Archive for the “Artist of the Month” Category
When one looks at Kamilah Marshall’s CV, it belies a very hard working, almost ubiquitous performer and must wonder how she is not yet a certified household name. She has collaborated with some of the top producers in the industry, including Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse, Jasmine Sullivan) and Nile Rodgers (Madonna, David Bowie) and enjoyed appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman, The View, and Oprah.
Since 2003, Kamilah has been one of the Staggering Harlettes, singing backup for Bette Midler, recently closing in The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas performed on Broadway in RENT, Hairspray and Disney’s The Lion King, and then moonlit around her native Los Angeles at venues like Molly Malones and the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.
The recent release of the soundtrack for Sex and the City 2, finds Kamilah singing an old standard “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” and she is featured on The Original Cast Recording of the Broadway musical, Hairspray and the soundtrack for the film, Hairspray, The Musical.
But beyond all of these accolades, we chose Kamilah Marshall in our blind taste test for the coveted MusicZeitgeist.com Indie Artist of the Month profile for July 2010 because we loved the funky, soulful and altogether unique sound of her recordings. That is ultimately the most important testament to her talent – the ability to deliver the goods to back up the press kit.
Here is a point and shoot Q&A with this refreshing indie artist:
WHO: Kamilah( ka.mee.la) Marshall
WHAT: Debut CD, GYPSY MOONSHINE . A fusion of Country/Blues/Funk. I call it FUNKABILY , a phrased coined by Nashville singer/songwriter Joanna Cotten.
HOW: I fell in love with Country music at an early age. When I started to make this record I found that I had a lot more than just country music in me. It became a beautiful fusion of everything I love about music in general.
WHY: Because what’s more fun than a black girl singin’ FUNKABILLY.
WHEN: Come July 9th you can get my CD everywhere possible. iTunes, CDBaby, amazon etc
WHERE: I’m in LA but hopefully in the fall I will be coming to a city near YOU!
VITAL LINKS
www.kamilahmarshallmusic.com
www.twitter.com/kamilahmarshall
www.facebook.com/kamilahmarshall
www.myspace.com/marshallkamilah
Listen now to “Sis Shaw” by Kamilah Marshall and other artists we have featured at the MusicZeitgeist.com’s free Indie Music Jukebox
To see your act in MZ’s Artist Profile, submit to our gig listing at Sonicbids today!
(not all acts are selected)
 Tags: best new indie music, Broadway artist, funkabilly, indie artist, music showcase, Oprah Winfrey music act, Original Cast Recording, soul singer
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 When he was seven-years-old, takashi Kamide lost his left foot shorty after having been diagnosed with cancer. By seventeen he had conquered the disease.
Not long after, another illness befell him for which there is no known medical treatment and by all appearances was terminal; he couldn’t eat anything, and lost weight from half of his body. It was another arduous journey to recovery, but as the artist states, what saved him was simply saying “LOVE”.
At that stage in his life, he was angry at everything and everyone, but his mother, father and many friends rallied for him, and never stopped believing he would fully recover, praying for him all the while he was fighting these illnesses. When at last it seemed he had beaten the disease forever, his doctor proclaimed it miraculous.
Now, takashi KAMIDE believes there are many miracles all over the world, and they can be realized readily, when you realize the potency of love.
But there is a parallel story that took place for KAMIDE: that of music. At six years of age, he was diligently practicing classical piano until discovering Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett which eventually led him to switch to jazz piano and subsequently an interest in the accordion. Working from a humble studio in his native Japan, he creates minimalist original masterpieces that evoke everything from Yann Tiersen or Penguin Cafe Orchestra to lost takes from Vangelis’ score from Blade Runner.
Music Zeitgeist chose the artist known as KAMIDE as the June 2010 Indie Artist of the Month, fresh from his debut showcase at Austin’s South By Southwest Music Conference. We had the opportunity to interview him and here is what we got:
Music Zeitgeist: Where in the world are you based?
I live in Japan, in the very beautiful city of Nara near Kyoto.
MZ: What inspired you to take up the accordion?
Because I practiced piano every day when I was young, when I picked up the accordion it felt like it could be a hobby. But when I heard Richard Galliano and Stegan Hussong playing an accordion, I realized it was not just a hobby, but that it had many other possibilities.
In fact, I am not using a standard accordion, but instead something called a “free base system.”
(The old accordion is from the 40′s or 50′s and the buttons are shell, not plastic, that’s why I love it.)
