William Fitzsimmons

I feel as though I have bit off more than I can chew with this week’s artist. My good friend Allegra suggested him to me a few weeks ago. She had started listening to this guy William Fitzsimmons and wanted to find out more about her new favorite artist. As I have mentioned before, she and I have very similar taste in music so if she likes something I know I will too. So I looked into Fitzsimmons, read his bio, and realized this was not an artist that I could figure out. His upbringing is so unique that you know without a doubt what has shaped him into the artist his is today. So rather than making any of my own assumptions I’m going to just give you some facts.




William Fitzsimmons is the youngest child of two blind parents. His parents, since they were blind, brought in a large selection of musical instruments including a full pipe organ that his father built into the house. His childhood was spent filled with sounds and music as well as an education on the greats of folk music. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan of course were some of the few. Of course to me this sounds like the greatest upbringing to a music lover like myself. I grew up in a home where music was rarely played with the exception of classical, a little Julio Iglesias and Neil Diamond. Where my music makes my dad “nervous” and is just the “same notes over and over.” My love and taste in music came from God knows where but was definitely not born in the home like Fitzsimmons. This upbringing does have his affects as he is described as one of the oddest people you will ever meet and struggles with social skills and the art of shaving… His beard reminds me of the creepy guy in the small town who all the children are afraid of until one day he saves your life and turns out to be just a weird but good person. I’m pretty sure a guy like that is in every movie.

Though Fitzsimmons was raised on music it was not the career he pursued. Here is where he gets even more interesting to me. He actually pursued a career working with the mentally ill in the mental health industry. It takes a special person to want to work with the mentally ill and apparently he was one of them. William became a practicing therapist but music was calling him back. Now he incorporates therapy and music singing about things he believes matter most.

Fitzsimmons released his first album, Until We Are Ghosts, in 2005 and the next year released Goodnight. Both albums were self produced until his most recent album, The Sparrow and the Crow, released in 2008 which is his first studio recorded album. My favorite track is the first on our playlist and is off the newest album. It is a duo with a currently unknown but familiar sounding female, which is probably why I love it so much. I cannot get enough of male/female duos! I was only able to upload two tracks this week due to technical difficulties so I added a coupleto the old flash player. Fitzsimmons reminds me of Peter Bradley Adams who used to be a part of the duo Eastmountainsouth that tragically is no more. So if you like this music checkout Adams and Eastmountainsouth.

http://www.williamfitzsimmons.com/

http://www.myspace.com/williamfitzsimmons

I hope you enjoyed this week’s feature. Please let me know what you think as comments our welcome. I also love new music suggestions and as my friend now knows, those suggestions just might become one of my features. Also, if you have an artist or band that you love you can write your own blurb and become one of our midweek features!

MUSE at the VMAs

I had to share the video of MUSE at the VMAs with you. "Uprising" is their new single and I love the bass on this track. They are one of my top 5 favorite bands! They are such passionate performers and their new album rocks.

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

Anyone else feeling like joining some sort of revolution after listening to this song? This could have been William Wallace's fight song!

A Fine Frenzy

There are some people who are incredibly gifted and talented in the arts. Then there are those who are just gorgeous people. It’s the people who are both beautiful AND talented that make the rest of us just look bad. Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy is one of those people. Long gorgeous red hair that would make Poison Ivy jealous, dimples and amazing lips. Wrap up that package with an angelic voice and songwriting skills and I suddenly feel less than average. Lets add that she is only 24 and her band A Fine Frenzy has just released their second album this past week. The new album, Bomb In A Birdcage was one of Amazon’s Daily Deals and I have not stopped listening to it since I added it to the trusty iPod. Check out three tracks from the new album.








My First experience with A Fine Frenzy was actually on a mixed tape. Actually it was a CD but mixed CD doesn’t sound right to me. I’m sure we have all received one at sometime in our life whether it was from a special someone or a friend. Most of my closest friends live about 3 hours away so I make a lot of weekend trips up to see them. Since I have amazing friends they have often made me mixed tapes for my long car rides with their current favorites. Those mixes have been some of my favorite things I’ve gotten from my friends. The last one I received was a double disc set and it felt like Christmas putting it in the CD player not knowing what was on it. A Fine Frenzy’s track “Almost Lover” was on that mix and I immediately fell in love with it. Her music has changed a bit with the new album but it seems to only be getting better. Since, releasing her first album in 2007 titled One Cell In The Sea A Fine Frenzy has toured with Rufus Wainwright and Brandi Carlile.

Alison taught herself to play piano and began to write her own songs. She loves the outdoors and literature as well, which is where she found the name for her band. A Fine Frenzy comes from a line in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

I hope you enjoy a little sample of her music. If you enjoy it please go buy the Bomb In A Birdcage because the entire album is excellent.

http://www.afinefrenzy.com/

http://www.myspace.com/afinefrenzy

I hope you enjoyed this weeks feature. Please let me know what you think. I love comments!

Paolo Nutini

This weeks feature is one of my all time favorite artists. Don't let the name fool you, Paolo Nutini was born and raised in Scotland. I first heard his great track "New Shoes" on his first album, These Streets. The other tracks below are from his new album Sunny Side Up. It is a great album and is one of my top five favorite albums of the year. I apologize for the short post but a weekend camping trip has consumed my time. Enjoy!


