Amy Stroup

TV shows have always been a source for great new music for me.. One of the artists that has been featured in shows quite often is Amy Stroup. If you listen to her music, you immediately know why. Her smart folky pop songs sung by her tender voice just fit in about any significant scene in most drama shows. Amy Stroup communicates what she knows is true about life in melodic lyric and verse. Amy has released four albums under her own label including, The Other Side of Love | Session One. On her latest release,  she has taken a less conventional approach and collaborated with a few good friends and producer Thomas Doeve to release the next three sessions of The Other Side of Love. Session Two features “Hold Onto Hope, Love”, “Chin Up”, “Odds of Being Alone”, and more as heard and featured on ABC’s Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, One Tree Hill, and more released under her new venture Milkglass Creative. Amy’s single ‘Backed into the Corner’ was featured on this season premier of Grey’s Anatomy. In addition to television placements, her songs have been featured on national television ads including e Harmony and Walmart. Not long ago she released session Three featuring that song and more. “I try to focus on writing simply a great song, one song at a time, and when you are working with people you genuinely enjoy and live life with, the music naturally comes and speaks,” says Amy. Amy draws from a range of geographic locales and musical influences, having called Boston, Texas and now Nashville home. There, she earned a liberal arts degree in marketing and classical guitar from Lipscomb University. Growing up, her musical influences included songwriters Ennio Morricone, Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin.

@ Nashville, USA

♫ Indie, Pop

♥ Just You (mp3)

♥ Quiet Hearts (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Official Website

▸ Spotify

Anna Su

There are many websites where you can listen to and discover music, one of those websites, that I actually started using more and more in the last few months is Bandcamp, and since they added the tags and search function it even got better! One of the discoveries I made on Bandcamp is Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Anna Su. Although there's not much info on her on the net, it's the music that counts right? And she got that part right, on her debut album 'Howling Tree' featuring seven beautiful (I had a very very hard time choosing the tracks for this post, I love all the songs on the album) self written songs Anna Su, combines subtle hints of gypsy jazz with old time folk to create a refreshing new take on a traditional sound, bringing musicians together for the simple joy of making music. Rumor has it that she's already working on a new EP, you definitely won't hear me complain if that turns out to be true.

@ Los Angeles, USA

♫ Acoustic, Folk

♥ Circus Camel (mp3)

♥ The City Ain't That Much Fun (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Spotify

+ Full Album Stream

Anticipated Upcoming Releases [Spring 2011]

Now this new year is already nearing it's second month I decided to put up a list of some anticipated releases for the coming months, it's nowhere near complete, but just chose a random few in no particular order. When possible I've provided free mp3's as sneakpeeks for what's coming.

Lamplight

Katie Costello

♫ Ashes Ashes (mp3)

February 22

Barton Hollow

The Civil Wars

♫ Barton Hollow (mp3)

February 1

Sister Wife

Alex Winston

♫ Sister Wife (mp3)

March 8

101

Keren Ann

♫ My Name Is Trouble (mp3)

February 28

Towards the Sun

Alexi Murdoch

♫ Towards the Sun (mp3)

March 8

Gold in the Shadow

William Fitzsimmons

March 22

The Deep Field

Joan as Police Woman

♫ The Magic (mp3)

January 25

The Valley

Eisley

♫ Smarter (mp3)

March 1

Mondo Amore

Nicole Atkins

♫ Vultures (mp3)

February 8

Wounded Rhymes

Lykke Li

♫ Get Some (mp3)

March 1

Charlatans at the Garden Gate

Tristen

♫ Eager for Your Love (mp3)

February 1

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

February 14

-----UPDATE 29 JANUARY-----

Tell Me
Jessica Lea Mayfield
♫ Our Hearts Are Wrong (mp3)
Feb 8

Propeller versus Wings
Zoey van Goey
February 14

Southerner
Trent Dabbs
♫ Follow Suit (mp3)
February 22

Feel free to post a comment if you think that there are releases that should be on the list! [remember that this is a SPRING 2011 list, so summer releases will be up another time]

Sunday Lane

Although this might be a blog about music, photography is something I love as well. When I discovered Sunday Lane's music and looked at her amazingly beautiful photo page , which I recommend all of you to do right while listening to her songs, those two united. Sunday Lane is a classically trained pianist, who writes articulate lyrics about social injustices in our society, young love, and growing up. Her soulful approach to songwriting expresses the depth of her musicianship. "I am most in my element when my hands are on the keys," says 20-year-old Tulsa native. After receiving critical acclaim in her home state, Sunday Lane decided to pursue the only career path that made sense... music. She is currently attending the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. Sunday has been playing some of the most sought after venues in Los Angeles and winning over new fans nationwide. Her debut EP, Bring Me Sunshine, displays her ability to write relatable songs with idiosyncratic phrases. The combination of the gloomy summer photo's, catchy and cheerful tunes and to be called SUNday this can only mean she was destined to bring some us some summer glow into our lingering winter days.