MZ: Listening to your music evokes so many genres, moods and eras not typically associated with traditional accordion music. Who are other influences?
As I mentioned I started really to play the accordion after listening to Richard Galliano and Stefan Hussong, but it was Keith Jarrett that inspired me the most. He plays so many styles of music that he seems like different people, but the emotion he invests is always of the same depth. His music goes into the center of his emotion and then he channels that out to move his audiences. I wanted to attain that same effect, that sound, using the accordion.
MZ: Talk about where and how you go about recording your music?
I recorded all the albums in my private studio using a very old Mac that is about fifteen years old. [smiles] Ironically I use my new Mac book for the internet.
MZ: You played the SXSW festival in Austin in 2010, tell us about your showcase
That was the first time I had ever been to SXSW. It was a fantastic experience for me. I didn’t really have a lot of time to prepare for my show. If I have a chance to do it again I will be more organized for that festival.
MZ: Where will you playing live next?
I play a small cafe in Japan every month. But my larger plans include the release of a new album on September 22nd of this year, and another October 27th. One of them consists of classical solo accordion music the other not only accordion but also piano and many other instruments. All of the material consists of my original compositions.
Discography and Release Dates
“Solo Solo Accordion” – Release Date: Nov 11, 2009
“My Grandfathers Clock” (EP) – Release Date: Feb 18, 2009
“KAMIDE” – Release Date: Mar 19, 2008
Vital Links
Official Website:
http://kamide.net/eng.html
Myspace
Facebook
Amazon
iTunes (opens app)
(not all acts are selected)
Tags: accordion player, Artist of the Month, best new artist, best new indie music, Bill Evans, indie artist, KAMIDE, Keith Jarrett, music showcase, overcoming cancer, Richard Galliano, Stefan Hussong, SXSW showcase, Vangelis, Yann Tiersen
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 photo by Autumn Lucas To hear her “people” describe it, “If Carole King and The Band went to a gospel picnic, Kristen Toedtman would be dishing out the potato salad. Part Norah Jones, part Bill Withers, she’s been called “The Street Joan Baez.”
Well the music scientists at MusicZeitgeist.com decided to run some critical analysis and after six months of exhaustive testing also found traces of Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, two runaways from the Boys Choir of Harlem and a quarter bottle of Southern Comfort. Otherwise, the original conjecture checked out. But we needed to work on the subject directly in order to ensure that our findings were, in fact, conclusive. Here is the result:
MusicZeitgeist.com: Tell us how it got to be this way:
Mostly me and my guitar, then me and my Wurlitzer electronic piano. Fast forward 2 years when after seeing my friend Foster Timms play at the Hotel Café we were all at a party in Hollywood. There was this guy Mike Freas sitting on a couch with a beautiful National resonator guitar and a rotation of others on the house guitar. I’d just written a blues song, “Hungry,” which I knew this guy would tear up, so I took my turn. We stayed up til about 5am playing music, had breakfast at the Astro diner in Echo Park and have been playing together ever since. After about 2 years of playing the Pig ‘n Whistle, Lavalounge & Genghis Cohen, I slowly got a band together. I’d known Al Sgro & Will Golden of Chalet Studios (Gary Jules, Meiko, Buddy, and also original Hotel Café crew), but it was Mike Freas who presented the idea of recording to them.
So, I played Al my brand new song “Wrong Time of Year,” a gospel/soul song that has a whole choir in the bridge. It was me singing all the parts, of course, saying things like: here, this is a choir, get it? He loved it and encouraged me to do a whole record of that material. Well, I had a bunch of older songs I wanted to record, but damnit, he was right. It wouldn’t be the same to slap together the songs I’d written from 2006-2008, call it “Kristen Toedtman” and release it. I write in many different styles. So I left the studio wondering how to move forward.
Took a trip down to Buenos Aires to visit my grandmother & almost missed the connecting flight. When I finally got in my seat, out of breath and quite emotional, the second song started coming. I wrote it over sleepless nights amped up on maté and on the equally sleepless and eerily quiet flight home. That was “Here to You” and those are the two songs we recorded with Al & Will. They brought in this stellar band: Mike Freas & Brian Wright (Brian Wright & the Waco Tragedies) on guitars, Will Golden played bass, Al engineered, Michael Jerome on drums (Buddy, most recently touring with Better than Ezra), Fil Krohnengold on organ & piano (he’s all over town, toured/played with Joshua Radin, Oren Lavie, Gomez, Duncan Sheik) and my back-up singers, as well as some of my classical music colleagues singing in a choir. We recorded all the band (with me singing, old-school) live, the first time they’d done that in their new studio, which was awesome and gave it the overall organic sound that it has.
