Start your Friday off right with a free download of Matt Morris’ acoustic set thanks to Daytrotter.com. Recorded back in March at South by Southwest, this set just happens to include acoustic renditions of three of my favorite tracks, “Love,” “The Un-American,” and “Live Forever,” from Mr. Morris’ debut album, When Everything Breaks Open.
Be sure to read Daytrotter’s recap of the recording session, which details their dealings with temperamental analog equipment. Short of it is, after fighting with the equipment for hours they opted to scrap the speaker system and let Mr. Morris have it “au natural.” The result are these stunning recordings — if you weren’t in love with Matt Morris already (shame on you!) you will be after hearing these.
Matt Morris is back with his latest music video for “Live Forever,” an exquisite song about love that endures even as the world around you crumbles down. The video was directed by Matt Stawski and features stunning animation from Serge Gay Jr. Sort of has a Edward Scissorhands meets Avatar meets American Beauty vibe to it. It’s well worth a watch, and yes, we’ll even pardon Mr. Morris for sneaking in a product placement for Beats by Dre. At this point, it’s probably easier to count videos the headphones don’t appear in.
Watch the video after the jump and check out more coverage at Matt Morris.
The lovely Sara Bareilles is in full-on promotion mode to build buzz around her upcoming sophomore album Kaleidoscope Heart (Sept 7). Recently she stopped by VH1’s office here in NYC to perform two new songs, “King of Anything” and “Uncharted,” as well as “Love Song” and “Gravity” from her previous album, Little Voice.
The folks at VH1 were kind enough to post the performance videos so us plebes can enjoy Ms. Bareilles in all her glory. True to form, the singer busted out some quality crowd banter – she’s seriously funny – though can afford to lose the red lipstick.
Check out her performance of “Uncharted” below. Then head on over to VH1.com to view the rest of the videos.
NYC indie rockers, The Postelles, have (finally!) released the music video for “White Night” off their EP. The video is directed by Max Lanman — be sure to check it out below.
The band has been busy touring and most recently rocked Bonnaroo. While at Bonnaroo, they recorded three acoustic songs, “White Night,” “123 Stop,” and “She She.” You can give all three a listen at WXRT.
Inspiration comes in many forms. Something Jennifer Quiroz knows all too well. The singer-songwriter used to suffer from debilitating stage fright, which prevented her from singing for years. It was only after her father was diagnosed with a terminal illness and then had a miraculous recovery, that Ms. Quiroz found the strength and courage to conquer her fear and pursue her dream of performing. And we’re glad she did.
Her debut EP, And So I Sing, is solid collection of immensely personal songs ranging from faith (“The Greatest Good) to escapism (“And So I Sing”) to receiving the news of her father’s illness (“Crash”). It’s “Crash” that left us stunned with it’s beauty and sadness. Give it a listen below — but warning you, have a tissue box near by.
The future is bright for Ms. Quiroz thanks to her ability to pen incredibly moving lyrics. If you’re looking for music from a talented singer-songwriter, you should give And So I Sing a listen via iTunes. LA readers, you can check her out in person when she performs at Hotel Cafe, July 2nd at 730p.
Last night, Kelly Clarkson joined fellow American Idol alum Chris Daughtry on stage during a duet of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in Nashville, Tennessee.
The guest appearance was no surprise to Clarkson fans as she announced being part of Daughtry’s concert-turned Nashville flood relief benefit via Twitter a few days back. Other performers included Three Doors Down frontman Brad Arnold and Lifehouse frontman Jason Wade.
Check out Ms. Clarkson’s and Mr. Daughtry’s take on a classic, which also happens to be one of my favorite songs ever written. Credit: RestlessChick15 for the video
Over the weekend, good friend and long-time TRT reader, Ed-G sent me this amazing video of singer-songwriter Holly Miranda covering Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor.” I have to admit, I was very skeptical when I saw that the song was a cover of Ms. Hill, who is by far one of my favorite performers, but I decided to give it a listen anyway. Needless to say, I’m glad I did.
