damien rice

I've been a fan of Damien Rice for what seems like forever.  I remember first learning of him after hearing his song, The Blower's Daughter, in the film Closer in 2004.  Ever since, I've been in awe of his powerful lyrics and mind-blowing tunes.

An Irish folk-singer, Damien released his incredible first album, O, in 2003.  Every one of the songs on O has been a favorite of mine because every one has a different story to tell- a different emotion to express.

In 2006, Damien released 9, his second album, which demonstrates his growth, yet still retains the power of his earlier album.

One of the stand-out tracks on 9, Elephant, was originally known as The Blower's Daughter Part Two.  It's absolutely superb and just as heart-wrenching as The Blower's Daughter.

Here's a video of Damien performing the track live.

It blows me away every time.

Recently, none other than the lovely Amy Kuney, my boss, covered Damien's song, The Blower's Daughter, on piano.  The first time that I heard it, I got chills.  The second time I heard it, I got chills.  I've probably listened to her version one hundred times, and I still get the chills.  I love what she did with it.

The best thing about Amy's cover, though, is what happened because of it.

A Damien Rice fansite, Eskimo Friends, featured Amy's take on the song and somehow Damien himself watched the video and fell in love with Amy's voice.

This led to Amy flying over to Iceland to perform two shows with Damien and even singing with him on his songs Cold Water and Volcano.

Absolutely stunning.  I only wish I could have been there to see two of my favorite artists, one of them being my boss, performing together.

It's a beautiful thing, really.

coldplay viva la vida cover

Amy Kuney has done it again. She's recorded a new stellar cover, this time of Coldplay's Viva la Vida. The video is a split screen of her on piano and her singing the harmonies. It's beautiful.

I hope to give you a full rundown of the album by the end of next week as well as give you some more music tidbits of what I've been listening to lately. Stay tuned!

amy kuney is juno

So last week I mentioned that Amy Kuney would be covering a new song that I've already posted about. Well, her cover of The Moldy Peaches' Anyone Else But You is absolutely fantastic.

We got Amy to dress up as both Juno and Paulie Bleeker for the video, in which she sings the song as a duet with herself! I just love it. Please check it out and comment :]

more amy kuney cover videos

So my good friend (and boss) Amy Kuney has been on a cover song frenzy lately. I've already posted one of her cover of OneRepublic. The other day she recorded the cover song posted above: her acoustic version of Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love. I absolutely adore it. Please give it a quick view.

Also, just as a sneak peak heads up, expect a new video from Amy within the next week featuring a song from one of my favorite movies (hint, I've posted a blog about it).

black kids

My favorite way of discovering new music artists is listening to the bands my favorite artists listen to. Such is the way I heard of Black Kids.

I've raved about Kate Nash in my past few posts, so I did a few Internet searches on her and found out that she covered one of the Black Kids' songs, I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You. You can download her cover here.

I loved the song and craved to learn more about the original artist, Black Kids. Not surprisingly, their Myspace was featured in Kate Nash's top 8.

Black Kids are five lovely individuals from Florida that describe their music as "Indie, Crunk, and Religious." Their music is fun and energetic. You can download their self-released demo EP, Wizard of Ahhhs, for free off of their website, here.

Their musical career has just taken off and I suspect they're bound for a bright future. They are currently touring with Kate Nash around Europe and are set to play the third day of Coachella this year, Sunday, April 27.