The artist I choose for this week is: Charlotte Martin.

I discovered Charlotte Martin through Last.fm about 5 months ago. I was browsing my recommendations and she was there, on the top of the list. Seeing as I was looking for new music, I listened to a few of her songs and I was taken away by her powerful voice and honest, beautiful lyrics. In just a few days, I managed to get a hold of most of her songs. Some of them I listened to just once and didn’t seem to like so much, but a few of them were actually extremely addictive. A few weeks passed and I realised even the songs I didn’t like so much had started to grow on me. It took me a while to realise that in such a small period of time, she’d actually become one of my top 10 artists.

What I like about Charlotte is that her music is beautifully unique. I’ve never felt like her music was familiar to my ears or that it was unoriginal. You can tell by the way she sings that the words are coming straight from her heart, uncensored and unfiltered. I also love the fact that she writes all her songs, which makes them special and undeniably deep.

My favourite songs of hers are “On Your Shore”, “Sweet Things (featuring DJ Tïesto)”, “Veins”, and “The Dance”. And I love what she writes so much that I will share my favourite lyrics! Here are a couple of them;

“Now I’m held hostage in my head
With every word you said
God, all those lessons in my past
I spit them out so fast
I see myself with you, I act so small
I see myself with you, I always crawl
So someone leave a raft for me
The water’s getting deep”

From “On Your Shore” on her album, well… “On Your Shore”!

“You can’t judge the love by the lover
The sky by its thunder
The road with no sign
You can’t make the snow fall in summer
Or make him not want her
And not leave you behind
Maybe he’ll stay in touch years down the road
And hope that he’s still on your mind”

From “Beautiful Life” on “On Your Shore”.

Here is some information about her from Wikipedia for you nosy ones!

Martin grew up in Charleston, Illinois. She won the Miss Illinois Teen USA 1994 title on June 26, 1994 and went on to represent in the Miss Teen USA pageant broadcast live from Biloxi, Mississippi on August 16. Martin graduated from Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance, majoring in opera. In 1999, Charlotte moved to Los Angeles.

Albums

• Mystery, Magic & Seeds (1998)
• One Girl Army (2001)
• On Your Shore (2004)
• Stromata (2006)
• Reproductions (2007)

Singles

2003	“Your Armor”
2004	“Every Time It Rains”
2006	“Stromata”
2007	“Keep Me in Your Pocket”
2007	“Christmas Is Near”
2007	“Sweet Things”

EPs

• One Girl Army (EP version, contained several songs from the full album.)
• Test-Drive Songs (2002)
• In Parentheses (2003)
• Darkest Hour (2005)
• Veins (2005)
• Stromata (EP version) (2006)
• Rarities 1-5 (2006-2009)
• Orphans (2008)

And here’s the best part; the HD videos!

ENJOY!

The artist(s) I choose for this week are: The Autumn Film.

Now, I’m willing to bet more than half of you have never heard of them. And for that, I am extremely sorry. You have been missing OUT!

I discovered “The Autumn Film” through www.thesixtyone.com. I was browsing one day about 2 months ago and I happened to stumble upon their song; “Wreck Of Innocence”. I was mesmerized by the song that I kept playing it over and over again. I looked for it online and sadly couldn’t find a place to download it. I showed it to a friend of mine who agreed with me that it was a truly beautiful song. A week later, I couldn’t help but buy their whole album. As I listened through the album, I realised that not a single song failed to take my breath away. Everything about their music is perfect! From Tifah Al-Attas’s deep, goose-bump-inducing voice to Dann Stockton’s rhythmic drums to Reid Phillips’s amazing guitar skills, there’s not a single flaw in this trio’s unbelievably hypnotizing beats and lyrics. If you have good taste in music, I guarantee that you will have their great album “Safe and Sound” on repeat for weeks to come. I know I did!

