Mayday Parade – “The Silence”

Alternative punk is such a pleasant genre because the hooks are so often very memorable, and in the case of “The Silence” by Tallahassee, Florida rock group Mayday Parade, we’ve got ourselves another winner. Lead singer Derek Sanders pushes his vocals to the upper end of his range for a chorus that hits the eardrums just right.  The overall result is something definitely radio-worthy.

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Emma Jacob – “Julianna”

We understand that country music is something of an acquired taste, but whether or not you dig the melody of this song (and we certainly do), it’s the lyrics and message accompanying the music that makes it memorable.  Jacob preaches self-confidence in young women through a witty narrative, which will reach a lot of females in the high school age market.  Apparently it works on twentysomething men, too.

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30 Seconds to Mars – “Kings and Queens”

We at Fresh Scouts have always loved 30 Seconds to Mars, and their new single “Kings and Queens” is one of their best songs yet. Not only does the track kick off with the triumphant squawk of an eagle (awesome), but it has the epic feel of a movie trailer’s energetic title track. It’s not poppy, but it’s got the kind of hook that will stick in your head all day long.

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The year 2000 was so ridiculously awesome.  There was Y2K, for one, then hanging chads and Almost-President Gore.  I even managed to graduate from an American high school that year and begin my higher education at an American university.  I was but a sapling in the dense rainforest of life, and it was right around then (thanks to Napster and a new, non-dial-up, high-speed university internet system known as a “T1”) that I began my decade of digging for good music beyond what was played on the radio.

In a way I guess you could say I was a Fresh Scout long before Fresh Scouts even existed.  I had recently fallen in love with Incubus and did all I could to get my paws on any and everything Brandon Boyd and the gang touched.  One of those projects was something called “Loud Rocks,” a gimmicky yet entertaining album crossing hip-hop and hard rock.  Some of the hottest rock groups of the era (which, humorously enough, includes Crazy Town) teamed up to remix tracks from some of hip-hop’s biggest guns.

As far as the album is concerned, this usually turned out pretty well.  Incubus, for example, teamed up with Big Pun to remix “Still Not a Player,” while other tracks included mash-ups of classic Wu-Tang Clan songs by teaming up with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ozzy Osbourne, and System of a Down, as well as a redo of Xzibit’s “What U See is What U Get,” one of my all-time favorite rap songs made even more awesome by the talents of Sevendust.

Mobb Deep and Everlast do a rocky version of “Shook Ones” that’s just as soulful as the original but a little more energetic, and Dead Prez teams up with Static-X to do an interesting re-rendition of “Hip-Hop.”  Yeah, there’s the Crazy Town song and, inexplicably, something featuring Sugar Ray as the “rockers,” but it really was such a cool album.  Mixing these two genres back in 2000 was sort of a new thing, and this was a great example of how that experimentation could churn out some musical magic.

Plus, like I said, anything with Incubus gets my time, attention, and appreciation.  Those boys can do no wrong in my eyes, like a biological child that I’ve spent my life spoiling.  This didn’t sell a ton of records, but I love it all the same.

Oh, and I forgot about Elian Gonzales.  Remember him?  The cute Cuban boy who eventually got deported after a long, drawn-out custody battle?  That was awesome.  I miss 2000.

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Are there siblings out there more talented than the Wayans Brothers?  Yes.  Welcome Scott and Seth Avett to the stage.  Bob Crawford may not be blood related, but he might as well be.  Bob rocks the stand-up bass, Scott picks the banjo and Seth tickles the  guitar.   This well-balanced trio, hailing from North Carolina, rock stages near and far as The Avett Brothers.

Many in the music industry have found it challenging to place the music of The Avett Brothers into one particular genre.  I believe that this challenge is a good thing, because at the end of the day one genre cannot describe what they do.  It is best to label their music as “fresh” and leave it at that.  But for those that desire labels, I would have to say that their music is a blend of folk, bluegrass, rock and roll, and country.  And the last time I checked that aisle doesn’t yet exist at my local record store.

A few weeks back a good friend of mine got me tuned into The Avett Brothers.  The first thing that really struck me after giving a listen was that their music is refreshingly different from so much that is out there right now.  Their blending of genres and independent swagger is thrilling.  Tracks off their new album I and Love and You have moments of stillness followed by energetic outbursts that is downright exciting.

You will be hearing a lot from The Avett Brothers in the coming months.  Heavy touring coupled with national exposure on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will quickly make the guys a household name.

I and Love and You is an amazing album.  I personally recommend “I and Love and You”, “Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise”, “Kick Drum Heart” and “Slight Figure Of Speech”.

The Avett Brothers with their track “I and Love and You” on the Late Show with David Letterman.  Introduction and music begins at 40 seconds.

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Want more music from siblings?  Check out The Lovell Sisters!

