coming to town: Tyler Ramsey

"What were you swimming away from?"

Last fall a good friend of mine from Wyoming turned me on to acoustic wunder-pluck Tyler Ramsey after being mesmerized by Ramsey's preternatural fretwork at a Band of Horses show in Bozemen, Montana. He was right. Ramsey, a native of Asheville, NC, has an incredibly simple, yet elegant way with a guitar, as if he's not playing the instrument, but it's playing itself (see video below). His playing is so subtle that one of our cohort's didn't think much of him when we saw Band of Horses on Valentine's Day (Tyler plays lead for BoH). Regardless, Ramsey's blend of Leo Kottke-like finger picked folk gems and high mountain balladry is as soothing as a snifter Kentucky bourbon (or a spliff) after a long day of work. Ideal for Sunday mornings.

In January Ramsey released his first solo effort, A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea, a record as majestic as its name suggests. Tyler will be coming to New York for an intimate show at Joe's Pub on April 13th. We highly recommend attending as who knows how much time he'll have off from his gig with Band of Horses.

Tyler Ramsey- A Long Dream
Tyler Ramsey- No One Goes Out

"A Long Dream" Live at Echo Mountain Studios

post-hype: Lykke Li

"For You I Keep My Legs Apart"

Lykke Li (pronounced Lookey Loo??) is the latest Scandanavian sweetheart to make our collective hearts flutter. Her record Youth Novels is the type of minimalist pop that blends the boundaries of indie bedroom folk and laptop pop, with weeping orchestrations and arrangements by, you guessed it, Bjorn Yttling of PB&J and Lasse Marten, who also worked on Our Ill Wills and Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've been Gone". Lykke is bound for exponential stardom, or at least fan-boy dom, as her coy, slinky vibe is sure to win over last years Feist converts and hype eating hipsters, alike. Goldmines like "Dance, Dance Dance", which features the precious "My hips they lie/ cause in reality/ I'm shy, shy, shy", is poised to wind up on college playlists across the country, while "Little Bit" is likely to be zapped into your home Television set via a Honda commercial. And rightfully so, as Lykke has all the makings of a Swedish pop sensation; sincere, smart, beautiful and Swedish, that's all it takes. Not only does she have the stuff FM pop stations should be drooling over, she's got tracks that scream "remix", like "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and the slightly robotic breakup jam "Complaint Department" ("If you want to complain/ I'm not the complaint department").

The only thing preventing International stardom is the limited distribution, as Youth Novels is currently only packaged for Scandanavian consumption, although we're pretty sure after all the shows she played at SXSW that somebody is bound to ink a deal to bring it Stateside. Right now the only place to buy Youth Novels is HERE.
She will be making her NYC debut 5/7 at Joe's Pub, with another date at the Bowery Ballroom 5/8. Peep the video that made me fall for Lykke below.






"Little Bit" in the Street