Keren Ann - 101 (2011)

Keren Ann Zeidel (Hebrew:born 10 March 1974 ) known professionally as Keren Ann, is an Israeli-born singer, songwriter, composer, producer, and engineer based largely in Paris, Tel Aviv, and New York City. She plays guitar, piano, and clarinet. She also engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements.

Keren Ann Zeidel was born in Caesarea, Israel, to a Russian-Jewish father and a Dutch-Javanese mother. She lived in Israel and in the Netherlands until the age of 11, when her family moved to Paris, France.

Keren Ann has released seven solo albums: La Biographie de Luka Philipsen (2000), La Disparition (2002), Not Going Anywhere (2003), Nolita (2005), Keren Ann (2007), 101 (2011) and You're Gonna Get Love (2016). Many of her songs have been covered by other artists, including Henri Salvador, Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy, Rosa Passos, Jacky Terasson, Emmanuelle Seigner, Benjamin Biolay and Anna Calvi. Her music has been featured in TV series including Grey's Anatomy, Six Feet Under and Big Love, and in movies including Love Me No More (2008). Her song "Beautiful Day" has been the sound of the "Skyteam" campaign, and in 2008 her song "Lay Your Head Down" was the synch for the international H&M Spring commercial.

Keren Ann and Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson formed the musical duo "Lady & Bird"; the two released a self-titled studio album in 2003, as well as a live recording of their performance with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2009. The two co-wrote the 2011 opera Red Waters; it was produced by the Opéra de Rouen and directed by Arthur Nauzyciel, and performed in four opera houses around France.

Keren Ann co-wrote Henri Salvador's 2000 album Chambre Avec Vue, and wrote the lyrics for Sophie Hunter's 2005 debut album Isis Project, to music written by Guy Chambers. In 2008, Keren Ann composed, with Tibo Javoy, the entire sound design for the European TV channel Arte. She co-wrote and co-produced, with Doriand, Emmanuelle Seigner's 2010 album Dingue.

She contributed to the soundtrack of the French film Thelma, Louise et Chantal (2010), directed by Benoît Pétré, including cover versions of French songs from the 1960s. She also contributed six songs to the Israeli film Yossi (2012), directed by Eytan Fox, as well as appearing onscreen as herself, performing a music concert.

On December 15, 2018, Keren Ann announced that her 8th solo album, entitled Bleue, will be released on March 15, 2019.

Sarah Connor - Green Eyed Soul (2001)

Green Eyed Soul is the debut album by German recording artist Sarah Connor. It was released by X-Cell Records and Epic Records on November 26, 2001, in German-speaking Europe. Connor worked on the majority of the album with Bülent Aris and duo Rob Tyger and Kay Denar, all of who would become frequent collaborators on subsequent projects. She also collaborated with American rapper TQ as well as producers Adam Charon, Mekong Age, and Rufi-Oh. Green Eyed Soul is predominately a pop album with major influences of contemporary R&B, hip hop and soul music. The album's lyrics explore the complexities of romantic relationships and stages of love.

Green Eyed Soul received a generally mixed reception from professional music critics, who declared it a mixed bag but considered it a solid career launcher. Upon its release, it opened at number two on the German Albums Chart, and within the top five in Austria, Finland and Switzerland. Ranking among Connor's biggest-selling international efforts, the album eventually reached gold status in Austria, Czech, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland and was certified platinum by the Musiikkituottajat (IFPI Finland) and triple gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI). In 2002, it ranked number twenty-eighth on the German Albums year-end chart.

Altogether Green Eyed Soul spawned three singles, including "Let's Get Back to Bed – Boy!" featuring TQ, "French Kissing" (based on a sample of Blackstreet's "No Diggity"), and the ballad "From Sarah with Love", Connor's first number-one hit and breakthrough song. A fourth track, "If U Were My Man", received a limited promotional release in Eastern Europe, but failed to chart anywhere. In support of the album, Connor embarked on the Green Eyed Soul Tour in 2002.

