Hard to Beat

And hard to describe. The group Beats Antique blends such a mind boggling and diverse mix of sounds, it makes one’s head spin. Balkan wedding music, Middle Eastern belly dancing, flamenco, hip-hop, and more, all underpinned by heavy dance beats and electronica. The group is comprised of David Satori (guitar, saz, viola, and percussion), Sidecar Tommy Cappel (keys, toy piano, drums, and percussion), and Zoë Jakes (belly dancer, composer, and arranger). As you can imagine, they produce quite a variety of sounds, from rich and complex, to dance tunes reminiscent of those you’ve heard at Greek and Jewish weddings. Classical belly dance music meets the 21st century. They look like they’d be an absolute blast to see live. There are a ton of Beats Antique vids on youtube. Check ’em out.

Extra! Extra!

Eli “Paperboy” Reed is the latest example of a renewed interest in Motown-era R&B music making. As a young kid, growing up in Brookline, MA, Eli listened to his dad’s record collection of R&B, gospel, and blues music. He taught himself to play piano, guitar, and harmonica. Reed spent some time in Mississippi where he picked up his nickname, “Paperboy”, due to the newsboy-type hat he wore. Eli moved to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago. It was there where he met the soul singer Mitty Collier. He so impressed her he was invited to be the Minister of Music at her church. Reed eventually returned home where he put together his group the True Loves. His first recording was released in 2005 and he has since released a couple more excellent cds. The good news is that R&B is alive and well!

Pining for the Fjords

Thomas Dybdahl is one of the most popular singers in Norway. Obviously, that doesn’t mean much here in the U.S. His voice has been compared to Nick Drake’s and Jeff Buckley’s. Not a bad comparison, however he definitely has his own sound. His songs deal for the most part with love and loss. Dybdahl released his first cd in 2000 and now has several recordings to his credit. He is starting to attract attention here in this country, but it certainly has been a long time coming. On a slightly different note, anyone get the obscure reference to the title of this blog entry?