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www.paolonutini.com

Amy Stroup

Sometimes I get a craving for new music. Well, let me rephrase that, I always have a craving for new music but sometimes I let myself loose on iTunes and Amazon buying anything that strikes my fancy. This week’s artist is a discovery from my last music rampage. Amy Stroup grew up in Texas and knew she wanted to do music right out of high school. When her parents asked her if she wanted help buying a guitar or a car she without hesitation chose the guitar. Her mom took her to Dallas where she picked out a Taylor guitar (she chose well) and began writing her own music.

Amy now resides in Nashville, TN where all the talented folk go to try and make it big (it’s not called Music City for nothing). She seems to be having some success as she is in the middle of her fourth independent release. The Other Side Of Love is a four part release, Session One is available now on iTunes and Sessions Two through Four will be available over the next few months. Check out Session One on the playlist below.






Amy has a little country flare to her music but that is not the genre she restricts herself to. Amy writes her own songs about love, loss, life and the usual with a little spiritual reflection as well. Her first album Solidity, released in 2003 and Here I Am released the following year are spiritually themed albums with songs about her relationship with and faith in God. Her third album Chasing Greenlights was released in 2007 and shows her trying out a new genre in pop still sticking to her spiritual roots. With the release of The Other Side Of Love: Session One Amy seems to be on the love boat. Maybe she has fallen in love? We’ll see with the release of the next three sessions.

http://amystroup.com/

http://www.myspace.com/amystroup

MUTEMATH

I had to do it. I have to feature one of my all time favorite bands even though they are not necessarily up and coming or unknown. Although I don't think they are as known as I believe they should be. MUTEMATH released their second album last Tuesday and it is all I have listened to since. I'm trying out the new player so click below to hear some of my favorite tracks from Armistice (I had a hard time picking just a few). You can also hear some tracks from their first album on the old player.





My first experience with MUTEMATH was hearing from coworkers about their appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. Something about playing the song backwards was all I heard but it didn’t make sense to me. Not until I watched the music video for “Typical” did I understand and was blown away by the skills it took to pull off what they did. MUTEMATH actually learned to play the song backwards then reversed it for the video so it played the right way but everything they did looked backwards. Not understanding what I’m talking about? Check out the video:



MUTEMATH was formed in 2003 coming out of New Orleans and released their first EP title Reset in 2004, which unfortunately is out of print. Several of the members were formally a part of the Christian band Earthsuit which disbanded shortly before MUTMATH was formed. Warner Bros. Records released their self-titled full-length album in 2006. After the success of their track “Spotlight” which was featured in the Twilight soundtrack they released their sophomore album last week, titled Armistice. The band toiled and nearly quit when trying to make this record. They had quite a few songs written but they weren’t happy with any of them and couldn’t agree on what to do. With the help of a new producer they decided to scrap those songs and write all new ones. They took all that frustration and put it into writing new songs for the album and apparently that worked out because the new album is amazing. Thank goodness they didn’t call it quits!

MUTEMATH has quickly become one of my top five favorite bands not to mention they are some of the nicest guys out there. Every one I know who has spent time with them has come away saying, “Man, those guys are awesome,” which makes me want to promote their music even more. They also play the keytar so, enough said there. Their live performances are worth watching as well. Flipping over their instruments, and moving about the stage, switching instruments like a bunch of 5 year olds but somehow they magically make it work and it ends up sounding amazing.

I hope you enjoy this week’s featured band. Enjoy their music and feel free to leave your comments on what you think. To learn more about the band and the process they went through to record Armistice check out their website.

http://mutemath.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mutemath

The Weepies

The first time I heard The Weepies was on the television show Dirty Sexy Money, which was sadly canceled by ABC last season (but that’s a whole other blog). In one particular episode, there is a guy and a girl (as there usually is) who have a secret love affair. The girl loves The Weepies and the boy, who is very rich, brings in The Weepies to do a private performance for the lovebirds since they cannot risk being seen in public. It was such a sweet scene seeing the girl’s face as she opens up the door to her favorite band who then proceed to play “Somebody Loved” and the couple dance together in a moment so romantic every girl wished her guy or some guy would do that for her. That was my first experience with The Weepies, and as a hopeless romantic myself I quickly went to purchase the love song and many others.

Love is a recurring theme with The Weepies who are themselves a boy and a girl who met, made beautiful music together, fell in love, got married, had a baby and then made more beautiful music. Deb Talen and Steve Tannen were both pursuing solo music careers in 2001 when they met at one of Tannen’s shows. They released their first album together as The Weepies in 2003 titled Happiness—maybe a little reflection of what they were finding in each other. It was their next album though that set their career in motion when they released Say I Am You on Nettwerk Records in 2006. Their album topped the folk charts in eight different countries and appeared in quite a few television shows and feature films. They spent the next year touring with the Hotel Café tour and playing at several festivals in Ireland and Germany.

When Deb and Steve finally returned to their home in Topanga, CA they were exhausted but they didn’t waste any time before they were getting married and having their son Theo in 2007 then releasing their most current album, Hideaway, in 2008. Throw in a little appearance on Dirty Sexy Money and you’ve got quite an exciting year. This past April Deb and Steve started recording their next album with a release date that is TBD.

Folk music has become one of my top three favorites genres of music in the last two years. Although when I tell people I love folk they assume I mean anything with a banjo. While I do love a good banjo it’s the pop folk that I love and thanks to The Weepies I now know what to call it. Make it indie pop folk and its even better.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s pick as much as I do. Please leave your comments on what you think of the music as I would love to hear your thoughts. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be trying out a new music player for the page because I am being a little restricted on the music playlist.com has available. The new player is a little less user friendly for me but we’ll see how it works out!

http://theweepies.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theweepies

http://twitter.com/theweepies