So, what are you listening to these days?

[Mendalla]

A new discovery of mine this year is The Last Dinner Party. It's a UK-based alt-rock/pop band that was formed while the members were in university. The core members are all female or, in one case, non-binary. They do not, as yet, have a drummer and rotate a couple session players in that role (one of whom is male). I'm not sure how to describe the music. It's lush, kind of dramatic, and excellent. I've listened to their two albums (the latest just came out) and some live clips on Youtube and am quite enjoying them.

A couple samples of them in action:

 

[WhyCzar]

Listening to Willie Nelson's greatest hits tonite.

 

[Mendalla]

A couple new releases.

I've talked about Julia Westlin somewhere in this thread before. She's a Swede who met a Canadian musician online and ended up immigrating and marrying him. Her husband, Quebecois musician David MeShow, helps her out with instrumentals, mixing, productions, and even filming her videos. This is a new original single from her just released today.

Chrissy Costanza is an American pop-rock singer-songwriter who started her career as the vocalist of the band Against The Current. Last year she released her debut solo album and the other day, a "deluxe" version came out. The original albums was VII (7 in roman numerals) so the deluxe version is X (10).

 

[Mendalla]

Let's go for baroque! Barnaby Smith (counter-tenor) and Katie Jeffries-Harris (alto) are the mid-range voices of vocal octet Voces8. Here they team for a duet by English baroque composer Henry Purcell accompanied by cello and harpsichord. They are both very accomplished singers and it's great hearing their voices without the others this way.

 

[Mendalla]

Oh, what the heck, one more. Miyako is one of the two fantastic guitarists of Japanese power metal band Lovebites. She is also an accomplished pianist and arranger. This past week, Miyako released her second solo EP. Both feature her playing her own piano arrangements of rock and metal songs. This one is a song from her own band with a bit of music by some guy named Ludwig mashed up for good measure.

The previous release from the new EP had her going into the classics ... of metal. "Painkiller" is by British heavy metal greats Judas Priest.