NPR has finally run a piece on Zee Avi.  Zee’s a lady that we have been repping for a while now on our YouTube Channel.  Quite frankly, the channel’s not too much besides us favouriting videos that we dig and trying to promote artists that we really think should make it.

Listen to the NPR piece here:

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Zee was one of these, back when she was known as KokoKaina, and well before her signing to Brushfire Records.  Yes, I completely agree that it’s annoying when people try to pull the whole “I was into ___ before he/she/they were famous”, and that’s totally not what I’m trying to do.  I just want to say it’s about time.

NPR does a good job of describing her art, and the interview is definitely worth listening to.  You can stream some of her songs too, so head over there and check it out.  Guy Raz, the writer for NPR, describes her by saying

Avi also has a distinct musical trademark. Her music possesses a mischievous quality, both in her lyrics and in her style of performance.

I completely agree.  Her songs have this strong sense of innocence to them, but in a  way that doesn’t come across as naive.  There’s something about the way she sounds that almost sounds ancient, like music from decades ago.  And yet there are songs that come across hauntingly sad as well, which shows a remarkable range for an artist so young.

She’s been building up steam over the last little bit, and her brand new album is available on iTunes.  Please go buy it, you won’t regret it.  Here’s a taste of her older stuff:

Here’s Just you and Me, a song I dig a lot.

Here’s her cover of Charlie Chaplin’s Smile.

And for her new stuff:

Monte