Rachèl Louise

Today's post has been in the queue for at least a few weeks, it never got posted when I was finishing my bachelor thesis. Rachèl Louise was born 20 years ago in the heart of Utrecht. Growing up in a family of professional musicians, Rachel’s dream of making her own musical contribution to the world was natural. Her musical talent became evident when at the age of 5 she sung as a featured soloist in a Dutch children’s choir. During her childhood she sang for numerous Dutch and English CD-, DVD- and television productions. Rachel Louise left at the age of 17 for California to continue her education at the famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood LA. Here she was able to develop her own style, and with the help of industry professionals and an inspirational networking environment, work on her musical talents in writing, performing and recording. Now she is back in the Netherlands and working on her debut album. Rachel Louise is a singer/songwriter with pop influences, comparable to Maria Mena, Adele en Sara Bareilles. Together with international producers from Los Angeles, Hamburg and the Netherlands, Rachel Louise is spending this year on the release of an EP with a selection of her repertoire. She will be promoting her music with a series of ‘living room concerts’, small-scale but intimate gatherings with all the ingredients of a personal party: drinks, snacks and live music in an intimate atmosphere in ‘living rooms’ throughout the Netherlands. Recently Rachel appeared on several radioshows, and has already been referred to as one of the new talents from Holland.

@ Utrecht, NL

♫ Singer-songwriter, Pop

♥ Did You Forget (mp3)

▸ Facebook

▸ Official Website

+ Spotify

+ Full Album Stream

Kris Berry

Today was a beautiful sunny day here in Holland, which definitely inspired today's post. While studying in the sun, I listened to today's featured "Kris Berry"; an upcoming soul and jazz formation from my own  country. While listening I imagined being on an Caribbean beach, drinking coconut cocktails under palm trees. Kris Berry is perfect for warm summer days or even to dream away a little on rainy days. On their five track debut EP, which was released last february Kris Berry are treating you with a melting pot of Jazz, Country, Latin and Rhythm & Blues with songs, that according to the band itself hides the story of it's origin. Kris Berry is Kris Berry (vocals), Jet Stevens (bass), Claus Tofft (percussion) and Coos Zwagerman (trumpet) and their "Flower Empty Tree EP" is available on iTunes and Spotify! Don't hesitate and bring some summer in your life!

@ Amsterdam, NL

♫ Jazz, Pop

♥ Seeds of Blue (mp3)

▸ Facebook

▸ 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

Leonie Meijer

This post was supposed to be online five months ago but never made it online. Leonie Meijer is an ambitious musician from Amsterdam. She is primarily known for her beautiful renditions of current pop songs by various artists and performs throughout the Netherlands in various configurations. Currently she is working hard but writing her own songs. The first time I heard Leonie sing, was at a concert of Gianmaria Testa, and she blew me away! As a little girl soon became clear that the platform has a familiar place for her. At the age of 14 she began singing, and since then it is impossible to imagine her without music. She followed several courses such as The Academy of Contemporary Music (Lelystad) and the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Private vocal coaches have made Leonie since childhood continue to develop her beautiful voice to a level that Robbie Williams to get nervous. A few years later, in 2009, she gave her first concert in Theatre Theater Bellevue, Calotte Club, with its large repertoire, Dutch. From this collaboration emerged the song "Twijfel". "Kind in de mijnen" written especially for the Sunday Foundation, a foundation established by Sander de Kramer and Hugo Borst. This was so well received that she decided to challenge this year with the Grand Prix of the Netherlands to enter, and in March 2010 it was announced that she was selected are Quarterfinal! Janco van der Kaaden (percussion) and Robert Kramer (bass) accompany her here. In this contest will play Leon in English repertory. She now is a finalist in a dutch talent tv show called The Voice Of Holland, I am glad she is finally getting the attention she deserves. Can't wait till the day that I'll be able to buy her first album, that day will surely come!

@ Amsterdam, NL
♫ Acoustic, Singer-Songwriter
♥ Twijfel (mp3)
♥ Kind in de Mijnen (mp3)
▸ Official Website

Vonder & Bloom

Sometimes the best things in life happen when you don't expect it. Three years ago Nina Ebbenhout (31) and Caroline Ouwendijk (27) sat in the same Amsterdam tram on their way to a singer-songwriters contest where they both were enrolled. They talked and the immediately felt connected. Already in the locker room before the contest, they heard that their voices blended together perfectly. And in the months afterwards Nina (piano, classically trained at the Utrecht Conservatory) and Caroline (guitar, Americanists, a lawyer and musically self-taught) noticed what they added to their individual songs: magic. Vonder & Bloom, which means “a bridge to growth” was born. The first year they wrote songs and performed as a duo many times, months which made them grow as duo and discover their own sound. When their amazing debut album “Simple Peace of Mind” now in stores everywhere, was finished before last summer, they decided to tour the Netherlands in a bus, for five months singing their briljant first single “Brilliance Of You” to everyone they met on their way. Not without merit, as they signed with Pias Records this February. Their amazing debut album “Simple Peace Of Mind” was released late March and features twelve subdued intimate tracks full of beautiful harmonies that will only need a few seconds to convince you to see that these girls together indeed are a bridge to growth, the growth of something that’s massive already.

