In March this year, Sony Music’s catalog division, Legacy Recordings will release The Album Collection, a limited edition 60CD Elvis Presley box set commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the release of Elvis Presley, The King’s first album for RCA… This set is similar, but more lavish, than the acclaimed Bob Dylan andJohnny Cash boxes issued in the last few years and comprises 57 Elvis albums originally released on RCA from 1956-1977 as well as three new discs of rarities from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s respectively.
Of course, many of Elvis’s long-players have been expanded and repackaged for Legacy Editions, themed box sets and the like over the years, but his 57 original LPs – studio and live albums, compilations of non-album singles, film soundtracks, and even budget albums with hard-to-find material – have been reissued only sparingly during the digital era. The Album Collection presents – for the first time, in many cases – Elvis’s official, original albums as they were first released.
Legacy Recordings have promised fans that original album packaging has been “meticulously restored” for each of the discs included in with details including gatefold/die cut sleeves, original RCA Victor inserts and stickers, CD labels replicating original ‘side 1′ labels and more.
This collector’s box also includes a 300-page fully illustrated hard cover book featuring a commentary penned by Elvis Presley scholar John Jackson, discographies and recording session details (dates, locations, personnel, etc.) and more.
In addition to the 57 albums, this box set features three bonus CDs of rare tracks – new compilations, with each volume devoted to one of the decades; the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s.
Elvis Presley – The Album Collection 60CD box set is released on 18 March 2016.
Album: Full Circle Release Date: March 4th Full Circle is the 83-year-old country legend's first album since 2003, when Jack White produced the gorgeous Van Lear Rose. This time around, Lynn recorded at Johnny Cash's Cash Cabin Studio in Tennessee with John Carter Cash and her daughter Patsy Lynn Russell co-producing. "I recorded 93 songs, and I'm going to record some more, too," Lynn told Billboard in December. The 13 tracks selected for Full Circle include new takes on Lynn's hit "Fist City" and the first song she ever wrote, "Whispering Sea," as well as duets with Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson. "When this album comes out, I want to work it just like I've done always," Lynn said. "And I can't wait."
The 1975
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Album: I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It Release Date: February 26th Judging by advance singles "Love Me" and "Ugh!" Manchester rockers the 1975 have mined funky Eighties hitmakers like Peter Gabriel, Terence Trent D'Arby and Prince for their second studio album. "[The Eighties were] a time where technology came into play vastly," the band told iHeartRadio. "It was a forward-thinking time, and trying to capture the ethos of that time without being over-referential, in like a pastiche, is something that we wanted to do." The album will be supported by a North American tour that begins April 18th in Los Angeles.
Mavis Staples
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Album: Livin' on a High Note Release Date: February 19th Legendary singer Mavis Staples will release a new album in February, following up a pair of Jeff Tweedy-produced Americana albums, 2010's You Are Not Alone and 2013's One True Vine. Staples has remained relatively quiet about her upcoming album but the LP will feature the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer singing songs written exclusively for her by artists like Justin Vernon, Nick Cave, John Batiste, Aloe Blacc, Ben Harper, Neko Case and more. Also in February: the HBO premiere of the documentary film Mavis!which takes a look at her life.
PJ Harvey
Maria Mochnacz
Album: TBA Release Date: TBA Last winter, PJ Harvey set up shop at London's Somerset House for"Recording in Progress," a four-week art installation during which she and collaborators set about writing and recording her ninth studio album while viewers watched through one-way glass. "I hope people will see the attention and the labor and the care that goes into making a recording," she said in a statement. "I hope people will see the interactions between everyone involved." In October, the shape-shifting British singer debuted 10 new songs at L...ival Hall. (Longtime collaborator John Parish and former Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds member James Johnston sat in.) A teaser posted online in December would indicate that at least some of the album, which does not yet have a title or release date, will be much more sonically abrasive than the 2007's gauzy White Chalk and 2011's Let England Shake.
The Strokes
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Album: TBA Release Date: TBA Julian Casablancas spent almost as much time in 2015 promising new material from the Strokes as he did hyping his new music with the Voidz. "It's the first time we've been exclusively writing since [2013's] Comedown Machine," the Strokes vocalist told Noisey last April. "We're planning on recording stuff. I still think we could do cool things and I'll do that." In September, during a Strokes show at the Landmark Festival in D.C., Casablancas reportedly announced from the stage that the band planned to return to the studio.