@ Tulsa, USA

♫ Folk, Pop

♥ Lack of Color (mp3)

♥ How Long It Takes (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Official Website

▸ Spotify

The Narcoleptic Dancers

Although a lot that we receive in the mailbox of LMLI is junk or just the regular mailing-list stuff, we sometimes get nicely surprised by great submissions and recommendations, today's featured duo "The Narcoleptic Dancers is one of those mailbox treasures. In their long and somewhat weird biography  Anton Louis Jr  and Melody Van Kappers get reunited as long lost family and discover one common passion: music. And so, it was as simply, as naturally as this that they would get together as a duo. They took the name “The Narcoleptic Dancers’ in homage to their father. She writes and sings. Anton Louis Jr composes and produces. Their songs are gentle, fresh, light, poetic and energetic, just as they are, on stage and in life. They’re currently working on their first album. It brings together the best of their childhood promise: pop songs and folk ballads, evidently, but not only. There’s also electro-pop and promenades with old-fashioned charm. Their influences range from The Breeders to the Ting Tings, with a little Grizzly Bear, Radiohead, Kate Nash, Atlas Sound, The B52’s and Young Marble Giants in-between. Their first EP 'Not Evident EP' filled with five infectious indie, electro pop songs is on Spotify and for sale in France and the UK. Give it a try, I, at least can't wait for the full album!

@ France/NL

♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Rastakraut (mp3)

♥ Again and Again (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Spotify

Brooke Fraser

Although I've been listening and loving her music ever since I heard her song "Lifeline" I think 5 years ago, I've always thought she was already way too known to post on this blog. But when I started listening to her last album "Flags" a few weeks ago I realised that no matter how many of my readers already listen to her music she deserves that extra attention, especially after releasing an album as great as "Flags". New Zealand born Brooke Fraser has a life-long history steeped in music. Her mom discovered her plinking out “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music on the piano when she was two, and made sure her daughter had access to instruments. At seven, she began piano lessons. At 12, she began writing songs after a music teacher asked her class to compose an original tune about Christmas. “I discovered that I felt at home in the process of creating words and melodies,” she recalls. “And I’ve been writing ever since.” In 2002, when she was 18, Fraser signed with Sony Music and moved to Auckland where she played regularly at local venues while she wrote the songs that would appear on her debut album, What To Do With Daylight. That album, released in New Zealand in 2003. In 2005, Brooke took a trip to Rwanda, 11 years after a genocide that claimed the lives of nearly one million people. During the journey, she met and befriended a number of Rwandans who entrusted their stories to her, including an orphan named Albertine, the namesake of her second album, which was released in the U.S. in May 2008. Now she’s starting anew with Flags, the title inspired by her writing trips into the more remote parts of the U.S. “Our lives are like flags – flying for a short while, a stake in the ground, marking our territory,’” she says. “We fly our colors – our history, belief system, culture, identity – but eventually our flag will wear out and return to the ground and someone else’s flag will replace our own. I feel like that theme weaves its way through my new songs, like ‘Ice On Her Lashes’, ‘Crows and Locusts’ and of course ‘Flags’. The characters in these songs were flags, and now we’ve come to plant our flags in the ground where they once were.” Don't miss out!

@ Sydney, Australia

♫ Folk, Pop

♥ Betty (mp3)

♥ Who Are We Fooling? (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Official Website

My favorites of 2010 [Part II]

10
The National
High Violet
♫ Conversation 16 (mp3)

9
Phosphorescent
Here's To Taking it Easy
♫ It's Hard to be Humble (mp3)

8
John Grant
Queen of Denmark
♫ I Wanna Go to Marz (mp3)

7
Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can
♫ Devil's Spoke (mp3)

6
Agnes Obel
Philharmonics
♫ Riverside (mp3)

5
Gregory Page
Promise of a Dream
♫ Bon Voyage Mon Cheri (mp3)

4
Dylan LeBlanc
Paupers Field
♫ If the Creek Don't Rise (mp3)

3
Sarah Jaffe
Suburban Nature
♫ Better than Nothing (mp3)

2
Angus and Julia Stone
Down the Way
♫ I'm Not Yours (mp3)

1
Beach House
Teen Dream
♫ Zebra (mp3)






You can also listen to almost all the albums on this list on the Spotify playlist HERE.

My favorites of 2010 [Part I]

First off, best wishes for 2011!

and second, I know it's a little late, but here are the first 10 of my top 20 favorites of last year!
If they are on Spotify, the album covers are clickable!
Enjoy! You may also post your own top albums if they're not on the list yet!

20
Andrew Belle
The Ladder
♫ Static Waves (mp3)

19
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
♫ Vaporize (mp3)

18
Susanne Sundfør
The Brothel
♫ The Brothel (mp3)

17
Emily Jane White
Ode To Sentience
♫ The Law (mp3)

16
Caitlin Rose
Own Side Now
♫ Sinful Wishing Well (mp3)

15
She & Him
Volume Two
♫ In the Sun (mp3)

14
Lissie
Catching a Tiger
♫ When I'm Alone (mp3)

13
Schradinova
India Lima Oscar Victor Echo You
♫ Dogs Bark (mp3)

12
Avi Buffalo
Avi Buffalo
♫ What's In It For? (mp3)

11
Dark Dark Dark
Wild Go
♫ Daydreaming (mp3)





You can also listen to the LMLI's favorites of 2010 playlist on Spotify HERE.