Portland alt-rock singer-songwriter MattLandehas released his album GLOWon PopMatters who noted “the balance of heavy rock, pop hooks, catharsis, and introspection is damn near impeccable throughout.”
A Girl Walks Home Alone
An influential vampire film from Iranian-American film director Ana Lily Amirpour. Shot on moody black and white, it was one of the highlights of 2015. Put it on your watch list.
Black Coal Thin Ice
This was a brilliant Chinese crime thriller. Memorable and ground-breaking.
On Broadway
Heart-warming US drama On Broadway features a stellar all-star cast led by Joey McIntyre (New Kids On The Block) alongside Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Mike O’Malley (Glee), and Sean Lawlor (Braveheart), and follows a Boston carpenter who writes and puts on his own play. Hilarious. Will be on DVD for the very first time in the UK on 18 January 2016, courtesy of Simply Media.
My first thought on Stephanie Manns album is how cool the actual CD is; it is designed like a vinyl record. Pretty cool. Next up is how upbeat and happy the album is. Starting with the optimistic and happy ‘Follow You’, singer/songwriter Stephanie Manns has made a truly impressive debut album. She has a beautiful voice and a talent for songwriting. She writes wonderfully heartfelt lyrics.
Country, Americana and folk artist inspired; the use of guitar and ukulele really adds to the (mostly) upbeat tracks. The album is 10 tracks long and there is not even one dud song. An accomplished debut. Impressive.
“Without a doubt, Stephanie Manns is a singersongwriter with the raw talent, and sure promise of future success.”–Maverick Magazine
“Anthemic Americana… Catchy guitar and pristine vocals.” – Diva Magazine
Stunning Debut Album from Glasgow Based Singer-Songwriter Stephanie Manns
Multi-talented singer-songwriter Stephanie Manns has released her debut album Come Closer – a positively beautiful collection of original songs from the UK’s most exciting new country, Americana and folk artist.
From the heartfelt and optimistic tones of opening track “Follow You” to the genuinely moving missive “The Way You Want Me To” and the melancholic yet hopeful “All Over”,Come Closer is an accomplished album of exquisitely performed songs, infused with inclusive and attractive melodies, which also deeply captivates the listener through Manns’ heartwarmingly sincere lyrics.
Refining her skills on the Scottish acoustic music scene, Stephanie has supported Blues Legend Joan Armatrading, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, alt-country troubadours Ahab and Brit award winner Emeli Sandé. It was during this time that Stephanie was discovered by national arts organisation Creative Scotland, who strongly supported her cause, helping Stephanie to fund the album as an independent artist.
Manns’ songwriting has been heavily influenced by Tift Merritt, Madison Violet and Patti Griffin, which is apparent throughout the album and serves to enhance the body of work as a whole. Come Closer illuminates Manns as a brilliantly gifted artist, who writes charmingly enjoyable songs that have the ability to move a diverse array of music lovers.
Seattle singer-songwriter Shannon Stephens has unveiled the video for her single ‘Care of You’, taken from her 3rd album ‘Pull It Together’, which is released on 28th May. The video was shot by Christian Soren Hansen in a friend’s kitchen. The album will be the first release since 2009’s ‘The Breadwinner’.
Lookman Adekunle Salama aka L.A. Salami is a bright young new London singer. I’ll call him a singer-songwriter because others will but I think we can both agree that calling someone that doesn’t actually give any information away.
His new single ‘Jianni’s From Australia’ is, apparently, “a nod to Nigerian Apala music from the Youba tribe. It straddles the lines of indie and folk with a voice that is both enchanting and hypnotic. This single is two tracks of gorgeous pop-indie-folk magic that suggest he’s one to keep your eyes on. Go forth and listen!
‘Jianni’s From Australia’ is released on 11th June
This profile is a first in a series for Frost magazine. We are profiling new music and trying to discover new artists. The artist might not be actually ‘new’, but someone who we think may be about to breakthrough or go onto another level of fame. They do say it takes ten years to become an overnight success….