My favourite songs have to be “Safe and Sound”, “You”, and “Can This Be”. I also recently downloaded “Heart-Shaped Box” from their website, which is basically three songs plus a video that they’re sharing for free (I’ll link you guys at the bottom) and their song “Joy” brought serious tears to my eyes.

Now, it took me a while to realise why I loved these guys so much. I figured it out when I checked out their official website. Right in their Biography, it said;

“Like a post-collegiate Fiona Apple jamming with Snow Patrol, [The Autumn Film] serves up a piano-drenched sincerity topped off with a voice that’s wise and heartbroken beyond its years”  ~The Onion

Now, anyone who knows me would know that Fiona Apple is my favourite artist ever.  Reading that made me laugh because I realised that it was actually true! Of course, that isn’t the first or the only reason for my immense appreciation for their music. These guys are true geniuses.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find many high quality songs on Youtube, but I will share what I’ve found and will also give you guys the link to their  profile on The Sixty One so you can give all their songs a listen with no charge required.

I hope (and I am sure) that you will love those guys as much as I have learned to.

The Autumn Film on TheSixtyOne.com: http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/theautumnfilm/

The Autumn Film Official Website:  http://www.theautumnfilm.com/

The Autumn Film Free Song Giveaway: http://theautumnfilm.com/share

ENJOY! ~

So I decided that every Saturday I will dedicate a post to whomever I think deserves to be called my personal Artist Of The Week. I will be providing videos of my favourite songs, lyrics that I love, and last but not least the reason I got addicted to them.

This week, I choose Julieta Venegas.

I first listened to Julieta’s music roughly 5 months ago. I downloaded some of her songs based on a recommendation off of last.fm. Her songs struck me as catchy, sweet, perky, and of course, I understood nothing she said! However, I continued to download her music and fell in love with each and every song I heard. Eventually, seeing as I had no clue what she was saying, I stopped listening to her songs as often as before.

A few weeks ago, as I sat with my friend Lisa, one of her songs played on my laptop and Lisa immediately started to sing along (I didn’t even know Lisa spoke Spanish, but what the hell). She told me Julieta was one of her favourite artists and started translating all the songs to me. I couldn’t help but fall in love all over again! And ever since then, Julieta’s songs are all that I listen to!

Now, a bit about Julieta herself. Julieta Venegas (born November 24, 1970 in Long Beach, California, United States) is a Mexican-American singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter who performs Spanish-language rock and pop music. Venegas, who grew up in Tijuana, began studying music at the age of eight and went on to join several bands, including Tijuana No!, before starting a career on her own. In addition to singing and writing her own songs, she plays instruments including acoustic guitar, accordion, and keyboard. She has won two Latin Grammys and one Grammy. She has four studio albums released; “Aquí”, “Bueninvento”, “Sí”, and “Limón y Sal” (my personal favourite!).

Now, here are some of her songs.

“Me Voy” (My ultimate favourite song!):

“Lento”:

“Eres Para Mi”:

“El Presente”:

ENJOY!

This is a great new single by one of my favourite singers; VV Brown! She is a truly talented British singer.  The Los Angeles Times and UK newspaper The Independent have both named Brown an artist to watch in 2009. And why wouldn’t they? Her songs are all amazingly unique and undeniably awesome!

Give this a listen. And enjoy!

You know when you wake up in the morning with a thought in your head that won’t go away? This is how this blog happened.

I woke up today with just one lingering, persistent though. “Make a fucking blog”. Why? I have no idea. I’ve always been, in a way, anti-blogging. And here I am, hypocritical as I am, with my own blog. Damn, this is the same thing that happened with Facebook. I don’t know what’s going on in my tiny little brain these days.

I think it’s got something to do with my month-old writer’s block. Maybe this is my mind’s way of getting me back on track? I do hope it works.

Anyways, I do hope you enjoy this blog of mine. I will be posting my writings shortly, and I do hope to get some feedback from all of you.

Peace out.