Brett Dennen with Forro in the Dark

A friend at a music festival, hearing Brett Dennen for the first time, remarked that he was “the hipsters’ answer to the bros’ Jack Johnson”.  Indeed, the analogy between the two singer-songwriters makes sense.  Dennen, like Johnson, is easy to listen to and hard to not like.  Both sing light, guitar-focused songs in major keys, but achieve depth through their biting, soulful lyrics addressing issues of people, poverty, and society.

Dennen’s 2004 album, So Much More, was his first breakthrough on the music scene, reaching Number One on eMusic, but Dennen truly burst on the scene in 2008.  He played at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Rothbury, Austin City Limits, and the Newport Folk Festival and toured with O.A.R. and then with Jason Mraz.  His album, Hope for the Hopeless, achieved mainstream success, especially the single “Make You Crazy,” which was recorded with Nigerian star Femi Kuti and featured Mandy Moore in the music video.  Recently, he re-released one of the songs from Hope for the Hopeless, “Heaven,” as a duet with Natalie Merchant.

Now, Dennen has continued exploring the possibilities of “world music” begun with his collaboration with Femi Kuti by recording an iTunes live session with the Brazilian band, Forro in the Dark.  Forro in the Dark has previously worked with David Byrne, the Brazilian Girls, and Thom Yorke. Read the rest of this entry »

This lady can SING.

This past Monday at the House of Blues, Regina Spektor reminded us why she continues to be so frickin’ awesome. When she wasn’t rocking out in Russian or using a chair as an instrument, her persona was remarkably child-like as she bobbed her head along to her music. While singing ”Laughing With,” “Human of the Year,” and “Wallet,” (songs from her new album, Far) we were surprised by how the audience was for the most part silent. Except for the two girls behind us who were incredibly tone deaf, everyone else realized that this was Regina and NO one could even try to compare. But when “That Time,” “Fidelity,” and “Folding Chair,” were blasted through the club, we all shrieked like middle schoolers at a Jonas Brothers concert.

Towards the end of the night, the audience felt as though Regina was well on our way to becoming our best friend and as she yelled out, “I love you guys too!” We might have taken it a little too close to heart. But, all of our mad-crazy-out-of-this-world-love multiplied tenfold after she rocked “Samson,” sang impromptu a cappella while the piano was facing “technical difficulties,” and played A SHOFAR (read: big ram horn that is played during the Jewish High Holidays) in honor of being in the middle Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Watch a video of Regina perform, after the jump!

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