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

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)

Listen now to “Pure and Dark” by KAMIDE at 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: 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

Five years ago California band Elogy would be major label and radio darlings, but we live in a new paradigm for music and so they go it independently.

Based in Orange County, California, the members of Elogy came together 4 years ago under the leadership of Derek Cannavo. Transforming an old warehouse space into a fully functional, state of the art studio, Elogy began to develop their sound and their organization from scratch. Using their classical training as a foundation, the band quickly amassed a large catalogue of songs, and as they brought their music to a live setting, their sound began to evolve as well. Now, after almost half a decade, Elogy is pleased to finally be releasing its debut album, an album that is founded on classical training and solid musicianship but that is far from traditional.

The product of a half-decade long process of evolution and development, the band’s upcoming indie release “One” showcases a band that has taken its time to perfect and hone its sound. With sweeping melodies, well thought out synth lines, and driving vocals, Elogy has recorded an album that is distinctly new, but that still evokes contemporaries like Coldplay or Muse.

We wanted to know more about how a band that five years ago would have easily been snatched up by the majors and pushed hard on mainstream radio is navigating the new music distribution paradigm:

MusicZeitgeist: Tell us about recording this record – what were you thinking in terms of the end goal? Did you have a particular audience in mind?

We didn’t really think too much about who we were going to reach with the album during the recording process. We all respect each other a lot musically and have very high musical standards, so if a song was strong enough to pass through the band’s filters we felt it was good enough to be heard by others. On any given day we would find ourselves obsessing over a particular sound we designed from scratch or that we just stumbled upon, and that made us feel confident that we were creating something new with each track. We loved documenting our new discoveries throughout the album, but we also made sure that the vocals tied everything together, making Elogy’s sound ever-changing but at the same time very distinct.

MZ: Recorded music is in a vastly new paradigm – how do you plan on marketing and selling your new record?

We’ve accepted that the average listener is bombarded with tons of new bands and music daily. People own iPods full of singles by bands they hardly know, so we didn’t really focus on keeping our sound in a box. We just focused on making an album that someone can enjoy all the way through while leaving out fillers or “down time” songs, as we call them. All we can do beyond that is play an amazing live show and continue grabbing at people’s hearts, even if they don’t want to hand them over immediately.

Catch Elogy April 30th at The Gypsy Lounge, Lake Forest, CA

Download the free mp3 “London” by Elogy

Tags: best new indie music, California, Coldplay, download music, Elogy, free mp3, indie music, Muse, music blog, The Gypsy Lounge

1. Grammatics - “Inkjet Lakes” – Album: pre-release single
2. Fight Like Apes – “Tie Me Up With Jackets” – [Import]
3. Dear Reader – “Never Goes”
   
4. The Getaway Team – “Lost All Hope” – Album: Getaway Team EP [Import]
5. InnerPartySystem – “Don’t Stop”  – Album: InnerPartySystem
6. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes” – Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion
7. Iglu & Hartley – “Violent and Young” – Album: And Then Boom
8. The Joy Formidable – “Cradle” – Album: A Balloon Called Moaning
9. Ida Maria – “In the Morning Light” – Album: Fortress Round My Heart
10. High Places – “From Stardust to Sentience” – Album: The Crying Light

What are your favorite singer/songwriter spins this week?

Tags: best new indie music, fight like apes, grammatics, ida maria, import, innerpartysystem, LA music blog, summertime clothes, the getaway team, the joy formidable, Top Ten, top ten indie songs, UK

Tags: Addis, best new indie music, Black Sea, Britney New Album, Britney Spears, Canopy, Circus, Colossus, Dub Colossus, Envy, Fennesz, Friends, Glider, indie bands, indie music, indie rock, Lists, music blog, Pavement, Producers, Punisher War, Punisher: War Zone, Thursday/Envy, Tobacco, Top Ten, Various Artists, war zone