Vampire Weekend
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Album: TBA Release Date: TBA "In some ways [our first three albums were] like kind of one massive period of obsessing, making music, touring, all those things," Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig told the No Effects Podcast last May. "I think now for the first time in a long time I kinda feel like, a little bit more relaxed. Like, 'Yeah, we'll definitely make a fourth album.'" Details are still scant, but the indie rock foursome's leader revealed that he wants their fourth album to "feel like a new era." He also said that discarded songs from the Modern Vampires sessions are among the tracks being considered for the as-yet-untitled project.
Deftones
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Album: TBA Release Date: TBA Almost 30 years into their careers and following near breakups and the death of original bassist Chi Cheng, alt-metal heroes the Deftones are in the midst of a creative renaissance. Their last two albums, 2010's Diamond Eyesand 2012's Koi No Yokan, rank among their finest hours, and the band shows no signs of letting up when it comes to pushing the boundaries of its already expansive sound. In May, singer Chino Moreno described the group's forthcoming eighth album to NME as "out of the box" and full of "keyboards and a lot of cool, spacey low frequencies." He also added that Morrissey was serving as a key influence on the songs. "I've been on this crazy Morrissey tip recently – totally obsessing over his solo records – so I brought a lot of that to the table," he said. "On those early solo records, he uses this awesome, Elvis-y delay on his vocal that I've been ripping off a ton." As of November, the album – which reportedly includes a cameo from Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell – was being mixed, with a spring release expected.
Santigold
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Album: 99¢ Release Date: January 22nd We already got a taste of one of 2016's first big releases, Santigold's 99¢, from the album's first single, "Can't Get Enough of Myself," a giddy tune driven by a unique and uncharacterizable global pop beat. "The record cover is a picture of me basically in a bag, shrink-wrapped, with a bunch of items, random clutter from my life … and there's a 99-cent sticker on it," Santigold said of the album title. "Everything is a product at this point, including people and relationships, and everything's about marketing products. So, I'm a product. And also, everything is undervalued, so I thought 99 cents is a good price for me and my life and all my hard work."
Run the Jewels
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Album: RTJ3 Release Date: TBA The dynamic duo of Killer Mike and El-P spent 2015 in victory lap mode, hitting festivals from coast to coast, and releasing Meow the Jewels, a novelty record for charity in which their acclaimed 2014 album Run the Jewels 2 was drenched in cat noises. Of course for the politically charged team, a "victory lap" also entails interviewing presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and recording a record for the Rumble Kings soundtrack. Not much is known about the group's forthcoming album, though, as El-P suggested in his Colbert performance last September, it may take a while: "We'll get to it once we finish up with all this other shit," El-P added. "So, it should take til 2029."
Animal Collective
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Album: Painting With Release Date: February 19th The day before Thanksgiving, those traveling through the BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore may have been lucky enough to get the first taste of Animal Collective's upcoming album, Painting With, which was debuted via the airport's PA system. According to Avey Tare's ...Matt Baetz, the album was "heard best in the bathrooms, some observation areas, pre-security and the big lounge after security." In a recent interview inRolling Stone, the band promised to cut down on their signature reverb and embrace a much poppier sound, much more like2007's Strawberry Jam – or, the Beatles at their druggiest peak. Lead single "FloridaDa" retains all the bubbly idiosyncrasy of the avant-pop trio. Due Feburary 19th, the album features cameos by The Velvet Underground's John Cale and saxophonist Colin Stetson, as well as some "metal rods from the Poltergeistsoundtrack."
Smashing Pumpkins
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Album: TBA Release Date: TBA After spending 2015 touring with Marilyn Manson, which Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan insisted was not a nostalgia tour, the alt-rocker promised a "very exciting" and "very futuristic" record – and called statements that this might be the end of the band's catalog "clickbait." "I've basically said the Smashing Pumpkins dies when I die," he told Rolling Stone. His newest album, originally titled Day For Night, is a follow-up to 2012's Oceania and 2014's Monuments to an Elegy, all a part of the 44-trackTeargarden by Kaleidyscope song cycle. The title was changed because, as Corgan wrote, "in order to rewrite everything, or write anew, I had to think that maybe my initial conception of what DAY FOR NIGHT would stand for (which was some kind of end) was misguided. So let’s say this'll be more of a farewell to MONUMENTS funerary."
Savages
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Album: Adore Life Release Date: January 22nd When Savages began work on their second LP, the U.K. post-punks took on a new challenge: love songs, which singer Jehnny Beth was inspired to write after being showered with good vibes from crowds around the world. Adore Life is just as visceral as Savages' debut. "If there were beautiful lyrics, we wanted it to be contradicted by something nasty or aggressive," bassist Ayse Hassan says.
