With the arrival of Spotify in the US, there’s been plenty of commentary over the past couple of months about online music consumption, with endless profiles of competing services, all focused on working out which one is going to rule the online musical roost. This is all very well, but the subject has been done to death, and anyway, none of these pieces seem to focus on our favorite way to find new tunes: specialist music blogs. The oldest MP3 blogs have been around for nearly a decade now, and this means that some of them have had time to accumulate some pretty remarkable libraries of sounds. Visiting these is like going to some crazy eclectic record shop full of esoteric stuff you’ve never heard of, and spending all day on the record player there. (Savvy artists, incidentally, have also cottoned onto these blogs as a way of getting heard by music lovers — many of them accept demos these days). Ten of our favorites are after the jump.
With their debut album, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, LA soul purveyors Fitz and the Tantrums reinvigorated classic Motown tropes with a modern pop twist. Eschewing the use of guitars, the band builds its retro booty-shakers around horn blasts, keyboard runs, and even flute solos. Frontman and founder Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick found his perfect counterpart in co-singer Noelle Scaggs; and in our latest interactive video interview, they talk about being compared to Ike and Tina, covering the Eurythmics and the Raconteurs, dodging Spongebob underpants, and the clever pun behind their band’s name.
Following the huge viral success of his single “Fuck You!,” Cee Lo Green is poised for the next step toward superstardom with his third solo album, The Lady Killer.
The Atlanta soul singer has been in the spotlight many times, from his early work with Goodie Mob to collaborations with everyone from Outkast to TLC — and most notably, topping the charts with Gnarls Barkley, his project with Danger Mouse — but with The Lady Killer, Green is set to finally have his name on everybody’s lips, instead of just having his voice in their ears.
Running the classic soul of Billie Holiday and Etta James through a kaleidoscopic-carnival filter, British singer Paloma Faith’s debut album asks, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?
Faith’s combination of ’40s jazz conceits with modern pop has earned her comparisons to fellow Brits Amy Winehouse and Duffy, but her sense of spectacle and grandeur puts her more in line with the more elegant likes of the long-standing Angela McCluskey. From her album art to her stage shows and videos, Faith puts as much focus on enchanting with visuals as with sound, ensuring a wholly immersive experience in her delightful burlesque circus of a world.
Embracing vintage Motown sounds with a modern twist, Los Angeles-based band Fitz and the Tantrums create soul-pop gems without employing a single guitar.
Frontman and songwriter Michael Sean Fitzpatrick, aka Fitz, bases his compositions around vintage organ and piano arrangements, with his vocals amply supported by alluring co-singer and onstage foil Noelle Scaggs. The band’s debut album, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, follows its buzz-building EP, Songs for a Break Up, Volume 1, which already had numerous people, ourselves included, calling it one of 2010′s most promising new acts.
Garnering comparisons to the likes of Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, international star Nneka is ready to make her mark on the US.
Making music that blends soul, hip-hop, and global grooves with a positive political message, Nneka bridges the divide between her homeland of Warri, Nigeria and her adopted home of Hamburg, Germany. The striking singer/songwriter has two albums under her belt overseas, and makes her US debut this week with a four-song EP, The Uncomfortable Truth.
Since her band is called Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, Naomi Shelton must then be The Queen of the Gospel Queens. Shelton has performed for over 50 years, from crowds of over 6,000 people to small gatherings in the West Village’s Fat Cat jazz club. Her sincerity and wisdom is that of a seasoned soul musician, but her ability to shake is that of someone half her age. Flavorpill sat down with Shelton to talk about her new album (and the group’s Daptone debut), What Have You Done, My Brother?, the beauty of a live performance, and hope. Read More »
, the beauty of a live performance, and hope. 
