alice smith: do i.

ALICE SMITH has been rocking my pod for a while. The first time I heard "Do I", I nearly cried. The emotion in Alice's voice is so raw, and it's soulful in the kind of way that isn't trying too hard to be soulful (see Joss Stone).

Though don't call it soul around her. She won't agree.

"I don't think of it as a soul record. When I was in school, I really thought about soul a lot. I was listening a lot to Björk and to the Commodores. I really wanted to know how they felt. And especially with Björk, the music there told me wow, that's really her soul, there. I thought about her a lot, about the sound of her music… Well, it wasn't exactly about the sound, and it wasn't about what other people call 'finding your bounds', or whatever. I thought of her soul; her music made me contemplate her soul. It made me think of Björk, and how she felt. You know what I mean? What she felt like inside. It was never about the genre. So I just came never to think of the idea of soul as being about a category."
Strangely, this makes sense. Few of Smith's songs sound the same, and as she grows in popularity major labels have been trying to sign her. Unfortunately, this process has been incredibly frustrating as they have been asking her to focus her sound to fit into a defined category or genre. "A lot of people at these labels treat audiences like they're stupid. Like, 'You should focus your style or people won't get it.' I don't think that's true. Who only listens to country music? I mean, I'm sure there are people out there, but not the normal ones," she states in an article from Rolling Stone. Well, whether she remains indie or heads to the majors, she'll still have my ears.

If you happen to be in the Philly area, Alice Smith will be playing on May 6th at the Black Lily Film and Music Festival. Be sure to check it out!

d/l: ALICE SMITH- Do I (YSI)
(heartbreaking bluesy soul-rock ballad)
- buy it - site it - space it - hype it - wik it -

BLOGWATCH: Scattermish has a teaser for the new Bjork album, as well as a track from Diplo's protege DJ Blaqstar. Bigstereo shows me how late I am in discovering the amazing Yelle by posting her also amazing video...From Blown Speakers has a few songs up for download.