Listen again: Sonya Kitchell

We're quickly approaching that time of year when my love of French jazz and pop ratchets into overdrive. (Hello, Valentine's Day - I've missed your delicious chocolate cheesecake and your love of all things pink and heart-shaped.)

To get into the spirit, I've been spinning Sonya Kitchell's Words Came Back to Me.

You may remember a couple of years ago when Starbucks was really pushing this teenage phenom - she was signed to their Hear Music label. I don't know why she didn't catch fire then - she's got a unique, bluesy voice not totally unlike a Duffy or an Amy Winehouse and a sound that segues gently between Madeleine Peyroux and Joss Stone. Absolutely perfect for soundtracks or quiet evenings at home with a honey. So it's the perfect time of year to revisit this underappreciated album.

To get an idea, check out this live performance of "Can't Get You Out of My Mind:"

Little Bit of Feel Good

Happy 2009! If you'd like to start your year with a little upbeat soul, check out Jamie Lidell's excellent album, Jim. This British electronic-music guru had a change of heart last year and made a retro soul album worthy of the masters. Just the latest in a long line of excellent retro soul to come out of the UK lately (see Joss Stone, Duffy, Adele, Amy Winehouse.)

Standouts include the impossibly catchy "Wait for Me," the minor-chord triumph "Little Bit of Feel Good," and the sunny album opener "Another Day:"

50 for $5

Christmas came early here at Lost Things Found: Amazon.com is currently offering the 50 top-selling new-release albums of 2008 in mp3 download format for only $5 a piece. This includes Paste's "Best Album of the Year:" Volume One, by She and Him, as well as titles from Radiohead, REM, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, Beck, Duffy, Vampire Weekend, Moby, Al Green, Mariah Carey, Mates of State, the Walkmen, Jamie Lidell and many, many others.

I don't know how long it will last, so get there fast!

Something's bound to happen

With the recent obsession with girl-power neo-soul from across the pond (see Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Adele), I thought we should give some credit to the American born, neo-soul-influenced phenomenon that is MoZella.

Born Maureen McDonald in Detroit (what are they putting in the water in Detroit lately? - there are so many talented and beautiful people coming from Motor City!), Mozella started gigging around coffeehouses when she was just 15. Her debut album, I Will, came out in 2006, shortly after Mercedes-Benz used one of her songs in their ambitious "Framed Portraits" ad campaign. Her songs have since been used in TV shows and more recently she has toured on the Hotel Cafe tour.

She has the jazz-tinged vocal quality of Nikka Costa blended with Norah Jones and the white-girl soul of Duffy thrown in. The songs are catchy and contemplative at the same time, and the overall sound blends soulful singer-songwriter with just a touch of electro-pop for a sound that is very fresh. Sadly, it appears she was recently let go from her record contract at Maverick/Warner, but you can keep up with her new stuff via her MySpace page - hopefully another label will snatch her up soon!

In the meantime, check out this live performance of one of my favorite songs on the album, "Killing Time," performed at one of the ubiquitous Coffee Beans in LA in January 2007:



Bonus: Because you know I can't resist Beyonce, listen to MoZella cover "Irreplacable" and then check out the rest of her YouTube series entitled "Under the Covers" for covers of Weezer, the White Stripes, U2 and the Fray, among others.

Hit the beat and take it to the verse now...

I first encountered Welsh R&B chanteuse Duffy while streaming the BBC online last winter. Already a megastar in the UK, her hit "Mercy" is starting to pick up speed on this side of the pond (on a recent trip to Ohio, I heard it blasting in a Ruehl so loudly that I was genuinely concerned about the welfare of the teenage employees. And wow is Ruehl a strange shopping experience, by the way.)

Duffy's US debut, Rockferry, is a short album, but there isn't a weak track on it - just good solid retro R&B that often sounds like it was unearthed from the Motown vault circa 1967. Comparisons to Amy Winehouse are a little overstated - Duffy has a softer quality to both her voice and her subject matter and she embraces the classic Motown sound more fully than Winehouse (who in my opinion is at her best when she combines classic jazz and modern club sounds into her brand of R&B, but that's a subject for another day.)

Highlights of the album include "Warwick Avenue," "Delayed Devotion" and, of course, "Mercy." Here she is performing "Mercy" live on Later with Jools Holland last November: