Writing for either/or is so absurdly easy sometimes. I just sit back and wait for artists to send me their stuff, upon which I’ll write some silliness about it and call it a day. Were I getting paid for this, it’d be entirely criminal. Though I do get paid in piles of sweet tunes, so maybe it is a little criminal.

Point is, I’m rather grateful, particularly when I get stuff like this: effortlessly charming and gloriously pretty, it’s the kind of tune you can just wile away hours to. Katie’s album will be released sometime next year, I’m told, and will no doubt feature here again!

Hands up those who like somewhat sombre love songs? Ok, now put your hands down because this is a website and I cannot possibly see who’s raised their hands. However, if you did illogically signal your fondness for sombre love tunes, then I sure have a fix for you.

This is about as simple as music gets: just a lone voice and a ukelele here (and some slide guitar, as Arborea helpfully pointed out to me), but they’ve conspired together to create something that’s delightful and just a little bit creepy too. In a good way, trust me. The ukelele reminds me somewhat of the Sword and Sworcery soundtrack, which is most certainly a good thing.

José González seems to have the ability to turn anything into acoustic brilliance. This is a cover of a Massive Attack tune (made famous by a certain cantankerous old Doctor) and boy is it wonderful! I am quite the fan of the original version, and while it doesn’t feel like the kind of tune that could be done acoustically with any sort of justice, justice is well and truly served here.

Everyone loves some gorgeous, country-flavoured folk sung with a spectacular voice, right? I humbly submit that you suck if that’s not the case! This is heavenly and tender-sweet, and with just the right amount of flair and individuality to pull it out of the more pure country doldrums. What’s more, it’s sung by a very pretty lady: I’d sure like to run away with her!

Mason Jennings is just one of those dudes I love too much, I can’t post just one song and say that’s enough. This one’s from his relatively recent album, Blood Of Man. 2009’s recent, right? Eh, who cares. This is probably one of my ideal songs that I could listen to forever and not get tired of. It starts off haunting, and just gets more haunting, and STOP READING AND JUST LISTEN, DAMN YOU!

This song is much longer than you typically find posted here, clocking in at over 7 minutes. It starts a bit slow, but once it hits the 2 minute mark, kapow! One hell of a transition there, and my gosh, the lyrics! The singing! It is just freaking heavenly, and anyone who says otherwise is clearly possessed by Satan and must be shot immediately. Please report any instances of demon possession to me immediately and I will resolve them for you shortly. But seriously, if this song doesn’t eat your soul, it’s because something already has! Maybe you sold it for a candy bar? For shame!

Mason Jennings is another fella that I’m a big fan of. He’s got a damned soulful voice that would make a weaker, perhaps drunk man, cry. His music is usually pretty acoustic and chilled out, though the lyrics tend to be on the more depressing side so it might not be the ideal bedtime music. It would probably be helpful with the ladies, so in that sense, it may indeed be ideal for bedtime. I don’t know any of those kind, sensitive ladies, so it won’t do me any good! But for those of you do, play this song and watch them swoon!

Any tune that purports itself to be a ‘Kazoo Song’ most certainly needs to feature some form of kazoo. This tune doesn’t disappoint in that regard, but it goes one step further: the album it comes from is contains kazoo on every track. There’s kazoo coming out the ying yang!

Surprisingly, it’s not as ludicrous as you might thing. This is a mighty sweet and warm tune, up there with the sound of She and Him but cuter. If that’s even possible.

Evidently, I didn’t learn my listen with José González about checking out Zero 7’s contributing artists. Oh well! Sophie Barker sang on Zero 7’s more prolific tunes (In the Waiting Line, Destiny, and others) and while she hasn’t done anything with them for a while, she’s still one of the artists that’s closely attributed to the group. However, she definitely has the chops to kick it as a solo artist, as this rather lovely tune aptly demonstrates. If you like effortless beauty and poetry in your music, you’ve come to the right place!

It gives me great pleasure to be able to highlight new artists from my own country, Australia: my play list is dominated by the talents of overseas artists, and tends to overlook the amazing work coming out of Australia. It is with this point that I introduce to you all the efforts of Washington, and boy howdy, what an amazing group it is. Washington is the moniker of Ms. Megan Washington, whom I discovered from the Australia music quiz show Spicks and Specks* (which has sadly wrapped up its seven year run). She participated in a segment on the show called “Substitute”, in which the contestant sings a selection of songs with lyrics substituted in from a book. Given my complete weakness for cute ladies with mesmerising voices, I was hooked.

Washington’s music is mostly pop-y, but it mixes in a nice dash of spunk within the lyrics, making it a heck of a lot more interesting than whatever is currently playing on the radio. She also dabbles in some beautiful jazz covers and original tunes.

As per usual, this is a rubbish post that really doesn’t cover why I’m currently enthralled. Oh well! Do check out that YouTube link above, and maybe check out her website too.

*The word ‘spicks’ doesn’t have the racial connotations in Australia that it does in other countries, so apologies! The show is named after the Bee Gees song of the same name.

From I Believe You Liar
Rich Kids – YouTube
Spanish Temper – YouTube