Lake Street Dive - Side Pony

Writing about music is hard. Mostly because I want you to listen to the album rather than have you read about it. Or maybe I'm jaded for having read too many music reviews on NPR and Pitchfork by people who were clearly working to fill up the word count.

Anyway, Lake Street Dive is a quartet of friends who met at the New England Conservatory of Music. Fortunately, they don't take themselves too seriously as most jazz musicians do and know how to play for the sheer fun of it. One major reason to listen to Lake Street Dive is for the voice of their lead singer, Rachael Price. Rachael has some serious white girl gospel street cred, being a direct descendant from one of the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She knows how to lead the beat and the chorus, and I would put serious money on her over Adele in a diva match.

Their latest album, Side Pony, continues the party without any drama. Just a lot of soul, bass, and snare. I would've posted a video of the song 'Can't Stop', but I unfortunately couldn't find one. It's a hard funk disco dance track that would make Jamiroquai proud—definitely worth a buy.

Nadeah - One Way Lie

SOURCE: iTunes

You all know the hype machine right? That PR-media complex that urges us to look at this actress, read this book, watch this movie, or whatever. You get it. The problem with the hype machine is that it's horribly rigged. That means a lot of people get huge amounts of attention that is disproportionate to their talent, while some incredible people go unnoticed. 

Sometimes the machine nails it, like with Taylor Swift. Other times it's just completely oblivious, like with Nadeah. Nadeah has a bit of a crazy story. She's an Australian singer who was on the rise in the UK, but a botched visa knocked her down into Paris where she was picked up by this legendary punk bossa nova band, Nouvelle Vague. I saw them on tour a few years back and discovered she has it in spades. Then she released her first solo album four years ago. It was a cabaret pop album called Venus Gets Even, and for some reason I have yet to put words to, dug into my head.

Then she fell off the radar completely but last week I discovered she just finished her second album, While The Heart Beats. It's taken a slight turn towards the pop/rock spectrum, but there are some amazing surprises like 'One Way Lie', a song that dance floors and the repeat button were designed for.

Diane Birch - Stand Under My Love

Getting through heartbreak and disappointment is just, you know, exhausting. It takes everything out of you and sometimes you don't want to talk about it because you just want to file everything away in the past so you can keep going. So you can move on to someone who will fully accept you.

I will say that it was the middle of Summer when everything unfolded. And the only thing that brought me peace was walking around late at night, under the stars, listening to Diane Birch sing Bluebell, a rejected track from her first album, Bible Belt.

Her voice has this magical quality, with fullness and clarity unlike anyone I've heard. You could say it came from her upbringing in the gospel, but I also believe it came from learning to make peace with her own losses in life.

Anyway, her latest album is also the first one to be released under her own name and I'm beyond happy to hype it. 'Nous' debuted last week on Bandcamp and is available on iTunes pre-order.