I sat on those two tracks for a year before I met Sheldon Gomberg over at the Carriage House Studio right in Silverlake where I live (as a bass player, he’s played with Warren Zevon, Beck, Willie Nelson, Rickie Lee Jones; recording Rickie Lee, She & Him (M. Ward’s project with Zooey Deschanel). Talk about creating a vibe. We recorded live there, with my live show band (Mike Freas again, Chris Lovejoy on drums (AM, Tom Freund, Chris Pierce, Tristan Prettyman), Dylan Cooper on bass (Joe Greene & the Heavy Steppers) and my backup singers Katie Cole & Tuzy Ellis) and just had a great time. Added strings, horns and plenty of organ by Fil Krohnengold again, plus extra guitar by Stevie Gurr (Dr. John, Don Henley).
MZ: So by this point, what do you feel you’ve created?
It’s soul music. Soul, based in pop with funk and country elements. It’s a big sound with a whole lotta heart. I come from a classical music background, believe it or not (I sing regularly at Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl), but growing up when the easy listening stations played Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding and Ann Peebles … well, it all seeped in and came out in my songs.
MZ: Where can we participate with you at church?
You can often find me singing at Room 5, the Hotel Café (if not with my band, then back up for The Brendan Hines (Lie to Me, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) & Holly Conlan), the Mint, my living room. Like I said, I also sing at Disney Hall with the LA Master Chorale & the LA Phil. I even have a solo in March – watch out.
MZ: What motivates you, going forward?
I must sing. That part’s mostly for me. I even write new songs to have something to sing. That, and in some cases because something is giving me great need to write. Often crushes give me great need to write. Also, injustices. Crushes and injustices.
And I hope that the more I record and put out there, those songs, like my little children, will grow up and take a life of their own and feed me when I’m old.
For free mp3 downloads, to buy the album, see lyrics & sign up for Kristen’s newsletter:
http://www.kristentoedtman.com
Buy it from cdbaby:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kristentoedtman
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/kristentoedtman
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/kristentoedtmanmusic
(not all acts are selected)
Tags: Bonnie Raitt, Boys Choir of Harlem, Buenos Aires, hotel cafe, Joan Baez, Kristen Tedman, Kristen Toedtman, Lyle Lovett, M. Ward, meiko, Nora Jones, Room 5, She & Him, Sheldon Gromberg, Southern Comfort, Wurlitzer, Zooey Deschanel
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When our MZ reporters showed up in Chicago to interview Humbodlt Lagoon’s Erik Lavergne they didn’t expect to have to talk him down and away from the edge of a building rooftop. He was holding a guitar and staring into an intense sunset glinting off the towers of glass crying about the weird itch in his brain that makes things a little different for him than they are for everyone else, and the MZ kids told him “Yeah but that’s where the music you make comes from.” He seemed to mellow, turned and walked towards them, silhouetted before the dazzling orange light, until his face became visible, and they were met with the intense gaze of a contemporary recorded music genius.
It’s rare that a place like MZ that hears literally hundreds of new songs by hundreds of new artists every month, encounters something this good, that it hadn’t known about before. But it’s really that good. Humbodlt Lagoon, for those of you too fickle, ADD or otherwise, to listen, is pulsing, breathing, stream of consciousness, mind-bending, intellectual, visceral and fucking rocks. It’s like all of Broken Social Scene got stuffed into one guy’s pocket like a stick of chewing gum, along with – man I don’t know – Phleg Camp, Fugazi, Pavement, Mercury Rev, Shudder to Think, Jesus Lizard, Deftones, Soundgarden, sparklehorse, Tool, Afghan Whigs, Tricky, His Name Is Alive – and then he shows you that he has a whole haversack of other cool things that he made all on his own.
Go find this album, and buy it. Why? Because it deserves your less-than-ten-measly-bucks-you-were-planning-on-spending-on dumb-shit. Bring back music in this way, please. We need it, and the artist needs to know you are there for them. Especially when they are doing this kind of thing.
Anyway, here is what we managed to get out of its enigmatic leadman after handcuffing him to a chair and threatening to light his guitar on fire:
MusicZeitgeist: Who?
The ghost(s) of Sun-Tzu (and others!) channeled through the drums, guitars, keyboards, bass, voice and miscellaneous- (((sound))) – generating devices of Songwriter/Musician/Producer Erik Alexander LaVergne.
