sam smith - love is a losing game (amy winehouse cover)
taken off his just released 'in the lonely hour : drowning shadows edition', sam covers the amy winehouse classic with a bit of lush strings and smith-ian phrasings thrown in. it's a different kind of heartbreak, but kind of perfect for a friday.
nas feat amy winehouse - cherry wine
taken off his upcoming album 'life is good' this is an album leak that fans have been waiting for. amy sounds amazing and nas' album is looking to be something pretty astounding too.
conor maynard - can't say no
[houston, we definitely have a problem! this UK kid is going to do some serious rounds on the screaming girls front (heck, his fans already call themselves mayniacs). and like the bieber, conor made his viral name via posting covers on youtube. the kid is talented and the fact that his debut single has some serious neck bouncin grooves shows me that there's some interesting releases in the horizon. like!]
conor maynard - valerie/back to black (amy winehouse tribute)
want more? check out some of conor's youtube performances below:
conor maynard - slow dancing in a burning room (john mayer cover)
#26-50 (the youtube player has all the videos above in a playlist, press >> for the next song)
26. Jessie J – Nobody’s Perfect / Abracadabra / Domino
[though i'm a fan of the jessie j, i do feel that the hard selling of this talented artist (the harsh image, the overproduced videos, the way she sings so hard live that she goes sharp) has turned me against her by the end of the year (but still not enough to showcase three wonderful highlights from her album). it's a shame cause this girl can be great... she just needs to tone it down a notch!]
27. Bombay Bicycle Club – Lights Out, Words Gone
[featuring the lovely harmony of lucy rose, this dreamy indie pop number has a disarmingly mature groove underneath that showcases just how solid their music really is. brilliant!]
28. Young The Giant – Cough Syrup / My Body
[what a wonderful debut from this irvine, cali band! lead singer sameer gadhia has a killer caberet-esque quality to his vocals that draws you in instantly. throw in the fact that they write incredibly catchy hooks and you've got one of the better new acts of the year.]
29. Rizzle Kicks – Mama Do The Hump
[you gotta give it up to the rizzle kicks boys as they cranked out one sweet gem after another in 2011 (they also collaborated very nicely to #1 with olly murs). but it was this norman cook (fatboy slim) produced number that made the best impression... i mean they even got their mum's to perform in the video! do the hump mama!]
30. Maroon 5 feat Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger
[one of the peppiest songs of the year reminded us that both maroon 5 and christina still had it in them to be a part of the pop zeitgeist. it was instant love during the summer and remained a crowd pleaser for the rest of 2011]
31. David Guetta feat Sia - Titanium
[though david guetta had alot of solid collaborations on his hit friendly album 'nothing but the beat', it was this awesome number with the always smashing sia that kicked them all to the curb. i'm a sucker for defiant anthems and this one really made the cut for 2011!]
32. Wretch 32 feat Josh Kimbra – Don’t Go
[my fave british rapper of the year, wretch 32 not only brought grime into the mainstream but still managed to produce this beautiful mid tempo breakup ballad to the top of the UK charts. sweetness!]
33. Calvin Harris – Feel So Close / feat Kelis - Bounce
[calvin just cranks out the hits doesn't he? producing smart dance songs that also translate to the top of the charts, this DJ/producer made a massive impact in 2011, but more on that in the next half of my year end list!]
34. Lady Antebellum – We Owned The Night
[if there is any such thing as a 'stadium' song for lady antebellum, this is it. three part harmonies, bygone lyrics and a sentiment that just asks for collective 'whoa'-ing at the end!]
35. Professor Green feat Emeli Sande – Read All About It
[emeli's part in this massive hit is easily my favorite vocal hook of the year! but as for professor green's lyrics about his daddy... i don't really have any strong opinion about it. oh well, back to emeli! i wanna sing... i wanna shooooout...]
36. M83 – Midnight City
[anthony gonzalez really knows how to make shoegaze electronica with a strong nod to the 80's! the layers of vocals and riffs is just one of the most glorious sounds of the year. love!]
37. Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend
[robyn is the only electro dance diva that comes up with lyrics that is filled with such yearning. she ruled the 'best of' list (#1 yo!) last year and then came back in june with this insta-love experience! desperation never sounded so good!]
38. Joe Goddard feat Valentina - Gabriel
[just like hot chip member joe goddard to throw down beats and grooves to make valentina's vocals into a house anthem with lo-fi leanings. genius!]
