Born and raised in Bergen, a small West Coast Norwegian city, Sondre fell under the spell of the records his older brother and two sisters played - Norwegian pop sensations A-Ha, the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello and Prefab Sprout all made an indelible mark on Lerche’s musical consciousness. Learning those harmonies and chord voicings, blending Brazilian folk and cool jazz, really opened my eyes.” In fact, so much that Brazilian pop influences the music Lerche writes to this day.
Check out Sondre Lerche performing “Modern Nature” in Hollywood…
Pennsylvania native and Boston transplant Madi Diaz may be best known for her prominent role in “Rock School,” but she’s now poised to breakthrough with her solo career. Skin and Bone, Diaz’s début solo album, is filled with songs rich in precocious wisdom, unassuming poetry, and melodic sophistication. Without paying direct homage to a particular time or place, the record evokes the locations of Diaz’s youth: the wide-open spaces of the Amish countryside, the unsettling thrills and daunting possibilities of Philly’s urban jungle - and the longing and loneliness common to both. Diaz’s powerful voice, both uniquely engaging and steeped in rock tradition, calls to mind such icons of Americana as Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, and Patty Griffin.
Check out Madi Diaz playing at the 2008 XPN Festival.
Come out to World Cafe Live this Friday for a free show by the Pawnshop Roses! The show starts at 8pm at Upstairs Live. This show is 21+ ONLY!
Pawnshop Roses - Second Hand Love
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Pawnshop Roses have become a well oiled live act, performing hundreds of shows a year. And with a sound that could have come from a jam session between Hank Williams, the Rolling stones and the Replacements, the band has built a fan base that craves it’s electric all-out rock shows as much as they appreciate the band’s stripped down unplugged sets that showcase the organic songwriting at the heart of their music.
You have to experience Bob Schneider live to understand why he may be America’s greatest undiscovered musical talent. Since the 2001 release of his acclaimed album, Lonelyland, and the “next big thing” hype that went along with it, two things have happened; 1) He has toured relentlessly playing hundreds of dates per year building an audience of devout fans, of which one blogger recently referred to as “The BS’ers,” and; 2) He has not become the next big thing. And to anyone that has witnessed the on-stage magnetism of Bob Schneider that is an inexplicable injustice, which may be as much the fault of the broken nature of the music business as it is anything else.
Check out this video of Bob Schneider performing “Flavors Too Strong” in Texas.
