The Boss performs at the Super Bowl in 2010

I admit to keeping a pretty good distance outside of pop culture. It’s rarely been something I’ve found embracing or really found connection with. So if a band that I don’t know of performs on Letterman or Saturday Night Live, I assume that they’re a new pop sensation that the world is buzzing over. But maybe that’s not entirely true. There have been some great indie sensations on the late night networks that aren’t platinum recording artists in recent years. So when I see the indie band Sleigh Bells, whom I am only somewhat familiar with, being the featured band on SNL, does this mean they’ve hit it big or just got a lucky break? And what do other music connoisseurs think about that?

It turns out not everyone is on board with Sleigh Bells, at least from their SNL performance. As NPR Music’s Eric Weisbard wrote in The Record blog, there was a fairly heavy backlash against the band due to their costuming and somewhat lack of cohesion on stage. In reading that blog, the prevailing thought or question for me was with the Internet as such a realized resource for indie bands to gain exposure and audience, should network TV performances be left to the mainstream pop artists? Afterall, network TV is an older medium of audience growth and marketing, versus web concerts or smaller venues targeting more social interaction, one thing that has grown indie music exponentially over the past few years. While a nice touch every now and again, I’m content with the old players having their fun time on TV trying new material or the latest pop star pushing their hit single than trying to garner a style and method of music to a giant audience when it’s better suited for a more medium-sized affair. But that’s me.

Similarly speaking, the Super Bowl halftime performance of Madonna was only so-so for me. I did enjoy the “Like A Prayer” performance, but the two first tracks, which are apparently newer material (from the past few years), did absolutely nothing for me. I noted to my wife that she should have just played her hit songs from 10-20 years ago and that would have engaged the audience more. But again, she’s driven by new commercial success for her recent material and has to market it. Being a non-participant in pop culture, I didn’t recognize Nikki Minaj except that she had a free single on iTunes a year ago. LMFAO was something I thought I’d seen in an internet commercial, and Cee Lo Green is a host on The Voice. LMFAO did a decent job. Cee Lo was totally unnecessary and took away from the headliner doing her best song of the night. While I liked the choir there for that last song, and found it poetically appropriate, it’s too soon for that after the great Bruce Springsteen did something so similar, and so much better two years ago. That was a performance on par with 2002′s U2 Super Bowl gig with the inspiring 9/11 montage and performance of “Where The Streets Have No Name.” Madonna didn’t come close to that connection, but her trapeze artist stole the show, at least for me.

Photo credit: Bjorn Wallander

Lastly, my wife is a regular reader of Country Living and while we spend weekend mornings reading, I noticed an article she was perusing about Neko Case. It turns out, Neko is a gardener as well as a restorer of old things. The article (read here) highlights that in her Vermont home is a piano she restored where she writes many of her songs. As one who is in the midst of remodeling a home as well, reading about the similarities and having that connection with an artist whose music already provides a serving of that, makes the sound even sweeter.

Song/Artist/Album

New York/Snow Patrol/Fallen Empires
Free/Ben Kweller/Free
Sweet Sour/Band of Skulls/Sweet Sour – Single

Serpents/Sharon Van Etten/Serpents – Indie Spotlight Free Download
No Time To Think/The Belle Brigade/Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International [Disc 2]
License to Kill/Elvis Costello/Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International [Disc 2]

The Cave (Mumford & Sons Cover)/Courrier/Covers
Devil’s Story/The Gaddabouts/Look Out Now!
Know Me/Frankie Rose/Interstellar

Weights & Measures/Dry The River/Weights & Measures
Two Years Ago/The Lighthouse and the Whaler/The Lighthouse and the Whaler

Starlight/The Open Sea/Little Apple – EP
On the Edge/The Open Sea/Little Apple – EP

It’s also a time when the music of love can be expressed in a larger way, or at least received as so. Below is a link to download a ton of free songs in honor of today. In our radio program last week I served up heaping portions of some more recent love songs. Playlists are posted the Saturday of the show’s airing weekend. I also included some music from an album or two that we reviewed last week. An upcoming album review for a new band we’ll debut this weekend is coming up in a few days. Stay tuned.

Regardless of your feelings on Valentine’s Day, I do appreciate you as someone who has made this blog a part of your day and your week. I hope you’ll return and read more about the great music that The Appetizer is dedicated to promoting, as well as the great people who make it. Have a great day and please come back!

