After hearing jazz vocalist Sachal Vasandani on NPR’s All Things Considered talk about his third album, Hi-Fly, I knew we had to feature him on SM. I mean, have you heard this kid’s swoon-worthy voice? It’s Tony Bennett meets Frank Sinatra meets Cole Porter. Thankfully, Vasandani graciously humored the questions of a jazz noob via a telephone interview.

Sachal Vasandani – Hi Fly – EPK from Mack Avenue on Vimeo.

Q: How often do people ask you, “What’s a young man doing singing such old music? Why jazz? Why not that pop, Justin Bieber-type stuff?”
A: [Laughs.] Well, nobody has ever asked me why I’m not Justin Bieber. There’s a lot of freedom and self-expression in jazz – that’s really what attracted me to it. I just saw the music video for that Katy Perry song, “Last Friday Night (TGIF)”. You have Katy Perry, Rebecca Black and then Kenny G is there, and they’re totally making fun of him. He’s the crazy old uncle sitting in the corner. That’s people’s impression of jazz – that it’s cheesy, corny, old and elitist. But jazz gives me the ability to explore soulfulness in a unique way. Everybody is looking to find ways to reach the soul – my particular avenue is jazz. Continue reading →

Memorial Day #MusicMonday is the album Rome by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi and featuring one of our favorite Desi songstress, Norah Jones. I was going to post up the YouTube video for my favorite song on the album featuring Norah Jones – a song called “Black” – but I decided to post this video which basically allows you to stream the whole album in one straight shot.

Sorry, no free downloads today. Just an awesome album to soundtrack your Memorial Day. Continue reading →

Today’s #MusicMonday comes out of NYC via LA via TX…via NYC. Gotham Green has traversed the nation, picking up flow, styles, and beat makers along the way. His beats have an easy going West Coast vibe to it, with a bit of NYC in your face grit mixed in. Quick on the heels of his last album, The Haze Diaries Volume 3, Gotham Green has just dropped more music, this time as an EP with El Prez called, Inhale. You can download the EP for free right here.

I sat down via gChat with this hip hop charmer to talk about his journey with music and life. And of course, weed. Here’s what Gotham Green had to say.

Taz: Gotham Green! You have an EP out w/ El Prez that just dropped?

Gotham Green: Me and the homie El Prez released a six track EP on May 5th, presented by ashleyoutrageous and djbooth.net. It’s called Inhale. The songs on Inhale are all basically just a product of two friends smoking and joking around and then, making it a reality. It was dope because I recorded my shit in NYC, then he recorded his shit in LA. This dope producer duo Twigg & Stone produced five songs and Quickie Mart did one song for it.

T: Does it sound like the The Haze Diaries ? “Tell Me Something” on Haze Diaries Vol. 3 is my favorite. Nice video for it too.

GG: I wouldn’t say it does, but all three volumes of The Haze Diaries sound different to me. Thanks, people love that song. It seems to be a lot of peoples favorite. Shoutout to my homie Freddie Gibbs. Yeah, that video came out beautiful. Michael Stine and Nick Vedros really killed that and the “Dirty Filthy Liar” video. Continue reading →

I stumbled up Young the Giant when the adorable 21 yr old lead singer Sameer Gadhia’s image graced one of my most favorite Tumblr pages. I had to see what kind of music he played and after watching the six “Open Session” video on continuous repeat, I was simply hooked. Here’s my favorite of the mix for your #MusicMonday.

Young the Giant’s self titled debut album just dropped ($5 for month of May at Amazon!), and I can’t stop listening to it. With a clearly California sound, the music takes you through on a road trip of sounds through desert romance to beachy carefreeness. No surprise, considering the band is from Orange County and has just made it big, selling out shows as they tour across the country.

The group won a contest on music-marketing website Sonicbirds to open for Kings of Leon at a January 2009 concert at Chicago’s House of Blues…. That show piqued label interest, and the group played music showcase South by Southwest a couple months later… The band ended up signing with Roadrunner Records, which released its self-titled debut digitally in the fall and physically this January (22,000 copies sold to date). [usatoday]

Sameer also has talked about his Indian background influencing his sound.

I’ve been around a lot of Indian classical. My sister is an amazing singer, and my mom and my dad’s mother used to sing, so Indian classical is something that I grew up listening to. Even though I started getting into different American styles early on, I still had that influence in the back of my head, so when I’d start writing, some of the melodies would twirl along that axis. [lamusicblog]

The band heads out in an international tour in May, but hang tight – they’ll be back Stateside to play Lollapalooza this August. If I was in Chicago, I’d definitely check them out. But if you can’t, this one is for you. Continue reading →

I first heard of Micropixie (MPX) last summer through Daniela Kantorova of Mideast Tunes, who urged me to explore the work of the recording artist. I was immediately intrigued by the groovy, dulcet tones I heard in her short, My Beige Foot. So when I found out through Nila that MPX had released a new single through her brand spankin’ new record label, One Little Alien, I figured it was time to hear from the alien herself.

The story behind your latest release, Under the Neath?

The title of my new single comes from a phrase my Dad always says (instead of “underneath”, it’s “under the neath”. He has a habit of adding a “the” to everything. eg. when he refers to my Mum, he says “the Mummy”). There’s a very sweet passage in the track where he gives me advice on getting music lessons (which I eventually took to heart). Other phrases are things my littlest sister said when she was a kid. The track sounds like it is laden with innuendos (at least to my dirty mind…), but it is quite innocent. The music (co-composed with Audio Pervert, a Delhi-based producer) was inspired by Underworld’s wonderful album Beaucoup Fish.

Last I checked, you were planning to release a second album, The Good, the Beige and the Ugly. Still in the works?

Yes, it’ll be coming out after the third One Little Alien release. I’ve been working on it for over 3 years now so this sonic baby is well overdue. It’s also a concept album, continuing from my terrestrial adventures after Alice in Stevie Wonderland, but less from the perspective of an alien, and more from the view of a non-white human female. It’s an intergalactic feminist spy thriller… (my, how I love the phonetics of that phrase)! The UK-based producer I worked with, Paul Horton, is very gifted, and I am super excited that it will be out soon.

Continue reading →

This morning Taz splashed my Facebook page with a phenomenal sound and with lyrics she knew I’d love, even the curveball at 2 min 5 second that I didn’t see coming given the title of the song:

Of course, Bandish Projekt has been known to some Sepia Mutiny readers as far back as 2005. The Projekt is the creation of artist Mayur Narvekar.

Mayur Narvekar, a composer, producer, creative director, Dj, remix artist, performer and a multi-instrumentalist, calls his Bandish Projekt an emotion, an experience that can awe spectators with its live performance. An arts student from Gujarat, Mayur developed an impeccable flair for classical music, an art form that is deep-rooted in his upbringing. A tabla ace, Mayur dived head-on into the world of percussions, earning repute as a tabla player, and adoration as a jazz-funk drummer. Fuelled by his father’s vision, today he is a master of rhythm through a cross-section of genres.

He has used his roots in classical tabla and percussion training to bring to the music maturity and authenticity while his taste for strange sounds and electronic noises brings in wildness and fervour. The classical element keeps Mayur grounded, while his need for experimenting takes him to heights unsurpassed and us to the lands unexplored. It is a journey of life beyond the known. [Link]

I also enjoyed the sound and the video for “Didi”:

You can buy the tracks here.

Continue reading →