We’ve recently been stumbling upon great, previously unknown (to us) female performers (Jessica Lea Mayfield, Lydia Loveless), and it seems hardly a week goes by that we don’t get hit between the ears by another gal.  That’s all we ask:  one a week.  And it happened again this past week when we got hit by Seattle’s Shelby Earl, who has just released a brand new album entitled “Burn the Boats.” We can provide no better description of Earl’s melodious gestalt than that provided by one of our all-time favorite critics, Ann Powers (currently of NPR):  “Shelby’s [songs] recall legendary genre-busters like Patsy Cline as well as more contemporary artists like Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile. Everybody wants to compare her to Neko Case, maybe because of the Northwest connection, but if Neko is bourbon, Shelby is honey wine. Sweeter at first taste, her music is subtly intoxicating.”

The album was produced by the roaringly talented John Roderick (of The Long Winters), and is comprised of a bevy of stellar indie-folk-country-rock originals that much of the time seek to inspire and cajole out of complacency.  In addition to great writing and singing by Earl on the new album, she has notorious Northwest-All-Star backing by members of the Long Winters, Telekinesis, the Head and the Heart, and others.

To get a feel for Shelby Earl check out four songs off of Burn the Boats HERE, and then the videos below from her recent session on KEXP (with perfect horn and string augmentation).  And then go over and buy her album HERE. And do keep an eye on Ms. Earl.

We’ve been following the growing painlessness of Active Child for a while now.  And despite the foreshadowing of great earlier songs such as I’m In Your Church at Night and When Your Love is Safe, leader/singer/harpist Pat Rossi (part of the ever-growing falsetto coterie) appears to have fully matured with their recently released first proper album, “You Are All I See,” on Vagrant Records.  The album is more varied sonically and lyrically, and all for the better.

Rossi (former choir boy turned indie artiste) recently said this about the album: “You Are All I See is an attempt to build a bridge between the listener and I, in that, I wrote these songs for you as much as I did for me. And right now when you are listening to my voice, by yourself, it really is just you and I.”  Despite the grammar issues (yes, we are both Strunk and White), we laud Rossi’s move from the self-involved to the altruistic.  Rossi went on to say: “The songs focus primarily on the joy and heartbreak of relationships, love lost and rediscovered, battles with monogamy, battles with identity.  It came out much darker than I had intended, but sometimes you only have so much control.  I think more than anything, I see this debut release as a bridge towards something bigger and truer.”  We say:  done.

Active Child employs grand orchestral-synth elements, harpo-chamber moments, and layered choral voices, all to great effect.  But the new album also includes electronica samples and drums with R&B-ish melodic lines.  It’s a heady and hearty mix.

Before you check out some scintillating videos below, check out the album’s first single, Playing House, below (this the “Chad Valley remix with that dang vocoder opening unfortunately).  Motown or OMD, or the love-child thereof??  You make the call. Compare this version to the live version on KEXP below.

Active Child–Playing House (Chad Valley remix)

As for the videos, first check out Active Child performing Hanging On for The Line of Best Fit in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves 2011.  And then check the trio perform Playing House and Johnny Belinda on KEXP. And then below that check out the first song that drew us to the band, I’m in Your Church at Night, as done earlier this year on KEXP (and in a decidedly slower arrangement from the recorded version, which you can listen to below the video for comparison’s sake).  Both are stunning, but we’ll take the live version for now.

Active Child–I’m In Your Church at Night

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Im_In_Your_Church_At_Night.mp3|titles=Im_In_Your_Church_At_Night]

And just for completeness, check out the powerful, When Your Love is Safe, off their first EP:

Active Child–When Your Love is Safe

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/03-When-Your-Love-is-Safe.mp3|titles=03 When Your Love is Safe]

Lana Del Rey, newly signed to Interscope Records, performed in Manchester, England on Friday night, including a new song, Off to the Races, that you can check out below. The song is decidedly murkier than prior songs and portends variety and nuance for her first full album release anticipated in 2012.  She pseudo-raps/sings, while musically the song travels between the Middle East, Jamaica and mid-80s London, and ends up somewhere in between.

Check it.

Brooklyn band, Milagres, is rapidly gaining notoriety and rising up in the indie scene.  We particularly like lead singer and principal songwriter, Kyle Wilson’s, falsetto vocals that remind at times of Chris Martin of Coldplay and at others like a Grizzly Bear that’s taken an Elbow.  They’ve been accused (Pitchfork) of leaning too heavily on their elders and influencers, but we think the head and the heart of the band overcome, and the band’s net effect is  alluring.  Time will tell, but so far Milagres seems no mirage.

Check out two official videos from their album “Glowing Mouth” on Kill Rock Stars below, and then a few live performances by the band.  And then go buy their new album HERE.

The next video is from the band’s performance last week on LA’s 97.9 Performance Studio.  And other live vignettes follow from recent Sleepover Sessions.

In case you missed their great set this summer at Soho, Portland’s Hosannas’ summertime performances on The Noise Coalition Sessions have just been released.  Check the magical vocal realism and instrumental acumen below.  We know the Laws brothers have been busy on other projects (Aan) recently, but we look forward to the next Hosannas record project and visit to Santa Barbara.

Hosannas members:
Richard Laws: voice, electronics, piano
Brandon Laws: voice, guitar, synth
Joe Castor: voice, guitar
Andrew Miller: voice, keyboards
Jon Lewis: drums

Following up on Wilco’s performance of Dawned on Me at Studio Q, Studio Q has just released the video below of the band performing I Might.  Both songs are from their new album, The Whole Love.  Check out I Might below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNxhbdPx7Sc

Following on the heals of Paul Simon’s phenom Santa Barbara Bowl show just over a week ago, check out below his performance last night of his lovely song, Love is the Eternal Sacred Light, courtesy of the Audio Perv.

The fantastic Fruit Bats and rising Parson Red Heads are playing Sunday at Soho as part of the New Noise Festival in Santa Barbara that begins today and finishes on Sunday.  Both bands are touring in support of fine new albums.  We’ve written about both bands before, and the Fruit Bats show at Soho in 2010 was one of our Concerts of the Year. To get prepped, check out the Fruit Bat performances below and then go HERE to check out the Parson Red Heads.  It’s gonna be great.

Check out the Fruit Bats performing at a recent KEXP session in which the band performed four songs off their sparkling new album, “Tripper.” First up is So Long, then Heart Like an Orange, Dolly, and then the first single off the new album, Tangie Ray.  And then far below check out the band doing what they do incredibly well (cover songs), a cover of Loretta Lynn’s The Other Woman for an A.V. Undercover Session.

Fruit Bats cover “The Other Woman” by Loretta Lynn

As posted previously, Feist recently performed on the CBC’s 75th Anniversary show.  CBC has now posted Feist’s performances of  Pine Moon and Comfort Me.  Check her Feistness out below.  Great stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gyZHmSZPpak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blNCdIoNv8k&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Wilco showed up recently for a Studio Q Session.  Check out Tweedy, Nels and gang on the pop-ish, Dawned on Me, off of their new album, “The Whole Love,” below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py3huGqjO_0&feature=digest_wed