Like NOISETRADE here on download the Love album

Song/Artist/Album

Trouble/Ray LaMontagne/Trouble
Save My Love/Bruce Springsteen/The Promise [Disc 2]
Strange Currencies/R.E.M./Monster
31 Flavors/Trevor Hall/Trevor Hall
Dealbreaker/Rachael Yamagata/Chesapeake
If There Was No You/Brandi Carlile/Give Up the Ghost
Forever/Ben Harper/Welcome To The Cruel World
Love Is All I Am/Dawes/Blitzen Trapper & Dawes Fall Tour
Say The Word/Elliott Park/Fly Boy
Beautiful/Timothy Palmer/The Breeze
Always for You/The Lighthouse and the Whaler/The Lighthouse and the Whaler
I Like You/Rosi Golan/Lead Balloon
Anchor/Bess Rogers/Out of the Ocean
Please Stay/Mindy Smith/Long Island Shores
You’re the One That I Want/The Lennings/CD Sampler
Higher Love/James Vincent McMorrow/Silver Lining

Her recently released album, “Lead Balloon” is amazing and definitely worth a listen.

In fact, check out this awesome video about the making of the album.

The title track, “Lead Balloon” was inspired by a bad day. But don’t let that fool you. The entire track list is a variety of emotions, from sadness to jubilation. Despite the vast range in lyrics, each track has the unique whimsical mark that only Rosi can bring. You can hear it right here on here website. 

You can check out her music, her upcoming concert schedule and all things Rosi Golan on her website.

Don’t forget to tune into this week’s episode of The Appetizer. Love is in the air and Chef D Grant is preparing a special recipe of musical flavors just in time for Valentines Day, including new music from Rosi Golan (and many more artists).

Bess Rogers' 2011 album cover

Aside from who she performs and records with, Bess has a great solo music career. Back when MYSPACE wasn’t full of scummy sites and I didn’t feel violated viewing people’s pages, Bess had posted some of her music there and was starting to really build an audience for herself. We began talking and I did a short interview with her that was very fun. Over the years we’ve kept in touch and she continues to make well-seasoned, tasty tracks. Her latest album is titled Out of the Ocean, release in October of 2011.

One of the things I enjoy most about Bess’ music is the way she crafts songs about relationships. Whether shining a good or a negative light on where a relationship is going, her ability to take what most of us have experienced with love lost and love gained, as well as love’s possibilities is very unique, and a great listening experience. From her latest album, I’ve become a big fan of Anchor, where she calls to her love and identifies key reasons why she has to have him to make her strong. I certainly feel that towards my love (Check out an old conversation we had in 2010 here).

Me with Rosi outside Lola's in Ft. Worth. And yes, she's sporting an Appetizer hat.

Both of these artists will continue to be on my radar, and could possibly get a few Golden Fork nominations later in the year as we continue to feature more music from their recent releases. Speaking of the GF award, we’ll be making the announcements soon as to who the 2012 winners are. Stay tuned. And be sure to check out the latest albums from Rosi and Bess. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. I’ll be serving up tracks from them both in the upcoming Recipe of Love edition of our radio program this coming weekend.

Archived Podcast with Rosi–>

We hope you’re connecting with the artists that we introduce to you. Please look them up on their websites, Twitter, and/or FB and let them know you heard them here.

Song/Artist/Album

Go Back/Marketa Irglova/Anar


We Are Good/Marketa Irglova/Live In San Francisco – November 18, 2011


Old Lady/Sinead O’Connor/How About I Be Me (and you be you)?


Heavy Heart/Madi Diaz/Far From Things That We Know EP

Johnny/Madi Diaz/Far From Things That We Know EP


Knowhere/David Gray/A New Day At Midnight


Drifting In and Out/Porcelain Raft/Drifting In and Out – Indie Spotlight Free Download on iTunes


I Can’t Feel/Matthew Dear/Black City


Been Better/Kyla La Grange/Bands Under the Radar, Vol. 4


The Hunted/Winter Quarters/Bands Under the Radar, Vol. 4


Carolina/Bradley Hathaway/A Thousand Angry Panthers – EP


I Belong In Your Arms/Chairlift/Something



The Dreamer/The Tallest Man On Earth/Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird – EP


From the Water/William Fitzsimmons/Gold in the Shadow (NoiseTrade Sampler)



The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll/Cage the Elephant/Chimes of Freedom – The Songs of Bob Dylan (Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International)

In fact, I just downloaded some songs from Marketa Irglova. An artist that will be featured on this week’s episode of The Appetizer.

Check it out here and download many of her songs for free.

This is my first time listening to her music and I have to say I loved it!

Marketa Irglova has a pretty cool story. She is originally from the Czech Republic and her reputation as a musician began as being an accomplished pianist. Her piano roots play a huge role in her indie rock songwriting.

To get an idea of Marketa’s music I listened to her track, “Go Back” from her solo album, Anar. Although this is considered a solo album, there are plenty of accompanying voices and influences, such as her sound engineer husband, Tim Iseler. Her lyrics are simple, yet sincere. She uses lyrics like poetry. Beneath the gorgeous piano melodies, the lyrics embed deep meanings and ideas.

