Elizabeth & The Catapult
June 11th, 2007 by Paul Irishsinger songwriter // folk pop
While I enjoy friends that are predictable, I prefer my music to surprise me. A heavy dose of dynamic songwriting will surely snag my attention, so when E&TC’s track “Momma’s Boy” slips from folk to Jon Brion pop to vaudeville and back, I can’t help but crack a smile. With an instrumentation including cello, viola, flugelhorn, bass, violins, and trumpets along with songs like “Waiting For The Kill”, Elizabeth et al. feel like America’s extroverted answer to Psapp.1st in line from a strong, eclectic compilation.
Elizabeth & The Catapult – Momma’s Boy
Elizabeth & The Catapult – Waiting For The Kill
buy this cd
Swedish duo Ola Frick and Carina Johansson have been making dreamy, sophisticated pop for the better part of a decade. Hearing their latest album, a mix of lush orchestral swells, twinkling piano, and endearing guitar riffs, is not unlike seeing a rainbow. Bright and sweeping, it’s the sort of music you’d put on the playlist while drinking strawberry lemonade under the summer sun. And yet the lyrics, too, are worth more than a passing glance: warm and pensive, they make a fine counterpoint to the sweet melodies and often cover darker, more daring ground. Perhaps that lemonade could do with a touch of liquor. 
Sophie Michalitsianos was born in England, studied contemporary composition and orchestration in Sydney, Australia, and currently is New York based singer-songwriter, a professional pianist and cellist. Her debut as Sol Seppy, The Bells Of 1 2 (2006), embodies gentle and dreamy folkly melodies, Goldfrapp-ish electro-pop tendencies, fuzzy electronic beats and gorgeous vocals. Sophie’s music varies from simple to odd and complex tunes, yet never overly eclectic.
I often wonder what the record label of the future looks like. Artists now can now create, record, promote and distribute their music for little or no cost. Thank you, Internet. Though I’ll admit, record labels have done a phenomenal job at curating similar talent; when you find an artist on 
Yoko Kanno is the mind behind some of the finest anime music out there. Lucky for me, in college I lived down the hall from an anime fan. As the horns from the intro theme song to the popular Cowboy Bepop blared out, I crept down the hall to investigate. After falling in love with a dynamic and unpredictable arrangement, I delve deeper into the songwriter. I found a breadth of vocal and melodic writing in a wide span of genres. Below is a good sampling of her work:
From the moment I first heard Hannah Fury’s piano playing, it drew me back to that primal facination with piano and female vocals. To me, it is a beautiful transformation of Tori Amos-like sounding glamour, wrapped into sophisticated and phantasmagoric tales. With a gentle touch of goth, Hannah’s music is not depressing, but it’s wonderful to listen to on a gloomy day.
Sadly, too many people only will recall “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” when they think Bobby McFerrin. Beyond novelties, McFerrin actually brought a lot of innovation to a capella and music, in general. The song below comes from his 1999 collaboration with cello master Yo-Yo Ma. In a simply divine arrangement, McFerrin’s voice and Ma’s cello weave lyrical lines together and apart, creating a sonic landscape that escapes categorization. I hear hints of Akira’s