vocalists

I first heard Sacha Sacket's exquisite voice in 2004, when he performed on my university campus to promote his then-new album, Shadowed. Mid-walk, I sat down, stunned, until the end of the simple, voice-and-keyboard show... then hastened to introduce myself, gush, and fork over a few dollars for my own Shadowed CD. I fell asleep night after night plugged into "Kite High!"; dorm clamor could not touch me. While I have never considered myself a musically sophisticated person, I knew it was one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard.

Seven years later, it still is.

The laundry machine breaks, your bike gets a flat, you have to cover a shift for your co-worker (who you think is faking being sick since you know her boyfriend is town)...What I'm trying to say is, sometimes you aren't always able to catch the Oprah Winfrey Show. And if you didn't catch it yesterday, you missed the one and only Mary J. Blige speaking with the big O about giving back to the women of her Yonkers neighborhood. You know what else happened? She covered Led Zeppelin, and it ruled.

NPR did a segment on break-up songs. Tigerbeatdown devoted a week on the subject. And Thao Nguyen has written an article breaking-down the break-up song for Bitch. But I got to thinking about the break-up songs are good for you, the ones that are less about the blues and more about kicking-ass.

Even though we've already talked a little about some of our favorite albums of 2009, and even though we've down a decade-tastic mix tape, and even though we're already into 2010, I don't see any reason to stop recapping, especially with all the good music that came out last year. I'ma do whatever! My mix is not only some of the best tracks that came out this year, but tracks that make you want to get. down. Have a good weekend shaking it to these singles that Aught-a (!) make your weekend a little dancier.

How do you listen to Canadian music? With your ears, eh? Silly…
Sorry, must have been the feminist jokes post from earlier today that inspired that one. Anyways, we are indeed heading to the Far North for today’s B-sides as we rock out with Nova Scotian and lady tune-weaver Leslie Feist.
Performing as Feist, the woman who made counting fun again ("1,2,3,4"…) has been on hiatus since her last album, "The Reminder" came out in May 2007. Come back!? Please?!

Covers are one thing--artists re-interpreting the work of other for homage to irony and everything in between. Standards, I feel, are something else. Beyond the ability of musical reproduction, jazz standards are meant to be continually interpreted and stylized, with little rules outside of a fakebook, plus they seem to stand the test of time--hokey or cliche lyrics that really never seem to get old. Here are some of my favorite female vocalists singing some standards! Playlist after the jump and have a good weekend!