Blog Posts by Dave DiMartino

Bahamas is the name under which which Toronto-based singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen performs--which, all things considered, is a tad easier on the tongue than Madagascar or Rio De Janeiro--but the music he creates does not exactly seem geographic in origin. Instead, it offers up a mixture of coolness, emotional warmth, and, most notably, space. Space between notes, space between phrases, and, on occasion, space between people.

Sophisticated stuff, all of it, and it's amply on display via Barchords, the new Bahamas album on Brushfire Records.

The final session Y! Music would record while in Austin at this year's South By Southwest music conference, Jurvanen's performance was delightfully informal, featuring the guitarist, a percussionist (take a look at his instrument!), and two superb backing vocalists whose overall contributions were a wonder to hear.

Jurvanen is sharp--an interesting interview with an equally interesting musical pedigree--but above all else, his music is one

Though it's not as easy a drive for music fans in the contiguous United States as, say, the current Coachella festival, the Kokua Festival in Hawaii may be equally as memorable an event.

The creation of singer-songwriter Jack Johnson and now in its eighth year, the festival has consistently featured an interesting array of internationally acclaimed artists, all for the benefit of the Kokua Hawaii Foundation--a nonprofit foundation founded by the singer and his wife supporting environmental education in Hawaiian school and communities.

Those who've heard of the event but have never managed to attend will thus be enlightened--and quite pleased--by the newly released Best Of Kokua Festival: A Benefit For The Kokua Hawaii Foundation album.

A live anthology featuring some of the most memorable musical moments from the festival--featuring Johnson and a number of acclaimed guests--the album boasts the same warmth, precision and musicality that pervades all of Johnson's music and, cliché as it

One of the most talented and adept singer-songwriters out there working, blending humor, pathos and superb musicianship, Todd Snider is a wonder to behold.

At this year's South By Southwest music conference, ostensibly to promote his latest album Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables, the East Nashville-based Snider stopped by Y! Music's makeshift recording studio and proceeded to delight the entire crew both with his delightful performance as well as the warmth and personal candor displayed during his ensuing interview.

Snider's skills have long been evidenced by his consistently wonderful, occasionally deliciously quirky albums, but for those who haven't managed to catch a peek of him until now-you're in for a serious treat.

One of the single biggest benefits of the annual South By Southwest music conference is the sheer mass of fascinating artists--many of whom come from all corners of the world, gathered together and ready to be seen by music fans who perhaps face a limited travel budget.

One artist who does not come from so far is Ximena Sariñana, the highly talented young Mexican singer, whose latest album is self-titled and sung in English rather than the Spanish favored on her 2008 debut album Mediocre.

A strikingly talented young woman, the singer has a fascinating past, much of it the result of her parents being in the film industry: Her father is a film director and producer, and her mother a screenwriter. The singer herself is no stranger to the screen either; she was four years old when she first starting acting, and to date has appeared in 11 films and 3 telenovelas.

The singer's two Warner Brothers album may be linguistically diverse but similar in their sheer musicality: The show a thoughtful

A stunning array of new albums from a diverse range of artists both old and new mark this as the most exciting week in record release history!

Still, writing about another planet entirely--where most musicians make records consisting of handclaps and heavy nostril-breathing--may not make sense in the context of this Yahoo Music blog!

So instead, let's focus on the records released on Earth this week--where, on occasion, good records still sometimes randomly seem to appear, though no one can satisfactorily explain why!

I'm inclined to believe it's purely a function of familiarity! After all, when the week is highlighted by expected big-sellers by artists like Train, Chris Botti, and Jack Johnson, why not visit a record store or buy a download, sit down on your coach, listen to the latest by one of your old music friends, and not focus on man's inhumanity to man, the coming nuclear apocalypse, or why the heck Nicki Minaj just cancelled her Twitter account? Some things are just too harrowing to think about!

Train: California 37 (Aware) There aren't a lot of us out there who suspected that San Franciscan rockers Train would last more than a year or two--especially those of us who once, weirdly enough, perceived them to be little more than a Led Zeppelin cover band--but lo and behold: They hot! Indeed, most of us attribute that to the

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