Swans
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Album: TBA Release Date: TBA It's hard to imagine Michael Gira, head of the long-running, heavy noise purveyors Swans, ever going silent. And indeed he won't – last year, he announced that Swans, as a project, would continue. He is, however, disbanding the current, fully fleshed-out, eardrum-melting, six-member lineup that will be marking their final road hurrah this year. 2016 should also see the final studio album from this group, an effort financed through the crowd-funding of The Gate, a live album and concert DVD. Gira promises something lofty, as he wrote in an extended note to fans on his website last year. He hopes the album will be "the best, most fully realized, most sonically diverse and nuanced, most urgently performed and best produced album yet associated with the name [he] picked at random from a list on a scrap of paper at a kitchen table in New York City's East Village a century ago."
Charles Bradley
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Album: Changes Release Date: April 1st The ageless, limitless "Screaming Eagle of Soul" swoops back with Changes, an album named after Charles Bradley's affected rework of Black Sabbath's 1972 piano ballad, originally released as a Record Store Day single in 2013. "I think about the lyrics very closely when I sing 'Changes' and get emotional," he said in a press release. "It makes me think of my mother and the changes in my life since she passed away." An emotional music video features Bradley just letting his eyes express his sorrow. "We only did that once," noted director Eric Feigenbaum. "By the end of the take, everybody in the room was holding back tears."
Lake Street Dive
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Album: Side Pony Release Date: February 19th This Brooklyn-via-Boston quartet has wowed festival audiences with their feather-light blend of jazz and rock, a winking sense of humor, and the cucumber-cool vocals of Rachael Price. In late 2015 they signed with Nonesuch and recorded Side Pony with Chris Stapleton producer Dave Cobb at the Sound Emporium in Nashville. A snippet of the title tracksuggests that the band's wit and musicianship remains high. "We want to make an album that we're all just in love with," Price told Paste in 2015. "We have a producer who's really kicking our ass."
Sunflower Bean
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Album: Human Ceremony Release Date: February 5th This Brooklyn trio has garnered plenty of buzz since their heavier-than-heavy 2015 EP, Show Me Your Seven Secrets, and are getting ready to release their official debut. Judging by the leadoff single "Wall Watcher" – about "existing in a lonely world," bassist Julia Cumming told The Fader – the band has dialed down the fuzzy psychedelia and dialed up the tempos.Human Ceremony, recorded in just seven days, is propelled by Cumming's ethereal voice and a rhythm section that has only gotten tighter and faster after dozens of live shows last year, opening for the likes of Wolf Alice and Best Coast. When Sunflower Bean formed in 2013 they were teenagers who celebrated their EP release in a family-friendly fashion: "We put streamers everywhere and served baked goods," Cumming told Rolling Stone.
Tim Hecker
Tracy Van Oosten
Album: TBA Release Date: TBA The critically adored master of gushing, ecstatic "power ambient" is returning for his eighth album — and his first for the esteemed indie label 4AD. Though details are slim, he's hitting New York and Los Angeles in April and then appearing at North Carolina's Moogfest in May alongside contemporaries like Oneohtrix Point Never and Ben Frost.
How Kali Uchis Seduced L.A. With her Lowrider R&B January 2016
Born in Colombia as Karly Loaiza (her stage name is derived from the pet name her dad gave her), Uchis spent seven years there before her family relocated to Alexandria, Virginia. In Colombia, her porcelain complexion and blond hair made her conspicuous, and she was often bullied. The experience stuck with her.
“Since the beginning of time, [people] pick and push at anyone who looks different,” she says. “Make them feel less of themselves in order to get them to the most weakened state, so they will conform.”
Uchis says she faces a related form of intimidation now. “As female artists, we have to be constantly criticized for the way that we look, the way that we dress on a whole other level that men don’t have to face. The constant scrutiny has torn down a lot of people to where they end up living for everyone else and conforming to how everyone else wants them to look. The same way the majority of people in L.A. have tiny little noses and big lips and contoured faces. The constant pressure to be the perfect, ideal female — there’s no such thing.”
That overwhelming pressure is partly why Uchis never intended to be a singer. Though she played the saxophone as a child, her grandmother, a librarian, encouraged her to be creative in other ways, too. Her siblings were much older, so she spent much of her time alone, directing her paper dolls and writing screenplays.