The Civil Wars – “Poison & Wine”

Television shows continue to serve as a nice launching pad for musicians.  Years ago the Fox hit The O.C. thrusted many artists into the mainstream.  ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy has also established itself as a vehicle for featured artists to gain overnight commercial success.

Joy Williams and John Paul White have built their careers as signer-songwriters.  Their more recent combined effort is known as The Civil Wars, and thanks to Merrideth Grey’s need for dramatic moments,  a lot of people are taking notice of “Poison & Wine”.  The track was just featured on Grey’s Anatomy and it is incredibly beautiful and down right mesmerizing.  Prepare to hear a lot more from The Civil Wars in the coming months. That is my diagnosis. 

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Sam Sparro – “Black & Gold”

Another television show has helped place a song in heavy rotation for me this week.  So You Think You Can Dance does a splendid job of showing me how much I really can’t dance.  Furthermore, it does a phenomenal job of highlighting great music that I can’t dance to.

A recent routine on the show featured the Sam Sparro track “Black & Gold”.  This cat can sing!  Sparro’s smooth bluesy feel is captivating.  The final studio track is designed to get you dancing.  Take a listen to the live performance video below to get a true sense of his raw vocal power.  This Aussie just might have knocked Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan out of the number one spot on my list of favorite Australian imports.

Sparro’s live version of “Black & Gold” performed in a radio studio last year.  Music starts at 32 seconds.

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Sing It Loud – “Come Around”

A fan of Fresh Scouts recently requested that we do a write up on Sing It Loud.  Your wish is our command.  The request did remind me how much I do enjoy the punky pop sound of these Minnesota boys.  The track “Come Around” is a rollicking good example of the type of energetic music they dish out.  This song lends itself well to air guitaring and air drumming.  Which of course lends itself well to my air tennis elbow.

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One of the most exciting aspects of following the music industry is bumping into an artist who seems right on the cusp of breaking out.  Very few people are naïve to the struggles that serious musicians undergo, but when all that hard work finally comes to a head it’s an undeniably refreshing experience.

So it goes for James Kinney, an Austin, Texas native whose soulful music spans multiple genres, including hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock, funk, oldschool soul, and most recently, opera.  Versatility plus talent equals imminent success.

“I think right now is the perfect time for what I would call the Classic American Entertainer to come back on the scene,” Kinney explained, adding, “I’m talking about the school of entertainers that America has always fallen in love with, from Sammy Davis junior to Frank Sinatra to Dean Martin—people who can get on stage, grab a microphone, and sing any song.”

Funny that a contemporary artist would compare his philosophy of entertainment to those Rat Pack legends, but he’s not talking about musical style.  It’s about the ability to reach a variety of people.  It’s about good, old-fashioned American entertainment.

“I’m no frills, the real deal in terms of putting on a show,” Kinney explained.  “I come from a church background, people that come from the background of putting honest integrity and sweat into what they do onstage.  When I leave the stage, I’m not dry.”

As 2009 draws to a close, Kinney is watching his career take off.  In the last year he’s opened for John Legend, been signed on to work with Violator Management, and been asked to help contemporize an operatic masterpiece.  His upcoming album, “Masterpieces of Simplicity,” is something Kinney is extremely proud of, and he hopes it leads to more great things.

At the end of the day, though, it all comes down the music.

”I want this album to be a breath of fresh air,” Kinney said.  “I want people to say, ‘Damn, somebody else is talking about something different than what everybody else is talking about.’  I want them to feel like I’m addressing them as a person, and that could be a 50-year-old black woman, a 13-year-old white kid, or a 30-year-old Asian female social worker.  My music is for everybody.”

So how does a musician like Kinney reach such a broad audience?  It all comes back to being stylistically diverse, which is something that seems to come naturally to him.

“I can’t write two songs that sound alike,” he explained.  “The reason why I think that’s important is because the music’s not B.S.  If they all sounded like it would just be like a factory.  I’d be churning out Model T Fords, and I’m not doing that.  One song is a Cadillac and the next song is a Benz.”

His catchy club track “Music Is My Therapy,” featured recently on our Weekly Jukebox, would probably be best described as a Mitsubishi Eclipse with a drop top, but no matter what automobile-related metaphors are used, the bottom line is still the same—this cat makes good music, no matter what you like.

And beyond that, he’s a bright, down-to-earth guy who does what he does for all the right reasons.  Even if he were to break out and sell millions of records, you get the impression that it wouldn’t put a dent into the man’s character.  That just makes him all the easier to root for.

“I’m not going to change,” he said.  “I’m a dude that loves people and invests in people.  We all have a job to do, and I’m just all about us as people making moves and moving forward.”

If 2010 continues along the same curve as 2009 did for Kinney, there’s no question that forward is the only direction he’ll be able to head toward.  In the meantime, it’s opera in El Paso, Texas, proving that Kinney takes the term Classic American Entertainer to a whole new level.