Ms. Miranda’s acoustic interpretation of “Ex-Factor” was recorded as part of the Black Cab Sessions, a pretty ingenious merging of music and film out of the UK, where performances are filmed and posted on the web. Her smokey vocals completely do Ms. Hill justice and with a simple guitar backing she shines. Don’t take my word for it, watch it below.
Part pop, mostly hip-hop, full-time talented. That’s how I’d describe my latest obsession The Crowd. This trio of two emcees (Akil Dasan & Randy Mason) and one vocalist (Adeline) are tremendously skilled musicians and songwriters in their own right, yet chose to join forces and create a super-group that is poised for stardom.
The group effortlessly blends hip-hop, pop, soul, r&b, and acoustic roots to create their own unique feel-good type of music. It’s been said that The Crowd are often compared to The Black Eyed Peas, yet I believe they’re more talented than the BEP, especially in a live setting.
Adeline has the vocal chops that Fergie has always dreamed of. Yup. I said it. And while emcee Randy Mason’s enunciation is an amalgamation of some of the rap’s greatest (think: Nas meets Common meets Mos Def), it’s his lyrical style that sets him apart. Then there’s the game-changer in Akil Dasan the guitar playing, beatboxing, rhyme spitting, ballad singing, break dancing phenomenon. How’s that for a resume?
Give any song off the Crowd’s debut EP, Acoustic, a listen and try to deny the urge to groove along. It’s impossible. Check out The Crowd performing “The One” on BET’s 106 & Park below. If you live in NYC, keep your eyes and ears out, rumor has it they occasionally entertain crowds in the subway system among other local clubs and music spots.
Irish eyes haven’t been smiling down on me the last few weeks when it comes to catching some of my favorite performers live. A few weeks ago I braved the drunken debauchery that was the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day parade to enjoy Sondre Lerche at Maxwell’s. Wednesday, I maneuvered the streets of Manhattan to see Tony Luccaperform at City Winery. While Lucca more than made up for the inconvenience, booking agents should try to avoid dates that align with drunken “holidays.” Rant done.
As always, Lucca was a crowd-pleaser. He hit the stage roughly after 9:45p and opened his set with “Darlin’ I,” a borderline country tune that exemplifies his nomadic ways followed by the more politically focused “Close Enough.” Pacing himself through recent set list staples of “True Story,” “Death of Me,” and “Undertow,” Lucca captivated a sold out crowd of predominately Tyrone Wells (tour-mate) fans. In true fashion, the audience gave the most thunderous applause for his ode to the big city with the aptly titled “New York City.” Lucca ended his nearly 40-minute set with “Pretty Things,” which is by far one of my favorite songs to watch him perform live.
We’ve seen a few sides to Keri Hilsonup until now — there’s the catchy songwriter for pop’s massive stars like Britney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls. The there’s her vocal guest appearances on just about every Timbaland song for the past year that slowly helped her gain mainstream notoriety, which she’s managed to successfully parlay into her own budding solo career. Still, the songs we’re accustomed to hearing from Ms. Hilson have remained pretty stylized with slick production.
So, when I stumbled upon this acoustic performance of “Knock You Down” from Billboard.com, I immediately fell in love. This is exactly the type of performance video I’ve been waiting to see from Hilson. Admittedly, it’s taken me quite a while to warm up to her talents over the last year (almost to the day), my turning point being when she dropped the “Turnin Me On” Remix with Lil Wayne. There was a certain swag about her in that song, pure confidence, that as a solo artist, she was lacking up until then.
We started as a three friends having conversations about music during lunches together at the office. Since then we have expanded to seven members, including a Chi-town native, and the conversations have gotten bigger and better. The Round Table has grown into a casual setting where music aficionados can gather to discuss all things music. Topics include (but not limited to) artists and bands, new music releases, concerts, recording industry news and concerns, and the occasional nugget of entertainment gossip. We have tastes that cover the entire music spectrum and love to share them (and our opinions) with each other. We are The Round Table! Come join the conversation!
Start your Friday off right with a free download of Matt Morris’ acoustic set thanks to Daytrotter.com. Recorded back in March at South by Southwest, this set just happens to include acoustic renditions of three of my favorite tracks, “Love,” “The Un-American,” and “Live Forever,” from Mr. Morris’ debut album, When Everything Breaks Open.