By the last years of high school, Uchis was skipping every class except her video and photography courses because she'd planned to become a music video director. She’d never recorded a song until the summer after she graduated, but getting a Mac and tinkering with GarageBand piqued her interest.
Initially, Uchis viewed sampling and making a mixtape as simply another creative outlet. But Drunken Babble created such a stir that she put her other ambitions on hold — momentarily. Sure, it’s gained her entrance into the music business, but it hasn’t been without its costs.
“I do love music, but I’ve never been a popularity contest, having to kiss babies and shake hands and kiss-everyone’s-ass-type of person,” she says. “And I feel like as a rising artist, you almost have to be that person to succeed. That’s how the system is built. You have to play with everyone. I’m not that type of person. That’s why I never set out to be this.
“Even to this day, it pains me to have to have my art criticized and given a rating,” she admits. “That’s why I never wanted to be an artist that was in the public eye. I just wanted to make my music and be a background person.”
As Uchis talks, she reminds you of another young female artist who didn’t really want front-of-the-camera fame — Kreayshawn. They’re both creative women with ambitions to be directors, not artists, plus they possess the kind of sharp visual aesthetic and individualistic sense of style that’s adored by Tumblr and salivated over by major labels.
When Kreayshawn’s debut album flopped, she seemed almost relieved to leave the spotlight, sending the middle finger of a Tweet: “Aware & Don’t care.” Uchis — who, unlike Kreayshawn, doesn’t rap — seems to have arrived with a similar zero-fucks-given attitude. Her team is equally strong-minded. Managing Uchis is Claire Bogle, the 26-year-old who co-founded Austin promotions company ScoreMore and was named one of Rolling Stone’s “17 Young Innovators Shaking Up the Music Industry” earlier this year.
As Bogle says, “It’s a new wave of women who are not fucking around. Get with it, or get lost.” Still, for a female artist with a unique voice, it can be a struggle. “Sometimes, when I’ve worked with other directors, it’s been hard, ’cause older men think they know better,” says Uchis. “When people went in to work with me, they were actually surprised at how much input I have in my creative.”
While she has worked with other producers like Diplo and Kaytranada, Uchis still writes all of her songs and directs many of her videos (including "Know What I Want," above). Considering the music industry’s history with puppet-mastering young female artists, it seems likely people have already tried to wrest creative control from her. Asked if she wants to be signed to a major label, her discomfort is palpable. “I think it would make things more complicated,” she says. When pressed, Uchis adds, “In general, I feel like it just kinda fucks things up for people,” before asking to talk about something else.
Outside the diner, Bogle plays bad cop, asking to see this article before it goes to print. It’s not the Weekly’s practice to allow that, but her concern is understandable. After all, another pen could portray Kali Uchis as just another sexy singer chick wearing short shorts and a Playboy Bunny necklace.
“I just know what I want for myself,” Uchis says. “If you let other people push you around or step on you ’cause you’re scared to be called a bitch or whatever, then people wind up turning you into whatever they want to turn you into.”
ABOVE: ANNA ROSE. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHERVIN LAINEZ.
"Don't need a reason / Don't need a cause / So far away from the paths we crossed ... Everybody's coming for you / Everyone is trying to start a war," singer/songwriter Anna Rose sings on her single "Start a War." Premiering below, the song is fueled by Rose's serene voice, a simple guitar, and soothing percussion. Though it began as heavy rock, the musician and cowriters Jordan Lawhead and Adam B. Smith decided to strip it down, giving the song an almost purely acoustic soundscape; it acts as the calm after the storm. When writing the song, "I was feeling particularly isolated as a long-term visitor in Nashville, missing my fiancé (now husband), and everything felt like an attack on my senses," Rose says. "I was always geared up for a fight. I was fighting for my career, thinking about how I could have done things differently. I felt very alone and misunderstood in a lot of ways."
"Start a War" is from Rose's forthcoming six-track EP Strays in the Cut, the majority of which she wrote during a trip to Nashville, instead of in her native New York. "I've been thinking of this EP like a short film," she continues. "It has the same emotional content and story arc as a full-length album, it's just leaner and meaner...A lot of this EP [is] about redefinition and finding comfort in the discomfort of being alone." Following Strays in the Cut, Rose plans on releasing a second EP to act as a "partner in crime" rather than another LP (she previously released Behold a Pale Horse and Nomad). "I want people to find their own meaning in the songs," Rose continues. "It doesn't matter why I wrote them or what I think they're about. What matters to me is that the listener takes the song as their own and subscribes their own meaning to it. That's the highest honor." Listen:https://soundcloud.com/annarosemusic/start-a-war-2
STRAYS IN THE CUT IS DUE OUT NEXT YEAR. ANNA ROSE WILL PLAY AT BROOKLYN BOWL IN NEW YORK ON JANUARY 27, 2016. FOR MORE ON THE MUSICIAN, VISIT HER FACEBOOK.
