Music to My Ears

I believe concerts and live shows to be vital in determining the genuine talent of a singer or band. You can't very well speak authoritatively on musical genius when you've only heard digitally augmented voices and instruments enriched by studio acoustics. Pure vocal and songful art is rare, to be revered and assessed only in person (an honor claimed, as of press time, only by a few; Teitur, Mat Kearny and possibly Matt Pond PA and Matt Nathanson) .

However, a particularly fruitful visit to Rasputin this evening and the subsequent rhythmic research on iTunes has resulted in some impressive albeit emo-skewed finds. Though I have yet to make my final judgment, the following artists and their recent hits are worth a look.

(1) Griffin House 'House of David, Vols. 1 & 2' particularly 'Show Me Yourself' a steal at $2/each
(2) Brett Dennan I can't praise highly enough for his incredible, lyrical gift
(3) Greg Laswell 'Through Toledo' and his songs 'Sing, Teresa Says' and 'High and Low.' You will have to trust me on this guy, he's got mass-commercial potential...
(4) Regina Spektor, we must give credit to the Russians both for her voice and $5 at Rasputin (though clearly I'm late to the party with this chick since she's already showing up as a bestseller on iTunes)
(5) Eric Hutchinson, it's the cheeseball in me that likes the college-y, Tyler Hilton party ballad 'Rock & Roll'