Introducing Rozzi Crane

A couple years ago I was living in LA and I caught a set by Rozzi Crane at The House of Blues.  She was participating in one of those battle of the bands competitions.   Anyway, her performance was so good that during every other act's showcase, I couldn't help but think "If Rozzi Crane doesn't win, these judges don't know what's good."  To my great relief, Rozzi won—and damn, did she deserve it.  Will she become a star? Well, obviously I don't know.  But I'll say this—she has one of those voices that is so good, it will be impossible for her to not have a career as a singer.  And I'm not talking about Holiday Inns.  At the very least, she will be singing backing for superstars.

Which she has done, by the way. Crane has toured as a backing singer with Don Henley and Sergio Mendes.  And as a singer/songwriter, she has opened for acts as varied as The Steve Miller Band and Esperanza Spalding.   

Last year was a pretty good year for Rozzi Crane.  She sang vocals on "Come Away To The Water," a Maroon 5 song which appears on The Hunger Games soundtrack.  Incidentally, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was so impressed that he made Crane his first signing for his 222 Record Label.  According to Levine,  "The first time I heard Rozzi sing I knew I had to find a way to be a part of it.  I didn't have to think about it.  She's THAT incredible."

One of the hipster-reasons I am writing this post is to have bragging rights of discovering Rozzi Crane early if she ever gets big.  I should add that as good as her voice is, she's also a pretty good songwriter, too.  Now, if for some reason she has a GREAT song inside her, there's no question that she'll find a large, dedicated audience.

Here's two songs.  One is an original cut called "The City."  The other is a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On."

"The City" and "Let's Get It On" by Rozzi Crane

FIDLAR

Fidlar

Thanks to a recommendation from my old roommate Louis, I checked out Fidlar.  If punk is your poison, then this will be essential listening.  It is, without a doubt, the best punk music I've heard in years.  This self-titled debut from this Los Angeles quartet is absolutely filled with short, extremely listenable gems.  The sound is raw like a scraping nail filer, but these So-Calers are very musical.  That musicality distniguishes them from their punk peers who may know how to rock but have no idea how to write a song.  Fidlar knows how to write and such consistentcy makes this album an absolutely joy to listen to from start to finish. Highlights include "White On White," "Max Can't Surf," "Paycheck" and "Cocaine"—Fidlar's epic, druggy magnum opus which closes out their album (but not before concluding with a Replacements-like coda). 

Fidlar