DANA WILLIAMS IN LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 2015. PHOTOS: CARA ROBBINS. STYLING: LISA MADONNA. HAIR: STEVEN MASON FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS MANAGEMENT USING RENE FURTERER. MAKEUP: TASHA BROWN FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS MANAGEMENT USING COLOUR POP COSMETICS.
Only 24 years-old, Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Dana Williams has already been deemed a "modern day Ella Fitzgerald" by magazines (Elle, InStyle) and blogs (Pigeons & Planes, the Afropunk blog) alike. Her deep, soulful vocals sing lyrics imbued with classic themes of love and loss and piano, tambourine, and guitar abound. Generally speaking, the music comes first, with lyrics to follow. "The lyrics are inspired by the mood of the song," she says over the phone.
Williams grew up splitting her time between Los Angeles and New York, where she attended middle school, high school, and college. At times, she would also go on tour with her father, who was Michael Jackson's guitarist. More than writing her own songs, Williams also maintains a large following on YouTube for her covers of timeless tracks like Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" (performed in collaboration with longtime friend Leighton Meester) and "Still Crazy" by Paul Simon, as well as Top 40 hits, such as Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen," Sam Smith's "Stay with Me," and Lorde's "Team." She was previously a contestant on ABC'sRising Star, and last year she released her debut EP The Lonely One, appeared on the soundtrack of Whiplash, and became the star of Apple's Christmas commercial with "The Song." Tomorrow marks the release of her sophomore EP Let's Fall, so we took a moment to learn more about the undeniably talented modern jazz singer and writer, who has also collaborated with the likes of Freddie Gibbs, Callaway, and more.
NAME: Dana Williams
AGE: 24
HOMETOWN: I grew up between New York and L.A., but I'm from L.A. and now I live here again. It was so different, both life styles. Living in New York there's so much freedom. I was going out, taking the subway. In L.A. you're so dependent on a car. My mom lived in New York and my dad was on the West Coast.
LET'S FALL: My first EP is called The Lonely One and it was all about heartbreak—sad and melancholic. Let's Fall is still very melancholic, but it's more optimistic and romantic. I think that's why I chose the title track to be "Let's Fall," because it was the first real love song I ever wrote. I wanted that to represent the body of work. It's warmer and more inviting, perhaps, than The Lonely One. During the time where I was writing The Lonely One I was going through a lot. My father had passed away and I was going through a breakup. I was writing about what was happening in my life. But as I breathed and matured, I embraced the more romantic feeling. That's what inspired [Let's Fall]—growing a bit.
DISCOVERING THE CLASSICS: It was a school project. I was in elementary school, first or second grade, it was black history month, and the teacher put a bunch of names in a hat and said, "Pick out a name and then you're going to do a book report and write a little bio on the person you've chosen." I picked Ella Fitzgerald's name out of a hat and my mom took me to the CD store. I brought home a bunch of CDs, I was so enamored by what I heard, and it became a lifelong love of mine. Also, my grandma was a jazz singer, so growing up she always sang songs to us. It's something I sort of grew up with and also discovered on my own. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I began to really appreciate Billie Holiday. My friend gave me her biography and I read it, then I started listening to her music, and I've been loving it ever since. Also, living in New York, I was going to a lot of jazz clubs. My favorite jazz club—I was in New York last winter and wanted to go, I used to sing there when I was in college—is permanently closed now. It's the Lenox Lounge. Billie Holiday used to perform there, too.
THE BEGINNING: My dad was a musician and songwriter. When I was little I would go to the studio with him and he would make a little pop track. He would say, "Write two verses, a chorus, and a bridge." Then I'd go home and write a little love song, dreaming about having a boyfriend one day. I did it for fun with my dad. I didn't really start writing my own music until I was a teen. I finally was proficient enough on guitar to play in a band and write my own music on guitar, so it was probably 14 or 15 when I started writing my own music. MY DAD WAS A GUITARIST FOR MICHAEL JACKSON AND...I did get to meet him, but when you're around something so much when you're younger, you're not really aware of the gravity of the situation or that you're being a part of something so legendary. We did go on tour with my dad. You know, when they do "Earth Song," they need a kid, or kids, on stage, walking around the earth, so I was even able to perform with Michael Jackson when I was really little. You're five years old, standing in front of thousands and thousands of people. It's a really crazy experience. But he was a really nice guy, and he and my dad had a great relationship. Honestly, that's what inspired me a great deal to become a musician: to see how music can effect and touch people. Going to a concert to see my dad and people are crying, fainting, dancing, smiling, and laughing—it's magical... I remember asking, "Why is she crying," or "Why," in general, but it was so normalized to me. It was just my dad's work. Friends' dads went to the office and he went to rehearsal or to play a show.