Highlights/Accolades: Power Plant Beach was selected as one of Mother Jones Readers’ favorite albums of 2011. Emilia Cataldo was a finalist in the We R Indie singer songwriter contest in 2011. Nehedar provided most of the soundtrack to an upcoming independent film. (working title: Strike Anywhere Matches).
Nehedar is the project of New York-based singer-songwriter Emilia Cataldo.
The daughter of two New York musicians who fled urban life for the country, Cataldo was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, where her family lived in a barn on the outskirts of town. Music always permeated their home – her mother a hippie piano teacher from a Jewish home & her father a Puerto Rican jazz saxophonist.
The Cataldo family which grew to six children, moved from Massachusetts, to Miami FL, & eventually to the religiously-infused town of Zion, Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago where Cataldo briefly attended high school.
Cataldo quickly grew disenchanted with her small town surroundings. As soon as she was old enough, she left high school to travel the country, and later the world, on a journey that would eventually lead her to Israel, where she would study the Jewish faith in Seminary, and take on the Hebrew name Nehedar, which means ‘wonderful.’
In 2000, Cataldo settled in New York City, where she began writing & performing her own music in 2001 following a difficult period involving the loss of her mother to an aggressive brain tumor. She adopted ‘Nehedar’ as her stage-name & that of her band. Eventually, Cataldo would return to school to complete her B.A. in music at Stern College in Manhattan.
Nehedar has self-released five albums – Pick Your Battles in 2007, the critically-acclaimed Dreamlike in 2008, Pterodactyl Baby in 2009, Power Plant Beach in 2010 and just released her latest album High Tide on March 15, 2012. For the duration of her recording Nehedar has worked closely with Craig Levy of Little Pioneer Cider House in Brooklyn New York, although she has enjoyed experimenting with other producers. Nehedar’s backing band has included a revolving cast of friends and thereby changed shape over the years. Whenever possible Nehedar includes Luis Cataldo (her saxaphone playing father) in the mix.
While spanning indie-rock, folk, jazz and pop genres, the music of Nehedar has continued to deliver her blend of deeply personal lyrics, beautiful vocal harmonies & a variety of instrumentation. Momentary departures from strict chord progressions set her music apart, surely a result of her childhood spent listening to jazz. As a writer and performer she has enjoyed comparisons to Tracy Bonham, Bebel Gilberto and Ingrid Michaelson.
Phil Ochs was a singer / songwriter in the 60s categorized as `folk’ or ‘protest’ – a contemporary and friend of Bob Dylan.
He was a most prolific writer of protest and topical songs in the 60s and put out seven albums, but his work diminished in the 70s and he sadly took his own life in 1976.
A new film has been released in the States, ‘There But For Fortune’, using mainly rare footage of Ochs. And if there was any justice, it would be made compulsory in schools and universities because this man truly believed that the power of song could change the world. He must certainly have had something, as years after his death, it came to light that the FBI had a file of no less than 500 pages on him.
Many new songwriters are discovering Ochs and his songs are as relevant today as they were then. There are hundreds of mailing lists and discussion groups dedicated to Phil and his music, and in February 2009, Phil was awarded a lifetime achievement award. Check the film out here: http://www.philochsthemovie.com/index.html.
“I’ve read of other countries where the students take a stand, they’ve even helped to overthrow the leaders of the land,” sang Ochs in “I’m Gonna Say It Now” in 1965, and the anthem of the 1960s can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pgrKSwFJE.
You will find many parallels with this new century and the times of Phil Ochs. It just makes you wonder what he’d have made of these times and why we cannot produce anyone now with this much beauty, passion, talent and intellect in popular culture.
Portland alt-rock singer-songwriter Matt Lande has released his album GLOW on PopMatters who noted “the balance of heavy rock, pop hooks, catharsis, and introspection is damn near impeccable throughout.”
