GUIDE TO SOMEWHERE: 'Strip away the packaging and listen to the talent' - New Jersey Hills

New Music by Genre:  Alternative is Mainstream spelled backwards.

Is it common knowledge that luck has as much to do with a musicians/bands success as talent does?  If Britney Spears was hideous would America have cared enough to listen (and look?)  Compare Elvis the “personality” versus his Elvis the “singer.”  Pretend for a moment the artist can only be heard, never seen.

Then, wouldn’t it be the sound that is important?  Strip away the packaging and listen to the talent.  Listen to their songs and creativity.  There will always be a Top 40 countdown and the relentless, spoon-fed goodness of Pop Music.  That is a good thing.  Give me Bruno Mars or Lady Gaga any day. However, there will always be the alternative.  A singer, band or performer are one track away from immortality.  The right product placement in a movie perhaps?

Arcade Fire captured everyone’s attention a few years back winning best everything at the Grammy’s.  An ensemble piece with violins and eccentric Canadians stormed America.  Stranger things can happen.

That similar thing might be from Iceland, newcomers Of Monster and Men. They have arrived on our shores bringing bold folk sounds and strange accents.  Take a listen to “Little Talks” from their debut album “My Head is an Animal” and dare not enjoy it.

Are the Blues more your style?  Then look up Alabama Shakes and their soulful leader Brittany Howard.  Hear Howard wail “Hold On” with the same vigor Janis Joplin or Tina Turner have in the past.  The sounds of the “New South” ring similar to the sounds from the “Old South.”  How can you go wrong?

Oh, you prefer something heavier?  White Rabbits released a new record recently.  Guitars, piano and harmony, oh my.  Silversun Pickups release next month.  These California kids fill the Smashing Pumpkins void you have been missing since “Dawson’s Creek” left the air.  Don’t act like I’m the only one who watched that show!  “My So Called Life” was also an amazing show.  We can do TV another time.  For now, the music.

Swedish sisters (born in the 90s, ugh) Johanna and Clara Soderbergh make up the band First Aid Kit.  Mixing both strong lyrics with their exceptional voices categorize them with Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, and Lucinda Williams.  Their single, “Emmylou” (inspired by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons) is simply wonderful.  This is far too mature a song performance for kids this age.  

New Yorker Sharon Van Etten has a bit more aggression.  Probably has to do with growing up in NYC rather than Sweden.  Those places are vastly different I hear.  Van Etten’s, new record, “Tramp,” is as brash as the title.   There is some Patti Smith.  There is some PJ Harvey.  The results are very rewarding (namely “Serpents” and “Warsaw”).  

And fresh off one of the finest “Saturday Night Live” performances in recent memory, you would be remiss if you did not listen to Gotye’s brilliant “Making Mirrors.”  The hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” has become unavoidable.  But this LP, start to finish, is a remarkable achievement.  Does anyone listen to a record anymore?  Well you should.

And it should start here.  Gotye is hard to describe since he covers all areas.  Pop.  Rock.  Jazz.  Blues.  Reggae.  Techno.  

He is a microcosm of the music World today.  Varied and skilled.  Quiet and confident.  Biding his time for some good luck.  Hoping folks like you will make it happen.

For more and to join the discussion, check out:  guidetosomewhere.blogspot.com, friend me on Facebook or become a fan @ Guide to Somewhere or follow me on Twitter @Guide2Somewhere.