WHIPLASH SOUNDTRACK: A friend who produced my first EP is a longtime friend of mine and called one day and said, "My friends need you to sing on some of their music and in exchange, they'll play in your band." So I did a favor for Damien [Chazelle], and for a while, Damien and Max [Drummey] and Justin [Hurwitz], who does all of the music for Damian's movies, were all in my band for a little while. Damien got really busy casting his movie, but called me one day and said, "Hey I really like that song ‘Keep Me Waiting,' can I put it in my movie?" I was like, "Yeah, of course."
COVERING SONGS: I did a cover with my friend Leighton [Meester] a few years ago. I realized after that I had acquired a large YouTube fan base, so I decided I was going to keep it up and keep doing covers. Usually how I choose [the song] is either my sister will call me and tell me she likes a song and wants to hear me sing it, or I just choose a song that I think I can put my own style on and make it my own successfully. I just put out a cover of a Pixies song that I've been listening to since high school; some stuff is close to me. I do cover big songs because people gravitate toward that more obviously, but it is intimidating because there are so many people covering these pop songs. Also, sometimes I shy away from songs that have been done by great female vocalists, just because comparisons are always drawn. That helps determine what song I sing: if I think I can make it my own and people won't say, "Oh, so and so did it better." It's not about who's doing better. It's not about comparing yourself to someone. It's doing your own thing and making it special in your own way.
LOVE AND LOSS...Inspires me because it's a universal theme. Everyone loves and everyone loses, no matter what you're losing. You could be losing your pet or a family member, or you could be breaking up, but everyone identifies with that. Also, love—everyone loves. I don't want to say I've lost a lot, but I've experienced loss, and I've experienced love. I feel like those are very natural things for me to write about.
RISING STAR: To be honest, I was really against [doing a television show] for a long time, but I feel like, at this point and this state the music industry is in, to be on TV, showing people who you are and what you can do, is probably one of the most important things you can do. I still think there's a lot of merit in doing one of those shows. Not everyone can do it, because it's not that easy. One of the biggest things I took away from that experience is, actually, something my dad always said to me and I never really digested as a kid: to make sure that whatever you're doing is your own. For a show like [Rising Star], you're singing other people's songs. You don't have the opportunity to say, "I wrote this and this is something I've created." It's sort of like, "This is who I am through something you're already familiar with." So I think one of the biggest lessons I learned is that whatever I do, I have to make it my own.
LET'S FALL WILL BE RELEASED TOMORROW, DECEMBER 11. FOR MORE ON DANA WILLIAMS, VISIT HER WEBSITE.
Though she's only released five songs, singer/songwriter/producer Sarah Winters has already captivated listeners from L.A. to New York with her mystique. Releasing music under the name vōx (pronounced "wokes"), the Minnesota native creates haunting tracks with streamlined, yet forward thinking production. Her music is not, however, too experimental to deter the average listener. Here, we are pleased to premiere vōx's sixth single, "Get Down," which Winters wrote after a breakup, but about the same relationship that inspired "Put the Poison in Me." "That one I wrote when I was still in the relationship," she says of "Put the Poison in Me," "which is even more fascinating because I don't think at that point I had really admitted the relationship wasn't working. It took me a while."
Her musical moniker came after years of searching, when she glanced down at a tattoo on her fingers: "vōx etpraetereā nihil," which translates from Latin to "a voice and nothing more." Emblematic of Winters' music, the tattoo echoes the fact that her production occupies a large portion of her songs, although her voice could easily stand on its own. Her ability to waver from a crooning high soprano to soothing low alto remains in the forefront even amongst intricate sonic landscapes. More than making music, Winters also has a strong interest in visual art. She's previously collaborated with photographers Parker Fitzgerald and Karla Varley, and the slideshow above marks the debut of her collaboration with Shaira Luna. We spoke with Winters over the phone to learn more about her mysterious persona.
NAME: Sarah Winters
CURRENT LOCATION: Los Angeles. I'm at the office. My secret day job is in music publishing.
