Oren Lavie
April 9th, 2007 by Paul Irishbaroque pop // singer-songwriter
Immediately on hearing this track I thought of Badly Drawn Boy’s seminal album The Hour of Bewilderbeast. Oren Lavie has the clear, high-fidelity instrumentation I associate with the UK baroque pop scene; having string work similar to the cello I fell in love with in BDB’s “The Shining,” and a general gaiety about songwriting that respects the listener while treating them with a cute tune worth sharing. It’s a shame his album is still only released in Europe; apparently they’d rather put off us Americans with a $22.99 sale price. Silly recording industry. :-/
Warm, sunny, aural afternoon delight.
Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance
+ Purchase/Visit
If you’ve been paying attention Cibelle (see-BELL-ee) has already caught your attention, I’m a little late on this but didn’t want to not post this songstress. São Paulo raised Cibelle crafts tunes that tell stories embellished by an instrumentation that won’t disappoint; ½ her album was produced by ½ of indie folk outfit Tunng. Her approach to song construction (somewhat 
Annika Line Trost is a charming and charismatic creature. You probably know her from the Berlin duo 
It’s quite rare an artist is both amazingly creative, productive and has good management skills. Julie Feeney does it all: she composes, writes, sings and promotes all her songs, and it’s needless to say she is truly passionate about music. The critics immediately appraised Julie for her sparse, clean vocals. In Julie’s “Autopilot”, the xylophone sounds and the clever lyrics, frame a melody so immersing that it’s impossible not to listen to it over and over again. “You Bring Me Down” is melodic and never boring with its sweet eclecticism.
I hate to be a label fanboy, but Brighton-based 
To record this soundtrack, Miles Davis stood in front of a screen, watched the movie, and played in the moment, improvising his own musical impressions of the drama on-screen. The music of this film, Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud, helped define the sound of film noir–the slow-walking bass beats and muted, slithering horn lines miming the characters’ action and emotion. Perfect tunes for relaxing, studying, or just completely zoning out. [Thx Angad]
Running in a similar vein to the cartoony electronic duo 
The keytar is our first tip-off. The way its plaintive, dull-yet-sunny sound meshes with Juliette Commagere’s vocals, the electronic overlays, the rich bounce of bass, is a recipe for some very catchy pop. It’s a new-new-wave sound, shiny and nostalgic; it siphons something of Blondie and Berlin, of Latin pop and Irish ditties, and swirls the whole thing into a dance party. Hailing from Silverlake CA, Hello Stranger, formerly Vagenius, are effortlessly attuned to and enamored of LA’s decadent, chintzy, eclectic culture of Hip. Their lyrics admit as much with nonchalant honesty – that is, when they are not being all tongue-in-cheek. 
Swedish roots reggae, you read, with your eyebrow arching high? Oh yes. Of course I gave it the same skepticism that I give Japanese hip hop; how exactly can a culture so far away and even with different climatology bring authenticity and maturity to the genre? And yet this Swedish nonet creates a sound that is both respectful and innovative. You can’t deny ‘Ur Jord’ doesn’t have the catchiness of a Ben Harper or Dispatch tune, while ‘En Timme Kvar Att Leva’ starts you off completely differently−suddenly you feel like you’re in a Yann Tiersen score. (Amelie, perhaps?)