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This review is a little behind, but it was quite easy to do because Awake is just a short four-track EP, from Virginia's Dreaming Isabelle.
Their biography doesn't list much, which suggests they might be a very new band, but listening to Awake I felt that they played really well together. Take a listen to "Not Missing You" as it starts with a great guitar hook, timed perfectly as the drums kick in, then followed by the singer on queue.
The three songs that follows the opening track seems to all start off pretty slow. "That I Am" starts off acoustically, while "Above All" is overall mellow and "Mine" has a great guitar noodle portion. I must admit "Mine" did sound a bit creepy/stalkerish with the lyrics "She will be mine" repeated over and over.
Dreaming Isabelle's EP, Awake, is out now, on itunes and I think their debut album, Awarestore is also out now, but I could not find any additional information on it.
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The funny story about Satoru's first CD, Ash Returns to Ash, was that it was just a CD-R with a hand-written note saying that he had trouble with the printing company and so he doesn't have the finished product. It didn't matter because I thought the album was really enjoyable that I wrote about it.
I am glad to see that he came through on his second Balancing in the Twilight, in March 2008. I believe he already had the album "in the can" as they say last year.
Both Ash Returns to Ash and Balancing in the Twilight are in standard digipaks, they are very reasonably priced at $9 on Amazon and $10 on CD Baby. But what I am really impressed with is that all of his music is licensed through Creative Commons, which grant you permission to copy, distribute and transmit the work, as long as you give credit and attribution for noncommercial usage. I think all artists should follow in this footstep.
Compared to the last album, this new album seems to have a lot more of Satoru's very Japanese voice (with only one instrumental "Funk 175"), compared to the 40% instrumental songs on the first album. I generally really love all the songs on this current one, but the one that really stood out for me was his "Don't Stop!".
Joséphine grew up in Paris, France, left at the age of 17 to Montreal (the mostly French, half English Canadian city), where she started singing with The People’s Gospel Choir of Montréal (they won some award for their album).
She eventually made her way to New York, where she is currently released Unfinished Life in 2007.
For the most part, I think the whole album is very pop/acoustic songwriter type of music, mostly centered around her very sweet young voice.
I really like her poppy song, "Stronger". Take a listen as she belts out "I need to get together when I'm falling apart/I need to love when it's broken my heart", followed by some great guitar playing by Craig Wilson. Wilson co-wrote all the songs with Joséphine with the exception of "Bit by Bit" (by Joséphine only) and "Right Here" (by Wilson only).
Both songs stands up on their own, and I didn't see anything that much different from their collaboration songs, expect perhaps "Bit by Bit" is very naked with just an acoustic guitar (and bass?).
Sometime else worth mention is that the violin on "Anitchka" is a nice touch, if only that wind instrument is used more against Joséphine's voice on their other songs.
I also noticed that she's one of the very few musician that's also using Twitter. You can follow her at twitter.com/JosephineA.
You can also grab a free MP3 by signing up for her newsletter at her myspace. Unfinished Life is out now, you can pick it up at cdbaby.com.
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I got a trackless album from Della Valle, which made it kind of annoying to add in my iTunes. Although I would have to admit that I did end up listening to all the songs to determine all 10 titles... so Mister Jay Della Valle, you've suckered me into listening to your album!
All kiddings aside, I actually liked what I heard, so it wasn't such a nightmare.
Out of his four releases, the tracks are basically from Stay Gold and The Best Years EP, which Della Valle is calling it his "Greatest Hits", then humorously retracted:
Ok, I don't really have a greatest hits CD. Partly because I don't have any hits. But they're hits in the minds of the people that know them, so with that said- I have compiled a new CD with 10 songs- 4 great songs from my first CD (Best Years) and 6 new songs from the newest CD, "Stay Gold." All of these songs were recorded, engineered, and coproduced by Chris "Gibby" Gibson at Upstart Studios in Hoboken. Collectively, they accomplish a great album.
He's right, combining them together offers a good mix of feel good electric alt-rock ("Can't Take You Anywhere", "Best Years of Your Life", "Everytime You Break") to slow quieter songs ("Not In Front Of People", "Kings and Queens" and "All That She Needs") and overall feels like a full album.
As a bonus, there was also a three-track sampler from his album Pink Elephants. Based on the three songs, I did like the title track, "Pink Elephants".
He wants to go on tour and promote his music, currently looking to spend some time in the Northeast region - so if you're in the music biz or want to help out, you can contact him at his official website or myspace.
All of his releases are available on either iTunes or CD Baby.
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