ALMA MATTER: McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul. I went there for music business. "GET DOWN": It's about a relationship I had a few years back. It was very toxic; it's the concept of feeling like you need to be punished in a relationship or you deserve that pain that someone is giving you and not being able to get out. It's a cycle that you get in. That's where "Get Down" came from. I wanted to make it a really strong song, compared to how weak I was as a human in that relationship.
ON WRITING: Lyrics come first for me. I started out when I was a teenager writing poetry, so that was always first before I ever added music. I fell in love with production when I was on tour with this Cincinnati band called WHY?.They have kind of a crazy genre and they opened up my mind to the music they were into. I started listening to a lot of electronic music and producers. I came back from that tour knowing I wanted to delve into that. I started working with Josiah Kosier, who co-produces with me. We've been exploring it together. He had never done electronic production either, so we both were completely new to it. GROWING UP... I was a very private and quiet kid. I spent a lot of down time alone. My father's a computer programmer, so we learned a lot about computers and technology at a very young age; I spent a lot of my time online, discovering music, and talking to people in different chat rooms about music, trying to find artists that no one had ever heard of. That got me deep into music at a really young age. I remember finding all this strange music that other people in my hometown were like, "What is this? Why are you listening to this?" [laughs]
FINDING HERSELF: I grew up in a town of 13,000 people, so peaceful, but a very slow life and very hard to find people that you connect with because you grow up with all the same people and you know them from first through 12th grade. You can't really change there as a person, so I feel like I didn't really grow up until college when I made a completely new friend group and I could be who I actually wanted to be.
L.A. LIFE: I feel like the biggest difference being in L.A. is that there's so many more opportunities than in Minnesota. People who are here tend to know that and come here for that reason. Everyone is working really hard, everyone has goals. You can't coast by because it's so expensive. In Minnesota, you can really coast by. If you're an artist, you can really be lazy and not really pursue it—just kind of work your day job. That's cool, that's fine, but it's easy to fall into that rut and not make as much as an artist as you want to. I find it both [inspiring and intimidating]. I would say it's more inspiring, though. It's an energy. Everyone else is working really hard.
VISUALS: I've always been pretty interested in visual art. I've always been a big fan of fashion. In high school, I would have Vogue magazine and tear out photos from it, but I didn't realize I could pursue both things simultaneously until recently. I never realized how getting deeper into modeling for my own art would change everything. It's made me a more confident person. It's changed my stage persona. Once you know how to move your body, almost in the way a dancer knows they look good doing a move, a model knows when they look good to the eye. I feel like that's really improved a lot of aspects of me being a musician.
MY FIRST NUDE ART SHOOT...was with an artist that I was a really big fan of. His name is Parker Fitzgerald and he's an amazing photographer from Portland. He does all of these collaborations with a florist, Riley Messina, and arranges beautiful nude bodies with flowers. We shot out in the desert. There were other ladies as well, and none of us were really models, per se. We were also artists, so we also understood where he was coming from with it. It was too cool of an opportunity to pass up. I was like, "This is the time where I gain that confidence and make it happen."
STATE OF SHOCK: Everything about this project has shocked me. I had never done anything like this, especially the live performance. I had always been a really, really shy performer. I think the most shocking thing is just how much you can change if you point yourself in that direction.
Bloodiest's new self-titled album kicks monumental amounts of ass. Groove metal of the highest order. Much riffage takes place. Highly recommended. Stereogum's current album of the week. It's streaming on Soundcloud right here
It’s been seven years since we heard a full album from Sonya Kitchell and, judging by this lavish single from her new LP, We Come Apart, the wait was well worth it.
“Mexico” is a moody reminder of Kitchell’s artistic power, plummeting out of the speakers with a seductive groove, buzzy bass line, and a robust vocal delivery.
The stark images that accompany the track thread its somber beauty into an intriguing little package which calls listeners to explore Kitchell’s full body of work.
Jess Glynne, the biggest breakthrough artist of 2015, this week celebrates her debut album going double platinum making it the biggest selling debut album of the year. To kick off 2016, Jess now announces a brand new single from the album, ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’, due for its own release on February 26th via Atlantic.
2015 saw the London born Jess Glynne ascend to the pinnacle of the UK music world. ‘I Cry When I Laugh’, which included five #1 singles along with the recent ‘Take Me Home’ – the official song for Children In Need, entered the charts at #1 and has now sold over 600,000 copies, finishing 2015 as the 7th biggest album of the year. Jess’ next offering is the popular album track ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’ – an upbeat and feel-good gospel infused follow-up which sees Jess’ signature soulful and sunny pop at its most foot-tappingly infectious.