MZ: What?
Say WHAT again!
Music, music, music… all the time in a post-genre fashion. Fusion-Punk-Poignant-Pop-Psychedelic-Groove-With-Tinges-Of-Classic(and Classical)-East-Meets-West-In-The-Mid-West-With-Real-Life-Blues-Sensibilities-And-Jazz-Tendencies. Suicidal For Life!
MZ: Why?
Because I like you. Also, I would spontaneously combust if I didn’t. Really.
MZ: Until When?
“til death do us part.”
MZ: Where?
Humboldt Park (((CHICAGO))) or as the tourists like to say, “The Windy City”, “The Chi”, “Chi-town”, “The city with big shoulders”, “Obama’s hometown”, “Mayor Daley’s cement farm”, “The town with that BLOG OY A VICH guy”, “Wasn’t that Chuck Norris movie filmed there?”…
Vital Links:
home= http://www.humboldtlagoon.com
myspace= http://www.myspace.com/humboldtlagoon
reverbnation= http://www.reverbnation.com/humboldtlagoon
Think you got what it takes to be MZ’s Artist of the Month?
Submit your act to MusicZeitgeist.com through our SonicBids Gig Listing
Tags: Artist of the Month, best new indie artist, Chi-Town, chicago, Deftones, Fugazi, His Name Is Alive, Humboldt Lagoon, Jesus Lizard, LA music blog, Mercury Rev, Obama, Pavement, Phleg Camp, Shudder To Think, Soundgarden, Sparklehorse, Tool, Tricky
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London singer-songwriter Conil has garnered a rosary of glowing reviews for his raw voice and standout songs he claims were inspired by wandering through the cobble-stoned city streets at night. Using an array of unusual ethnic instruments on his latest release Strange Part Of The Country, the album evokes an atmospheric road trip through the city’s underbelly. After a half bottle of Absinthe. And tossing a bloody hatchet into the Thames. But in a nice way.
The album was mixed by multi Grammy winner Tchad Blake – the man behind a number of Tom Waits and Pearl Jam records – and double bass came from legendary Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Tim Buckley).
Realizing that heavyweights of this caliber are difficult to get hold of unless you’re from a established record label, Conil emailed them some music under the pseudonym Phil Coltrane – which later became a lyric in ‘Dog Meat Stew’: “changed my name to John Coltrane ‘cos no one took my phone calls”. The plan worked. The quality of the songs impressed them and recording began.
Recorded mainly at night in his isolated home-studio in South London, Conil recalls “Sometimes I would not leave the house for days, experimenting with instruments like the dilruba and sarangi.”
Without a producer overseeing what he was doing, Conil found his sound as he went along. After 12 months of production, Conil took the tunes to Tchad Blake’s country studio where he spent his days working on Tchad’s farm – the Los Angeles native even taught him how to lasso horses. At night they would work in the studio drinking whiskey and raiding the wine cellar.
The record turned out raw and original but at its heart were quality songs and a unique voice.
With 4 star reviews by Q Magazine and support from BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM and NME Radio in the UK, single ‘Years Between’ was released in the US and reached Number 3 in the Mediaguide Alternative Radio Chart. Blues Matters magazine featured Conil as the main front cover story, he supported US singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur on tour and was invited to perform at SXSW and NXNE.
Ever the maverick, at SXSW, Conil put up his trademark ‘One Way’ signs all over Austin – altering the familiar street signs to read ‘Strange Part Of The Country’ and points them to the gig venue.
He will be embarking on a street session tour playing gigs at planned spots coordinated via his website www.conilmusic.com
Each location will be marked by a Banksy-style plaque that reads ‘Strange Part Of The Country’. Previous street sessions have included gigs inside a meat market, next to a nuclear power station and in the middle of a dog track.
Beyond the release of the Strange Part Of The Country full-length album, Conil will be releasing three singles in the US and UK in 2010.
Find out more at:
Main: www.conilmusic.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/conilmusic
YouTube: www.youtube.com/conilmusic
iTunes: www.itunes.com/conil
Think you got what it takes to be MZ’s Artist of the Month?
Submit your act to MusicZeitgeist.com through our SonicBids Gig Listing
Tags: Conil, indie artist, London, London music, NXNE, Pearl Jam, Strange Part of the Country, SXSW, Tchad Blake, Tim Buckley, Tom Waits, UK
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