A great example of the simplistic complexity (I know that sounds like a oxymoron) of Marketa’s music is the title of her album, Anar. Anar is the Farsi word for pomegranate. Once you break open the rind of a pomegranate, you discover the delectable tiny morsels of fruit hiding inside. My crazy analogy describes Marketa’s music. Simplistic and sincere, waiting for the listener to delve into the meanings of the lyrics and the beautiful harmony of the music.

I have to thank my friend Mike Hagerty for first introducing the rock-jazz styling of Rachael Yamagata to me about 10 years ago. I’m not sure where he first heard her, but after he played her track Letter Read to me, I was hooked. The piano styling of Diana Krall mixed with a rock back-beat, added this dimension to her impressive vocals that I hadn’t heard before. Add to all those great ingredients was the theme of the track, which had some great heart-breaking lines like “I’m afraid and I can’t breath, and I’m in love with you but you are not with me.” At that time, those lyrics and that music connected with me in a way that music hadn’t in some time. I grabbed the album and discovered more great jewels like Be Be Your Love, Under My Skin, and Worn Me Down. If you get a chance to, pick up her Happenstance album.

But that’s not what this post is about. Like most artists, the maturing process as a musician and songwriter takes people on different and unusual paths. Think about the chronology of your favorite bands and how their sound and music have evolved since their first or second album. Rachael’s followup to the highly acclaimed Happenstance was a very brooding album in 2008 called Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart. Just the title is pretty dramatic. The first 10 songs (out of 15) are fairly slow in tempo, and the mood is pretty somber. But her songs are still just as powerful, like Duet (featuring Ray LaMontagne) and The Only Fault.

It’s been over 3 years and a few weeks ago, I was overjoyed to discover that Rachael had a new album out titled Chesapeake. I wondered before sampling it if her upbeat melodies had returned, or if there were still elephants who were haunting her. To my surprise and chagrin, both are true.

Some artists have an ability to translate the results of broken and damaged relationships into song, and translate those feelings we all experience in ways with words crafted that our tongues lack the ability to. Such is the talent and beauty of Chesapeake, the latest album of Ms. Yamagata, who eloquently and strategically describes a relationship that could be mended if only the other party were willing in her well-crafted song You Won’t Let Me. For fans of her musical-paintbrush that dabbles into the jazz colorings, Stick Around is a smooth retreat from some of her more somber tunes. I Don’t Want To Be Your Mother presents a strong message of wanting what’s best in a relationship, and what that costs of her.

Chesapeake gives listeners and fans the best of Rachael’s talents in her beautiful musical style, which itself is an artistic blend of soul, jazz, rock, and a little blues, while also presenting a maturing songwriter who is showing off her ability to further connect with listener’s experiences and hearts. And The Appetizer will continue to be a presenter of her amazing music on radio stations across the country.

Welcome back to my table. I’m chef/host DGS
Every week new music from artists all over the spectrum gets released. Sometimes it’s a highly anticipated album from someone who has been in the studio a while and hasn’t released new material in some time. Other times, it’s a group just putting a few songs on an EP to get their name and sound out there. I’ve discovered that as great as technology is with being able to access material anywhere anytime, great sounds can get missed. This is music that I’ve discovered over the past few weeks and want to share it with you. A lot of that is introducing to you new and emerging artists, sometimes those who are fairly unknown in the music world. I hope if the music strikes your fancy that you’ll check them out online, Like them on FB, and tell them that you heard their music on The Appetizer.

*One exception to the new music featured was our first song, which I thought should have been included in the recently compiled Best Of album from R.E.M.

Artist/Song/Album


R.E.M./Star Me Kitten/Automatic For The People


The Killers/Neon Tiger/Day & Age


Ben Harper/I Will Not Be Broken/Give Till It’s Gone

Rachael Yamagata/You Won’t Let Me/Chesapeake


Rachael Yamagata/Stick Around/Chesapeake


Joshua James/Lovers Without Love/The Sun Is Always Brighter (Deluxe Edition)


Kathleen Edwards/Mint/Voyageur

Among Savages/Terrified/Wanderings of an Illustrative Mind

A.A. Bondy/World Without End/American Hearts



Bradley Hathaway/The World Is Screaming/A Thousand Angry Panthers – EP


Noah Gundersen/David/Bands Under the Radar, Vol. 4


Harrison Hudson/Run My Way/Bands Under the Radar, Vol. 4


First Aid Kit/Emmylou/The Lion’s Roar (Bonus Track Version)


Megafaun/Impressions of the Past/Gather, Form & Fly


St. Vincent/Strange Mercy/Strange Mercy