Young and the Restless

It’s hard to imagine Sarah Jarosz was born in 1991. She has the maturity, presence and songwriting skills of a person far older. Sarah had mastered the mandolin at 10 and was performing live with musicians like Dave Grisman and Ricky Skaggs by the time she was 12 years old. Her sound is definitely bluegrass influenced but stretches far outside the genre. And her voice is sweet and captivating. Jarosz is currently studying at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she has picked up the clawhammer banjo and guitar and is majoring in contemporary voice improvisation. She just released her second album, Follow Me Down, in the spring of 2011.

Let There Be Austra

Austra, named for the Latvian goddess of light, is based in Toronto and features Katie Stelmanis on vocals and keyboards, Maya Postepski on drums, and bassist Damian Wolf. Their music is dark and electronic and is similar to groups like Glasser and Fever Ray. Stelmanis’ voice covers quite a range, which is not surprising—she was classically trained and joined the Canadian Children’s Opera at age 10. While her delivery is pretty unique, she sounds a bit like Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine.

Austra’s 1st cd was released in May, 2011 and is full of catchy tunes—from dark and quiet to bright(ish) and poppy. On all the tracks, Stelmanis’ voice is up front and center. The production reminds me a little of Bjork’s at times. And it’s all Austra-licious!

A Royal Treat

Joan Soriano has been dubbed the “Duke of Bachado”. And he definitely deserves the title. From what little biographical information I’ve gathered, he was born in the countryside of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He built his first guitar from a tin can and fishing line and has gone on to an amazing career in his native land.

Bachada is an indigenous music of the Dominican Republic and is influenced by music from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Soriano’s voice makes you want to get up and dance. Joan has performed throughout N. America and Europe. I missed him the last time around. Hopefully, he’ll make another North American tour again soon.

Hair Band

Braids is another band that I find pretty hard to describe. Their music has been categorized as experimental shoe-gazer. Okay, that’s a pretty fair assessment of their sound. It’s dreamy and has a nice rhythm to it. It also has incredible production values to it. Great layers of sounds and very complex, smart, intelligent music. And the vocalist has a distinctive, crisp, voice. Nice and emotive. And I liked them so much, I actually bought their cd!

New Ages

The band Agesandages is made up of a collective of multi-instrumentalists and is lead by Tim Perry. The band hails from Portland, Oregon and features excellent, cheery vocals and a psychedelic, folky sound. Their first release, Alright You Restless, came out in early 2011 and I highly recommend it. Every tune on it is a gem.

The Wise Old Sage

Okay, this is a radical departure for me. Sage Francis is a hip-hop artist who I first heard on “The Signal”, the best radio show ever. It’s on CBC and is streamed, for anyone who’s interested. Anyway, Rich Terfry had a brief segment on what he called “pretty hip-hop”. Yes, you heard me right. I’m not a fan of hip-hop or rap. But I immediately glommed on to this guy. I really like this guy and if you want to learn more about him, check his bio on allmusic.com. It’s way too long and I’m way too lazy to condense it for you.

Pure Brilliance

Puro Instinct is two sisters, the teen-age Skylar the guitarist and her older sister Piper on vocals, along with assorted other musicians. They remind me a little bit of the 60s girl bands but with a more modern sound to them. Puro Instinct released a couple of vinyl records on their own and finally, in 2011, a cd titled “Headbangers In Ecstasy”. Their music is dreamy and innocent with fresh, wispy vocals. I haven’t heard anything as refreshing as this group in a long time. My only hope is that a producer-type doesn’t get a hold of the group and try to market them. He’ll surely try to make them “sexy” and over produce them—and totally ruin the group. Listen to them while they’re still fresh and wonderful!