I'd be remiss not to mention Lissie, the midwestern-born, California-living singer-songwriter who is probably one of the better musical discoveries I've had over the past year. Generally, my tolerance for humdrum folk went out the window years ago, but occasionally an artist will come along and put a new twist on an old standard in such a brilliant way that you can't help but wake up and take notice. That's Lissie in a nutshell.

Part Neko Case, part Stevie Nicks, part something-completely-her-own, Lissie's debut album Catching A Tiger runs the gamut from contemplative ballads to swinging gospel to rock 'n' roll and back 'round again with lots of stops inbetween.

I first heard of her about five or six months ago when the lovely Clare Bowditch (more on her later!) posted a link to Lissie's cover of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance'. Immediately intrigued, I clicked through to another song, and fell head over heels in love with a song called 'When I'm Alone':



In addition to having an extremely strong and versatile voice, Lissie also manages to bring out the essence of what music should feel like with straightforward (yet still poetic) lyrics. Her songs often meander off into what amounts to an abbreviated jam session, but instead of distracting the listener, they pull you in and expand the tracks into something meaningful and satisfying.

She's signed to Columbia Records UK, which means she's been spending a lot of time touring in Europe and not nearly enough over here in the states. Still -- grab her album when it hits US stores on August 17.

BUY: Lissie - Catching A Tiger

EPIC SWELTER

In a word, the Summer Mixtape by Jazzy Jeff & Mick Boogie is epic. It's got every rnb, hip hop, and soul summer jam you EVER wanted to hear, brought to life by two legends. It's like you hired two of the best dj's in hip hop to play records at your backyard bbq and they actually showed up! Summer has officially arrived, now where is my strawberry lemonade?

Candi

She always hits the spot. That voice. This song makes me feel crazy in a very good way. Love you, Candi!

Onra

School is really giving the phrase "dog days of Summer" new meaning for me right now. I don't have enough time to do the things I love, it's all Dewey Decimal, MARC, and, other extremely anal and boring topics. One thing that bothers me is I don't have time to obsessively track down music like I usually do. I'm trying to make some more time for it, though, because I hate being behind when it comes to music. It's my ultimate FOMO.

I remember reading about Onra a year ago, and, then forgot about him. He turned up on Turntable Lab recently with the tag "new school boogie + soulful hip hop beats" so I finally gave him a proper listen, and, man --- this is some fresh music!! The beats are hip-hop, rnb, and boogie funk inspired. His latest album, Long Distance, is in my top 5 so far this year. There's no wobble bass, no trendy tricks, it's just straight up beat genius with AMAZING old school grooves. Funk is having a serious revival right now, in case you were still listening to dubstep. Watch for boogie funk clubs to start popping up all over, replacing the hipster soul clubs. I may start my own in the garage. If you like Dam Funk, there's no way you won't love this.

High Hopes



Mechanical


Long Distance


MORE
Onra's Soundcloud Account

My Favorite Forever & Ever

It's been awhile since I've posted, but, wanted to remind you of the genius of my favorite female performer, Stevie Nicks. Stevie has said in interviews that "Stand Back" is one of her favorite songs to perform because she gets to dance. AND DANCE SHE DOES. I love that whenever she performed this song live, she would have a dancer come up halfway through, during the breakdown, and dance the "Stand Back" dance with her. No matter where she was performing - he was there. SNL? Check. Red Rocks? Check. Solid Gold? Obviously check. It's always the same story, too, with the dance - she loved to tease him, and, kind of push him around, and would whip her head back in sexy defiance. Of course her shawl is the ultimate dance prop and is sometimes her shy, demure crutch that briefly hides her face, but, sometimes it's her witchy spellbinding accomplice (what am I even talking about? I just made that up). If there's a bigger stage, an amazing overly dramatic walk-dance-chase happens, which is pretty much my favorite thing EVER.

Here's the Solid Gold version:



And, Red Rocks (this is one of my favorite concert videos ever) with special WALK-DANCE-CHASE scene

Sure, you've probably heard of Dominique Young Unique, the 18 year-old Tampa,FL native making serious waves in the blogging community. And with good reason, too-- her rapping, often laid over frantic, jaunty synth-based beats, is, well, unique and completely unlike anything out right now.

Not much to say about this one besides LISTEN TO HER, because no doubt she's gonna blow up REALLY soon. As of next week, look for her mixtape, Domination. It's bound to be amazing.

DOWNLOAD: Dominique Young Unique - Show My Ass