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Posts Tagged ‘rachael yamagata’

  1. Playlist-Recipe of Love

    February 11, 2012 by DGrantSmith


    Love is in the air and I’m assembling a recipe for love this hour with new music from Appetizer artists Bess Rogers and Rosi Golan along with a few sweet covers, 2 powerful songs from friends of mine Elliott Park and Timothy Palmer, and new music from Rachael Yamagata (read our artist review here).coming up in our first half hour along with Brandi Carlile and Dawes.

    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

    Category Blog, Music, People | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  2. Artist Review-Rachael Yamagata

    February 1, 2012 by DGrantSmith


    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.

    Category Blog, Music, People | Tags: , | 1 Comment

  3. Playlist for Jan 28th Weekend

    January 28, 2012 by DGrantSmith

    01-28-12 “Delicious Dish-Covery”

    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

    Category Blog, Music | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  4. Faves Continued

    March 31, 2010 by DGrantSmith

    Continuing with some of my all-time favorite tunes…..

    4. Rachael Yamagata-Letter Read
    It’s hard to single out a song from her, considering they’re all so well written and beautiful.  But this was the first song I ever heard from the budding singer/songwriter.  Her style is pretty original, even after she’s now been copied by countless wanna-be pop stars.  The piano-driven ballads of love and loss hit home, as well as the great beats she has to back them up.  All of her album Happenstance is worth checking out and the sophmore release Elephants is pretty remarkable too.

    5. Mana- Hundido En Un Rincon
    Even if you don’t speak (or understand) Spanish, it’s hard not to be drawn to Mana.  They’re a Latin-fused rock with melodies and rhythms that are magnetic, pulling you into the passion and music unlike most other bands.  I first heard this song on their MTV Unplugged album from the mid-90s, which featured the great percussive accompaniment of Louis Conte.  The whole Unplugged album is stellar as well as the album that originally featured this song-Cuando Los Angeles Lloran.  More recent releases from them include Amar Es Combatir, a regular spinning album on The Appetizer.

    6. Johnny Cash-I See A Darkness
    I’m also drawn to great songwriters, especially when you can tell just by the lyrics and the scratch in their voice that they’ve traveled a hard road and come out alive on the other side.  Cash definitely fits that category.  He was one tough customer in the music world, writing and recording nearly until his dying breath in 2003.  This song is a cover of Will Oldham’s classic tune found on American III: Solitary Man.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | 2 Comments