Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp is a conduit of mystery, melody, and imagination. Founded in 1999 in the U.K. by amazing vocalist/front woman Alison Goldfrapp and composer/synth artist Will Gregory. This duo's music sounds uniquely like itself. The new album Seventh Tree contains "Monster Love," the closing track. It has modern orchestral/rock-opera-esque overtones. Totally and completely lush and exciting. Totally and completely worth getting. Download the whole album.
Buy: iTunes
Genre: Rock
Artist: Goldfrapp
Song: Monster Love
Album: Seventh Tree
The Roberta Martin Singers
Composer, publisher, artist Roberta Martin was born in Arkansas in 1907 and raised in Chicago. She was a gifted pianist and protegee of the legendary Thomas Dorsey. The Roberta Martin Singers was one of the very first gospel groups to feature both men and women. Ms. Martin's act included Eugene Smith, Norsalus McKissick, Willie Webb, Sammy Lewis, Romance Watson, Robert Anderson, Delois Barrett Campbell, Lucy Smith Collier, and Bessie Folk. Roberta Martin composed over 100 songs during her career. This 1947 recording of "Yield Not to Temptation," from the collection When Gospel Was Gospel, spotlights the incredible voice of Delois Barrett Campbell, who reaches to the heavens with a very high soprano. The melody is just beautiful and classic. Download "Yield Not to Temptation."
Buy: Yahoo!
Genre: Gospel
Artist: The Roberta Martin Singers
Song: Yield Not to Temptation
Album: When Gospel Was Gospel
The Shootist
Writer/musician The Shootist was born in Baja California, "the son of a future suicide and professional motorcycle racer." Mystery enwraps this enigma, except we know that he was a professional skateboarder back in the day. The Shootist shoots his own film. The title "All the Summers Gone," from the album The Shootist, serenades us with a haunting melody and tips to the darker side of the perfect California summer amidst the ghosts of childhood memories. Download and relish "All the Summers Gone."
Buy: CD Baby
Genre: Pop
Artist: The Shootist
Song: All the Summers Gone
Album: The Shootist
Films: ShootistMusic.com
Alice Coltrane
Jazz harpist, pianist, organist, and composer Alice Coltrane was born Alice McLeod in Detroit in 1937. She was one of the very few female jazz instrumentalists to emerge in the '60s. In 1965, she married avant-garde jazz legend John Coltrane. The spiritually inclined Mrs. Coltrane (a.k.a. Swamini Turiyasangitananda), who died in 2007, left behind an amazing catalog. The 1970 album Journey in Satchidananda contains the hypnotic title track "Journey in Satchidananda," on which her harp playing is absolutely outrageous. Download this very soulful piece: It will add some greatness to your music collection.
Buy: Amazon.com
Genre: Jazz
Artist: Alice Coltrane
Song: Journey in Satchidananda
Album: Journey in Satchidananda
Johnathan Rice
Artist/songwriter/actor Johnathan Rice hails from Alexandria, Virginia, and was raised between the U.S. and Bishopbriggs, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. Rice portrayed Roy Orbison in James Mangold's Walk the Line, and released his first CD, Trouble Is Real in 2005. The track "THC," from the 2007 album Further North, has the mercurial heaviness of a dream. Rice's vocals and guitar are like lovers or a married couple, both passionate and screaming, yet utterly committed and belonging solely to each other. Download "THC" and play it obscenely loud.
Buy: Amazon.com
Genre: Rock'n'Roll
Artist: Johnathan Rice
Song: THC
Album: Further North
Erich Kleiber
Conductor, arranger Erich Kleiber was born on August 5, 1890, in Vienna to passionate amateur musicians. Kleiber's parents died within a year of each other, leaving 6-year-old Erich to be raised first by his maternal grandfather in Prague, who died soon after taking in the orphan. Kleiber was eventually raised by his aunt back in Vienna. In 1906, he was inspired to conduct after seeing Gustav Mahler's performance of his Sixth Symphony. In 1934, after a brilliant decade-plus with the Berlin State Opera, Kleiber resigned because he opposed the Nazi regime. He moved with his family to Argentina, returning to Europe in the '50s. He died in Zurich in 1956. The NBC Recordings: 1946 / 1948, featuring The NBC Symphony Orchestra and the beautiful playing of Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, contains a brief and glorious piece by Ravel, "Ma Mere L'oye, Suite From the Ballet - Pavane de la Belle Au Bois Dormant," masterfully conducted by Eric Kleiber. Download this rare find.
Buy: iTunes
Genre: Classical
Artist: Erich Kleiber
Song: Ma Mere L'oye, Suite From the Ballet - Pavane de la Belle Au Bois Dormant
Album: The NBC Recordings: 1946 /1948