Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 12/11/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Birdy
You wanna feel like you’ve done absolutely nothing with your life? Just look at what the amazingly talented Birdy has done already. Birdy, at the age of 15, has just released her first studio album. Yeah, at fifteen. She can’t drive yet, but she can sing and cover songs like its her job. If you’re in the UK you’ve heard of her, but for everyone else, here’s a profile.
Jasmine Van den Bogaerde, also known by her stage name Birdy, (born 15 May 1996) is an English musician known for winning the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her version of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” was released in January 2011, peaking inside the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart and in some European …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/4/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Agnés Varda
Agnès Varda (born 30 May 1928) is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.
Varda was born Arlette Varda in Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugene Jean Varda, an engineer. Her mother was French and her father’s family were Greek refugees from Asia Minor.
Varda studied Art History at the Ecole du Louvre before getting a job as the official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. She liked photography but was interested in moving into film. After spending a few days filming the small French fishing town of La Pointe Courte for a terminally ill friend who could no …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 11/20/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: The Carolina Chocolate Drops
It’s time for some, bring out your fiddle, folk music!
The Carolina Chocolate Drops is an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina, United States. Its 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in FRoots magazine’s top 10 albums of 2010. Formed in November 2005 following the members’ attendance at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, the group grew out of the success of Sankofa Strings, an ensemble that featured Flemons, Giddens and percussionist/banjoist Sule Greg Wilson, with Robinson as an occasional guest artist. The Drops are one of the two known full-time African American string bands. There were originally three members: Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, and Justin Robinson, who were …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 11/13/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Polica
CMJ was without a doubt, the greatest week of my life. If you ever have an opportunity to go to a festival such as CMJ or SXSW which have concerts all the time over a one week period, with all sorts of new acts, DO IT. I got to see previously featured Dum Dum Girls (sounded great but were a bit lackluster live to be honest) and An Horse (totally kickass) in this week of music explosion. The best part of CMJ is finding those under the radar bands that sound amazing. Hence I present Polica.
Polica were the first warmup for Dum Dum Girls and played a fantastic little set (I snagged the setlist as to be expected). Polica has a band composition like none I’ve seen before. Polica …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 11/6/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Maria Bamford
So, I’m breaking the musician mold this week with something a little different…a female comedian! And not just any female comedian but one of my favorite comedians of all time. I present to you Maria Bamford:
Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and voice actor. She is best known for her portrayal of her dysfunctional family and self-deprecating comedy involving jokes about depression. Her comedy style draws upon surrealism and incorporates voice impressions that good-naturedly mock various character types. Comic Patton Oswalt has called her one of the most creative and original comics working today.
Bamford was born at the naval base in Port Hueneme, California, where her father Joel was serving as a Navy doctor. She grew up there and in Duluth, Minnesota, where …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Emily A on 10/30/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Tati Kalveks
Tati Kalveks is an 18-year -old girl from London who, as she describes it, is producing some beautifully poignant and funny songs. Her topics spread over a whole array of things, from female grooming habits to her love of gingers.
In one of her greatest songs, “Because I’ve Got Breasts“ (or ‘B.I.G. Breasts’ for short) she sarcastically celebrates the fact that everyone in her life is more than happy with her to enter into an unstable career as a musician because one day she is going to marry a rich wealthy man. Why? Because she’s got breasts, of course.
Says Tati about the song: “This one churned itself out of a song about not getting enough done, after enough people (family) pointed out to me that work is …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 10/23/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Austra
If you’ve ever heard an Austra song, you would know it. Few bands in my repertoire have such a unique and distinctive style. Even their covers of rock out songs like The Strokes’s Alone Together are spun into truly original arrangements that capture the dark synth essence that is Austra. Austra was one of the biggest buzz bands at SXSW this year and have even started touring with the likes of the wonderfully talented James Blake. I had the pleasure of seeing Austra back in Cleveland with Cold Cave which was quite the spectacular spectacle. Austra manages to be dancey while maintaining a creepy allure that leaves the listener in a dazed state of desire for more.
The band consists of Katie Stelmanis (lead vocals) who sounds like a weird …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 10/9/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Blair
Alright time for super indie. The near impossible to find, but incredibly talented Blair!
You know how when you go to a concert you kind of roll your eyes when the warm up band comes out that you’ve never heard before? If you find a gem, your concert experience is multiplied by about 10000 but if they’re a dud, it really puts a damper on your evening. This year I saw Say Hi when they came to Cleveland. Blair opened up for him and wow were they talented. She has just that right kind of voice that’s soothing to listen to. Blair’s style is kind of pop but while teetering on the edge of becoming folk. I can’t recommend Blair’s first album Die Young highly enough, it’s a go to …
More >
