jaymay

I have to thank Paste Magazine once again for introducing me to a lovely artist: Jaymay. They described her as a mixture of Regina Spektor and Bob Dylan, so I felt compelled to give her a chance and check her music out.

Also known as Jamie Seerman, Jaymay grew up in New York and moved to London after failing to find a job in book publishing. She signed a record deal and now she's making a sensation in my headphones.

Her full-length album, Autumn Fallin', will release in the United States March 11. I've already got my copy preordered! She previously released an EP, Sea Green, Sea Blue, in 2006.

Jaymay's on tour right now around Europe, and I can only hope at this point that she'll tour the sights in California when her album debuts.

My favorite song off of her Myspace has to be Blue Skies. Check it out and tell me what you think!

the icarus line: slayer

One of my favorite recorded songs has to be Slayer performed by Giant Drag aka Annie Hardy. However, Annie didn't write the song. Her best friend Joe Cardamone from The Icarus Line wrote it.

Audiojunkies' interview with Annie explains why she covered it.

"He bought me this song to show me and I was like ‘Wow! This is the best thing you’ve ever written.’ So he said I should have it for the record and then we decided to both record it as that would be a pretty neat thing to do."

Annie released her version in 2005 on Hearts and Unicorns, while The Icarus Line didn't release it until 2007 on Black Lives at the Golden Coast.

Annie's other best friend and make-up artist, Amy Chance, wonderfully posted The Icarus Line's new music video, which features Annie as a cameo, for Slayer on her blog. Thanks!

yael naim

I'm sure you've heard her. Her song has been featured on MacBook Air's new commercial that's taken over television sets around the world.
Yael Naim has taken over the States this past week with her delightful song, New Soul, as can be seen on the Billboard and iTunes charts this week. Her song, Far Far, is actually featured as a free download for this week on iTunes.

The French-born singer-songwriter and pianist grew up mainly in Israel, which can be felt in her songs. Her sophomore album, Yael Naim, released in October of last year and features songs sung in English and Hebrew. She even does a cover of Britney Spears' song Toxic.

Currently on tour around Europe with her percussion player David Donatien, I'm sure Yael has lots more to offer us with her sweet and delicate voice.

Here's her fun music video for New Soul.

black kids: mtv2 uk

MTV2 UK loves the Black Kids. The Florida band recently performed on the channel. Check out their live performance of I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You.

super tuesday: vote!

Today's the day! Go out and vote in the primaries. Be heard.

sia

Ever since this afternoon, I can't stop listening to Academia by Sia. Her new album, Some People Have Real Problems, released earlier this year, and I plan on picking it up in the not too distant future. Believe it or not, it's an instore play at Barnes and Noble this month.

The new issue of Paste magazine delivered me the track a couple of days ago on its music sampler. Thanks Paste!

I first heard of Sia in 2006 when her album Colour the Small One was a Barnes and Noble instore play. I loved the track Breathe Me, but failed to ever actually purchase the CD. I'm not sure why I never followed through on that one.

Check out the video for Breathe Me below. I love the idea of the polaroids.
This Australian artist definitely gets my approval.

ingrid michaelson: the instore play

It's happened again. And it's starting to somewhat frighten (and delight) me.

I walked into work at Barnes and Noble on Thursday only to hear the like of Ingrid Michaelson coming out over the sound system. It's quite ironic, yet brilliant, that some of my favored artists have become instore plays for Barnes and Noble over the past six months or so. I wrote a blog about Ingrid back in December, which you can read here.

Barnes and Noble, though, is a little bit behind on this one. Ingrid's release, Girls and Boys, came out last September. They should have hopped on this bandwagon a little sooner.

Also on Thursday, Kate Nash's CD, Made of Bricks, started its turn as an instore play. I started to wonder how the store would manage to edit Kate's CD as she curses quite a number of times. To my dismay, six sounds (half of the album) was removed. It's quite pleasant, though, to be able to listen to one of my top four artists while I brew coffee and make lattes.