The Rose Garden - A Trip Through The Garden (1967 - 68)

Omnivore's 2018 A Trip Through the Garden: The Rose Garden Collection is the first thorough compilation assembled on the California folk-rock quintet, containing all of their eponymous 1967 debut -- previously, that was the only Rose Garden music to reach CD -- along with alternate mixes and takes, rehearsals, acetate versions, and five live tracks recorded at Canoga Park's Chaminade High School in 1967. The lack of Rose Garden compact discs could be down to how they had only one hit single: "Next Plane to London," which climbed to number 17 in the fall of 1967. A Trip Through the Garden fills out the story, underscoring how the Rose Garden were very much a band of their time and place, quite proudly displaying their debt to the Byrds. All of their eponymous debut and the assorted ephemera on the disc recall the sweeter, folkier elements of the Byrds, but the connection is deepest with Gene Clark. The Rose Garden cut two Clark songs that are otherwise unavailable: the tuneful jangle of "Long Time" and the proto country-rocker "Till Today." These two songs, along with the mellow effervescence of "Next Plane to London," are the highlights of the album and the comp, rivaled only by a crunchy version of Neil Young's "Down to the Wire" and the five live cuts, which are much tougher than anything else heard on the CD (they also contain two additional Byrds covers in "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "She Don't Care About Time"). Saving these cuts, the Rose Garden are a pleasant period artifact: gentle, hazy, and light, so light they float away on a breeze.

Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn (1991)

Marc Cohn is one of the finest debut albums of the 1990s, and it brought adult piano pop back to the radio. Every song is well-crafted, and Cohn's singalong choruses, introspective lyrics, and vocal stylings reveal his '60s soul and '70s singer/songwriter influences. His voice is rich, but has a roughness that adds emotion when stretching to the upper end of his range while remaining subtle at the lower end. Marc Cohn shows himself to be an accomplished and versatile songwriter, from the uplifting gospel opener "Walking in Memphis," the hit for which he is widely known, to the concluding love letter "True Companion." Cohn has a great ear for melody and a keen eye for detail that immediately grab your attention and reward the listener with repeated plays. The album's highlight, "Silver Thunderbird," is a prime example of Cohn's ability to combine storytelling with an unbelievably catchy chorus. It is not surprising that the songs played on piano work better than those written for guitar; however, the album is surprisingly consistent, even for a debut. This album is worth checking out for any listener who wonders where the tuneful pop and soul of the Big Chill era went.

Syd Barrett - Barrett (1970)

On his second solo album, Barrett was joined by Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd members Rick Wright (organ) and Dave Gilmour (guitar). Gilmour and Wright acted as producers as well. Instrumentally, the result is a bit fuller and smoother than the first album, although it's since been revealed that Gilmour and Wright embellished these songs as best they could without much involvement from Barrett, who was often unable or unwilling to perfect his performance. The songs, however, are just as fractured as on his debut, if not more so. "Baby Lemonade," "Gigolo Aunt," and the nursery rhyming "Effervescing Elephant" rank among his peppiest and best-loved tunes. Elsewhere, the tone is darker and more meandering. It was regarded as something of a charming but unfocused throwaway at the time of its release, but Barrett's singularly whimsical and unsettling vision holds up well.

Laurie Anderson - Big Science (1982)

There was a backlash against Laurie Anderson in "serious" musical and artistic circles after the completely unexpected mainstream commercial success of her debut album, Big Science. (The eight-plus-minute single "O Superman" was a chart hit in England, unbelievably enough.) A fair listen to Big Science leaves the impression that jealousy must have been at the root of the reception because Big Science is in no way a commercial sellout. A thoughtful and often hilariously funny collection of songs from Anderson's work in progress, United States I-IV, Big Science works both as a preview of the larger work and on its own merits. Opening with the hypnotic art rock of "From the Air," in which an airline pilot casually mentions that he's a caveman to a cyclical melody played in unison by a three-part reeds section, and the strangely beautiful title track, which must feature the most deadpan yodeling ever, the album dispenses witty one-liners, perceptive social commentary (the subtext of the album concerns Anderson's own suburban upbringing, which she views with more of a bemused fondness than the tiresome irony that many brought to the subject), and a surprisingly impressive sense of melody for someone who was until recently a strictly visual artist. For example, the marimba and handclap-led closer, "It Tango," is downright pretty in the way the minimalistic tune interacts with Anderson's voice, which is softer and more intimate (almost sexy, in a downtown-cool sort of way) than on the rest of the album. Not everything works -- "Walking and Falling" is negligible, and the way Rufus Harley's bagpipes intentionally clash with Anderson's harsh, nasal singing and mannered phrasing in "Sweaters" will annoy those listeners who can't take either Yoko Ono or Meredith Monk -- but Big Science is a landmark release in the New York art scene of the '80s, and quite possibly the best art rock album of the decade.