Blog Posts by Dave DiMartino

One of the absolute highlights of the 2012 South By Southwest music conference--at least as far as Y! Music was concerned--was the robust, pop-infused sound of Brit band Jonquil.

Quite adept instrumentally, vocally in superb hands with keyboardist/vocalist Hugo Manuel, and oddly reminiscent of the better parts of '80s Britpop (though never less than fully contemporary sounding), the group have fashioned a wonderful pop recording with their new album Point Of Go. From Oxford, England, the band claim an intriguing array of artists as influences--and the richness of their recorded repertoire hints at significantly deep commercial potential.

The largest of this year's SXSW Bedroom Sessions, the Jonquil crew included two trumpet players, who thoughtfully--at least as far as our audio engineer was concerned--directed their blasts toward the room curtains to attain the proper sonic balance our informal recordings set-up required.

If you've yet to hear Jonquil, we suspect you'll be quite

With their striking pairing of loud/soft and boy/girl--two contrasts that have often worked exceptionally well in pop music--new duo Big Deal have managed to create one of the more memorable and evocative debut albums in recent memory.

Though the duo--Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe--have respective roots in California and Britain, their appealing sonic blend has origins that seem less geographic than strikingly personal. Lights Out, their recent Mute Records debut, has a charm that anyone anywhere--at least anyone who's had a memorable personal relationship with another--will likely relate to.

Formed in the UK, the band have made their mark singing about the volatility of passion--or the lack of it--all the while blending soft acoustic guitars with loud, heavily distorted ones off in the distance. It's an appealing sound, offering up both innocence and cynicism at once--and, for a comparatively new band, they sound remarkably older than their years.

Y! Music spoke with the band at

If there are certain albums that had a cultural impact far beyond their overall sales figures, the debut album by Cardinal--released in 1994 by the duo of Eric Matthews and Richard Davies--counts highly among them.

Coming at a time when grunge, for better or worse, had come to dominate the rock 'n' roll scene, the textured and melodic work of Matthews and Davies provided almost precisely its conceptual opposite: melodies, harmonies, exotic instrumentation, sophisticated arrangements, songs that evoked the undersung classic sound of the early Bee Gees, the Left Banke and other pop greats, all oozing with sincerity, very little irony, and an obvious love for the pure form of pop music. Those who heard it loved it--very much so--and, for better or worse, a new genre called "orchestral pop" was coined to describe their work.

But Cardinal was a short-lived affair. Matthews and Davies soon went their separate ways, each releasing highly regarded solo albums, and the former band soon took on

There are some weeks when one looks at new album releases and wonders what year it is!

Here we sit, proudly discussing the latest releases by Bonnie Raitt, Counting Crows, Todd Rundgren and German rockers Accept! It's great! Will they be the biggest releases in music business history and catapult their respective makers to superstardom? Heck--maybe, or maybe not!

Or will their simple existence be just enough to catapult those of us increasingly insulated from reality into a horrendous whirlpool of spiritual apathy and desolation? Like...will anything ever change? Shoot! You never know!

Or will we march to the nearest retail outlet, happily purchase all of them, and find a winning lottery ticket on the walk home?

Nope! That will never happen!

Luckily, there still exist some new artists--some proud, exciting new artists--who will record breathtakingly fresh music, lift us out of our emotional doldrums, and provide all of us with a respite from the same old same old and give us all a reason to live zesty and exciting lives in the years to come!

Guess what? They're scheduled to start making albums in 2015--and most of them are blonde!

Bonnie Raitt: Slipstream (Redwing) It might be easy for some people to take Bonnie Raitt for granted: She's an illustrious Grammy winner, she's been around since the early '70s, making good and sometimes near-great records, and

One of the highlights of this year's recent South By Southwest conference was the appearance of a gifted performer who's currently garnering raves for her uncanny ability to blend the folk and art traditions into highly listenable, highly moving work that may otherwise defy comparison.

That performer was Vermont-based singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell--whose latest album, Young Man In America, is an ambitious set that depicts an artist growing by leaps and bound. Her lyrics, her memorable vocal approach, the sophisticated musical arrangements all demonstrate a maturity that's startling at first listen, and highly unique at the very least.

Y! Music was fortunate enough to speak with Mitchell and capture two superlative performances at our private "studio" at SXSW. The performances were memorable, the singer herself was warm and very friendly, and it was one of the better things we witnessed there this year, to say the least. See for yourself--we think you'll like what you see.

You know, I'd like to pretend I'm extraordinarily interested in the current state of pop music-who's big, who's not, who wins awards, who doesn't, etc.--but there are times, I must admit, when I'd really rather be watching the season premieres of Game Of Thrones and The Killing than some dopey televised awards show!

And so it is that I missed last night's Academy of Country Music Awards!

But fear not! I already know the highlights, and so should you! Taylor Swift won something or other, country pioneers Kiss--who along with Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings rewrote all the genre's rules so many decades ago--finally acceded to popular demand and showed up, and other people won things, too! And apparently there were commercials!

Most jarring? The joint appearance of Mickey Mouse and Leopold Stokowski! And doesn't that just figure?

Still, without Kanye...what's the point?

Rascal Flatts: Changed (Big Machine) Certainly one of the biggest bands in country music, Rascal Flatts continue to amaze with their commercial appeal, their good-hearted, folksy nature, and their always superlative wardrobe! So perhaps it's no surprise that their latest effort, Changed, depicts the band in an entirely new set of clothes! They're nothing if not

There is a certain warmth and sense of reassurance that comes with writing about musicians with whom you are deeply familiar!

This week I'll be writing about new releases from Madonna and Lionel Richie, two superstar artists with distinguished careers behind them--and it's a near certainty I'll sound authoritative as I write about their works, merely because I've been doing so, sort of, for years!

Still, there are few doubters out there--"haters," if you will--who have occasionally commented that it often seems the reviews I carefully craft are completely fictional and have no bearing whatsoever on reality!

Silly doubters! I've only "carefully crafted" about six of them in five years! The rest give me something to do on Monday nights!

Madonna: MDNA (Live Nation/Interscope) The volume of writing about Madonna that has anything whatsoever to do with her actual music as opposed to her image, the controversies that arise in her wake, and her admirable musculature is, in a manner of speaking, a very

Apologies for posting this a day later than usual, but I just spent the last eight days in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest Music Conference, a popular confab this year highlighted by appearances by rising stars Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Eminem,  50 Cent and other lesser-known, unimportant clods!

It was great!

Sadly, upon my return, I dutifully drove to the office early Monday morning with every intention of penning this world-acclaimed blog later that night--but, when day was done, instead found myself sleeping for a full 13 hours!

To return the favor to you, dear readers, I've decided to write this blog tonight, in hopes that you too might sleep for 13 hours as well! It's easy and fun!

The Shins: Port Of Morrow (Aural Apothecary) A new album by the Shins is always welcome, as the robust pop group has an uncanny knack for memorable melodies, respectable songcraft, and a wonderfully anatomical name! The new disc, named after a unique cut of