Watch an exclusive acoustic performance of ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’ below.
The end of 2015 saw Jess in a string of high profile UK television performances including Jools Holland Hootenanny, Top Of The Pops on Christmas Eve and New Year, Jonathan Ross, The John Bishop Show and the BBC Music Awards. Now, a completely sold out UK headline tour beckons in February, including two shows at Brixton Academy on the 20th & 21st. From there, Jess will head to Europe and the US for further headline shows. www.jessglynne.co.uk www.facebook.com/JessGlynne
Got a Girl formed after Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Mary Elizabeth Winstead met on the set of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Michael Donovan/Courtesy of the artist
Chance encounters can lead to profound changes in people's lives. Just ask actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
She was shooting Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldopposite Michael Cera when one of the film's music consultants befriended her. He'd heard rumors she was also a talented singer, so he checked out a video of her belting out a tune in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.
That person happened to be Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, the hot-shot producer known to pop and hip-hop fans for his work with Gorillaz and Del the Funky Homosapien. The two struck up a friendship, and a musical partnership was born: Got a Girl.
The newly formed duo just released its first album, I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now, which draws on the members' shared love for 1960s French pop. Nakamura and Winstead spoke with NPR's Eric Westervelt; hear their conversation at the audio link.
Kelsey Lu is a classically trained cellist who loops her instrument and voice to make ethereal R&B pop. You may have seen her as part of Blood Orange's band at The Apollo(and the warm-up show at Baby's All Right), and she's also collaborated with Empress Of, Nappy Roots, and Chairlift. As for her own music, so far she's only released a couple songs, one being "Morning After Coffee" and you can watch the gorgeously shot video for that song below.
Kelsey will be on tour with Wet, including two sold-out NYC shows. Before that, she'll play this Saturday (1/16) at National Sawdust which will be a collaborative performance with dancer/choreographer Shamar Watt. Tickets for that show are on sale.
All tour dates are listed below...
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Kelsey Lu - 2016 Tour Dates (w/ Wet) 1/16 - National Sawdust - Brooklyn, NY (just Kelsey Lu) 1/24 - Iron Horse Music Hall - Northampton, MA 1/27 - U Street Music Hall - Washington, DC 1/28 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY 1/29 - Rough Trade - Brooklyn, NY 1/30 - Boot & Saddle - Philadelphia, PA 2/1 - The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA 2/2 - Le Ritz PDB - Montreal, QC 2/3 - The Drake Hotel - Toronto, ON 2/5 - Schubas Tavern - Chicago, IL 2/6 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN 2/9 - Barboza - Seattle, WA 2/10 - Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC 2/12 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR 2/14 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA 2/15 - The Lyric Theater - Los Angeles, CA 2/16 - The Echo - Los Angeles, CA
Toronto singer/songwriter Basia Bulat has announced that she'll release her fourth album Good Advice on February 12 via Secret CIty Records. My Morning Jacket's Jim James produced it.
Basia will be touring in support of the new album, and hitting NYC on April 1 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (10/30) at noon.
All dates are listed below...
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Basia Bulat -- 2015/2016 Tour Dates Feb 18 Club Soda Montreal, Canada Feb 19 Mod Club Toronto, Canada Feb 26 Barboza Seattle, WA Feb 27 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR Feb 29 The Chapel San Francisco, CA Mar 01 Bootleg Bar Los Angeles, CA Mar 02 Casbah San Diego, CA Mar 03 Rebel Lounge Phoenix, AZ Mar 07 The Waiting Room Omaha, NE Mar 08 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN Mar 09 High Noon Saloon Madison, WI Mar 10 COLECTIVO COFFEE Milwaukee, WI Mar 11 Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL Mar 12 Off Broadway St Louis, MO Mar 13 Riot Room Kansas City, MO Mar 14 The Opolis Norman, OK Mar 21 Three Links Dallas, TX Mar 22 Saturn Birmingham, AL Mar 23 Eddie's Attic Decatur, GA Mar 24 The High Watt Nashville, TN Mar 26 Grey Eagle Asheville, NC Mar 28 Kings Raleigh, NC Mar 29 Rock & Roll Hotel Washington, DC Mar 30 Boot & Saddle Philadelphia, PA Apr 01 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY Apr 02 The Sinclair Cambridge, MA Apr 03 One Longfellow Square Portland, ME Apr 04 High Ground Lounge South Burlington, VT
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