This week, it's time to look at music's rising stars. They are starting out like many of the greats, trying to stand out, working on obscure indie labels and coming from rough beginnings.
Making their major label debut, Texas' Green River Ordinance rides the wave of homey rock bands emerging at the usual pace. Out of My Hands is straight up, vocal-led rock 'n' roll, melding the smooth passion of Matchbox Twenty with the relatable lyrics and just-some-of-the-guys attitude of O.A.R. Singer Josh Jenkins has a strong, mainstream voice that shifts from sensitive falsetto to brooding, throaty intensity with ease. They are another good rock band among many, but a welcome comfort in the expanse of uncertainty and experiments.
Though there are many rock bands, there are as many if not more rap and hip-hop artists. But few in the mainstream have much to say that isn't cliché. K'naan changes that with Troubadour, his debut for the merger label of A&M and Octone. He is new to most, but showing what rap was when it began - an expression of strife and a fight for one's soul.
K'naan grew up in the middle of the Somali Civil War and shows the conflict from a struggler's point of view. In his music, he is grabbing the power to live not a life of privilege, but a life at all. He brings influences from the roots of African music, gets some help from Damien Marley, and a leg up from American artists like Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Mos Def.
More African influence abounds with Laura Barrett's full-length debut,Victory Gardens. But this is nothing like anything K'naan is doing, or anyone else for that matter. Her main instrument is the kalimba, an African thumb piano that creates more depth than it seems like it would.
Barrett creates music with light touches and easy breathing. There is the slightest touch of keyboard and a little bit of horn behind her, but mainly it's the tiny instrument and her nymph-like pipes, reminiscent of a young Joni Mitchell, that keep one captivated. The music is odd and spacey. It leans toward 20th century classical music on Space Seed: The Musical and Escape to the Sun Dome
but it's quirkiness and whimsy is completely delightful. It's an abstract painting that is the definition of unique, and music needs more of that.
All of these musicians deserve a chance among the other artists of today.
3
Culture
Susan Tebben
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