39. Switch feat Andrea Martin – I Still Love You
[a heartbreaking soulful song wrapped around a minimalist beat and yelp loop made this song into one of the saddest club tracks of the year. brilliant]
40. Kanye West and Jay Z – Niggas in Paris
[the back track is so balls hard that shit crazy! easily my fave track from their solid 'watch the throne' album.]
41. Amy Winehouse – Our Day Will Come
[sigh... we miss you amy]
42. Nero feat Alana - Promises
[easily my fave crossover dubstep track of the year due to the awesome waawaawaa bass line that kicks in during the chorus. solid!]
43. Sugarland and Matt Nathanson – Run / Tonight
[jennifer nettles is one of my favorite female vocalists around at the moment and i openly claim my love for sugarland and everything she does. so there!]
44. Lianne La Havas – Age / Final Form (Everything Everything cover)
[many of us fell in love with lianne's jazzy vocal sway on jools holland with the confident simplicity of her 'age' performance. so much so that i have strong anticipation for 2012 when lianne will show us just how potentially incredible her talents will be. bring it!]
45. James Vincent McMorrow – Higher Love (Steve Winwood cover)
[nothing like folkie james to bring back the love to this steve winwood classic. simply beautiful.]
46. Kelly Clarkson – What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)
[one of pop strongest voices returned this year with this solid dance rock electro disco mash anthem. try not to fist bump to this when you hear it at your next bar mitzfah/wedding/top 40 party!]
47. Laura Marling - Sophia
[oh laura... fast becoming the folk voice of our generation... finally finding the confidence in her music to create something so very 'laura marling'. the gut feeling is that the next album will be the definitive example of her true talents, this is just a teaser.]
48. Washed Out – Amor Fati
[chill out 80's electronica made all the better with the accompanying journeyman video shot entirely in iceland. just so dreamy!!]
49. Birdy – Skinny Love (Bon Iver cover) / White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes cover)
[at only 16, young birdy offered up a collection of indie covers with sparse arrangements and haunting innocent vocals. an obvious marketing hook, but yet worked quite lovely in the long run.]
50. Flux Pavillion and Doctor P – Supabad / Bass Cannon
[bringing the stankface to the mainstream! i LOVE the breakdowns of flux pavillion, heck they even make 70's blacksploitation stankface cool!]
amy winehouse - love is a losing game (live @ other voices)
[the amazing irish music program other voices released this wonderful performance of amy's back in 2006 and it's well... just press play]
amy winehouse - hidden treasures story
[the making of lioness]
as promised by her PR, 2 new amy winehouse tracks from her posthumous album 'lioness: hidden treasures' was released today. one is a reggae cover of a classic doo wop tune, the other is a collaboration with rapper nas. check out the songs below:
amy winehouse - our day will come (ruby & the romantics cover)
dionne bromfield - foolin
[damn is her voice amazing! with this strong 2nd single from her upcoming 'good for the soul' debut album, dionne is making her god mother amy winehouse proud!]
dionne bromfield feat diggy simmons - yeah right
[what a strong song! presented by amy winehouse (again!), dionne bromfield has one of those old soul voices trapped in the form of a cute 15 year old girl. launching her upcoming 2nd album 'good for the soul', i am totally feeling this girl!]
liam bailey - you better leave me
[taking on the baton of the current UK retro soul movement, singer songwriter liam bailey has already gained some buzz as the haunting voice of the awesome chase and status anthem 'blind faith'. discovered by amy winehouse, 'you better leave me' is the official 1st single off his debut album 'out of the shadows' and i'm hoping the rest will sound just as good!]
amy winehouse feat quincy jones - it's my party
[taken off the upcoming retrospective album 'Q: soul bossa nostra', chronicling the music of producer quincy jones, ms. winehouse reunites with mark ronson and puts out new material since her now classic back to black album. all this really just whets my appetite for new winehouse stuff and i am HUNGRY!!!]
[here's a nice discovery, 25 year old tinashe hails from zimbabwe but has been toiling the UK indie scene for a few years before getting signed by amy winehouse's a&r rep to a major label. the result is an eclectic sound that's classic r&b mixed in with straight up acoustic soul and a dash of indie thrown in. weirdly, his wonderful debut single sounds a tad overproduced when placed by his awesome simple performances. i've included a few highlights so you can decide for yourself. nevertheless, he's going to be big in 2010!]
tinashe - always like this (bombay bicycle club cover)
tinashe - mayday (acoustic)
[from tinashe's myspace page, words from the boy himself:
I was originally shipped over from Zimbabwe so I could eventually grow to become a doctor/lawyer and wire money back home via Western Union, that didn't go so well... I blame/thank MJ.
