Birthday Wishes for KT

Happy 51st Birthday to Kate Bush!

Kira Fontana's 'Inner Revolution'

People, do yourself a favor and check out Los Angeles-based songstress Kira Fontana. Her debut album, The Inner Revolution -- produced by Kira, and mixed by Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, British Sea Power) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse) -- is absolutely stunning. An intricate blend of pianos, strings, and guitars easily ebb and flow along to Fontana's emotive vocal delivery. Her classical background is perfectly honed, too, particularly on tracks like the ethereal "Bloom" and "Home." Other highlights include the acoustic-driven "Spark the Fire" and epic album opener "Always" (free download featured below). For fans of Tori Amos, Sinead O'Connor and Imogen Heap.

DOWNLOAD:
Kira Fontana - "Always"
[For Mac: option-click to download. For PCs: right click, select "Save Target As" and choose "desktop".]

[Photo by Stephen Churchill Downes]

Still Dancing the 'Jig of Life'

My earliest memory of hearing Kate Bush was around 1985. I caught a snippet of the "Running Up That Hill" video (posted below) on MTV. For an eight year old kid, I found her incredibly odd, but interesting. As a teen, she was the only female artist that mattered to me (well she and Siouxsie Sioux, of course)...way before Tori Amos, before Sinéad O'Connor, before Björk, before any of 'em. Her 1983 LP, The Dreaming, is a personal favorite, while The Hounds of Love (1985) and The Sensual World (1989) are equally brilliant. So cheers to Kate Bush a.k.a. K.T., who turns a graceful 50 years old today. BBC News remembered!

Since issuing Aerial in 2005 -- her first recording since 1993's The Red Shoes -- Bush continues to live a normal family life in southwestern England with her son Albert (Bertie) and her husband/guitarist Danny McIntosh.



[Photo by Trevor Leighton]