@ Amsterdam, NL
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Pop
♥ Early Morninglight (mp3)
♥ Brilliance of You (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Signe Tollefsen

Was it ‘An American in Paris’? No, this is about an American in Amsterdam. But the story has elements of a fairy tale too. Picture this; an American tourist in Amsterdam gets bored with staring at the wallpaper of his hotel room and decides to take a stroll through the famous Vondelpark where a young female singer/songwriter is just finishing the last song of her ‘open-air concert’. All he hears is the last verse of the last song. Nevertheless he is very impressed and takes a recording of the young woman home. Friends and music industry professionals listen on his request to the tape and the verdict is unanimous: ‘beautiful, and an enormous potential’. The American invites Signe Tollefsen to Los Angeles to record a number of songs in Linda Perry’s studio. Two of these recordings, You, Me & the Brewers and My Old Man are included on Signe Tollefsen’ s CoraZong debut album. You, Me & the Brewers features legendary violinist Jerry Goodman, famous for his work with The Flock and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra. When the half-American singer moved from the UK to Holland to study music at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 2004, she also started successfully performing for a constantly increasing and, as it turns out, very loyal audiences. As a support act for established artists Signe is very much in demand too. She shared the stage with amongst others Alela Diane, Ane Brun, David Sylvian, and former Pavement member Stephen Malkmus with whom she performed in Germany and Italy. Signe’s music has already been noticed by well-known musicians such as famous Dutch chanteuse Mathilde Santing, who recorded Sweet Tears for her latest album. In 2006 Signe Tollefsen was both the winner of the Best Musician Award and got most votes from the audience at the Grote Prijs van Nederland, Holland’s most prestigious New Talent competition for Alternative Music. From the first note in It Smells of You, with a beautiful contribution on pedal steel guitar from Urban Dance Squad member René van Barneveld until the very last note of This Is It, you are listening to an extremely gifted artist. This is it, but we already want more!

@ NL
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Alternative
♥ It Smells Of You (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Free Music: The Black Atlantic

The Black Atlantic is an acoustic indie pop band based out of Groningen, Holland. The Black Atlantic's music is in introspective and intimate affair of melancholy, folk influenced acoustic pop, relying heavily on vocal harmonies and melody on soft strummed guitars, piano and minimal percussion. The band often uses nature imagery to express their stories on love, death and family. The band has toured in various incarnations around the world (US, EU, UK) and have played with bands such as Nada Surf, Patrick Watson and Saturday Looks Good to Me. They recently finished their debut album, entitled “Reverence for Fallen Trees”, most of which was recorded over the fall of 2008 in a log cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Everyone but especially fans of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Sigúr Ros and Patrick Watson should download this album for FREE, highly recommended!

@ Groningen, NL
♫ Ambient, Acoustic, Pop
♥ Fragile Meadow (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website
+ Free Album

Les Singes

Les Singes, good friends, Rosa Ronsdorf and Julien Staartjes, compose smart popsongs, with english lyrics, but representing a clear love for French chansons. In short, french pop sung in english. Unintentionally, because Rosa does want to sing in French but can't yet. They're from Amsterdam, Julien is 19 Rosa's 20. Les Singes was founded this summer, after both members left their former bands. They love their minimal sound from two guitars and one piano. Resulting in smart and creative songs, ready to hit the musicscene! They're already named as "one to watch" by 3voor12.

@ Amsterdam, NL
♫ Indie, Pop, Acoustic
♥ Addiction (mp3)
♥ Mary (mp3)
▸ Myspace

Benjamin Winter

Benjamin Winter was introduced to me by my girlfriend; since he will be playing on the festival my girlfriend (and the rest of her school) are working on.
For 2 decades, Benjamin Winter thought athletics would be his career. When injuries changed the college football players plans in 1999, Benjamin went back to school for music and all his efforts went into his band Sisera Fell. the band seperated and San Francisco native Benjamin left for his first solo tour through 38 US states and 9 European countries. This tour was providing much of the material that was to be Benjamin’s first solo release "Amber Alley And After" that released in 2005. With his latest release "Memory and Forever EP" in 2006 it's more than Fortunate to know that he started recording new material for his next album in april this year.

@ Amsterdam, NL
♫ Indie, Folk, Acoustic
♥ The Doctor and the Dancer (mp3)
♥ Collide (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website