I smiled & nodded to avoid bullying over my African accent at school until the Eastenders elocution lessons started to pay off... I can now slip in between both rather seamlessly... I grew up in Hackney. I will always be a Hackney boy but I'm enjoying being in a state of flux. Life is bigger than London.
I'm currently more in love with my guitar than I have ever been. I make guitar music. I am not ashamed to say l love pop music. That's what its all about for me. Good music fuelled by the world around me.]
mark ronson feat amy winehouse - valerie (baby j remix)
[hot remixed version of a most favored tune featuring a slew of mc's in the form of Rukus (Antourage), Precha (C.O.V), Alex Blood (Soul Alliance), and Malik (MD7). i could feign total 'in-ness' but i have no clue who they are ;)]
amy winehouse - love is a losing game (kardinal beats remix) [link 2] [though amy's grammy performance may have seemed like it was nothing special, my feeling was that it was indeed one of the bigger obstacles of her career. these days, we can only watch her live life one day at a time and not expect too much (since she could fall back into hell so easily). which only makes this video kind of sad and creepy at the same time.]
if you missed sunday's award ceremony, here are a few of the highlights from that evening (thanks to alis blog for the vids!):
beyonce and tina turner - intro / what's love got to do with it [what a massively flambouyant introduction to the divas of music! it's a tad letdown when it all boils down to...tina turner.]
kanye west and daft punk - stronger kanye west - dedication to mother [two wonderful performances, one with added grooves thanks to daft punk, and the other a moving tribute to kanye's recently deceased mother]
amy winehouse - you know i'm no good / rehab [a bizarre mix of upfrontery and total fear, this was one of the most raw performances of amy's i've ever seen. can't say i loved it, but when she hits those notes, i am all hers.]
alicia keys and john mayer - no one [this was THE performance of the evening. with an arrangement that far outshines the original, this will easily go down in grammy history as one of it's best!]
feist - i feel it all [link 2] [good ol feist returns on the video front with yet another fun joy of life (this time with FIREWORKS!) collaboration with patrick daughters. i wonder how many times they had to rehearse with this one?]
duffy - mercy [link 2] [hailing from wales, duffy has been working with bernard butler (suede) for the past two years, honing her songwriting and vocal skills before getting the record label red carpet push that seems to surround her the past month. if you haven't discovered this polished retro star yet, now's a great time to get in on the bandwagon before her album is released early march. i'm a fan!]
adele - chasing pavements [link 2] [with her debut album 19 just released and this current single at #2 for the 2nd week in the UK charts, i feel like my duty to push adele to the masses is pretty much done. at this point, this gal is already a 2008 success story in my book. if you want to check out her recent cover of the strokes' "last nite" on the bbc live lounge, click here]
dawn landes - twilight [link 2] [there's always something peaceful and poignant when i hear modern bluegrass (especially when a female voice is involved). with a fine line from being folk music, acts like gillian welch and alison krauss constantly enter my playlist with high regard. now i can add NYC based dawn landes into my mix. i've only heard a few tracks from her album fireproof, but what i have heard is just lush. twilight reminds me of something you would hear at a modern day last chance saloon (ironic that the video is set in a beauty parlour). sigh...]
gabriella cilmi - sweet about me [link 2] [working with hot UK producers xenomania (sugababes/girls aloud AND upcoming 2008 projects by annie/franz ferdinand), aussie born uk based gabriella cilmi is quickly being hailed at amy winehouse-lite. not sure if that's fair or accurate, but there is something interesting about her voice. hopefully her debut album will produce some better tunes other than this catchy, yet 'bleh', 1st single.]
PS: if you are totally feeling duffy, here are two more videos just for you:
jools holland's annual hootenanny feat duffy - first cut is the deepest [the annual all star show in which the ever amazing jools holland gathers together his favorite voices and invites them to perform on his amazing stage. this year duffy was brought into the mix and rightfully so. this is just wonderful!]
PSS: check out this cute cover version of peter bjorn and john's "young folk" by dawn landes!
amy winehouse - back to black [link 2] [taken from the album that just kept on buzzing with timeless hits, it's hard to imagine a period when the downward spiral of amy's personal life didn't overshadow her brilliant music. who knows if she'll ever be able to record a note again, but if she doesn't, these four minutes perfectly encapsulates the natural heartbreaking talent that she inhabits.]
